Situated on top of a cliff rising over 1,200 ft. above the surrounding Judean desert, Masada overlooks the western shore of the Dead Sea. After several helicopter flights, during which he took hundreds of photographs, Rosen was gripped by the beauty of the harsh topography, and the heroic, hugely tragic story of the siege of the fortress of Masada by the Romans against the last outpost of the Sicarii, the incredibly courageous Jewish revolutionaries, during the Jewish War (66 -73 CE) in their massive revolt against Roman tyranny.

He immersed himself in the famous account of Masada written by the Jewish historian Josephus (c.37-100 CE) and became passionate about depicting the drama on huge, animated oil on canvas paintings, highlighted with vivid acrylic colour and exquisitely intricate pen and ink detail, set against broad background aspects of bleached desert and hostile craggy rock.

The effect is visceral, and one can almost hear the shouts of the Romans breaking through the defensive walls, only to discover that one of the most dramatic and symbolic acts in Jewish history has taken place. Mass suicide rather than submit to Roman capture.