Sicarii

…assassination and became known as Sicarii (Greek sikarioi, “dagger men”). They frequented public places with hidden daggers to strike down persons friendly to Rome. In the first revolt against Rome (ad 66–70) the Zealots played a leading role, and at Masada in 73 they committed suicide rather than surrender the…

The Sicarii (Assassins), so-called because of the daggers (sica) they carried, arose about 54 ce, according to Josephus, as a group of bandits who kidnapped or murdered those who had found a modus vivendi with the Romans. It was they who made a stand at the…

…escaped, members of the extremist Sicarii (Latin for “dagger carriers”) sect, settled in the apparently impregnable mountaintop fortress of Masada, overcoming a small Roman garrison there.