After the death of Herod in 4 BC and the annexation of Judea to the Roman Empire in 6 AD, the Romans stationed a garrison at Masada. 

In AD 66, a group of Jewish patriots, Zealots, led by Menachem Ben Yehuda, leader of the Galileans, fled to Masada, and with the help of Herod's massive arsenal, captured Masada from the Romans.

After the Romans captured Jerusalem, Masada was the one last Jewish stronghold.

In about 73 AD the Romans led by Flavius Silva, laid siege on Masada.  Thousands of troops built eight camps around the base, a siege wall, and a ramp made of earth and wooden supports on a natural slope to the west.  After a several month siege, the Romans brought a tower with a battering ram up the ramp with which they began to batter the wall.  The Jewish rebels constructed an inner support wall which the Romans set ablaze.