Generations of Israelis grew up on Masada's myth of heroism and noble suicide. What really happened on the mountain does not quite fit the national narrative, yet the it keeps shaping Israeli societyMixed with the political observations in this long article are observations about what we can infer really happened at the fall of Masada. The answer is not straightforward.
For some PaleoJudaica posts on the archaeology of Masada and the question of the reliability of Josephus' account of its fall to the Romans, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and links. And you can dig up still more in the archives.
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