Josephus tells us that shortly before Silva's capture of Masada he was appointed governor of Judea. According to his career inscriptions, he was elevated to the rank of patrician and praetorian during the joint consulship of Vespasian and Titus, which only began in early April 73. The next step in his career was his appointment as governor of Judea. Masada fell in March or April. Therefore, it could not have fallen in 73, for Silva had not yet been appointed governor of Judea.
Scholars are still divided on the issue.
Among the Latin inscriptions is also a fragment of Virgil's Aeneid , attributed to the Zealot period at Masada. On the wall of a storage silo in the casemate wall that virtually surrounds Masada is a rectangular seal impression with the name Josephus in Greek and Latin. But this Josephus was probably a Jewish baker, not the famous historian who chronicled Masada's defiance of the Roman army. In it Ehud Netzer describes in detail each of the rooms on the site. An architect himself, Netzer revels in understanding the plans, the development of the structures and the way they functioned together.