SILVER - SICARII

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Sicarii (Latin plural of Sicarius 'dagger-' or later contract- killer) is a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, (probably) to an extremist splinter group to the Jewish Zealots who attempted to expel the Romans and their sympathisers from Judea.

Tactically, the Sicarii used stealth to carry out there assassinations. Their modus operandi was to ingratiate themselves with their intended victim, becoming either loyal companions or faithful servants and then, once they had become indispensible, they struck.
Almost always they chose very public places for the assassination, often during the pilgrimage to the Temple Mount, they would emerge from the crowds to stab their enemies (Romans or Roman sympathisers, Herodians, and wealthy Jews comfortable with Roman rule), lamenting and wailing ostentatiously after the deed, and then blending into the crowd to escape detection.

Josephus documents their mass suicide at Masada in his study The Jewish War.

In the name of Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, the epithet "Iscariot" is read by many scholars as a Hellenized transformation of sicarius. "Judas the Sicarios" which casts an entirely new light on the betrayal in the Gethsemene.