The Antagonists is a 1971 historical novel by Ernest K. Gann telling a fictionalized account of the siege of the Masada citadel in Israel by the 10th Legion of the Roman Empire in AD 73. The novel was adapted as a television miniseries, Masada, broadcast first in 1981. The two antagonists of the title are Eleazer ben Yair, leader of the Jewish Zealots who make a final stand on Masada; and the Roman general Flavius Silva.