The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead SeaEver since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in caves near the site of Qumran in 1947, this mysterious cache of manuscripts has been associated with the Essenes, a 'sect' configured as marginal and isolated. Scholarly consensus has held that an Essene library was hidden ahead of the Roman advance in 68 CE, when Qumran was partly destroyed. With much doubt now expressed about aspects of this view, the Essenes, the Scrolls and the Dead Sea systematically reviews the surviving historical sources, and supports an understanding of the Essenes as an influential legal society, at the centre of Judaean religious life, held in much esteem by many and protected by the Herodian dynasty, thus appearing as 'Herodians' in the Gospels. Opposed to the Hasmoneans, the Essenes combined sophisticated legal expertise and autonomy with an austere regimen of practical work, including a specialisation in medicine and pharmacology. Their presence along the north-western Dead Sea is strongly indicated by two independent sources, Dio Chrysostom and Pliny the Elder, and coheres with the archaeology. The Dead Sea Scrolls represent not an isolated library, quickly hidden, but burials of manuscripts from numerous Essene collections, placed in jars in caves for long-term preservation. The historical context of the Dead Sea area itself, and its extraordinary natural resources, as well as the archaeology of Qumran, confirm the Essenes' patronage by Herod, and indicate that they harnessed the medicinal material the Dead Sea zone provides to this day. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Æ¥æåóØò Ain Feshkha ancient Antiquities Aramaic archaeology asphalt balsam Bar Kokhba Biblical bitumen Boqeq Brill Cairo Genizah caves century bce Christian context date palms Dead Sea Scrolls defined Dio’s Eerdmans Epiphanius Essenes Eusebius evidence Excavations explored Gedi Geza Vermes given Gospel Greek Hasmonean healing Hebrew Hegesippus Herod Herodians Hirschfeld Hist History Hypoth identified indicates interpretation Israel jars Jean-Baptiste Humbert Jericho Jerusalem Jesus Jewish Jews John Jordan Josephus Judaean Judaism lake legal school Leiden linen literature living located Machaerus manuscripts Martin Goodman Masada medicinal Menahem mention noted ŒÆd opobalsam Palestine Period Perushim Pharisees Philo philosophical plants Pliny Pliny’s Posidonius priests Prob purity Qumran rabbinic reference region Revolt Roman rulers Sadducees Schürer second century Second Temple Second Temple Judaism sect settlement society Sodom Solinus sources Strabo Studies Synesius Taylor texts translation Vaux word writes