Four archaeologists assess the site If you want to understand how archaeologists think, how they reason, how they work, how they interpret finds—and why they sometimes disagree—you will enjoy this discussion among four prominent archaeologists who know as much about Qumran and its excavation as can be known today. Long associated with the Dead Sea […]
Overview Overview- Excavation Secondary sources Qumran, Khirbet (M.R. 193127), Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Anchor Bible Dictionary (ed. David Noel Freedman), Doubleday, New York 1992. The Archaeology of Qumran, Lawrence H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia 1994. Frank Moore Cross. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the People Who Wrote Them.” Biblical Archaeology Review […]
Highlights- Coin of Alexander Jannaeus, 103-76 BCE The Temple Scroll, c. 100 BCE The War Scroll, c. 100 BCE Menorah Coin, 40-37 BCE The Ten Commandments Scroll, 30-1 BCE Overview The Maccabees (Hasmoneans) 167-63, Teddy Kollek and Moshe Pearlman, Jerusalem- Sacred City of Mankind, Steimatzky Ltd., Jerusalem, 1991. Biblical History- From Alexander the Great to […]
Qumran has remained a mystery long enough. Forty-five years after excavations first began, all the evidence from the site has still not been satisfactorily reconciled by any single theory. Jodi Magness, in the accompanying article, makes a persuasive case for what Qumran was not. I believe I can make an equally persuasive case for what […]
Everyone wants to know who lived at Qumran, the settlement adjacent to the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. And sometimes it seems that everyone has a different opinion. With hopes of helping to solve the riddle, I’d like to address the other side of this question- Who didn’t live there? Our […]
Overview Overview- Identification of the Sect Primary sources Josephus, Antiquities XIII, 297- The Pharisees and Sadducees on the Traditions of the Fathers Josephus, Antiquities XVIII, 18-22- The Doctrine of the Essenes Josephus, War II, 119-61- The Life of the Essenes Philo, Every Good Man is Free XII, 75-87- Description of the Essenes Pliny, Natural History […]
The key to understanding the Copper Scroll One Dead Sea Scroll stands out as unique—in many ways. First, of course, is the material it is written on. It is the only one of the more than 800 scrolls in the collection that is written, or rather scratched, on copper—thin copper sheets. Obviously, it must have […]
Overview Overview- The Decline of Sectarianism Primary sources The Theodotus Inscription in Jerusalem- The Functions of the Synagogue, Texts and Traditions, ed. Lawrence H. Schiffman, Ktav Publishing House, Hoboken NJ, 1998, p.474. Secondary sources Qumran in the Roman Period, Lawrence H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1994. Masada and Its […]
Overview Overview- Biblical Literature Primary sources The Letter of Aristeas- How the Jewish Law was Translated from Hebrew to Greek Mishnah Yadayim 3-5- The Debate Over the Biblical Canon Tosefta Yadayim 2-14- The Biblical Canon and Divine Inspiration Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 14b-15a- The Order of Scripture Secondary sources Jeremiah, Lawrence H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the […]
Qumran Cave 4: Palaeo-Hebrew and Greek Biblical Manuscripts (Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, Volume 9) Patrick W. Skehan, Eugene Ulrich and Judith E. Sanderson, with a contribution by P.J. Parsons (Oxford- Clarendon Press, 1992) 250 pp., 47 plates, $105.00 Qumran Cave 4 contained the mother lode of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Nearly 600 of the […]