Footnotes
See Hershel Shanks, “The Qumran Settlement,” BAR 19:03; Shanks, “Blood on the Floor at the New York Dead Sea Scroll Conference,” BAR 19:02; Stephen Goranson, “Qumran—The Evidence of the Inkwells,” BAR 19:06.
The Karaites are a sect of Jews established in late classical to early medieval days with an alleged connection to the Sadducees.
See Emanuel Levine, “The United States Navy Explores the Holy Land,” BAR 02:04.
See “Peace, Politics and Archaeology,” BAR 20:02.
See Joseph Patrich, “Hideouts in the Judean Wilderness,” BAR 15:05.
See Paul W. Lapp, “Bedouin Find Papyri Three Centuries Older Than the Dead Sea Scrolls,” BAR 04:01, and Frank Moore Cross, “The Historical Importance of the Samaria Papyri,” BAR 04:01.
See Amos Kloner, “Name of Ancient Israel’s Last President Discovered on Lead Weight,” BAR 14:04.
See Manfred R. Lehmann, “Where the Temple Tax Was Buried,” BAR 19:06, and James E. Harper, “26 Tons of Gold and 65 Tons of Silver,” BAR 19:06.
See Yigael Yadin, “The Temple Scroll: The Longest And Most Recently Discovered Dead Sea Scroll,” BAR 10:05.
Endnotes
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 5.15.73 (vol. 2, p. 73), trans. H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1952).
Père Roland de Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1973), pp. 133–135.
See his descriptions in Natural History, immediately before his description of the Essenes, at 5.20.83–85.
“They are not in one town only, but in every town several of them form a colony … ” Josephus, The Jewish War 2.124, trans. H. St.-J. Thackeray, Loeb Classical Library (London: Heinemann/Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1976).
See William F. Lynch, Narrative of the United States’ Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea (Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1849; New York: Arno Press, 2nd ed., 1977). Lynch does not give this height. One has to correlate his description with the statement of Claude-Regnier Conder and H. H. Kitchener in The Survey of Western Palestine, (London: Palestine Exploration Fund, 1883), vol. 3, p. 384.
Lynch, Narrative of the United States’ Expedition, p. 289. This site is at or close to Ras al Muqqadam (Map reference 1:100,000–1855/1001).
Lynch, Narrative of the United States’ Expedition, p. 294. From the general description of the camp pitched by Lynch, a half mile south of the spring but “immediately in line with, but some little distance from where the fountain stream of Ain Jidy descends the mountain side” (p. 289), we can see that the “Essene caves” were on the southeastern side of the scarp slope of the Shakarat an Najjar (1:100,000–186096), that is, on the northwestern scarp face of the Nahal Arugot.
Benjamin Mazar and Trude Dothan, “The History of the Oasis of En-Geddi,” Atiqot 5 (1966), pp. 1–12, note 19.
“In vain would one look among them for makers of arrows, or javelins, or swords, or helmets, or armour, or shields; in short, for makers of arms, or military machines or any instrument of war, or even of peaceful objects which might be turned to evil purpose.” Philo, Quod omnis probus liber sit, in Complete Works, trans. F.H. Colson et al., 10 vols. (London: Heinemann, 1929–1961), p. 78.
Particularly in the War Rule scroll from Caves One and Four (1QM, 4QM), which describes the battle of the “Sons of Light” against an enemy called the “Kittim,” and the Temple Scroll from Cave Eleven (11QT), which encourages the king to make war against the enemies of his country and gives rules about slaying enemies and taking captives.
“The formation shall consist of one thousand men ranked seven lines deep, each man standing behind the other” (1QM 5.3–4). “In their hands they shall hold a spear and a sword. The length of the spear shall be seven cubits … The swords shall be made of pure iron refined by the smelter and blanched to resemble a mirror … ” 1QM 5.5–16 (Geza Vermes, trans., The Dead Sea Scrolls in English [Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1990]).
Philo, Apologia pro Judaeis 14–17: “[T]hey banned marriage at the same time as they ordered the practice of perfect continence”; Pliny, Natural History 5.15.73: “[They live] … without women, and renouncing love entirely” Josephus, War 2.120–121: “They regard continence and resistance to passion as a virtue, they disdain marriage for themselves … It is not that they abolish marriage … but they are on guard against the licentiousness of women”; and see 2.160–161: “There exists another order of Essenes who, … are separated from them on the subject of marriage.”
“ … [T]hey shall summon them all, the little children and the women also, and they shall read into their ears the precepts of the Covenant … ” Messianic Rule (1QSa). There are also special rules for women in the Temple Scroll (11QT) corresponding to the rules found in the Pentateuch, as well as similar ones in the Damascus Rule (CD) and in fragments from Cave Four. For a full treatment see L. Cansdale, “Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Proceedings of the 11th Conference for World Jewish Studies (Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies—Magnes Press, June 1993, in press).
“A man may marry a beautiful captive woman, but he must first let her mourn a month for her parents.” Temple Scroll (11QT) 63.11–15.
“From [his] youth they shall instruct him in the Book of Meditation and shall teach him according to his age … for ten years.” Messianic Rule (1QSa) 1.6–8. See also Temple Scroll (11QT) 62.9–10: “[When an enemy city is captured] … you shall put all males to the sword, but the women, the children … you may take as spoil for yourself.”
De Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, pp. 57–58; S. H. Steckoll, Preliminary Excavation Report in the Qumran Cemetery Revue de Qumran 6:23 (1968), pp. 323–336.
Josephus, Antiquities 18.21: “They acquire no slaves; in fact they consider slavery an injustice.”
Philo, Quod omnis probus liber sit, 79: “There are no slaves among them, not a single one … and they condemn slave-owners … in that they transgress the law of nature.”
“No man shall chide his manservant or maidservant or laborer on the Sabbath” (Damascus Rule [CD] 11.12). “[H]e shall not sell them [the Gentiles] his manservant or his maidservant” (CD 12.10).
Josephus, War 2.122: “They despise riches … in vain would one search among them for one man with a greater fortune than another”; Philo, Apologia pro Judaeis 4: “None of them can endure to possess anything of his own,” and 11: “All of them loving frugality and hating luxury as a plague for body and soul.”
Robert Donceel, “Reprise de travaux de publication des fouilles au Khirbet Qumran,” Revue Biblique 99:3 (1992), pp. 557–573.
Essenes show their love of God “by rejection of oaths,” Philo, Quod omnis probus liber sit 84; and see Josephus, War 2.135: “Every word they speak is stronger than an oath and they refrain from swearing, considering it worse than perjury.”
Josephus, War 2.139–142: “He makes solemn vows before his brethren. He first swears to practice piety towards the Deity … ”
The Temple Scroll (11QT 53.16, 54.5) rules as to when a husband or father can cancel a woman’s oath and when it may remain in force. Similar ordinances appear in the Damascus Rule (CD 14.10–12).
Philo, Apologia pro Judaeis 4: “None of them can endure to possess anything of their own”; and Quod omnis probus liber sit 86: Whatever they receive as salary … is not kept to themselves, but it is deposited before them all”; Josephus, War 2.122: “It is the law that those who enter the sect shall surrender their property to the order.”
Community Rule (1QS) 6.19: “ … his property and earning shall be handed over to the Bursar.” 1QS 7.6–8: “But if he has failed to care for the property of the Community, thereby causing its loss, he shall restore it in full.” Damascus Rule (CD) 14.13: “They shall place the earnings of at least two days out of every month into the hands of the guardian … and from it they shall succour the poor and the needy … ” and CD 6.15–17: “They shall separate from … the unclean riches from the Temple treasure … to make of widows their prey … ”
Philo, Quod omnis probus liber sit 76: “Some Essenes work in the fields, others practice various crafts contributing to peace.” Philo, Apologia pro Judaeis 8: “There are farmers among them, experts in the art of sowing and cultivating plants, shepherds leading every sort of flock, and beekeepers. Others are craftsmen in diverse trades”; Josephus, Antiquities 18.19: “They are excellent men and wholly given up to agricultural labor.”
Frank Moore Cross and J. T. Milik, “Exploration in the Judean Buqeah” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 142 (1956), pp. 5–17; Cross, “A Footnote to Biblical History,” Biblical Archaeologist (BA) 19/1 (1956), pp. 12–17.
“Ancient Farming in the Judean Wilderness,” BAR 03:03; Lawrence E. Stager, “Farming in the Judean Desert during the Iron Age,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 221 (1976), pp. 145–158.
In addition to the geographical literature cited below, see Arie Nissenbaum, “Shipping Lanes of the Dead Sea,” Rehovot 11:1 (1991), pp. 19–24.
Within the last ten years, substantial research has taken place by members of the Deutsche Evangelische Institut für Altertumswissenschaft under the direction of A. Strobel at ancient Callirrhoe, virtually southeast of Qumran but on the eastern shore, which was long maintained as a harbor; Callirrhoe was the logical port for transhipment of goods to and from Qumran. An ancient road from Callirrhoe to the Wadi Zerqa Ma’in was bordered by watchtowers. Callirrhoe itself was rebuilt by Herod as a luxurious resort place with villas, thermal springs and a harbor. The latter must have handled passengers as well as goods, as this was the easiest route from Jericho and Jerusalem to Machaerus. Roman roads linked Callirrhoe, Zerqa Ma’in and the eastern overland route, the Kings Highway and the Derekh Hamelach.
Other Dead Sea harbors appear to have been at Minet el Mazra on the north of the Lissan peninsula, at Ein Gedi, Ma’aganit Hamelah and Kallia. Survey results in the southern Ghor show that there was a well-developed road network with Roman customs posts that testifies to a heavy overland trade along the full length of the eastern side of the Wadi Araba, linking up with the network from Callirrhoe. (We are indebted to an unpublished article of a member of the research team for this information.)
The evidence from ancient sources is examined in Nissenbaum, “Shipping Lanes of the Dead Sea,” p. 22.
Pessah Bar-Adon, “Excavations in the Judean Desert,” Atiqot 9 (1989), Hebrew Series 1–91. See map opposite p. 1.
This trade is described by G. van Beek, “Frankincense and Myrrh,” BA 2 (1964), pp. 99–126. See also J. Innes Miller, The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire, 29 B.C.–A.D. 641 (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1969), pp. 102–105.
We can trace the movement of these products as far as Petra in the writings of Strabo. Since some of it ended up in Gaza, according to Pliny, we can only assume that a transhipment took place across the Dead Sea. Strabo, Geographia 16.4.24, and Pliny, Natural History 12.32.63–64.
Some people who have had access to de Vaux’s notes suspect he was well aware of the remains of the wall and had recorded its existence in his notes but did not mention it in his publications. This wharf is also apparently recorded as 350-meter, NW-SE oriented, remains of a wall in the 1967–1968 Judea-Samaria-Golan survey published in 1972. Ed. Moshe Kochavi, Judaea, Samaria and the Golan, Archaeological Survey 1967–1968 (Archaeological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, 1972). See also Lawrence E. Stager, “Farming,” p. 157.
For the ancient evidence, see Ellsworth Huntington, Palestine and its Transformation (London and New York: 1911), chap. 14, “The Fluctuations of the Dead Sea,” especially pp. 318–319. For the modern evidence, see the discussion of the hydrology in the Atlas of Israel, “Hydrology” and Cippora Klein, “On the Fluctuations of the Level of the Dead Sea Since the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century” (Hydrological Paper no. 7, 1961, revised 1965). The Dead Sea would have been of considerably greater length than it is now, as Huntington’s discussion of possible seacoast sites testifies.
The Israelite and Roman sites between Qumran and Feshka, as indicated by the reasonably precise map references in the Judea-Samaria-Golan survey, seem to be on the same level above the water, between the -375m and the -350m contours. This would place them close to the water’s edge. In other words, the shore line was between the -375m mark and its present level. The sea height, as suggested, would have allowed the mouth of Wadi Qumran to provide some security from the sudden squalls to which the Dead Sea is prone.
From there, it runs inland along a relatively straight track to the khirbet at Zarzniq (1:100,000–18561270); then the track turns south along the relatively unbroken slope to Khirbet el Muntar on what 19th-century travelers described as the old Jerusalem road, which turns northeast to enter the city via the Kidron valley. Information on this routeway is difficult to find but is described by some of the 19th-century travelers. See, for example, Cunningham Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible (London, Paris, New York and Melbourne: Cassell, 1887), vol. 2, p. 131. The road is shown without a name in Menashe Harel, “Israelite and Roman Roads in the Judean Desert,” Israel Exploration Journal 17:1 (1967), pp. 18–25. Subsequently, Harel named the road the “Salt Road.” “The Route of Salt, Sugar and Balsam Caravans in the Judean Desert,” GeoJournal 2:6 (1976), pp. 549–556. This route is an alternative to the Ma’ale Adumim, which carried traffic to the city of Jericho.
See also M. Harel, “The Roman Road at Ma’aleh ‘Aqrabbim (Scorpions’ Ascent),” Israel Exploration Journal IX:3 (1959), pp. 175–179, and John Rogerson, The New Atlas of the Bible (London: Guild, 1985), p. 114.
The only time we hear of the tax being suspended was during the reigns of Demetrius of Syria and Alexander Balas, when those kings sought to curry favor from Jonathan around 160 B.C.E. (1 Maccabees 10:28–30).
Pauline Donceel-Voûte, in a transcript of the BBC Horizon television series Resurrecting the Dead Sea Scrolls, Teresa Hunt, producer. Text adapted from program transmitted March 22, 1993, pp. 22–23.
Godfrey R. Driver, “Myths of Qumran,” Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society 6 (1969), p. 26.
Pauline Donceel-Voûte, “Coenaculum—La salle á l’ètage du locus 30 á Khirbet Qumrân sur la Mer Morte,” Res Orientales 4 (1992), p. 65, illus. 7.
A parallel may be found at the Iron Age extramural quarter of Jerusalem where the excavators found a “tumble of pottery” in a cave. This pottery consisted of a great number of small bowls, “probably used for drinking wine … juglets, which could have been used for keeping oil, … [and] other pottery connected with cooking and serving food.” This Iron Age find was, according to the excavators, a “kitchen inventory of a restaurant or guest house.” H. J. Franken and M. L. Steiner, Excavation in Jerusalem 1961–1967: The Iron Age Extramural Quarter on the South East (Oxford: 1990), pp. 24–27, plate 6.