Books in Brief

012

The Temple Scroll: The Hidden Law of the Dead Sea Sect

Yigael Yadin

(New York: Random House, 1985) 261 pp., $24.95

Yigael Yadin, whose name was synonymous with Israeli archaeology until his untimely passing last summer, was well-known for his ability to excite the general public with the results of his research and to transmit its important conclusions to the widest possible audience. In his lifetime, he published several books designed specifically for this purpose, including The Message of the Scrolls (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957), Masada (New York: Random House, 1966), Bar-Kokhba, the Rediscovery of the Legendary Hero of the Second Jewish Revolt Against Rome (New York: Random House, 1971), and Hazor, the Rediscovery of a Great Citadel of the Bible (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975). Now, another in this series of publications has appeared posthumously. This new volume conveys the results of Professor Yadin’s research on the Temple Scroll. This document is the most recent of the Dead Sea Scrolls to come to light; it was acquired by Yadin during the Six-Day War of 1967.

While Yadin had communicated his results to the scholarly world in major Hebrew and English publications,^a as well as in numerous articles, it is the present volume that will no doubt be the most widely read. Like his earlier volumes, this book is lucidly written, beautifully designed and illustrated, and breathes with the excitement of discovery, an experience with which Yadin was so often blessed. One has only to read the first chapter to share in the captivating story of Yadin’s acquisition of the scroll for the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. Scholars and students will make use of the more technical volumes, but they will also have to read this account of the acquisition since it is much fuller than those the author included in his scientific publications. Even the more descriptive sections of this book take the reader into Yadin’s study, there to share the process of decipherment and the thrill of interpreting a scroll that had not been unrolled for millennia.

The Temple Scroll is indeed a unique find. Its size alone (26.9 feet [8.148 meters] are preserved) makes it one of the major discoveries in the Dead Sea corpus. It is essentially a description of the author’s views regarding the plan of the Jerusalem Temple and its furnishings, the laws of sacrifice, ritual purity, the festival calendar, and a series of laws for the king hitherto unknown. Most of these laws are adapted from Pentateuchal legislation according to a detailed system of Biblical interpretation that often yields rulings at variance with those of other contemporary Jewish authorities. Often the materials in this scroll agree with views in the other Dead Sea Scrolls or in the rabbinic traditions.

Yadin himself surveyed the contents of this scroll in a recent issue of BAR,^b so there is no need for us to do that here. This volume spells out in fascinating detail all aspects of the scroll and introduces the reader to its specific provisions. The account is clear and readable, as is always the case with Yadin’s writings. This book follows the structure and contents of the analysis in Yadin’s scholarly works on this scroll.

Yadin’s basic conclusions regarding the scroll are that it is an integral part of the literature written by the Dead Sea sect, identified by him and by most scholars with the Essenes described by Josephus and Philo. Yadin dated the composition of the text to the period before John Hyrcanus (135–104 B.C.). He understood the Temple Scroll as a text regarded by the sect of Qumran as a canonical “Torah,” claiming to be spoken directly by God. He suggested that this scroll may possibly be mentioned in other writings of the sect and may even be mentioned in rabbinic literature. It was considered by the Essenes to be a revelation that came to Zadok, the founder of the sect, who was called the Teacher of Righteousness.

These conclusions, already expressed in Yadin’s scientific editions of the scroll, have led to considerable scholarly debate and controversy Yadin did take some account of this critique in writing this book, but nevertheless maintained his previous stances and interpretations. The primary challenge to Yadin’s approach has come from those, including this reviewer, who have raised questions about the place of the scroll in the Qumran corpus. This scroll was found in Qumran Cave 11 by Bedouin, so that it is, indeed, part of the corpus of Dead Sea Scrolls. In recent years, however, it has become increasingly clear that the Qumran corpus is a varied collection. Some books in it were in fact authored by the sect of the Dead Sea Scroll people that inhabited Qumran. Other books were part of the sect’s library, stemming from earlier or contemporary authors or even from sects whose ideas were in some ways similar and related to those of the Dead Sea sect. Yadin was aware of this problem, yet he concluded that the scroll was indeed composed by the Dead Sea sect and that it played a central role in its way of life. He gave little attention to the other possibilities. Other scholars have suggested that despite the parallels Yadin has cited and analyzed, this scroll, this new Torah, is not the work of the Qumran sect, but is a composition by some similar group.

What gives rise to the opinion that the Temple Scroll was not authored by the Qumran sect? This scroll bears none of the sectarian animus that is so familiar to us from the other materials. Further, this document seems to be a priestly text, concerned with gaining salvation through the sacrificial service. The sect, on the other hand, saw itself as a substitute for the Temple and its cult, in which it could not bring itself to participate. The Temple Scroll cannot be used as a source to reconstruct the life of the sectarians of Qumran, except insofar as it was part of their library and, therefore, would have influenced their teachings to some extent.

After a brief discussion of the identification of the Dead Sea sect with the Essenes of Josephus and Philo, and of the relationship of the scrolls to the New Testament, Yadin stated his conclusions at the completion of his study of “the longest and perhaps most important of all the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered so far.”

“Whether or not one accepts my interpretations, suggestions and conclusions … one thing is clear: this scroll provides us with a ‘Torah’ of absorbing interest. … It is my hope that further specialist studies on each facet of the teachings of the Temple Scroll will draw forth data on the biblical texts, the Hebrew language and the Jewish faith of two thousand years ago, on the eve of the destruction of the Temple by the Romans” (p. 254).

Yadin’s work has itself gone a long way toward illuminating this period, and his contribution to the study of the Dead Sea corpus is unparalleled. This posthumous work will make the results of his research available to a 014wide public. This is a book that anyone interested in Biblical archaeology or the history of Judaism and Christianity should read. The spirit of inquiry Yadin espoused and the important questions investigated by him provide a firm foundation for the study of the Temple Scroll. As a result, this text has taken its place as one of the central documents for the study of the Judaism of the Second Temple period.

Ancient Astronauts, Cosmic Collisions and Other Popular Theories About Man’s Past

William H. Stiebing, Jr.

(Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1984) 217 pp., $18.95 hardback, $9.95 paperback

Many people believe in a literal reading of the Flood story. Others believe in theories ascribing the causes of historical events to stars and planets passing close to earth. Some suggest that space voyagers from another galaxy brought civilization to earth. There are those who believe that the pyramids have supernatural powers, and that their measurements harbor dates and clues for historical events, past and future. Some people argue fervently that before the New World was “discovered” by Columbus it was visited by humans from other parts of the world who brought with them ways of life that influenced the local inhabitants; or perhaps these visitors became the natives whom the Spaniards later discovered. The people who hold these various views have one thing in common—this book is not for them. This book emphasizes common sense and is addressed to people who rely on logic. This book is for people who do not ascribe the origin of everything under the sun to one particular source. As William H. Stiebing, Jr. says it, this book was written “for such people who are genuinely seeking knowledge about the past … ” (p. 171).

Stiebing’s volume deals with myths that became theories. An ever-growing number of adherents claim that the scholarly world is too dogmatic to accept these theories. But as Stiebing, who has no axe to grind, explains in his last chapter, entitled “Popular Theories and the ‘Establishment,’” the popularity of these so-called theories is a result of two factors: (1) the nature of the adherents and (2) the scholarly community. People who believe in such theories “are people who want to believe, regardless of evidence. For such individuals it would seem that the unscientific, quasi-religious, anti-establishment nature of the theories is what is important” (p. 171). The problem is heightened by the fact that the scholarly community “rightly objects that, if they tried to answer all of the contentions of popular authors, there would be little or no time left for more productive research. Unfortunately, in the public’s mind, the reluctance of professional scholars to discuss popular theories lends credence to charges of establishment dogmatism” (p. 173). However, it seems that there will always be those who will believe in Atlantis, cosmic catastrophes, and other popular theories, no matter how effectively scholars present the case against them, because of the long-standing human tendency to sympathize with the underdog and the martyr. The proponents of these popular theories tend to represent themselves as martyrs. But the problem is in their methodology, not in the reluctance of the “establishment” to accept new theories.

While this book is a must for the layperson, I would highly recommend it to scholars, too. Many scholars do not have the time to deal systematically with popular theories, and yet they are asked time and again about their opinions concerning these theories. Stiebing has done an excellent job in providing the scholar with the tools (the evidence, the arguments, etc.) to answer such questions intelligently.

The book is written in a very clear manner with the lay public in mind. Each scientific term or method is explained immediately. Each theory dealt with is presented first from the standpoint of its proponents. Then the author shows, step by step, why the theory is false. He does not hide areas where scientists still have problems, but he tries to show that one answer to all questions is unacceptable. Six different theories, each dealt with in its own chapter, receive this thorough treatment: The Deluge; Atlantis, the Sunken Continent; Cosmic Catastrophism; The Search for Ancient Astronauts; Mysteries of the Pyramids and Early Voyagers to the Americas.

While reading the book, I admired Stiebing for the careful research he conducted regarding theories related to the Old as well as the New World. I wish more scholars would take the time to provide the public with books and articles clarifying problems in ways that non-professionals can understand.

015

Excavations and Surveys in Israel

(Jerusalem, 1984) each volume 117 pp., $9.00

Excavations and Surveys in Israel is the English edition of Hadashot Arkheologiot, the annual archaeological newsletter of the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums. This important publication was available until now only in Hebrew, but starting with No. 78 (for 1978) it became available to the English reader. Two volumes have been published, containing Nos. 78–81 (Vol. 1) and 82–83 (Vol. 2). The publication of the English version was made possible by the American Schools of Oriental Research (W. F. Albright Institute), Hebrew Union College/Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology, The Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums, and the Israel Exploration Society. This effort should be welcomed by all those interested in knowing what is happening in the field of Biblical archaeology in Israel as it happens.

The purpose of Hadashot Arkheologiot is to bring news from the field to the professional and to the interested lay public as soon as it occurs. Thus, this publication contains many items, bits and pieces of undigested information shared before final conclusions are reached, that are not published in any other subsequent publication. However, this enables the reader to know what is happening soon after it happens. Hadashot publishes not only preliminary reports of excavations and surveys but, most important, reports of emergency salvage operations. These latter reports rarely find their way to foreign-language publications and, until the publication of the English editions, they remain the “secret” of the Hebrew-reading public. Now, all this information is available to the English reader.

There is one small difference between the Hebrew and the English versions. While the sites in Hadashot are arranged from north to south, the sites in the present volume are listed alphabetically. It is possible to locate them easily with the help of the map at the back of the book.

There are some inconsistencies in spelling such as “tel” and “tell” and “horvat” and “khirbet,” and there are some inconsistencies in chronological periods. However, those who are behind this effort should be commended for it, and I hope that future issues of the English version will appear concurrently with those in Hebrew.

Roman Arabia

G. W. Bowersock

(Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press, 1983), 256 pages, $17.50

This work will undoubtedly hold a place as the leading historical monograph on the Roman province of Arabia for many years to come. It represents a thorough review and summary of all phases (Maccabean, Herodian and Roman periods) in the history of that region and is based on all the latest results of scholarly research.

The area under discussion includes all of Transjordan south of Damascus and reaching eastward into the Arabian desert to the Wadi Sirhan, down to the northern Hejaz and across the Aravah to the Mediterranean coast. The author himself has conducted original research on the subject and is in close touch with the other scholars who are on the 016frontier (literally and figuratively) of modern field archaeology in this region.

Bowersock uses the original ancient sources (Nabataean and Roman inscriptions, such historians as Josephus, etc.) and evaluates their evidence afresh. In this regard, his book has no competitor in the English language. Unfortunately, the Greek and Latin inscriptions are given only in the original, without translation. Thus, although the book will be extremely valuable to the specialist, the general reader may be deterred. It would be most unfortunate if the layperson and the teachers in colleges, churches and synagogues should become discouraged from using this book; none of the more popular booklets on the subjects treated, especially those on the Nabataeans, can hold a candle to this history.

Biblical students will doubtless be more interested in the first five chapters: I. The Region, II. The Coming of the Nabataeans, III. Pompey and His Successors, IV. The Early Principate and V. The Flowering of Nabataea.

In chapter II, the author evaluates the allusions to the Nabataeans and other “Arabians” in the books of Maccabees and related texts. He convincingly argues that the Nabataeans were a peaceful people not prone to war. It was against another “Arabian” people that the Maccabean leaders had to fight in Transjordan. Bowersock points out the role of Petra in the various stages of Nabataean history. (By the way, Petra is no longer confused with Biblical Sela.) No visitor to that “rose-red city” in the future should fail to prepare for the experience by reading what Bowersock has to say. The many Nabataean contacts with the Herodian dynasty are also dealt with in an able manner.

The remaining chapters are of no less importance: VI. The New Province, VII. Boundaries and Defenses, VIII. The Impact of Septimus Severus, IX. From Philip to Zenobia, X. King of All the Arabs. I derived much profit from the latter discussion, especially about the role of Arabia in protecting the Roman flanks during the wars with the Parthians and the competition with Palmyra, the other great Arabian power in the Near East of Roman times.

Four appendixes deal with specialized topics. The most exciting of these is perhaps Appendix II, which describes the role of the great Wadi Sirhan as a caravan route with military outposts.

The historical geographer will find much stimulation in Appendix IV: Ancient Maps of Roman Arabia. This is a fitting conclusion to a monograph that begins quite properly with chapter I: The Region. Appendix IV 017gives special attention to the Puetinger Table, a great parchment chart of the Roman Empire. Bowersock convincingly argues that the original was an actual wall map on display in ancient Rome. One of his many useful observations is that there was no road running the north-south length of the Aravah in Roman times, but only routes that crossed it from east to west. The same is now proving true for the older Old Testament period. On the other hand, the routes across the modern Negev highlands were of major importance in linking Arabia with the sea coast of Philistia in both periods.

I was surprised at one weakness in the geographical argument: the use of modern Elath as a key peg in the identification of ancient Elath (p. 172, bottom). The name Elath, like all modern Hebrew place names, was established by the Israel Place Names Committee, albeit with due respect to the ancient sources where available. But for scholarly research one must rely on the toponymy of the 19th-century surveys, not on modern Israeli maps! Elath was founded in 1949. No trace of the Biblical site was discovered by 19th-century surveyors.

Pharaoh’s People

T. G. H. James

(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984) 298 pp., $20.00

Pharaoh’s People is a welcome relief for those surfeited with political histories and art books on ancient Egypt. All too often the archaeologist-Egyptologist is attracted to the palace or temple, the art-historian to the statue or relief, and the historian to the glories of Pharaoh and empire, while the less sensational evidence on the daily living of the lower classes in ancient Egypt, and the socioeconomic system in which they existed, is hurriedly passed over.

Even today, excavators prefer to investigate large public buildings rather than the hovels of the people surrounding them.^c This woeful and slightly antiquated approach to historical-archaeological research in the Nile Valley thus persists. The Egyptologist is often branded in the eyes of colleagues as a quaint, outmoded phenomenon whose scholarship is not to be taken seriously.

Fortunately, T. G. H. James is no such Egyptologist. This new volume is well written in the style we have come to expect from this author. In Pharaoh’s People, he analyzes the roles and customs of all social classes, from prime minister to farmer. James introduces us to the writings they have left behind, and the economics of the state that governed their lives. Three chapters are devoted to aspects of literacy and the role of the scribe, a wise concentration of effort in light of the importance of the scribal versus the oral tradition of transmission in ancient Egypt. Whatever may be true elsewhere in the Near East, in Egypt the written works of the literati were considered by contemporaries to outweigh in reliability the orally transmitted traditions of the masses.

Sixteen plates and numerous line drawings accompany the text; most are of good quality. The book ends with a brief chronology, a list of suggested readings (which might have been a trifle longer), and a fine index.

018

The Archaeology of Greece: An Introduction

William R. Biers

(Cornell University Press: Ithaca, New York, 1980) 343 pp., 11 plates, 400 figures, 3 maps, $42.50 cloth, $17.95 paperback

When I used the hardback edition of this book as a text for a course on Greek art and archaeology, students grumbled at the price. Now that it is available in paperback, my students are thoroughly pleased with it, particularly because of its profuse photographs, maps, plans of sites and of buildings, and reconstruction drawings.

For example, the growth of and changes in the Athenian agora are shown in several plans throughout the book. First we see it in about 500 B.C., next at the end of the fifth century B.C., then in the fourth century and the second century B.C., and finally in the second century A.D.

Most texts on ancient Greek art contain a chapter on architecture, another on sculpture, another on painting, and perhaps one on minor arts. Biers has chosen a more manageable approach; it is also the one normally used in the classroom. Chapters are arranged chronologically by period. Within each are sections on the history of the period and on its architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaics, pottery, coins and lamps. Biers selects not only the most beautiful objects but also the most informative ones. So one reads not only about a well-known public building like the Parthenon but also about the private houses of the period.

The introductory chapter, “Archaeology in Greece,” briefly covers the discipline and its history and outlines the responsibilities of the archaeologist. Biers includes an aerial photograph taken by a balloon-supported camera of the underwater site of Porto Cheli in the Peloponnese to illustrate a current archaeological technique. He includes a simple drinking cup from Olympia inscribed with the name of the great fifth-century B.C. artist Phidias, whose sculptures are known only from Roman copies.

In chapters on the Minoans and the Mycenaeans, whose civilizations flourished during the Bronze Age (c. 3000 B.C. to 1100/1050 B.C.), Biers not only describes the famous center of Minoan culture at Knossos on Crete but also provides a glimpse into the life and work of its extraordinary British excavator, Arthur Evans. A brief discussion and half a dozen photographs (including one in color) are devoted to the exciting current excavations by the Greek Archaeological Service on the Aegean island of Thera (modern Santorini), where well-preserved remains provide new insights into the lives of people in a provincial Minoan site. A photograph of the impressive Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae shows a person standing in the doorway, thus giving the student who has not visited the site a clear sense of the colossal size of this beehive (tholos) tomb.

The chapter on the Archaic period illustrates how well Biers covers both newly discovered and less well-known archaeological material. Two magnificent marble sculptures found by chance during the early 1970s are here joined to the large group of previously known statues of youths (kouroi) and maidens (korai). Both of these recently discovered sculptures date to the period just after 540 B.C. and preserve clear traces of the paint that originally adorned them. The youth is unnamed, but an inscription on the base to which the kore was once affixed identifies her as Phrasikleia, a girl who died unmarried; the sculptor too is named—Aristion of Paros.

Another important addition to Archaic material (found in 1973) is part of a small sculpted pediment from Corfu representing a banquet scene (first half of the sixth century B.C.). A bearded man and a boy recline on a banquet couch, holding their drinking vessels; below them are a reclining feline and striding long-legged dog. Biers reminds us of the similarity between this work and scenes painted on vases from Corinth, the city whose inhabitants were the original settlers of Corfu. Photographs of the recent Munich reconstructions of the magnificent pedimental sculptures from the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina round out this captivating look at the Archaic period.

Throughout the book, familiar monuments are fully represented, from the Early Classical Temple of Zeus at Olympia, with its pedimental sculpture in the so-called severe style, to the more lighthearted Hellenistic marble sculpture of a young child playfully trying to strangle a goose. However, the lesser-known material is equally important and interesting for both scholars and lay readers. One sees a complete reconstruction of the important healing sanctuary dedicated to Asklepios on the island of Kos; a view of the massive fourth-century walls and towers of Eleutherai, an unusually well-preserved Attic fort on the boundary with Boeotia; and a unique Archaic wooden plaque from Pitsa near Corinth painted in brilliant colors with a scene of a votive procession. Illustration and discussion of new material are also welcome, such as a rare, recently discovered late fifth-century pebble mosaic from Corinth showing a chubby centaur, arms outstretched, galloping after a spotted cat, and a still relatively unknown modern tin reconstruction of a badly battered late Hellenistic bronze head of a child in Olympia. If the reader is tempted to pursue a theme or an artifact further, each chapter is accompanied by a brief bibliography and annotated suggestions for further reading.

Biers’s familiarity with newly discovered material and his acquaintance with the history of archaeological discovery is invaluable, as is his knowledge of contexts and sites. Only an excavating archaeologist like Biers is likely to be privy to this vast fund of information on ancient Greece. His competent handling of this fascinating evidence should whet the interest of all who wish to learn either about the artifacts or about the context to which the monuments belong. For the experienced traveler to the cities and sanctuaries of the Greek world, as for the armchair enthusiast, The Archaeology of Greece is indispensable.

The Temple Scroll: The Hidden Law of the Dead Sea Sect

Yigael Yadin

(New York: Random House, 1985) 261 pp., $24.95