Scrolls From the Dead Sea:
The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship

THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY:
RELATED LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MATERIALS

These items were on display in the exhibit at the Library of Congress, May - August 1993. Images of these objects are not included in the online version of the exhibit, but these exhibit captions are included to provide some additional background on the scholarly work surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Qumran Community, and its Library.

MODERN PHYLACTERY CASES

Though larger, these phylacteries are modern versions of the Qumran phylacteries. Traditionally worn on the forehead and the left arm during weekday prayers, the head phylactery displayed here has been opened to show the compartments for the slips inscribed with biblical verses.

Phylacteries (Tefillin)
Leather
Early twentieth century
Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress (182)

PHYLACTERY TEXT

In this monograph on the phylacteries, noted archaeologist Yigael Yadin provided a detailed description of the methods used to fold the slips so that they could be inserted into their tiny compartments.

Yigael Yadin
Tefillin from Qumran (Jerusalem, 1969)
Printed book
Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress (151)

THE PUBLICATION CONTROVERSY

In December 1991, a two-volume edition of scroll photographs was published. This facsimile edition was issued by the Biblical Archaeology Society, an American group headed by Hershel Shanks. It is opened here to a transcription and reconstruction of Some Torah Precepts. The publication of this reconstruction and transcription is currently the subject of lawsuit in Israel and the United States between the reconstructor of the text, Dr. Qimron and the publisher, Hershel Shanks. In March 1993, an Israeli court found in favor of Mr. Quimron.

Robert Eisenman and James Robinson, eds.
A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls 1 (Washington, 1991)
Printed book
Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress (130)

THE ORIGIN OF THE SCROLLS AND THE QUMRAN SITE

In "The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Perspective," Professor Norman Golb of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago presents evidence to support his view that the Dead Sea Scrolls do not derive from a sect that copied or wrote the manuscripts that were found in the nearby caves. According to Professor Golb, there is no persuasive evidence to support the commonly held view that a sect inhabited the Qumran plateau. Dr. Golb states that the scrolls are from Jerusalem libraries, encompassing a wide variety of non-sectarian as well as sectarian materials. In his view, the preponderance of archaeological evidence supports the existence of a Roman fortress at Qumran rather than a sectarian community.

Norman Golb
"The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Perspective"
The American Scholar (Spring, 1989)
Bound serial
General Collections, Library of Congress (135)

THE SECTARIAN CALENDAR

Displayed here, from Hebrew University Professor S. Talmon's "The World of Qumran from Within," is a table outlining the sectarian solar calendar, which, unlike the lunar calendar of non-sectarian Judaism, is remarkable for its regularity. The first day of the New Year always falls on Wednesday. This meant that the Day of Atonement always fell on a Friday; Tabernacles on a Wednesday; Passover on a Wednesday; and the Feast of Weeks on a Sunday.

Shemaryahu Talmon
The World of Qumran from Within (Jerusalem, 1989)
Printed book
General Collections, Library of Congress (144)

THE COMMUNITY RULE

A complete version of the Community Rule was uncovered in Cave 1. It was photographed by J. Trever, an archaeologist at the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. This manuscript is one of three that were exhibited at the Library of Congress in 1949. The fragment of the Community Rule on display here is from Cave 4.

John Trever
Scrolls from Qumran Cave I (Jerusalem, 1972)
Printed book
Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress (126)

PLINY ON THE ESSENES

Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian, described the Essenes in his encyclopedic work, "Natural History" (Chapter V:17,4). In locating the Essenes just west of the Dead Sea--but north of Ein Gedi--Pliny provides a key support for the hypothesis which advances the Essenes as the inhabitants of the Qumran plateau:

To the west (of the Dead Sea) the Essenes have put the necessary distance between themselves and the insalubrious shore .... Below the Essenes was the town of Engada (Engedi). [Translation from "The Essenes According to Classical Sources" (1989)]

Pliny the Elder
Naturalis historiae (Parma, 1481)
Printed book
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (111)

PLINY ON THE ESSENES

In characterizing the Essenes, Pliny describes a people similar to the sect whose regulations are outlined in the Community Rule:

They are a people unique . . . and admirable beyond all others in the whole world, without women and renouncing love entirely, without money . . . . [Translation from "The Essenes According to Classical Sources" (1989)]

Pliy the Elder
Naturalis historiae (Venice, 1472) Printed book
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (113)

SADDUCEES AND PHARISEES

The Mishnah and Talmud record various disagreements between the Sadducees, the priestly and aristocratic party, and the Pharisees, which included the lay circles. The following disagreement on the laws of purity is reported in tractate "Tohorot:"

The Sadducees say: We complain against you Pharisees that you declare an uninterrupted flow of a liquid to be clean. The Pharisees say: we complain against you Sadducees that you declare a stream of water that flows from a burial ground to be clean? (Mishnah Yada`im. 8)

Talmud
Tohorot (Venice, 1528)
Printed book
Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress (118)

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS

The ancient historian Flavius Josephus (ca. 38 C.E.- 100 C.E.) is the primary historical source for the late Second Temple period. In 66 C.E., at the outbreak of the Jewish rebellion against Rome, Josephus was appointed military commander of Galilee. Defeated, he betrayed colleagues who had chosen group suicide and surrendered to the enemy. His life spared, he was taken to Rome and became a pensioner of Vespasian, the Roman general who later became emperor.

In 75 C.E., at age thirty-eight, he wrote "The Jewish War," which he claimed was "the greatest of all [wars], not only that have been in our times, but, in a manner of those that ever were heard of." This volume is opened to the beginning of Book Four of "The Jewish War," in which Josephus describes the Jewish rebellion, and an illumination of the battle between the Roman and Judean forces. After Rome's victory, scholars believe that the Qumran settlement ceased to exist.

Flavius Josephus
L`histoire . . . (Paris, 1530)
Printed book
Rosenwald Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (110)

JOSEPHUS ON THE ESSENES

From his "Antiquities of the Jews" 18, 18-22:

The Essenes like to teach that in all things one should rely on God. They also declare that souls are immortal . . . . They put their property in a common stock, and the rich man enjoys no more of his fortune than does the man with absolutely nothing. And there are more than 4000 men who behave in this way. In addition, they take no wives and acquire no slaves; in fact, they consider slavery an injustice . . . . [Translation from "The Essenes According to Classical Sources" (1989)]

Flavius Josephus
De antiquitate Judaica (Augsburg, 1470)
Printed book
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (104)

WHY HEROD HONORED THE ESSENES

From "Antiquities of the Jews" 15, 371-9

Among those spared from being forced [to take a loyalty oath to Herod] were those we call Essenes . . . . It is worth saying what caused [Herod] to honor the Essenes. There was a certain Essene whose name was Manaemus . . . . This man once saw Herod when the latter, still a boy, was on the way to his teacher's house, and addressed him as 'King of the Jews.' Herod thought he was ignorant or joking and reminded him that he was a private citizen. But Manaemus smiled gently and tapped him with his hand on the rump, saying: 'But indeed you will be king and you will rule happily, for you have been found worthy by God.' [Translation from "The Essenes According to Classical Sources" (1989)]

Flavius Josephus
Ioudaikes. . . (Basel, 1544)
Printed book
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (106)

JOSEPHUS ON THE ESSENES

From "The Jewish War" 2, 119-120

There exists among Jews three schools of philosophy: the Pharisees belong to the first, the Sadducees to the second, and to the third belong men, who have a reputation for cultivating a particularly saintly life, called Essenes . . . . The Essenes renounce pleasure as evil, and regard continence and resistance to the passions as a virtue. They disdain marriage for themselves, but adopt children of others at a tender age in order to instruct them . . . . [Translation from "The Essenes According to Classical Sources" (1989)]

Note the Hebrew manuscript bound in the inside covers of the volume. It is a late fourteenth or early fifteenth century copy of a liturgical poem recited on the Feast of Weeks.

Flavius Josephus
De bello Judaico (Verona, 1480) Printed book
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (107)

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

Surrounded by explanatory text, the engraving at the center depicts the First Temple. The High Priest at the altar and the Ark of the Covenant are illustrated at the foot of the engraving.

This frontispiece from an edition of the works of Flavius Josephus was in the collection of Thomas Jefferson, acquired by the Library of Congress in 1815.

Flavius Josephus
"Antiquities of the Jews"
Frontispiece from The Genuine Works . . . (London, 1737)
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (105)

VIEWS OF JERUSALEM

At the opening of Book One of "The Jewish War" of this first American edition of Flavius Josephus is an engraving of Jerusalem during the Second Temple. The Temple is located at the center of the lower half of the illustration and the Roman legions are shown encamped outside the walls.

Flavius Josephus
"Jerusalem"
The Works of Flavius Josephus (New York, 1792)
Printed book, engraving
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (108)