What do you think?
Rate this book
The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea
Ever 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, T he 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.
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.
440 pages, Paperback
First published October 13, 2012
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 22, 2019
This magisterial investigation gathers the best current thinking about the Dead Sea Scrolls that have exercised such fascination since their discovery seventy years ago. The sheer amount of ancient literature and modern research Taylor amasses might discourage some readers, but the clarity of her structure makes it possible to follow her argumentation. She also provides summaries at the end of each chapter that help the reader keep track of her main conclusions.
The book is divided into two parts. The first part analyses all ancient references to the Essenes. Before doing so, she sketches the scholarly bias of the past two centuries that has tended to view Second Temple Judaism as sterile and legalistic, then marginalized the Essenes as unimportant within that context. Her reading of Philo, Josephus, Dio Chrysostom, and others yields, in aggregate, a picture of an esteemed elite group. Pliny alone is an outlier, depicting them as strange.
Taylor recasts the Greek term often misleadingly translated “sect” to establish that the Essenes were one of three recognized legal societies or schools alongside the better-known Pharisees and Sadducees. Along the way, she discards notions that the Essenes were pacifist or vegetarian, as well as the view that they rejected the Temple. Although they were estranged from the Hasmonean hegemony, which combined kingship and priesthood in an unprecedented way, the high standards of the Essenes meant that they were allowed their own separate court as well as a separate sacrificial area within the Temple precinct.
The view that the Essenes were marginal is due in no small part to the fact that they are not referred to by that name in the New Testament, whereas references to the Pharisees and the Sadducees abound. Taylor seconds the opinion espoused by Hartmut Stegemann in his excellent book, The Library of Qumran (1998, originally published in German in 1993), that the “Herodians” in the Gospel of Mark are the Essenes (we don’t know what the Essenes called themselves; both terms are what others called them).
Josephus depicts them as living in many towns throughout Judea. So what is the connection with Qumran, near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea? This is the focus of the second part of the book, in which Taylor surveys what ancient sources report about the Dead Sea, then discusses the scrolls and the caves that contained them.
Rather than being the headquarters of the movement, Taylor characterizes Qumran as an outpost, used primarily to prepare writings no longer used by the many Essene communities for burial (to this day, pious Jews do not toss books containing the divine name into the trash; when they are tattered and need to be replaced, they are buried). The proximity to the Dead Sea, with its ready supply of salt and bitumen, was handy for this task.
Secondarily, this location was useful for another Essene interest, healing. The plants and minerals found in the area were renowned in the ancient world for their medicinal properties.
Between the two parts of the book is a section of illustrations, many in color. I found them useful in following Taylor’s arguments.
The book is divided into two parts. The first part analyses all ancient references to the Essenes. Before doing so, she sketches the scholarly bias of the past two centuries that has tended to view Second Temple Judaism as sterile and legalistic, then marginalized the Essenes as unimportant within that context. Her reading of Philo, Josephus, Dio Chrysostom, and others yields, in aggregate, a picture of an esteemed elite group. Pliny alone is an outlier, depicting them as strange.
Taylor recasts the Greek term often misleadingly translated “sect” to establish that the Essenes were one of three recognized legal societies or schools alongside the better-known Pharisees and Sadducees. Along the way, she discards notions that the Essenes were pacifist or vegetarian, as well as the view that they rejected the Temple. Although they were estranged from the Hasmonean hegemony, which combined kingship and priesthood in an unprecedented way, the high standards of the Essenes meant that they were allowed their own separate court as well as a separate sacrificial area within the Temple precinct.
The view that the Essenes were marginal is due in no small part to the fact that they are not referred to by that name in the New Testament, whereas references to the Pharisees and the Sadducees abound. Taylor seconds the opinion espoused by Hartmut Stegemann in his excellent book, The Library of Qumran (1998, originally published in German in 1993), that the “Herodians” in the Gospel of Mark are the Essenes (we don’t know what the Essenes called themselves; both terms are what others called them).
Josephus depicts them as living in many towns throughout Judea. So what is the connection with Qumran, near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea? This is the focus of the second part of the book, in which Taylor surveys what ancient sources report about the Dead Sea, then discusses the scrolls and the caves that contained them.
Rather than being the headquarters of the movement, Taylor characterizes Qumran as an outpost, used primarily to prepare writings no longer used by the many Essene communities for burial (to this day, pious Jews do not toss books containing the divine name into the trash; when they are tattered and need to be replaced, they are buried). The proximity to the Dead Sea, with its ready supply of salt and bitumen, was handy for this task.
Secondarily, this location was useful for another Essene interest, healing. The plants and minerals found in the area were renowned in the ancient world for their medicinal properties.
Between the two parts of the book is a section of illustrations, many in color. I found them useful in following Taylor’s arguments.
Displaying 1 of 1 review