Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called Dead Sea Scrolls are a series of parchment and papyrus fragments Jews written around the first century BC. AD and rediscovered in 1947 and during the ensuing years in caves located near the site of Qumran , then Transjordan. The official discovery of the 900 manuscripts was made between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves. Biblical Hebrew manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls predate by several centuries the oldest texts known to date and are of considerable interest to biblical science.
They were frequently assigned, but without definitive proof, the group of Essenes.
The key finding is the Qumran scroll of Isaiah A, became world famous. It is the oldest manuscript Hebrew experienced a complete biblical book: the Book of Isaiah. The text is written in 54 columns of 17 sheets of leather sewn together end to end, with a total length of about 7.30 m. It was made in the second century BC. AD
Summary |
Discovery
The most commonly accepted version of this story is largely based on surveys of John C. Trever. According Trever , during the spring 1947 a Bedouin shepherd, Muhammed edh-Dhib Hassan went in search of one of his animals in a cave of large jars, which for the most part, contain the rolls of leather surprisingly well preserved , wrapped in canvas. Further research uncover many other documents. The rollers are first made to an antique dealer from Bethlehem named Ibrahim 'Ijha.
The cave, and those to be discovered later, are located on the barren slopes of Qumran on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea , and are difficult of access.
The archaeologist Israel Eleazar Sukenik has understood the importance of the Dead Sea scrolls and helped convince the State of Israel to buy the ones that were sold.
"From 1947 to 1956, dozens of pits or caves were explored in the area more or less near Qumran. In eleven of them, they found the manuscripts in number and quality variables: some had been placed in jars. These caches, we took some rolls well preserved, but mostly thousands of fragments with different sizes ranging from several columns a few square millimeters " ".
"The Oxford University Press published in the United States the Dead Sea Scrolls. The overall shape thirty-nine volumes is presented under the general title of Discoveries In The Judaean Desert. The edition is still incomplete in November "was released, but the volumes XXXII and XXVII are still in preparation.
Work review and interpretation continues today.
Dating of texts
"All the pieces found is some eight hundred and fifty different books or writings. Dating, that of the copy, not the first writing oscillates between the third century BC. BC and the mid-first-century Christian .
Allocation of texts
"Historians of the first century AD. BC, Philo of Alexandria , Pliny the Elder and especially Josephus , had reported the north-western shores of the Dead Sea at the time lived a community of hermits called Essenes, who were single, vegetarian and practiced a very austere lifestyle as prescribed by the Torah. Now our manuscripts have been found in precisely those parts of the Depression of the Dead Sea. This immediately gave rise to the coincidence argument . "
It is from 1948 , a first author, archaeologist Israel Eleazar Sukenik , publishes an article in which it establishes a link between the rollers (and contents) and sect dissenting Jewish so-called Greek Essenes. Some also mentioned the possible affiliation of Jesus or John the Baptist in this community, but could not provide any evidence.
This theory has become the most widely accepted interpretation of the origin of the rolls. It is considered likely, but no formal proof exists. She always gets a broad consensus among his followers, even if it is sometimes challenged by other researchers. Thus, for KH Rengstorf, followed by N. Golb, manuscripts come from libraries in Jerusalem ( Jerusalem Temple bookcases as private), and were stored away in caves during the approach of the Romans, circa 70 BC
According to Andrew Paul , many researchers are freed today from the Essene theory and "we begin to discover that these documents are also valuable sources of rabbinic Judaism and classical Archaeological Ruins
Near the cave was found an important archaeological site which "contains the ruins of a large community complex, with roughly the shape of a square of one hundred feet long and eighty wide Fragments We found 100,000 pieces, divided in 870 different manuscripts, of which 220 are biblical texts of the Hebrew Bible. All the books of the latter are represented, except the Book of Esther. Besides books of the Old Testament, there are also books Apocrypha (excluded from the biblical canon by Christians but by Jews), as the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees. Almost all are in Hebrew, some in Greek, taking the version of the Septuagint. In these books (canonical or not) are added comments on them, and texts specific to the Jewish community who lived at Qumran, such as The Temple Scroll and the Community Rule (or rule by the common another translation). These fragments were scattered around the world and are stored in different institutions. Those who find themselves in Paris or London have been sent by Father Roland de Vaux. They constitute a significant part of the whole. Books sorted by number of manuscripts found (top 16) It was not until 1949 , nearly two years after the initial discovery, we found the cave where the first had been retrieved manuscripts. Excavations began in February, led by GL Harding, Roland de Vaux , and Ibrahim El-Assouli, the Rockefeller Museum. No fewer than 600 fragments were collected, as well as pieces of wood, clothing and shards of pottery. Three years later, in 1952 , the Bedouin discovered nearby cave 2, less monumental, and many pieces there were, however, discovered and sold in Israel Archaeological Museum and the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem. On 14 March the same year, a third cave was discovered, which contained the most mysterious manuscript, the Copper Scroll. It was discovered in 1952 by Father Roland de Vaux , director of the French Biblical and Archaeological School. The sources of literature on the manuscripts and their interpretation are extremely numerous. Here various authors and researchers (English, French, Israeli) of the highest order. Father Roland de Vaux , a Dominican of the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem , was both exegete of the Old Testament and field archaeologist. He discovered the cave No. 4 in 1952. Joseph Milik , a young collaborator of Father de Vaux, he made his career at CNRS. Pioneer in deciphering the cursive Aramaic, he has trained many specialists. Jean Carmignac is the first to participate in the publication of manuscripts in French, founder of the Revue de Qumran in 1958 (Ed. Gabalda, Paris). Professor at the Sorbonne , permanent secretary of the Acadmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , one of the biggest specialists in Semitic languages and the Bible , Andre Dupont-Sommer is one of the first to support the thesis of the Essenes of Qumran. He has published numerous books, including the famous The Essene Writings discovered near the Dead Sea in 1959. Professor John Marco Allegro , the University of Manchester , philologist and member of the first team of Father R. Vaux. He is one of the few academics "not religious" to have participated in the early campaigns of translation and transcription of manuscripts. Following research at Qumran, JM Allegro published in 1970 The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, polemic which he will not come out unscathed. Honorary Professor of Religious Studies Section of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes , Ernest-Marie Laperrousaz is a former resident of the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem and as such, he participated in excavations at Masada and Qumran and is considered one of the leading specialists of Manuscripts from Qumran. Emile Puech is Director of Research at CNRS , Director of the Revue de Qumran, Gabalda (Paris), publisher of the lot of Hebrew manuscripts, unpublished Nabataean Aramaic and founding member of the International Organization for the Qumran Studies, member of the Editorial Board of Dead Sea Discoveries, Brill, Leiden, project consultant for the Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls, New York, a professor at the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem, a researcher at the Institute of Semitic Studies, College de France , Paris, Director of Research Laboratory Ancient Semitic Studies, College de France, Paris. Emmanuel Tov is a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , he led from 1991 edition of the scrolls of the Dead Sea and surrounded by hundreds of researchers, he has completed the publication in 2001. The full manuscript is available in bookstores as well, in 39 volumes published by Oxford University Press, under the general title "In The Judaean Desert Discoveries." "The Dead Sea Scrolls: (Complete translation of ancient scrolls, with texts never before published, including the most recent discoveries). Plon, October 2001. Henry Contenson is Director of Research at CNRS. He participated in excavations at Qumran led to the discovery of the Copper Scroll from Cave Q3. Lawrence Schiffman is a professor at New York University's Department of Hebrew and Jewish studies. He is an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism in Late Antiquity, the history of Jewish law and Talmudic literature. He played a major role in publishing the Dead Sea Scrolls. He demonstrated that the Dead Sea Scrolls were Jewish writings. He was editor in chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was also the editor of Dead Sea Discoveries for ten years. He is currently editor in chief of the Center for Online Judaic Studies in New York. Researcher at CNRS at the Centre Paul-Albert-February Aix-en-Provence, a historian of ancient Judaism, Katell Berthelot worked at French Research Center in Jerusalem (CRFJ), Israel. CNRS bronze medal in 2007 and winner of Irne Joliot-Curie 2008, having completed a PhD on "Israel and Humanity in the Jewish Thought in the Hellenistic and Roman," Katell Berthelot co-directs with Thierry Legrand Library Qumran (Editions du Cerf), bilingual edition of the entire Dead Sea Scrolls initiated by Andr Paul, for a French audience, including two volumes have already appeared. Lecturer in History of Religions at the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Strasbourg, a former student at the cole Pratique des Hautes Etudes Ve section (Paris), a graduate of the School of Ancient Oriental Languages (Paris) He received his Ph.D. in History of Religions on "Sirach. textual and theological problems of the long recension". Thierry Legrand co-directs with Katell Berthelot Library of Qumran (Editions du Cerf), bilingual edition of the entire Dead Sea Scrolls initiated by Andr Paul, for a French audience, including two volumes have already appeared. The project is to present the manuscripts in terms of their relationship with the texts of the Hebrew Bible, including analyzing the report. 
Books Number of manuscripts Psalms 39 Deuteronomy 33 1 Enoch 25 Genesis 24 Isaiah 22 Jubilees 21 Exodus 18 Leviticus 17 Numbers 11 Minor Prophets 10 Daniel 8 Jeremiah 6 Ezekiel 6 Job 6 Samuel 1 & 2 4 Cave 1
Cave 2
Cave 3
Cave 4
See also
Bibliographical Sources
Bibliography
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References
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