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Last update - 04:38 13/03/2009 Scholar: The Essenes, Dead Sea Scroll 'authors,' never existed By Ofri Ilani Tags: Dead Sea Scrolls, Israel news  Scholarship suggesting the existence of the Essenes, a religious Jewish group that lived in the Judea before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, is wrong, according to Prof. Rachel Elior, whose study on the subject will be released soon. Elior blasts the predominant opinion of Dead Sea Scrolls scholars that the Essenes had written the scrolls in Qumran, claiming instead that they were written by ousted Temple priests in Jerusalem. "Sixty years of research have been wasted trying to find the Essenes in the scrolls. But they didn't exist, they were invented by [Jewish-Roman historian] Josephus. It's a history of errors which is simply nonsense," she said. Advertisement In his book "The Jewish War," Flavius Josephus describes the Essenes as an ascetic, mystical religious sect that lived in abstinence from worldly pleasures, including sex. The Essenes are commonly believed to have written the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in a Qumran cave in 1947 and are considered the most significant archaeological discovery of the past century. The scrolls consist of numerous religious documents including preserved copies of the Hebrew Bible, untouched from as early as 300 BCE. Many scholars claim that the Essenes were the first Christians, or were related to John the Baptist and to Jesus Christ. Prof. James Charlesworth, a senior Bible scholar who also specializes in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus and the Gospel of John, believes John the Baptist lived among the Essenes for at least a year and drew some of his central ideas from them. While mainstream scholarship maintains the Essenes or the Qumran sect that lived near the Dead Sea wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, a few scholars believe the scrolls had been written in Jerusalem or elsewhere and were brought to the Dead Sea at a later stage. Last week the controversy over the identity of the scrolls' authors was thrust into the headlines with the arrest of Raphael Golb, son of Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Prof. Norman Golb of the University of Chicago, on suspicion of impersonating a rival scholar. Norman Golb has claimed the Dead Sea Scrolls had not been written by the Essenes and that scholars who oppose him are trying to silence him. He described the senior scrolls' scholars as a united sect or guild, no less fanatic that the Qumran sect they claim has written the scrolls. "Golb presents his approach in a radical way and is therefore not considered legitimate among the scholars," Elior said. She accepts some of his criticism about the mainstream scrolls scholars. Elior says Josephus, inspired by descriptions of life in the Greek city of Sparta, made the Essenes up. "There is no historical testimony in Hebrew or Aramaic of the Essenes. It is unthinkable that thousands of people lived abstemiously, contrary to Torah laws, and nobody wrote anything about it," she said. Then who did write the scrolls? Elior says the Sadducees, a sect descending from the high priest Zadok, who anointed Solomon as king, are the true authors. The scrolls belonged to the Temple and were brought to the Dead Sea to protect them, she says. "The scrolls speak in clear Hebrew of the priests, sons of Zadok. So why call them Essenes?" asked Elior. "That's a distortion of history. It's like saying that the State of Israel wasn't established by Mapai, but by the Greens." The apocalyptic prophecy cited in the scrolls of a war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness is a war between Zadok's sons, who served as high priests until 175 BCE, when they were ousted by the Hasmoneans, the descendants of Matityahu, she said. Prof. Hanan Eshel of Bar-Ilan University claims that denying the Essenes' existence is groundless. "Almost 70 scholars accept the statement that one of the Essenes' groups lived in Qumran and some say we're all morons and only they understand," he said. One of the scrolls, "describes a small group of people living communally. Can anyone explain to me how this could have come from Jerusalem?" Bookmark to del.icio.us   Disrupting Ahmadinejad UN expels Jewish and Iranian groups from global racism conference 'Durban II' Ancient Egypt 3,000-year-old arms storehouse uncovered in the Egyptian peninsula of Sinai   1.   From a schismatic group, anyway 05:00  |  DJStahl 13/03/09   2.   The DS Scrolls do mention `Essenes` 05:30  |  Stein 13/03/09   3.   The Bible, Torah, Qr`an... 05:36  |  Maureen Ann 13/03/09   4.   There is the world for this: sensationalism 05:41  |  17 13/03/09   5.   #3 moaning ann doesnt go far enough 08:40  |  v hardman 13/03/09   6.   Did Josephus exist ? 09:07  |  Avraham 13/03/09   7.   Norman Golb`s book is clear and convincing! 09:15  |  Tom Lobo Meyer 13/03/09   8.   existence 09:28  |  Kobi 13/03/09   9.   maureen ann:maybe not-but the scrolls do! 11:45  |  ali goataway 13/03/09   10.   So what else is new? 12:05  |  Zev Davis 13/03/09   11.   2,000 year old hoax? 12:48  |  Mark Lincoln 13/03/09   12.   More Drivel on the Dead Sea Scrolls 13:59  |  Michael Cecil 13/03/09   13.   #6 Muurine ann 16:48  |  mother mary 13/03/09   14.   Does Ha`aretz exist? 17:05  |  dyinglikeflies 13/03/09   15.   #3 17:31  |  Moshe 13/03/09   16.   Pliny the elder mentioned them prior to Josephus 18:34  |  Sam 13/03/09   17.   the egytions? 19:32  |  billy jack 13/03/09   18.   And don`t forget Philo 19:36  |  Mark Lincoln 13/03/09   19.   Hamas as Today`s Essenes 20:02  |  Binyamin 13/03/09   20.   #3, David did, no evidence for Abraham or Moses 20:50  |  Shlomo 13/03/09   21.   DS scrolls 21:18  |  Yasar 13/03/09   22.   No, Haaretz does not exist, it`s in fact my invention. 22:14  |  Andreas 13/03/09   23.   Even the most 22:19  |  Forrest Schmidt 13/03/09   24.   More "Naked" Archaeology? 22:45  |  Claudia 13/03/09   25.   Like the Palestinians??? 23:21  |  Baruch Gold 13/03/09   26.   Another 2 questions. 23:35  |  Maureen Ann 13/03/09   27.   #3: The Bible, Torah, Qr`an... 00:11  |  Richard Burton 14/03/09   28.   Maureen Ann IS right! 00:15  |  Richard Burton 14/03/09   29.   #6 Maureen Ann "should ask Jesus" 00:17  |  Richard Burton 14/03/09   30.   #6 Did Jesphus Flavius Exist 00:23  |  Richard 14/03/09   31.   Morons in academia? 00:24  |  Shimei 14/03/09   32.   Binyamin 00:31  |  Jasper 14/03/09   33.   Rabbi Yoshua Ben Hanania 00:42  |  Tomer 14/03/09   34.   By the same logic Exodus never happened either. 01:10  |  BigBob 14/03/09   35.   Joshepus vs present day scholar 01:36  |  Brod 14/03/09   36.   I know why Josephus made it up 01:56  |  Jason 14/03/09   37.   "It is unthinkable that thousands of people lived abstemiously" 02:00  |  Jake 14/03/09   38.   maureen anne 05:06  |  danny 14/03/09   39.   Oh Maureen Anne, I know who most definitely existed 06:17  |  Yindi 14/03/09   40.   #39 Yindi. Perhaps an arrangement can be made... 07:05  |  Maureen Ann 14/03/09   41.   Dead Sea Scrolls 10:35  |  benjamin barnett 14/03/09   42.   #13 mother mary. I have a question for you dear - one everyone... 11:17  |  Maureen Ann 14/03/09   43.   historical invention 11:29  |  chacko Varghese 14/03/09   44.   Maureen Ann - please stay in Australia: 12:08  |  17 14/03/09   45.   The Essenes, Dead Sea Scrolls 20:40  |  The Teacher/Instruct 14/03/09   46.   the article 17:06  |  Lynne Raisley 15/03/09   47.   Essenes = Sadducees? 20:48  |  David 15/03/09   48.   Elior is not a credible source 21:30  |  Judy 16/03/09   49.   From a schismatic group, anyway 02:03  |  hH 24/04/09

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