![]() The Essenes were likely a small offshoot of that population at Qumran, who were steeped in the mysticism of a newly formed sect. Though Pliny the Elder’s description is the most often referenced, it seems to have some contradictions, and others have pointed out that the people who inhabited the Qumran plateau had been a thriving culture for many generations. ![]() Some have pointed out their location would have been the perfect hub for trade, located 13 miles from Jerusalem and only a couple of hours from Jericho. There has been endless debate as to who the Essenes really were. Qumran, home of the Essenes and Dead Sea Scrolls The texts contain many accounts written in the first person as well as commentaries, which have been referred to as apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, texts that were not included in rabbinic literature or the New Testament, such as the Book of Enoch. Recent discoveries of scroll fragments have contained esoteric books from the Old Testament that had never before been found, like the Book of Nehemiah, telling the story of Nehemiah, a man who lived during the time when Jerusalem was conquered by the ancient Babylonians. The publishing of the scrolls is a continuous process as well, with 25 new scrolls published just last year. After their initial discovery, scroll fragments were even posted in the classified section of the Wall Street Journal. In the past 15 years, 70 new fragments appeared on the antiquities market. Since the initial discovery of the scrolls, there have been over 900 more manuscripts discovered, with new fragments found every year. The texts also predated the birth of Christ and Christianity, leaving their interpretation to have a profound impact on the history of the world’s largest religion. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was so important because it predated the earliest known texts of the Hebrew Bible by about a thousand years.
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