Dead Sea

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a well-known archaeological finding of manuscripts that recorded biblical documents and religious history, copied in the second century. The scrolls were discovered in the years 1947-1956, at Khirbet Qumran, a large area of the Dead Sea’s northwestern shore. These scrolls were retrieved from eleven different caves and are classified in three categories: Jewish literature (400 manuscripts), biblical books (200, manuscripts) and Sectarian compositions (200 manuscripts). The Dead Sea Scrolls had been kept hidden for over two thousand years, so this discovery was viewed as incredibly valuable for early Christianity and the history of Judaism. These findings ignited public interest and invoked excitement and controversy…

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Real or Fake? Would you read a counterfeit bible? “A few of these fragments have been proven real, and a few have been proven fake,” Lawerence Schiffman, professor of Hebrew Judaic Studies. Many people believe when the Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered they were forged. The Dead Sea Scrolls include fragments from every book of the Old Testament, but many people say some of the Dead Sea Scrolls could be unreal. Specifically, this ancient collection of text, The Dead…

In 1947, a young shepherd of the Ta’amireh tribe was looking for a lost sheep when he came upon a cave in Qumran near the Dead Sea. What he would find inside of this cave would change the way scholars look at Judaism and early Christianity forever. An unusual finding, he saw clay jars containing old scrolls inside of the cave. The shepherd did not know the true value of these scrolls until much later, but he gathered the seven scrolls up and sold them to antiques dealers in Bethlehem. This…

Throughout literature, sinking cities have become a reoccurring image that have appeared in numerous works. Many authors take advantage of historical cities that have sunken or created new cities of their own to demolish in their works. A large debate is centralized around the setting in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The City in the Sea.” Analysis of the poem has led people to multiple conclusions, most commonly to the city of Babylon. While a great deal of evidence points to the city being based on…

the Red Sea. Interestingly enough, there are also signs of dry riverbeds that would have branched off of the nile. One theory is that the dried riverbed going through Arabia at one time was connected to the nile through the now dried riverbeds of the nile. Of course, this would imply that water levels in ancient times were very high for some reason. The reason is uncertain, and anything past the riverbeds themselves is speculation. All we have to work with is that there is in fact many dried…

In today’s society, we sometimes find ourselves glued to our cell phones or computers, watching YouTube videos about the “End of Days”, “The Coming Apocalypse”, or “The Rapture”. These videos can be quite appealing in the nature that it’ll leave you feeling either a bit fearful or curious. We also find ourselves intrigued when magazines such as The National Enquirer or Star Magazine write articles revolving around such disaster. Such as, linking the upcoming apocalypse to the Dead Sea Scrolls.…

because I had my best friend Natalie by my side. From the beginning of the trip till the end, Israel never seemed to stop amazing me. As soon as I landed I noticed how unique the country is. You can see how different the old buildings look, and how much effort and time is put into the new buildings. Just by stepping foot outside you automatically see amazing architecture and building designs that are breathtaking. The Dead Sea borders Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. It is also one of the…

Amidst the discussions revolving around Masada, issues of pottery did come up. Graves writes, “Occasionally broken pieces of pottery (ostracon) were used to write short notes or letters (e.g. Lachish letters). Ostraca were sometimes used in placing a vote, as in the ballots discovered at Masada.” Historically, this dig brings additional confirmation of Yadin’s life-goals in a country he loved and served and one of the national sites of great national importance was Masada. Price writes,…

Alike the Sadducees, historical data on this Jewish sect was vague, incomplete and perhaps thought to be destroyed until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is from the Dead Sea Scrolls that their existence was made available. The Essenes were a semi-monastic and separatist community, and they would have been the recorders and preservers of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Essenes lived ascetic lives. They denied themselves the pleasures and luxuries of the world system. They lived alone in…

Title: The Dead Sea Human Imprint Description: The Dead Sea human imprint features phases of the body of water that involves the presence of various human behavior. Keyword: Manmade canals Dead Sea Human Imprint The named Dead Sea traces its roots to the Hellenistic Age (323 to 30 BCE). The Dead Sea figures in biblical accounts that can be traced to the time of Abraham and the eradication of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Hebrew Bible states that the city of Sin is one of the two cities along the…