Copper Scroll
Encyclopedia
The Copper Scroll is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls
found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran
, but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment
or papyrus
, this scroll is written on metal
: copper
mixed with about 1 percent tin
. Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of locations at which various items of gold
and silver
are buried or hidden. It differs from the other scrolls in its Hebrew (closer to the language of the Mishnah
than to the literary Hebrew of the other scrolls, though 4QMMT shares some language characteristics), its orthography (i.e., its spelling), palaeography
(forms of letters) and date (c.50-100 AD, possibly overlapping the latest of the other Qumran manuscripts).
metal could not be unrolled by conventional means, and John Marco Allegro
arranged for Professor H. Wright Baker, of the College of Technology at Manchester
, England
, to cut the sheets into 23 strips in 1955 and 1956. It then became clear that the rolls were part of the same document. Allegro, who had supervised the opening of the scroll, transcribed its contents immediately. The original editor Józef Milik
first believed that the scroll was a product of the Essene. However he noted that it was likely not an official work of the Essenes. At first Milik believed that the scroll was not an actual historical account; he believed it was that of folklore. Later however, Milik's view took a turn. Since there was no indication that the scroll was a product of the Essenes from the Qumran community, he changed his identification of the scroll. He now believes that the scroll was separate from the community, although it was found at Qumran in Cave 3, it was found further back in the cave, away from the other scrolls. As a result he suggested the Copper Scroll was a separate deposit, separated by a "lapse in time." Although the text was assigned to Józef Milik, the Jordanian Director of Antiquities approached Allegro in 1957 to publish the text. After a second approach by a new director of Jordanian Antiquities, Allegro, who had waited for signs of Milik of moving to publish, took up the second request and published an edition with translation and hand-drawn transcriptions from the original copper segments in 1960. Milik published his official edition in 1962, also with hand-drawn transcriptions, though the accompanying black-and-white photographs were "virtually illegible". The scroll was re-photographed in 1988 with greater precision. From 1994 to 1996 extensive conservation efforts by Electricité de France (EDF) included evaluation of corrosion, photography, x-rays, cleaning, making a facsimile and a drawing of the letters. Emile Puech's edition had the benefit of these results.
proposed the period of 25-75 CE on paleographical grounds, while W.F. Albright suggested 70-135 CE and Manfred Lehmann put forward a similar date range, arguing that the treasure was principally the money accumulated between the First Jewish War and the Bar Kochba War, while the temple lay in ruins. P. Kyle McCarter Jr., Albert M. Wolters
, David Wilmot and Judah Lefkovits all agree that the scroll originated around 70 CE. Whereas, Emile Puech argued that the deposit of the Copper Scroll behind 40 jars could not have been placed after the jars, so the scroll "predates 68 CE." Józef Milik proposed that the scroll was written around 100 CE, nearly a "generation after the destruction of Jerusalem." If Milik's dating of the scroll is correct, it would mean that the scroll did not come from the Qumran community because his dating puts the scroll "well after the Qumran settlement was destroyed."
. While Hebrew is a well known language, the majority of ancient Hebrew text in which the language is studied is generally biblical in nature, which of course the Copper Scroll is not. As a result, "most of the vocabulary is simply not found in the Bible or anything else we have from ancient times." There is an unusual orthography
, and the script has the features which would result from someone writing on the copper with a hammer and chisels. There is also the anomaly that seven of the location names are followed by a group of two or three Greek letters
. Also, the "clauses" within the scroll mark intriguing parallels to that of Greek inventories, from the Greek temple of Apollo. This similarity to the Greek inventories, would suggest that scroll is in fact an authentic "temple inventory.".
Some scholars believe that the difficulty in deciphering the text is perhaps due to it having been copied from another original document by an illiterate scribe who did not speak the language in which the scroll was written, or at least was not well familiar. As Milik puts it, the scribe "uses the forms and ligature of the cursive script along with formal letters, and often confuses graphically several letters of the formal hand." As a result, it has made translation and understanding of the text difficult.
The following English translation of the opening lines of the first column of the Copper Scroll shows the basic structure of each of the entries in the scroll. The structure is 1) general location, 2) specific location, often with distance to dig, and 3) what to find.
There is a minority view that the Cave of Letters
might have contained one of the listed treasures, and, if so, artifacts from this location may have been recovered. Although the scroll was made of alloyed copper in order to last, the locations are written as if the reader would have an intimate knowledge of obscure references. For example, consider column two, verses 1-3, "In the salt pit that is under the steps: forty-one talents of silver. In the cave of the old washer's chamber, on the third terrace: sixty-five ingots of gold." As noted above, the listed treasure has been estimated in the tons. There are those who understand the text to be enumerating the vast treasure that was 'stashed,' where the Romans could not find it. Others still suggest that the listed treasure is that which Bar Kochba hid during the Second Revolt. Although it is difficult to estimate the exact amount, "it was estimated in 1960 that the total would top $1,000,000 U.S"
Temple
, presumably the Second Temple
, among other options.
The theories of the origin of the treasure were broken down by Theodor H. Gaster:
There are other options besides those listed by Gaster (see Wolters in Bibliography p. 15-17 for a more up-to-date list). For instance Manfred Lehmann considered it Temple contributions collected after 70 AD.
Scholars are divided as to what the actual contents are. However, metals, such as copper and bronze were a common outlet with which archival record were kept. Along with this, “formal characteristics” establish a “line of evidence” that suggest this scroll is an authentic “administrative document of Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem.” As a result, this evidence has led a number of people to believe that the treasure really does exist. One such person is John Allegro, who in 1962 led an expedition. By following some of the places listed in the scroll, the team excavated some potential burial places for the treasure. However, as can be imagined the treasure hunters turned up empty handed.
Thus no treasure has yet to be found. Even if none of the treasures comes to light, 3Q15, as a new, long ancient Hebrew text has significance. For example, as comparative Semitic languages scholar Jonas C. Greenfield
noted, it has great significance for lexicography.)
Robert Eisenman
, in his book "James, the Brother of Jesus" argues that the Copper Scroll is an authentic treasure map created by the Essene community, and places its authorship around the time of the First Revolt. He later maintains that a duplicate copy of the scroll may have been discovered by the Knights Templar
during the First Crusade
, who then dug up all the treasure and used it to fund their order. These claims are not taken seriously by most scholars.
It is more than plausible that the Romans discovered the treasure. Perhaps when the temple of Herod was destroyed the Romans went looking for any treasure and riches the temple may have had in its possession. Consider this story.
In 106 C.E King Decebalus of Dacia
, was defeated by the Romans, who then seized his territory and immediately began looking for his vast amount of wealth. Bicilis, a friend of the King, was captured and tortured, and eventually relinquished the place in which the treasure lay. As it turn out the King had hidden his wealth in "the "River Sargetia"
" which ran in front of his palace. information that Bicilis had provided, the Romans now knew where to look for the treasure. They then went and dug up the treasure.
As a result, it is easy to assume that the Romans could have acquired the treasure listed in the Copper Scroll. According the Josephus
(a historian of the day) the Romans had an active policy regarding the retrieval of hidden treasure. And like the story above, their means of discovering treasure locations almost always rest in interrogation and torture.
A Long Way to Shiloh
(known in the USA as The Menorah Men so as not to be thought a Civil War
novel) is a thriller by Lionel Davidson
, published in 1966, whose plot follows the finding and contents of a similar treasure scroll.
The denouement of Edwin Black's Format C: included using the Copper Scroll to find the Silver Scroll, giving the protagonists the information they needed to find and defeat the main threat of the book.
The Copper Scroll is the subject of a political thriller, The Copper Scroll
, by Joel C. Rosenberg
, published in 2006. This book implements its author's theory that the treasures listed in the Copper Scroll (and the Ark of the Covenant
) will be found in the End Times
to refurnish the Third Temple.
It also features in Sean Young's novel, Violent Sands. In this historical novel
, Barabbas
is the sworn protector of the Copper Scroll and the treasure it points to. He is under orders to protect this document at all costs.
The scroll—and a search for its treasures—was featured in a 2007 episode of The History Channel
series Digging For The Truth
. The program gives a basic knowledge of the research of the Copper Scroll and all the major theories of its interpretation.
A reinterpretation of the location and quantity of the treasures has been written about by metallurgist Robert Feather, where he suggests the number system and units of measurement indicated are Egyptian. He links the scroll with the city Amarna and the Pharaoh Akhenaten.
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran
Qumran
Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia...
, but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment
Parchment
Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin, often split. Its most common use was as a material for writing on, for documents, notes, or the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. It is distinct from leather in that parchment is limed but not tanned; therefore, it is very...
or papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
, this scroll is written on metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
: copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
mixed with about 1 percent tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
. Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of locations at which various items of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
are buried or hidden. It differs from the other scrolls in its Hebrew (closer to the language of the Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
than to the literary Hebrew of the other scrolls, though 4QMMT shares some language characteristics), its orthography (i.e., its spelling), palaeography
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
(forms of letters) and date (c.50-100 AD, possibly overlapping the latest of the other Qumran manuscripts).
History and origin
The majority of what we call the Dead Sea Scrolls were found by Bedouins, the same group that made the original discovery. However, the Copper Scroll was discovered by an archaeologist. The scroll, on two rolls of copper, was found on March 14, 1952 at the back of Cave 3 at Qumran. It was the last of 15 scrolls discovered in the cave, and is thus referred to as 3Q15. The corrodedCorrosion
Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen...
metal could not be unrolled by conventional means, and John Marco Allegro
John Marco Allegro
John Marco Allegro was a scholar who challenged orthodox views of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible and the history of religion, with books that attracted popular attention and scholarly derision....
arranged for Professor H. Wright Baker, of the College of Technology at Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to cut the sheets into 23 strips in 1955 and 1956. It then became clear that the rolls were part of the same document. Allegro, who had supervised the opening of the scroll, transcribed its contents immediately. The original editor Józef Milik
Józef Milik
Józef Tadeusz Milik was a Polish biblical scholar and a former Catholic priest. Fluent in Polish, Russian, Italian, French, German, and English plus many ancient languages Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Syriac, Old Church Slavonic, Arabic, Georgian, Ugaritic, Akkadian, Sumerian, Egyptian, and...
first believed that the scroll was a product of the Essene. However he noted that it was likely not an official work of the Essenes. At first Milik believed that the scroll was not an actual historical account; he believed it was that of folklore. Later however, Milik's view took a turn. Since there was no indication that the scroll was a product of the Essenes from the Qumran community, he changed his identification of the scroll. He now believes that the scroll was separate from the community, although it was found at Qumran in Cave 3, it was found further back in the cave, away from the other scrolls. As a result he suggested the Copper Scroll was a separate deposit, separated by a "lapse in time." Although the text was assigned to Józef Milik, the Jordanian Director of Antiquities approached Allegro in 1957 to publish the text. After a second approach by a new director of Jordanian Antiquities, Allegro, who had waited for signs of Milik of moving to publish, took up the second request and published an edition with translation and hand-drawn transcriptions from the original copper segments in 1960. Milik published his official edition in 1962, also with hand-drawn transcriptions, though the accompanying black-and-white photographs were "virtually illegible". The scroll was re-photographed in 1988 with greater precision. From 1994 to 1996 extensive conservation efforts by Electricité de France (EDF) included evaluation of corrosion, photography, x-rays, cleaning, making a facsimile and a drawing of the letters. Emile Puech's edition had the benefit of these results.
Dating
Scholarly estimates of the probable date range of The Copper Scroll vary. F.M. CrossFrank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross, Jr. is Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 magnum opus Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, and his work in Northwest Semitic epigraphy...
proposed the period of 25-75 CE on paleographical grounds, while W.F. Albright suggested 70-135 CE and Manfred Lehmann put forward a similar date range, arguing that the treasure was principally the money accumulated between the First Jewish War and the Bar Kochba War, while the temple lay in ruins. P. Kyle McCarter Jr., Albert M. Wolters
Albert M. Wolters
Albert Wolters is a professor of Religion & Theology, and Classical Studies at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario and has provided expert commentary for the Copper Scroll in the Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls , and also in a Nova documentary.After World War II, his family left...
, David Wilmot and Judah Lefkovits all agree that the scroll originated around 70 CE. Whereas, Emile Puech argued that the deposit of the Copper Scroll behind 40 jars could not have been placed after the jars, so the scroll "predates 68 CE." Józef Milik proposed that the scroll was written around 100 CE, nearly a "generation after the destruction of Jerusalem." If Milik's dating of the scroll is correct, it would mean that the scroll did not come from the Qumran community because his dating puts the scroll "well after the Qumran settlement was destroyed."
Language and Writing style
The style of writing is unusual, different from the other scrolls. It is written in a style similar to Mishnaic HebrewHebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. While Hebrew is a well known language, the majority of ancient Hebrew text in which the language is studied is generally biblical in nature, which of course the Copper Scroll is not. As a result, "most of the vocabulary is simply not found in the Bible or anything else we have from ancient times." There is an unusual orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
, and the script has the features which would result from someone writing on the copper with a hammer and chisels. There is also the anomaly that seven of the location names are followed by a group of two or three Greek letters
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
. Also, the "clauses" within the scroll mark intriguing parallels to that of Greek inventories, from the Greek temple of Apollo. This similarity to the Greek inventories, would suggest that scroll is in fact an authentic "temple inventory.".
Some scholars believe that the difficulty in deciphering the text is perhaps due to it having been copied from another original document by an illiterate scribe who did not speak the language in which the scroll was written, or at least was not well familiar. As Milik puts it, the scribe "uses the forms and ligature of the cursive script along with formal letters, and often confuses graphically several letters of the formal hand." As a result, it has made translation and understanding of the text difficult.
Contents
The text is an inventory of 64 locations; 63 of which are treasures of gold and silver, which have been estimated in the tons. Tithing vessels are also listed among the entries, along with other vessels, and three locations featured scrolls. One entry apparently mentions priestly vestments. The final listing points to a duplicate document with additional details. That other document has not been found.The following English translation of the opening lines of the first column of the Copper Scroll shows the basic structure of each of the entries in the scroll. The structure is 1) general location, 2) specific location, often with distance to dig, and 3) what to find.
- 1:1 In the ruin that is in the valley of AcorAchorAchor is the name of a valley in the vicinity of Jericho.Eusebius and Jerome implied that they thought it was a valley north of Jericho. In the nineteenth century some writers identified the valley with the wadi al-Qelt, a deep ravine located to Jericho's south...
, under - 1:2 the steps, with the entrance at the East,
- 1:3 a distance of forty cubits: a strongbox of silver and its vessels
- 1:4 with a weight of seventeen talents. KεN
There is a minority view that the Cave of Letters
Cave of Letters
The Cave of Letters is a cave located in the Dead Sea area that contained one of the largest caches of ancient documents and personal correspondence ever discovered in the land of Israel. Discovered in 1960 by Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin, the cave contained letters from Bar Kochba, leader...
might have contained one of the listed treasures, and, if so, artifacts from this location may have been recovered. Although the scroll was made of alloyed copper in order to last, the locations are written as if the reader would have an intimate knowledge of obscure references. For example, consider column two, verses 1-3, "In the salt pit that is under the steps: forty-one talents of silver. In the cave of the old washer's chamber, on the third terrace: sixty-five ingots of gold." As noted above, the listed treasure has been estimated in the tons. There are those who understand the text to be enumerating the vast treasure that was 'stashed,' where the Romans could not find it. Others still suggest that the listed treasure is that which Bar Kochba hid during the Second Revolt. Although it is difficult to estimate the exact amount, "it was estimated in 1960 that the total would top $1,000,000 U.S"
Claims
The treasure of the scroll has been assumed to be treasure of the JewishJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
Temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
, presumably the Second Temple
Second Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
, among other options.
The theories of the origin of the treasure were broken down by Theodor H. Gaster:
- First, the treasure could be that of the Qumran community. The difficulty here is that the community is assumed to be an ascetic brotherhood, with which vast treasures are difficult to reconcile. (Yet community, as opposed to individual wealth, for a future hoped-for temple is possible. Such is proposed by, among others, Andre Dupont-SommerAndré Dupont-SommerAndré Dupont-Sommer was a French semitologist.He specialized in the history of Judaism around the beginning of the Common Era, and especially the Dead Sea Scrolls...
, Stephen Goranson, and Emile Puech.) - Second, the treasure could be that of the Second Temple. However, Gaster cites JosephusJosephusTitus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
as stating that the main treasure of the Temple was still in the building when it fell to the RomansAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, and also that other Qumranic texts appear to be too critical of the priesthood of the Temple for their authors to have been close enough to take away their treasures for safekeeping. (The Arch of Titus shows some temple items taken to Rome. But several scholars expressed this view.) - Third, the treasure could be that of the First Temple, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, King of BabylonBabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
, in 586 BC. This would not seem to fit with the character of the other scrolls, unless perhaps the scroll was left in a cave during the Babylonian Exile, possibly with a small community of caretakers who were precursors of the Dead Sea Scrolls community. (The scroll was written too late for this proposal.) - Fourth, Gaster's own favourite theory is that the treasure is a hoax.
There are other options besides those listed by Gaster (see Wolters in Bibliography p. 15-17 for a more up-to-date list). For instance Manfred Lehmann considered it Temple contributions collected after 70 AD.
Scholars are divided as to what the actual contents are. However, metals, such as copper and bronze were a common outlet with which archival record were kept. Along with this, “formal characteristics” establish a “line of evidence” that suggest this scroll is an authentic “administrative document of Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem.” As a result, this evidence has led a number of people to believe that the treasure really does exist. One such person is John Allegro, who in 1962 led an expedition. By following some of the places listed in the scroll, the team excavated some potential burial places for the treasure. However, as can be imagined the treasure hunters turned up empty handed.
Thus no treasure has yet to be found. Even if none of the treasures comes to light, 3Q15, as a new, long ancient Hebrew text has significance. For example, as comparative Semitic languages scholar Jonas C. Greenfield
Jonas C. Greenfield
Jonas Carl Greenfield was a scholar of Semitic languages, who published in the fields of Semitic Epigraphy, Aramaic Studies and Qumran Studies....
noted, it has great significance for lexicography.)
Robert Eisenman
Robert Eisenman
Robert Eisenman is an American Biblical scholar, theoretical writer, historian, archaeologist, and "road" poet. He is currently Professor of Middle East Religions, Archaeology, and Islamic Law and director of the Institute for the Study of...
, in his book "James, the Brother of Jesus" argues that the Copper Scroll is an authentic treasure map created by the Essene community, and places its authorship around the time of the First Revolt. He later maintains that a duplicate copy of the scroll may have been discovered by the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
during the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
, who then dug up all the treasure and used it to fund their order. These claims are not taken seriously by most scholars.
The Treasures Mystery
What happened to the treasure listed in the Copper Scroll?It is more than plausible that the Romans discovered the treasure. Perhaps when the temple of Herod was destroyed the Romans went looking for any treasure and riches the temple may have had in its possession. Consider this story.
In 106 C.E King Decebalus of Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
, was defeated by the Romans, who then seized his territory and immediately began looking for his vast amount of wealth. Bicilis, a friend of the King, was captured and tortured, and eventually relinquished the place in which the treasure lay. As it turn out the King had hidden his wealth in "the "River Sargetia"
Strei River
The Strei River is a tributary of the Mureş River in Transylvania, Romania. It starts at the junction of headwaters Pârâul Cald and Pârâul Rovinei...
" which ran in front of his palace. information that Bicilis had provided, the Romans now knew where to look for the treasure. They then went and dug up the treasure.
As a result, it is easy to assume that the Romans could have acquired the treasure listed in the Copper Scroll. According the Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
(a historian of the day) the Romans had an active policy regarding the retrieval of hidden treasure. And like the story above, their means of discovering treasure locations almost always rest in interrogation and torture.
Media
In 1958, novelist Nathaniel Norsen Weinreb published The Copper Scrolls, the tale of a scribe named Kandane who is hired by a priest from Qumran to inscribe a list of sacred treasures. Weinreb wrote his novel before he or the general public learned that the so-called 'scrolls' of copper, were in reality, two separated sections of what was originally a single scroll about eight feet in length.A Long Way to Shiloh
A Long Way to Shiloh
A Long Way to Shiloh is a thriller by Lionel Davidson. The book won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger Award.-Plot summary:...
(known in the USA as The Menorah Men so as not to be thought a Civil War
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
novel) is a thriller by Lionel Davidson
Lionel Davidson
Lionel Davidson was an English novelist who wrote a number of acclaimed spy thrillers.-Life and career:Lionel Davidson was born in 1922 in Hull, Yorkshire, one of nine children of an immigrant Jewish tailor. He left school early and worked in the London offices of the Spectator magazine as an...
, published in 1966, whose plot follows the finding and contents of a similar treasure scroll.
The denouement of Edwin Black's Format C: included using the Copper Scroll to find the Silver Scroll, giving the protagonists the information they needed to find and defeat the main threat of the book.
The Copper Scroll is the subject of a political thriller, The Copper Scroll
The Copper Scroll
The Copper Scroll is a 2006 Christian apocalyptic novel by Joel C. Rosenberg. The novel is the fourth book in the Last Jihad book series. It involves the Biblical prophecies concerning the restoration of the Jewish Temple, tied in by the author to the treasures of the Copper Scroll.-External links:*...
, by Joel C. Rosenberg
Joel C. Rosenberg
Joel C. Rosenberg is an American communications strategist, author of the Last Jihad series, and founder of The Joshua Fund...
, published in 2006. This book implements its author's theory that the treasures listed in the Copper Scroll (and the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
) will be found in the End Times
End times
The end time, end times, or end of days is a time period described in the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...
to refurnish the Third Temple.
It also features in Sean Young's novel, Violent Sands. In this historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
, Barabbas
Barabbas
Barabbas or Jesus Barabbas is a figure in the Christian narrative of the Passion of Jesus, in which he is the insurrectionary whom Pontius Pilate freed at the Passover feast in Jerusalem.The penalty for Barabbas' crime was death by crucifixion, but according to the four canonical gospels and the...
is the sworn protector of the Copper Scroll and the treasure it points to. He is under orders to protect this document at all costs.
The scroll—and a search for its treasures—was featured in a 2007 episode of The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
series Digging For The Truth
Digging for the Truth
Digging for the Truth is a History Channel documentary television series. The first three seasons of the show focused on host Josh Bernstein, who journeyed on various explorations of historical icons and mysteries. Bernstein is the president and CEO of BOSS and has a degree in anthropology and...
. The program gives a basic knowledge of the research of the Copper Scroll and all the major theories of its interpretation.
A reinterpretation of the location and quantity of the treasures has been written about by metallurgist Robert Feather, where he suggests the number system and units of measurement indicated are Egyptian. He links the scroll with the city Amarna and the Pharaoh Akhenaten.