Essenes
Encyclopedia
The Essenes were a Jewish sect
that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests. Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees
and the Sadducees
(the other two major sects at the time), the Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism
, voluntary poverty, daily immersion, and abstinence from worldly pleasures, including (for some groups) marriage
. Many separate but related religious groups of that era shared similar mystic
, eschatological
, messianic
, and ascetic
beliefs. These groups are collectively referred to by various scholars as the "Essenes." Josephus
records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Roman Judæa
.
The Essenes have gained fame in modern times as a result of the discovery of an extensive group of religious documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls
, which are commonly believed to be Essenes' library—although there is no proof that the Essenes wrote them. These documents include preserved multiple copies of the Hebrew Bible
untouched from as early as 300 BCE until their discovery in 1946. Some scholars, however, dispute the notion that the Essenes wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. Rachel Elior
, a prominent Israeli scholar, even questions the existence of the Essenes.
writer Pliny the Elder
(died ) in his Natural History (N'H,V,XV). Pliny relates in a few lines that the Essenes do not marry, possess no money, and had existed for thousands of generations. Unlike Philo
, who did not mention any particular geographical location of the Essenes other than the whole land of Israel
, Pliny places them in Ein Gedi
, next to the Dead Sea
.
A little later Josephus
gave a detailed account of the Essenes in The Jewish War , with a shorter description in Antiquities of the Jews
and The Life of Flavius Josephus
. Claiming first hand knowledge, he lists the Essenoi as one of the three sects of Jewish philosophy
alongside the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. He relates the same information concerning piety
, celibacy
, the absence of personal property and of money, the belief in communality and commitment to a strict observance of the Sabbath
. He further adds that the Essenes ritual
ly immersed in water every morning, ate together after prayer, devoted themselves to charity
and benevolence, forbade the expression of anger, studied the books of the elders, preserved secrets, and were very mindful of the names of the angel
s kept in their sacred writings.
Pliny, also a geographer
and explorer, located them in the desert
near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the year 1947 by Muhammed edh-Dhib
and Ahmed Mohammed, two Bedouin
shepherds of the Ta'amireh tribe.
signifies "holiness" to be inexact. Pliny's Latin text has Esseni. Josephus identified the Essenes as one of the three major Jewish sects of that period.
Gabriele Boccaccini implies that a convincing etymology for the name Essene has not been found, but that the term applies to a larger group within Palestine
that also included the Qumran
community.
It was proposed before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered that the name came into several Greek
spellings from a Hebrew self-designation later found in some Dead Sea Scrolls, 'osey hatorah, "observers of torah." Though dozens of etymology suggestions have been published, this is the only etymology published before 1947 that was confirmed by Qumran
text self-designation references, and it is gaining acceptance among scholars. It is recognized as the etymology of the form Ossaioi (and note that Philo also offered an O spelling) and Essaioi and Esseni spelling variations have been discussed by VanderKam, Goranson and others. In medieval Hebrew (e.g. Sefer Yosippon
) Hassidim ("the pious ones") replaces "Essenes". While this Hebrew name is not the etymology of Essaioi/Esseni, the Aramaic equivalent Hesi'im known from Eastern Aramaic texts has been suggested. Others suggest that Essene is a transliteration of the Hebrew word Chitzonim (chitzon=outside), which the Mishna (e.g. Megila 4:8) uses to describe various sectarian groups.
According to Josephus, the Essenes had settled "not in one city" but "in large numbers in every town". Philo speaks of "more than four thousand" Essaioi living in "Palestine and Syria
", more precisely, "in many cities of Judaea and in many villages and grouped in great societies of many members".
Pliny locates them "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast… [above] the town of Engeda".
Some modern scholars and archaeologists have argued that Essenes inhabited the settlement at Qumran
, a plateau
in the Judean Desert
along the Dead Sea, citing Pliny the Elder in support, and giving credence that the Dead Sea Scrolls are the product of the Essenes. This view, though not yet conclusively proven, has come to dominate the scholarly discussion and public perception of the Essenes.
Josephus' reference to a "gate of the Essenes" in his description of the course of "the most ancient" of the three walls of Jerusalem, in the Mount Zion
area, perhaps suggests an Essene community living in this quarter of the city or regularly gathering at this part of the Temple precincts.
show that the Essenes led a strictly communal life often compared by scholars to later Christian
monastic living. Many of the Essene groups appear to have been celibate, but Josephus speaks also of another "order of Essenes" that observed the practice of being engaged for three years and then becoming married. According to Josephus, they had customs and observances such as: collective ownership, electing a leader to attend to the interests of the group, obedience to the orders from their leader. Also, they were forbidden from swearing oaths
and from sacrificing animals
. They controlled their tempers and served as channels of peace, carrying weapon
s only for protection against robbers. The Essenes chose not to possess slaves
, but served each other and, as a result of communal ownership, did not engage in trading
. Both Josephus and Philo provide lengthy accounts of their communal meetings, meals and religious celebrations.
After a total of three years' probation, newly joining members would take an oath that included the commitment to practice piety towards "the Deity" (το θειον) and righteousness towards humanity, to maintain a pure lifestyle, to abstain from criminal and immoral activities, to transmit their rules uncorrupted and to preserve the books of the Essenes and the names of the Angels. Their theology included belief in the immortality of the soul and that they would receive their souls back after death. Part of their activities included purification by water rituals, which was supported by rainwater catchment and storage.
Note that ritual purification was a common practice among peoples of the Palestine in this period and was thus not specific to the Essenes. Ritual baths are found near many Synagogues of the period.
The Church Father Epiphanius
(writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai, an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nazarean.". Epiphanius describes each group as following:
If it is correct to identify the community at Qumran with the Essenes (and that the community at Qumran are the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls), then according to the Dead Sea Scrolls the Essenes' community school was called "Yahad" (meaning "community") in order to differentiate themselves from the rest of the Jews who are repeatedly labeled "The Breakers of the Covenant".
and Philo
.
Most scholars believe that the community at Qumran that allegedly produced the Dead Sea Scrolls was an offshoot of the Essenes; however, this theory has been disputed by some, for example, by Norman Golb
:
Golb argues that the primary research on the Qumran documents and ruins (by Father Roland de Vaux
, from the École Biblique et Archéologique de Jérusalem
) lacked scientific method, and drew wrong conclusions that comfortably entered the academic canon. For Golb, the amount of documents is too extensive and includes many different writing styles and calligraphies; the ruins seem to have been a fortress, used as a military base for a very long period of time including the 1st century so they could not have been inhabited by the Essenes; and the large graveyard excavated in 1870, just 50 metres east of the Qumran ruins was made of over 1200 tombs that included many women and children Pliny clearly wrote that the Essenes that lived near the Dead Sea "had not one woman, had renounced all pleasure ... and no one was born in their race". Golb's book presents observations about de Vaux's premature conclusions and their uncontroverted acceptance by the general academic community. He states that the documents probably stemmed from various libraries in Jerusalem, kept safe in the desert from the Roman invasions.
Other scholars refute these arguments—particularly since Josephus describes some Essenes as allowing marriage.
Another issue is the relationship between the Essaioi and Philo's Therapeutae
and Therapeutrides. It may be argued that he regarded the Therapeutae as a contemplative branch of the Essaioi who, he said, pursued an active life.
One theory on the formation of the Essenes suggested the movement was founded by a Jewish high priest, dubbed by the Essenes the Teacher of Righteousness
, whose office had been usurped by Jonathan
(of priestly but not Zadok
ite lineage), labeled the "man of lies" or "false priest". Others follow this line and a few argue that the Teacher of Righteousness was not only the leader of the Essenes at Qumran, but was also identical to the original Jesus about 150 years before the time of the Gospels.
The Syrian Malabar Nasrani
of southwestern India
may have connections with the Essenes, according to the Manimekalai
, one of the great Tamil epic poems
, which refers to a people called "Issani." The high presence of Cohen DNA amongst today's Nazareans make further support to the full or part Essene origin of the Malabar Nazareans. The Essenes were often of Levite or Cohen heritage and this may further explain the frequent 'priestly heritage' claims of several Nazerean families of India.
, to whom the Kabbalistic
tradition attributes Sefer ha-Bahir
and, by some opinions, Sefer ha-Kanah, Sefer ha-Peliah and Sefer ha-Temunah
. Some Essene rituals, such as daily immersion in the Mikvah
, coincide with contemporary Hasidic practices; some historians had also suggested, that name "Essene" is a Hellenized form of the word "Hasidim" or "Hasid" ("pious ones"). However, the legendary connections between Essene and Kabbalistic tradition are not verified by modern historians.
Sect
A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...
that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests. Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
and the Sadducees
Sadducees
The Sadducees were a sect or group of Jews that were active in Ancient Israel during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BC through the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The sect was identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society...
(the other two major sects at the time), the Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism
Asceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
, voluntary poverty, daily immersion, and abstinence from worldly pleasures, including (for some groups) marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
. Many separate but related religious groups of that era shared similar mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, eschatological
Jewish eschatology
Jewish eschatology is concerned with the Jewish Messiah, afterlife, and the revival of the dead. Eschatology, generically, is the area of theology and philosophy concerned with the final events in the history of the world, the ultimate destiny of humanity, and related concepts.-The Messiah:The...
, messianic
Jewish Messiah
Messiah, ; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25...
, and ascetic
Asceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
beliefs. These groups are collectively referred to by various scholars as the "Essenes." 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...
records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Roman Judæa
Judaea (Roman province)
Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...
.
The Essenes have gained fame in modern times as a result of the discovery of an extensive group of religious documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls
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...
, which are commonly believed to be Essenes' library—although there is no proof that the Essenes wrote them. These documents include preserved multiple copies of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
untouched from as early as 300 BCE until their discovery in 1946. Some scholars, however, dispute the notion that the Essenes wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. Rachel Elior
Rachel Elior
Rachel Elior is an Israeli professor of Jewish philosophy and mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Jerusalem, Israel.-Academic career:...
, a prominent Israeli scholar, even questions the existence of the Essenes.
Contemporary ancient sources
The first reference is by the RomanAncient Rome
Ancient 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....
writer Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
(died ) in his Natural History (N'H,V,XV). Pliny relates in a few lines that the Essenes do not marry, possess no money, and had existed for thousands of generations. Unlike Philo
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
, who did not mention any particular geographical location of the Essenes other than the whole land of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Pliny places them in Ein Gedi
Ein Gedi
Ein Gedi is an oasis in Israel, located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the caves of Qumran.-Etymology:The name En-gedi is composed of two Hebrew words: ein means spring and gdi means goat-kid. En Gedi thus means "Kid spring."...
, next to the Dead Sea
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea , also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world...
.
A little later 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...
gave a detailed account of the Essenes in The Jewish War , with a shorter description in Antiquities of the Jews
Antiquities of the Jews
Antiquities of the Jews is a twenty volume historiographical work composed by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the thirteenth year of the reign of Roman emperor Flavius Domitian which was around 93 or 94 AD. Antiquities of the Jews contains an account of history of the Jewish people,...
and The Life of Flavius Josephus
The Life of Flavius Josephus
The Life of Josephus , also called the "Life of Flavius Josephus", is an autobiographical text written by Josephus in approximately 94-99 CE – possibly as an appendix to his Antiquities of the Jews The Life of Josephus ("Iosepou bios"), also called the "Life of Flavius Josephus", is an...
. Claiming first hand knowledge, he lists the Essenoi as one of the three sects of Jewish philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
alongside the Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
and the Sadducees. He relates the same information concerning piety
Piety
In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.- Etymology :...
, celibacy
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...
, the absence of personal property and of money, the belief in communality and commitment to a strict observance of the Sabbath
Sabbath
Sabbath in Christianity is a weekly day of rest or religious observance, derived from the Biblical Sabbath.Seventh-day Sabbath observance, i.e. resting from labor from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is practiced by seventh-day Sabbatarians...
. He further adds that the Essenes ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
ly immersed in water every morning, ate together after prayer, devoted themselves to charity
Charity (practice)
The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas meant...
and benevolence, forbade the expression of anger, studied the books of the elders, preserved secrets, and were very mindful of the names of the angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s kept in their sacred writings.
Pliny, also a geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
and explorer, located them in the desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the year 1947 by Muhammed edh-Dhib
Muhammed edh-Dhib
Muhammad Ahmed al-Hamed , better known by his nickname Muhammed edh-Dhib , was a Bedouin shepherd from the Ta'amireh clans residing in Bethlehem, who discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in winter 1946/47....
and Ahmed Mohammed, two Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
shepherds of the Ta'amireh tribe.
Name
Josephus uses the name Essenes in his two main accounts as well as in some other contexts ("an account of the Essenes"; "the gate of the Essenes"; "Judas of the Essene race"; but some manuscripts read here Essaion; "holding the Essenes in honour"; "a certain Essene named Manaemus"; "to hold all Essenes in honour"; "the Essenes"). In several places, however, Josephus has Essaios, which is usually assumed to mean Essene ("Judas of the Essaios race"; "Simon of the Essaios race"; "John the Essaios"; "those who are called by us Essaioi"; "Simon a man of the Essaios race"). Philo's usage is Essaioi, although he admits this Greek form of the original name that according to his etymologyEtymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
signifies "holiness" to be inexact. Pliny's Latin text has Esseni. Josephus identified the Essenes as one of the three major Jewish sects of that period.
Gabriele Boccaccini implies that a convincing etymology for the name Essene has not been found, but that the term applies to a larger group within Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
that also included the 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...
community.
It was proposed before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered that the name came into several Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
spellings from a Hebrew self-designation later found in some Dead Sea Scrolls, 'osey hatorah, "observers of torah." Though dozens of etymology suggestions have been published, this is the only etymology published before 1947 that was confirmed by 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...
text self-designation references, and it is gaining acceptance among scholars. It is recognized as the etymology of the form Ossaioi (and note that Philo also offered an O spelling) and Essaioi and Esseni spelling variations have been discussed by VanderKam, Goranson and others. In medieval Hebrew (e.g. Sefer Yosippon
Josippon
Josippon is the name usually given to a popular chronicle of Jewish history from Adam to the age of Titus, attributed to an author Josippon or Joseph ben Gorion....
) Hassidim ("the pious ones") replaces "Essenes". While this Hebrew name is not the etymology of Essaioi/Esseni, the Aramaic equivalent Hesi'im known from Eastern Aramaic texts has been suggested. Others suggest that Essene is a transliteration of the Hebrew word Chitzonim (chitzon=outside), which the Mishna (e.g. Megila 4:8) uses to describe various sectarian groups.
Location
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
", more precisely, "in many cities of Judaea and in many villages and grouped in great societies of many members".
Pliny locates them "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast… [above] the town of Engeda".
Some modern scholars and archaeologists have argued that Essenes inhabited the settlement at 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...
, a plateau
Plateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
in the Judean Desert
Judean desert
The Judaean Desert is a desert in Israel and the West Bank that lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. It stretches from the northeastern Negev to the east of Beit El, and is marked by terraces with escarpments. It ends in a steep escarpment dropping to the Dead Sea and the Jordan...
along the Dead Sea, citing Pliny the Elder in support, and giving credence that the Dead Sea Scrolls are the product of the Essenes. This view, though not yet conclusively proven, has come to dominate the scholarly discussion and public perception of the Essenes.
Josephus' reference to a "gate of the Essenes" in his description of the course of "the most ancient" of the three walls of Jerusalem, in the Mount Zion
Mount Zion
Mount Zion is a place name for a site in Jerusalem, the location of which has shifted several times in history. According to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Samuel, it was the site of the Jebusite fortress called the "stronghold of Zion" that was conquered by King David, becoming his palace in the City...
area, perhaps suggests an Essene community living in this quarter of the city or regularly gathering at this part of the Temple precincts.
Rules, customs, theology and beliefs
The accounts by Josephus and PhiloPhilo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
show that the Essenes led a strictly communal life often compared by scholars to later Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
monastic living. Many of the Essene groups appear to have been celibate, but Josephus speaks also of another "order of Essenes" that observed the practice of being engaged for three years and then becoming married. According to Josephus, they had customs and observances such as: collective ownership, electing a leader to attend to the interests of the group, obedience to the orders from their leader. Also, they were forbidden from swearing oaths
Oath
An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
and from sacrificing animals
Animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature...
. They controlled their tempers and served as channels of peace, carrying weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s only for protection against robbers. The Essenes chose not to possess slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, but served each other and, as a result of communal ownership, did not engage in trading
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
. Both Josephus and Philo provide lengthy accounts of their communal meetings, meals and religious celebrations.
After a total of three years' probation, newly joining members would take an oath that included the commitment to practice piety towards "the Deity" (το θειον) and righteousness towards humanity, to maintain a pure lifestyle, to abstain from criminal and immoral activities, to transmit their rules uncorrupted and to preserve the books of the Essenes and the names of the Angels. Their theology included belief in the immortality of the soul and that they would receive their souls back after death. Part of their activities included purification by water rituals, which was supported by rainwater catchment and storage.
Note that ritual purification was a common practice among peoples of the Palestine in this period and was thus not specific to the Essenes. Ritual baths are found near many Synagogues of the period.
The Church Father Epiphanius
Epiphanius of Salamis
Epiphanius of Salamis was bishop of Salamis at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He gained a reputation as a strong defender of orthodoxy...
(writing in the 4th century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: "Of those that came before his [Elxai, an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nazarean.". Epiphanius describes each group as following:
If it is correct to identify the community at Qumran with the Essenes (and that the community at Qumran are the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls), then according to the Dead Sea Scrolls the Essenes' community school was called "Yahad" (meaning "community") in order to differentiate themselves from the rest of the Jews who are repeatedly labeled "The Breakers of the Covenant".
Scholarly discussion
The Essenes are discussed in detail by JosephusJosephus
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...
and Philo
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
.
Most scholars believe that the community at Qumran that allegedly produced the Dead Sea Scrolls was an offshoot of the Essenes; however, this theory has been disputed by some, for example, by Norman Golb
Norman Golb
Norman Golb is the Ludwig Rosenberger Professor in Jewish History and Civilization at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He earned his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1954. He joined the faculty of the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati in 1958 before settling at the...
:
Golb argues that the primary research on the Qumran documents and ruins (by Father Roland de Vaux
Roland de Vaux
Father Roland Guérin de Vaux OP was a French Dominican priest who led the Catholic team that initially worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was the director of the Ecole Biblique, a French Catholic Theological School in East Jerusalem, and he was charged with overseeing research on the scrolls...
, from the École Biblique et Archéologique de Jérusalem
École Biblique
The École Biblique, strictly the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem, is a respected French academic establishment in Jerusalem, founded by Dominicans, and specialising in archaeology and Biblical exegesis.-Foundation:...
) lacked scientific method, and drew wrong conclusions that comfortably entered the academic canon. For Golb, the amount of documents is too extensive and includes many different writing styles and calligraphies; the ruins seem to have been a fortress, used as a military base for a very long period of time including the 1st century so they could not have been inhabited by the Essenes; and the large graveyard excavated in 1870, just 50 metres east of the Qumran ruins was made of over 1200 tombs that included many women and children Pliny clearly wrote that the Essenes that lived near the Dead Sea "had not one woman, had renounced all pleasure ... and no one was born in their race". Golb's book presents observations about de Vaux's premature conclusions and their uncontroverted acceptance by the general academic community. He states that the documents probably stemmed from various libraries in Jerusalem, kept safe in the desert from the Roman invasions.
Other scholars refute these arguments—particularly since Josephus describes some Essenes as allowing marriage.
Another issue is the relationship between the Essaioi and Philo's Therapeutae
Therapeutae
The Therapeutae were a Jewish sect in which flourished in Alexandria and other parts of the Diaspora of Hellenistic Judaism in the final years of the Second Temple period. The primary source is the account De vita contemplativa by the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria who appears to have...
and Therapeutrides. It may be argued that he regarded the Therapeutae as a contemplative branch of the Essaioi who, he said, pursued an active life.
One theory on the formation of the Essenes suggested the movement was founded by a Jewish high priest, dubbed by the Essenes the Teacher of Righteousness
Teacher of Righteousness
The Teacher of Righteousness is a figure found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, most prominently in the Damascus Document. This document speaks briefly of the origins of the sect, probably Essenes, 390 years after the Babylonian exile and after 20 years of 'groping' blindly for the way...
, whose office had been usurped by Jonathan
Jonathan Maccabaeus
Jonathan Apphus was leader of the Hasmonean Dynasty of Judea from 161 to 143 BCE. The name Apphus could mean = "the dissembler", "the Wary", or "the diplomat", in allusion to a trait prominent in him -Leader of the Jews:...
(of priestly but not Zadok
Zadok
Zadok was a high priest of the Israelites in Jerusalem after it was conquered by David.Zadok may also refer to:*Rabbi Zadok, tanna of the 1st-century CE*Zadok the Priest, an 18th-century coronation anthem by Handel...
ite lineage), labeled the "man of lies" or "false priest". Others follow this line and a few argue that the Teacher of Righteousness was not only the leader of the Essenes at Qumran, but was also identical to the original Jesus about 150 years before the time of the Gospels.
The Syrian Malabar Nasrani
Syrian Malabar Nasrani
The Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, also known as Saint Thomas Christians, "'Nasrani Mappila'" and Nasranis, are an ethnoreligious group from Kerala, India, adhering to the various churches of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition...
of southwestern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
may have connections with the Essenes, according to the Manimekalai
Manimekalai
Manimekalai or Maṇimekalai , written by the Tamil Buddhist poet Seethalai Saathanar is one of the masterpieces of Tamil literature. It is considered to be one of the five great epics of Tamil literature. Manimekalai is a poem in 30 cantos...
, one of the great Tamil epic poems
The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature
The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature are five large narrative Tamil epics according to later Tamil literary tradition. The first mention of the "Aimperumkappiyam" occurs in Mayilainathar's commentary of Nannūl. However, Mayilainathar does not mention the names of the five epics...
, which refers to a people called "Issani." The high presence of Cohen DNA amongst today's Nazareans make further support to the full or part Essene origin of the Malabar Nazareans. The Essenes were often of Levite or Cohen heritage and this may further explain the frequent 'priestly heritage' claims of several Nazerean families of India.
Connections with Kabbalah
According to a Jewish legend, one of the Essenes, named Menachem, had passed at least some of his mystical knowledge to the Talmudic mystic Nehunya ben ha-KanahNehunya ben ha-Kanah
Nehunya ben ha-Kanah was a Tanna of the 1st and 2nd centuries. It appears from B. B. 10b that Neḥunya was a contemporary, but not a pupil, of Johanan b. Zakkai. He was the teacher of Ishmael b. Elisha...
, to whom the Kabbalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
tradition attributes Sefer ha-Bahir
Bahir
Bahir or Sefer Ha-Bahir סֵפֶר הַבָּהִיר is an anonymous mystical work, attributed to a 1st century rabbinic sage Nehunya ben ha-Kanah because it begins with the words, "R. Nehunya Ben Ha-Kanah said"...
and, by some opinions, Sefer ha-Kanah, Sefer ha-Peliah and Sefer ha-Temunah
Sefer ha-Temunah
Sefer ha-Temunah is a 13–14th century kabbalistic text. It is quoted in many Halakhic sources.-Origins:...
. Some Essene rituals, such as daily immersion in the Mikvah
Mikvah
Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...
, coincide with contemporary Hasidic practices; some historians had also suggested, that name "Essene" is a Hellenized form of the word "Hasidim" or "Hasid" ("pious ones"). However, the legendary connections between Essene and Kabbalistic tradition are not verified by modern historians.
See also
- Dead Sea scrollsDead Sea scrollsThe 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...
- Ein GediEin GediEin Gedi is an oasis in Israel, located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the caves of Qumran.-Etymology:The name En-gedi is composed of two Hebrew words: ein means spring and gdi means goat-kid. En Gedi thus means "Kid spring."...
- Jewish eschatologyJewish eschatologyJewish eschatology is concerned with the Jewish Messiah, afterlife, and the revival of the dead. Eschatology, generically, is the area of theology and philosophy concerned with the final events in the history of the world, the ultimate destiny of humanity, and related concepts.-The Messiah:The...
- Mount Carmel
- QumranQumranQumran 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...
- TherapeutaeTherapeutaeThe Therapeutae were a Jewish sect in which flourished in Alexandria and other parts of the Diaspora of Hellenistic Judaism in the final years of the Second Temple period. The primary source is the account De vita contemplativa by the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria who appears to have...
, Hellenistic Jewish sect in Egypt - Vegetarianism and religionVegetarianism and religionVegetarianism and religion are strongly linked in a number of religions that originated in ancient India . In Jainism, vegetarianism is mandatory for everyone; in Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, it is advocated by some influential scriptures and religious authorities...
- Hellenistic JudaismHellenistic JudaismHellenistic Judaism was a movement which existed in the Jewish diaspora that sought to establish a Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism...
- CtistaeCtistaeThe Ctistae were a group/class in ancient Thracian culture. They led celibate lives, never marrying. They were held in a place of honor by the Thracians, with their lives being dedicated to the gods....
, celibates in ancient Thrace. - Ebionite, early Judaizer Christian group
Further reading
- Vermes, Geza and Martin Goodman. The Essenes According to the Classical Sources. JSOT on behalf of the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studie: Sheffield, 1989.
External links
- Historical Facts on Essene Culture
- Encyclopedia Britannica: Essenes
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Essenes
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Essenes
- Scholar: The Essenes, Dead Sea Scroll 'authors,' never existed - Haaretz, 13 March 2009.
- Essenes and Others: argues that the Hebrew original form of the name later spelled "Essenes" is in some Qumran scrolls as a self-designation.
- "Jannaeus, His Brother Absalom, and Judah the Essene," Stephen Goranson, identities of Wicked Priest and Teacher of Righteousness, relevant to history of the Essenes.
- (Thematically compiled comparison of the parallels in the ancient sources) Dead at 2009/09/22.
- The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls/ Essenes