{"id":774,"date":"2021-05-24T12:48:02","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T12:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/?p=774"},"modified":"2021-05-24T12:48:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T12:48:02","slug":"dead-sea-scrolls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/2021\/05\/dead-sea-scrolls\/","title":{"rendered":"Dead Sea Scrolls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong>Dead Sea Scrolls<\/strong> are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts that were found in the <em><strong>Qumran Caves<\/strong><\/em> in the Judaean Desert, near <em><strong>Ein Feshkha<\/strong><\/em> on the northern shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank, and the last discovered scrolls found in the <em><strong>Cave of Horror in Israel.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/scrolls-1st-found-in-caves.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-775\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/scrolls-1st-found-in-caves-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/scrolls-1st-found-in-caves-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/scrolls-1st-found-in-caves-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/scrolls-1st-found-in-caves.jpg 976w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Researchers say Artificial Intelligence (AI) has for the first time shown that two scribes wrote part of the mysterious ancient Dead Sea Scrolls<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0Tests were carried out on the longest text, known as the <em><strong>Great Isaiah Scroll<\/strong><\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>It was found that probably two unknown individuals had copied down the words using <em><strong>near-identical handwriting.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0The scrolls, which include the oldest known version of the <strong><em>Bible<\/em><\/strong>, have been a <em><strong>source of fascination<\/strong><\/em> since their discovery <strong>some 70 years<\/strong> ago.<\/li>\n<li>The first sets were found by a <em><strong>Bedouin<\/strong> <\/em>in a cave at Qumran near the <em><strong>Dead Sea<\/strong><\/em> in what is now the <em><strong>Israeli-occupied West Bank.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li>They contain manuscripts, mostly written in Hebrew as well as <em><strong>Aramaic and Greek<\/strong><\/em>, and are believed to date from about the <em><strong>Third Century BC<\/strong><\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/tobit-dead-sea-scroll.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-776\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/tobit-dead-sea-scroll-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> The Dead Sea Scrolls include a guide to hidden treasure<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the most intriguing manuscripts from <em><strong>Qumran<\/strong><\/em> is the <em><strong>Copper Scroll<\/strong><\/em>, a sort of ancient treasure map that lists <em><strong>dozens of gold and silver caches<\/strong><\/em>. While the other texts are written in ink on <em><strong>parchment<\/strong><\/em> or <em><strong>animal skins<\/strong><\/em>, this curious document features <em><strong>Hebrew and Greek letters chiseled<\/strong><\/em> onto <em><strong>metal sheets\u2014perhaps<\/strong><\/em>, as some have theorized, to better withstand the passage of time. Using an unconventional vocabulary and odd spelling, the Copper Scroll describes <em><strong>64 underground<\/strong><\/em> hiding places around <em><strong>Israel<\/strong><\/em> that purportedly contain riches stashed for<em><strong> safekeeping<\/strong><\/em>. None of these hoards have been recovered, possibly because the <em><strong>Romans pillaged Judaea<\/strong> <\/em>during the first century A.D. According to various <em><strong>hypotheses<\/strong><\/em>, the treasure belonged to <em><strong>local Essenes<\/strong><\/em>, was spirited out of the <em><strong>Second Temple<\/strong><\/em> before its destruction or never existed to begin with.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScroll_WP2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-777\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScroll_WP2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScroll_WP2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScroll_WP2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScroll_WP2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScroll_WP2.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>From Egypt to Aleppo<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the end of the <em><strong>14th century<\/strong><\/em>, the <em><strong>Aleppo Codex<\/strong><\/em> was brought from <em><strong>Egypt to Aleppo, Syria,<\/strong><\/em> and placed in the <em><strong>\u201cCave of Elijah\u201d<\/strong><\/em> in the city\u2019s ancient synagogue, in a metal chest sealed with a double lock, far from public view. The Jews of <em><strong>Aleppo<\/strong> <\/em>saw the Codex as the most important manuscript in their possession \u2013 so much so, that judges were sworn in with it, and <em><strong>magical, protective powers<\/strong><\/em> were attributed to it. It was strictly forbidden to sell the <em><strong>Codex or even<\/strong><\/em> remove it from the synagogue, as written on the title page, <em><strong>\u201cSacred to the Lord. . . . It shall be neither sold nor redeemed. . . . Blessed be he who guards it, accursed be he who steals it . . . .\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> The members of the community believed that if this injunction were violated, they would be severely punished.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-778 size-medium\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScrolls-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScrolls-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScrolls-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DeadSeaScrolls.jpg 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Besides the Aleppo Codex, the Jewish community of Aleppo owned <em><strong>three<\/strong><\/em> other important codices. One of them, known as the <em><strong>\u201cSmall Codex,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> was probably written in <em><strong>Italy in 1341<\/strong><\/em> by an <em><strong>Ashkenazi scribe<\/strong><\/em>. Its main part comprises the <em><strong>Pentateuch<\/strong><\/em>, with vocalization and cantillation marks and an Aramaic translation. Masoretic notes are inserted between the columns, and Rashi\u2019s commentary appears in the <strong><em>upper and lower margins<\/em><\/strong>. The Small Codex also includes an additional text of the <em><strong>Pentateuch in tiny Hebrew letters<\/strong> <\/em>\u2013 without the <em><strong>translation, vocalization, and cantillation marks<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 as well as the Song of Songs with <em><strong>Rashi\u2019s<\/strong><\/em> commentary, the Five Scrolls, the sections from the <em><strong>Prophets<\/strong><\/em> read in the <em><strong>synagogue<\/strong><\/em> after the Torah reading (haftarot), and a commentary (midrash) on the Masorah. It is currently on display at the <em><strong>Shrine of the Book<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DEADSEA.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-779\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DEADSEA-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DEADSEA-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DEADSEA-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-content\/DEADSEA.jpg 976w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts that were found in the Qumran Caves in the Judaean Desert, near Ein Feshkha on the northern shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank, and the last discovered scrolls found in the Cave of Horror in Israel. Researchers say Artificial Intelligence (AI) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egyptian-archaeology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":787,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions\/787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatarchaeology.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}