The Dead Sea Scrolls: New Insights on Ancient Texts

Preface
Contents
Notes on Contributors
Abbreviations
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction
	What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
	The Dead Sea Scrolls and Ancient Judaism and Christianity
	New Insights on Ancient Texts
Chapter 2: The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Dead Sea Scrolls
	Publication
	Conservation and Preservation
	Documentation and Cataloguing
	Multispectral Imaging
	The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
	Outcomes from the LLDSSDL
	New Technologies
	Exhibitions
	Excavations and Surveys Conducted by the IDAM and the IAA
	Activities of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Looting
	Conclusion
	References
Chapter 3: A Greek-Style Bath at Qumran?
	Description of the Remains
	Humbert and Chambon’s Interpretation
	Hellenistic Baths
		The Nature of the Installations in L34
	References
Chapter 4: Purity and Purification in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Miqva’ot of Qumran: The Convergence of Text and Archaeology
	Introduction
	Sectarianism and Ritual Purity and Impurity
	Qumran Sectarian Initiation Rites and Ritual Purity
	Miqva’ot at Qumran
	Water Supply
	Size of Miqva’ot
	Specific Locations
	Women and the Sect
	Partitions
	Conclusion: The Archaeological Evidence and the Texts
	References
Chapter 5: Identifying the People of the Dead Sea Scrolls
	Snapshot One: The Scrolls Before the Scrolls
	Snapshot Two: Sects Before Sectarianism
	Snapshot Three: The Cave 1 Community and the Qumran Essenes
	Snapshot Four: Cave 4 Complications and a Broader World
	Sectarianism and the Dead Sea Scrolls
	Naming the Sectarians: A Methodological Recommendation
	References
Chapter 6: The Scope and Purpose of Encrypted Writing at Qumran
	Brief History of Research
	Survey of the Find
	The Cryptic A Script
		Morphology of the Script
		How Many Hands Wrote Cryptic A?
		Typology and Chronology of the Cryptic A Script
		Absolute Dating
		The Content of the Cryptic Corpus
	The Purpose of Cryptic Writing
	Coming to Terms with Secrecy in Qumran
	References
Chapter 7: Scribes, Scrolls, and Stars in the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls
	Jews and Judaism in the Early Hellenistic Age
	The Deep Past in the Early Hellenistic Age
	Studying the Cycles of the Moon, Sun, and Stars
	Exorcism, Demonology, and Spirits
	Conclusion
	References
Chapter 8: Magic and Demonology in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Retrospect and Prospect
	Demonology in the Dead Sea Scrolls
	Magic in the Dead Sea Scrolls
	References
Chapter 9: Prayer, the Divine, and the Human Self at Qumran
	Introductory Comments on Prayer at Qumran
	Recovering the Particular
	The Self at Qumran—Disembodied or Embodied?
	Conclusion
	References
Chapter 10: The Qumran Sectarians in an Imperial Context: A Postcolonial Reading of Pesher Habakkuk
	Introduction
	Historical Context
	The Kittim
	The View of Rome in Pesher Habakkuk
	A Postcolonial Reading of Pesher Habakkuk
	Conclusion
	References
Chapter 11: Violence in the Dead Sea Scrolls in Scholarship and Popular Media
	Violence in the Dead Sea Scrolls from Cave 1
	Edmund Wilson and The Scrolls from the Dead Sea
	John Allegro and the BBC North of England Home Service Radio Broadcasts
	Wilson and Allegro: The Two Great Popularizers Converge
	Conclusion
	References
Index