Hasmonean
A family (a dynasty) of Jewish patriots to which the Maccabees belonged; period of Jewish history from the Maccabean Revolt (ca.167 BCE) to the Roman conquest of Judaea (ca. 67 BCE). Sometimes the period is extended as 167-30 BCE. The dynasty included Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan, Simon, John Hyrcanus, Aristobolus I, Alexander Jannaeus, Alexandra Salome, Hyrcanus II, and Aristobolus II.
Hekhalot
Mystical Jewish writings composed during the first few centuries after the destruction of the Second Temple, and characterized by descriptions of the “palaces” or “halls” (Hebrew, hekhalot) to be encountered by those (mystics) worthy of beholding the “Divine Chariot” (merkabah) of the Lord described in the Book of Ezekiel.
Hellenistic
That mixture of Greek and Near Eastern culture that began to develop after the conquests of Alexander the Great. (ca. 332 BCE). This movement was still very device at the time of Jewish Revolt in 66 CE.
heresiographers
Religious scholars specializing in the study of heresies. They collected the works, and wrote detailed descriptions of the beliefs, of sectarians primarily to refute them.
herodian
Associated especially with Herod the Great’s reign 37-4BCE; a period of Jewish history from 30 BCE – 70 CE
Herodium
Another Jewish fortress of ancient Palestine, built in the style of Masada and Machaerus, located southeast of Bethlehem and approximately 20 kilometers march from Qumran.
heterodoxy
Departure, in the eyes of later analysts, from the normative beliefs and practices of a religion. With respect to Judaism of the intertestamental period and Christianity of the early New Testament period, “orthodoxy” is difficult to define because of the state of fluctuation of Judaism during the earlier period, and the lack of the primary, unedited Christian documents from the latter.
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Idumaeans
The inhabitants of Idumaea (Edom), who during intertestamental times continued to inhabit a large area east and south of the Dead Sea.
intercalation
The addition of an extra month to the lunar year in order to adjust it more closely to the solar year. The lunar year is 11 days shorter than the solar year. To partially compensate for this difference, the rabbis would intercalate a month at the end of the year twice in every seven years. This was necessary to keep the various holidays falling in their proper seasons.
intertestamental
The period between the end of the time described in the latest books of the Hebrew Bible and the opening of the New Testament.
Iron Age II
Archaeological term for the period, particularly for Palestine, from the beginning of the United Monarchy (ca. 1200 – 1000 BCE) to the Babylonian Exile , 586 BCE, corresponding roughly to the First Temple period. Some modern scholars bring the Bronze Age forward to include the reign of Solomon so that the Iron Age starts closer to 900 BCE than to 1000 BCE. This is reasonable because the later part of the Bronze Age was a time of relative prosperity and that is more in accordance with the state of the court of Solomon than the rather austere style of the later Iron Age sites that have been excavated.
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Jericho
Ancient city on the plain north of the Dead Sea and due north of Qumran.
Jerusalem
Ancient city, center of Palestinian and Judaean history and culture. City of the Temple of Solomon and many other well known structures. Center of Jewish, Islamic and Christian religious history and culture.
Judaea
Southern region of ancient Palestine. Like Galilee is was a region of dense Jewish settlement during the intertestamental period. Qumran lies in a barren area within the Judaean Desert known as the Judaean Wilderness.
Judaean wilderness or desert
The low-lying steppeland of Judaea west of the Dead Sea and east of the Central hill country, or simply south of Jerusalem and west of the Dead Sea. It is an arid region with some springs and a fair amount of rain in the winter.
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Khirbet (Arabic)
A ruin or destroyed place; Khirbet Qumran = “ruin of Qumran.”
Kittim
The name referred originally to inhabitants of Kiti, capital of the isle of Cyprus, then to any Cypriots, later to Greeks, in general, and eventually even to Romans.
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laura
A monastery consisting of separate rooms, huts, cells or caves for early Christian monks who only came together for meals and communal worship.
Levites
Members of the Israelite tribe of Levi (one of the twelve ancient tribes of Israel) or their descendents. The Levites were responsible for the maintenance of the Temple and sacrificial system, and it was to this tribe that the Aaronic priests belonged.
Leviticus
Third book of Jewish and Christian scripture consisting mainly of priestly legislation. Scroll fragments are included in the Library of Congress exhibition.
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Maccabaeans/Maccabees
A priestly Jewish family which ruled Palestine in the second and first centuries BCE (164 – 67 BCE) and wrested Judaea from the rule of the Seleucids and their Greek practices. The Jewish holiday Hanukkah commemorates the Maccabees’ recapture of Jerusalem and re-consecration of the Temple in December 164 BCE A name often used for the Hasmonaeans. The term derives from the surname of Judas Maccabeus, the early leader of the revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes.
Machaerus
Another Jewish fortress of ancient Palestine lying southeast of Qumran across the Dead Sea at a distance of only twenty kilometers. Qumran lies almost halfway, as the crow flies, between Jerusalem and Machaerus. This fortress was built or at least strengthened by the Hasmonaean Alexander Jannaeus after he subjugated Moab to the east of the Dead Sea sometime before 90 BCE. It was designated as a bulwark to fend off attacks by the Aramaic-speaking Nabataeans who occupied Petra and areas to the south. Destroyed by Gabinius, the governor of Syria, circa 60 BCE, it was rebuilt by Herod the Great, and his son Antipas murdered John the Baptist there.
Manual of Discipline
One of the original seven scrolls recovered from Cave 1 near Qumran.
Madaba map
A sixth century CE map of Palestine, forming the mosaic floor of a Byzantine church located in the ancient town of Madaba (Medeba) modern al-’Asimah, in what is now west-central Jordan. It preserves many important details of the geography of Roman and Byzantine Palestine.
Masada
Important Jewish fortress of ancient Palestine situated on a butte west of the Dead Sea; last stronghold of the 960 Jewish Zealots, including their wives and children, who volunteered to be killed or committed suicide, rather than surrender to the besieging Roman army at the end of the final battle of the revolt that marks the end of the Second Temple Period. Located thirty-three miles South of Qumran.
Massoretic
Relating to the Massorah, or “tradition,” that body of early medieval notes on the textual traditions about the proper reading of the Hebrew Bible and to versions of it based on these traditions. Compiled during the first millennium of the Christian era. The Tiberian Massoretic text is the one most widely used today. The oldest known Massoretic biblical texts are the Aleppo Codex (dating from 915 CE), which was smuggled out of Syria into Jerusalem by fleeing Jews. Parts of it were destroyed during a pogrom against the Jews of Aleppo in 1947. Leningradensis (the Leningrad Codex), dating to 1005 CE, is the second oldest Massoretic text of the Hebrew Bible and is used as the standard for critical editions of the Hebrew Bible, was stored in the Leningrad State Library. The Massoretes did three things to stablize the biblical text: they inserted vowels according to the oral readings of the time; inserted accent marks (te’amim) and cantillation marks (in the case of poetic sections) so the lector knows how to parse and where to pause while reading out loud; and they included Masorot in the lateral, top and bottom margins to indicate to scribes of later generations how to accurately copy the text at hand. For example, they highlite each unique word in the bible so that every scribe will know not to repeat it. Similarly, they highlight each word that only appears twice in the bible, and they indicated the passage where the other examplar appears (without using chapter and verse references since that came later – they relied on the fact that all scribes knew the entire text by heart and referred to the exact passage with a few select words). When nearly identical passages are different, there is a note to retain the difference. There are other warnings to avoid scribal errors of many varieties.
midrash (pl. midrashim)
(Hebrew, “expounding”) A method of rabbinic biblical interpretation in which a passage of Scripture is quoted and then a meaning or various meanings are drawn from the text. Midrashists employed a variety of techniques, including allegories, word plays, and gematria (assigning numerical values to words) in order to determine the meaning of text. Midrashim are divided into two categories: halakhic midrashim, which comment primarily on biblical laws, and haggadic midrashim, which expound mainly on theological and devotional aspects of the biblical text.
mikva’ot
Ritual baths, of which there are four or five at Qumran.
Mishnah
The central legal collection of early rabbinic (= Tannaitic) Judaism. Based on rabbinic traditions compiled about 200 CE, it contains ordinances on such matters as marriage, Sabbath observance, sacrifices, ritual purification, civil law, etc; part of the Talmud. See also Tannaitic and Tosephta.
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Nag Hammadi
Site in the Egyptian desert where other ancient texts, the so called ‘Gnostic Gospels’, were discovered in 1945. By 1948 they were purchased by the Cairo Coptic Museum. An international team of, mostly French, scholars made no progress at all in publishing these works, and was replaced in 1956. This effort was interrupted by the Suez crisis and other matters intervened. In 1966 a new international team of scholars was formed, headed by James M. Robinson of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity at the Claremont Graduate School, California. By 1973 the entire Library of documents was in draft English translation and circulating among interested scholars for criticism and review. In 1977 the entire body of the Nag Hammadi codices was published, in facsimile and a popular edition. This occupied a total of forth-six books plus fragments.
Unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls, these have all been published, though not on the Web, by the team assembled by Robinson for that purpose.
nahal
(Hebrew) A seasonal brook or stream together with its riverbed; see w di.
Nazorenes (Nazerines)
One of the names for the original Christians in Judaea; also known as Jesseans according to Epiphanius, an early Christian writer.
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Oriental Institute
A part of the University of Chicago. Director: Professor William Sumner; he also helped establish the Institute’s Dead Sea Scrolls Research Project. Voting member: Professor Norman Golb, Rosenberger Chair in Jewish History and Civilization, member of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of the University of Chicago. Sponsored: December 14-17 1992 with the New York Academy of Sciences, a conference on The Methods of Investigation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Khirbet Qumran Site: Present Realities and Future Prospects.
orthography
A term referring to the way the words are spelled in a manuscript or printed text.
ostraca
Pieces of ancient broken pottery inscribed with names or messages.
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palaeo- or paleo-
pref. Ancient or prehistoric.
palaeo-Hebrew
Ancient Hebrew script; one of the offshoots of the Phoenician script; used exclusively in the First Temple period and in priestly circles and as a symbol of nationalistic revival in the Second Temple Period. Some of the oldest Dead Sea Scrolls are written in this script. In other scrolls the Tetragrammaton was written in palaeo-Hebrew script as a sign of reverence. It was gradually replaced by the so-called Aramaic square script that remains the script of Hebrew texts today. A version of this script is still used today by the Samaritans.
palaeography
Relating to the study of ancient writings and inscriptions or to an ancient manner of writing. Its techniques were used to support the consensus interpretation that most of the important Dead Sea Scrolls date from about 100 BCE
Palestine Archaeological Museum
Located in Arab East Jerusalem. See Rockefeller Museum.
parchment
Prepared animal skin on which text is written.
Pentateuch
The first five books of scripture (the Books of Moses): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; the first of three major divisions of the Hebrew Bible. See Torah.
pesher
(Hebrew, “interpretation”) In the scrolls, “Pesher” particularly refers to a method of interpreting prophetic texts that relates their verses to events in their authors’ recent past or near future.
Pharisees (”Ephraim” in some Qumran writings)
One of the three orders or sects of Jews described by Josephus and other ancient sources during the Second Temple period. Originally, an essentially lay group formed from one of the branches of the Hasidim of the Maccabaean age. By the time of John Hyrcanus I there was Pharisaic objection to his usurpation, as a non-Zadokite, of the high priesthood, though they were willing to accept him as the national leader. Eight hundred Pharisees were accused by Alexander Jannaeus of collusion with the Syrian Seleucid king Demetrius III Eucaerus and condemned by Jannaeus to die on the cross. By the time of Josephus they were the largest of the various groups and had the popular support of the people. They were characterized by their “free” interpretation of the Bible, adherence to oral traditions, strict observance of rites and interpretation, belief in future retribution, belief in angels and other spiritual beings, divine providence cooperating with free will, the immortality of the soul, the bodily resurrection of the dead, and a coming Messiah. Some commentators suggest that Jesus was from a Pharisee family and background. Similarities between his teachings, especially the Sermon on the Mount, and those of Pharisee teachers, such as Hillel, seem to support the contention that Jesus ‘was himself a Pharisee’.
phylacteries (from the Greek; Hebrew tefillin)
Two small leather boxes or capsules which in modern times contain three scriptural passages of the Pentateuch in Hebrew; Exodus 13.1-16, Deuteronomy 6.4-9 and Deuteronomy 11.13-21. Traditionally, worn on the left arm and on the forehead by observant Jews during morning prayers. Worn in literal fulfillment of the precept to “bind these words that I command you this day upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes” (Deut. 6.8). Samples found in the caves with the Dead Sea Scrolls show a variety of scripture selections unlike more modern examples which all contain the same verses of scripture.
priests
See Aaronites
proto- or prot-
pref.Earliest: prototype. In the context of studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls it is usually ued to indicate the most primative version of a specific language; e.g. proto-Hebrew, proto-Samarian, proto-Aramaic, etc. Also, in some cases it is used to refer to earliest or most primative, or possibly the last previous, version of some school of text producers; e.g. proto-Rabbinic; primative Rabbinic or the latest predecessor to the Rabbinic text.
Psalms (tehillim)
Collection of Biblical hymns, i.e. sacred songs or poems used in worship and non-canonical passages.
Pseudepigrapha
Pseudonymous or anonymous Jewish and early Christian religious writings of the period 200 BCE to 200 CE, especially those attributed to ancient biblical figures, often giving imaginative retellings of biblical stories or professing to tell the future, that were included among the apocryphal writings (see Apocrypha) in the Septuagint.
pseudo-
pref.False, deceptive. In the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls, this prefix is used to indicate that a manuscript, while not part of the normal Canon, is “like” a book that is part of the Canon. Thus, pseudo-Daniel is a book or part of a book of Daniel that is not part of the Book of Daniel as found in the Jewish Canon.
purity, “the purity”
Items of clothing, food and drink that are ritually pure (see ritual purity); in the case of the Manual of Discipline, usually believed to refer to the consecrated food eaten in the ritual meals of the Yahad group. See Yahad.
purity-brethren
Groups found throughout the Greco-Roman world who separated themselves from the greater society and vowed to live according to strict rules of ritual purity (q.v.). The Dead Sea Scrolls Yahad group was such an association.
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Qidron, Brook (known later as Nahal Qidron and the W di al-Nar)
The beginning of the stream system leading southeast out of Jerusalem that is a likely route for anyone moving scrolls or other treasures out of the city ahead of the advancing Roman Army if the aim was to hide them in the Judaean Wilderness anywhere in the direction of Qumran and the caves that contained the Dead Sea Scrolls.