History Rewritten: How the Dead Sea Scrolls Really Got to Qumran

[eccles]

Just published on the Heritage Key Site:
http://heritage-key.com/world/history-rewritten-how-dead-sea-scrolls-really-got-qumran

It’s a tantalizing story that’s been taught as fact for nearly 50 years. It goes like this:
Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves, was a monastic settlement, dating from the end of the 2nd century BC to the time of the revolt against the Romans (68 AD). The area was inhabited by a group called the Essenes (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=E&artid=478). They were male, celebate, and lived their lives according to a strict interpretation of Jewish law and religion. They wrote most, if not all, of the Dead Sea Scrolls (http://heritage-key.com/world/preview-dead-sea-scrolls-hit-toronto-weekend) and carefully stored them away in caves for safekeeping.

The problem is, that according to the latest archaeological research, this story is simply not true.
On Thursday, Yuval Peleg, (http://heritage-key.com/yuval-peleg) a senior Israeli Antiquities Authority (http://www.antiquities.org.il/) archaeologist, gave a lecture at the Royal Ontario Museum (http://www.rom.on.ca/) in Toronto. His excavations at the site, working with fellow archaeologist Yitzhak Magen, ran mainly from 1993-2004. Since then he has spent his time analyzing the remains and preparing the results for final publication (expected within the year).
At his Toronto lecture he delivered an unequivocal message. There is no evidence to support the idea that the site was an Essene settlement. In fact, the archaeological remains found at the site say that its purpose was anything but.

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Now what will Dr. Barbara Thiering say about this? I did have one of her books that claims that Jesus was an Essene and makes many claims about Jesus based on the alleged Essene life. I know Dr. Thiering is a well regarded Historian and Archaeologist, but I was also skeptical about her claims, except the one that Jesus was married to Mary Madgalene which is true.

[wolty]

@ Eccles
Thanks for that matey. I find these things incredibly interesting. Have the site bookmarked now.
Just wanted to let you know that others do look at these things and appreciate them. :)

[Seamus]

I've read Barbara Theiring's book on bible codes.I think she's a brilliant fruitcake.


except the one that Jesus was married to Mary Madgalene which is true. __________________


Really.Be fascinated to see your evidence for that; especially since there's no evidence that Jesus existed at all.

[eccles]

I've read Barbara Theiring's book on bible codes.I think she's a brilliant fruitcake.

Really.Be fascinated to see your evidence for that; especially since there's no evidence that Jesus existed at all.

I tend to accept that a man: Jeshua bar Josep aka. did exist but the Gospel writers, who ever they were wrote myths around him and the early Church Fathers swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Then the Council of Nicea put the legal seal on it for the benefit of Constantine and his Roman Catholic Church.

Jesus as a Rabbi/Teacher according to Jewish Law had to be married. There are references in the NT and especially in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas to Jesus' close relationship to Mary Madgalene. There is also contemporary mention of their children. Their first son, Jesus Justus is mentioned in Glastonbury in England as the founder of Christianity in that country.I have been to Glastonbury and in the Abbey you get a feeling ot the history there.

I accept the evidence in the books "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" and even though it is supposed to be fiction, the "Da Vinci Code" does use many facts. I have been to places such as the Temple Church, the Louvre and the church of Saint Sulpice.

I have an excellent book by Laurence Gardner: "The Madgdalene Legacy" which proves who Mary Madgalene really was. The Church portrayed he as a whore to further its policy of keeping women out of any say in the Church. It is why it will never allow women priests.

That is only a small sample of evidence one can find on the Internet if you Google Mary Madgalene. Remember not to place much credence in the "Catholic Encyclopaedia" for obvious reasons.

[two dogs]

...
I accept the evidence in the books "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" and even though it is supposed to be fiction, the "Da Vinci Code" does use many facts.
...

Methinks your bullshit detector is in dire need of recalibration.

[Seamus]

I accept the evidence in the books "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" and even though it is supposed to be fiction

Evidence? What evidence? Please cite ONE piece.

I've read it too,along with "The Bloodline Of The Holy Grail","The Hiram Key" and several more books of that particular genre within the crackpot fringe.

There is NO EVIDENCE that a man perhaps called Yeshua bar Yosef or Yehoshua bar Yosef (there is no letter 'j' in Hebrew,and vowels are implied by context) "probably" existed.There MAY have been a man of that not uncommon name who was also a wondering rabbi.That is insufficient to build any serious argument about any specifics of his life..




The claims made in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail have been the source of much investigation and criticism over the years, with many independent investigators such as 60 Minutes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60_Minutes), Channel 4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_4), Discovery Channel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Channel), Time Magazine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Magazine), and the BBC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC) concluding that many of the book’s claims are not credible or verifiable.
Pierre Plantard stated on the Jacques Pradel radio interview on 'France-Inter', 18 February 1982:
“ I admit that 'The Sacred Enigma' (French title for 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail') is a good book, but one must say that there is a part that owes more to fiction than to fact, especially in the part that deals with the lineage of Jesus. How can you prove a lineage of four centuries from Jesus to the Merovingians? I have never put myself forward as a descendant of Jesus Christ.[11] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-10) ” There are no references to the Jesus bloodline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_bloodline) in the "Priory of Sion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion) documents" and the link exists only within the context of a hypothesis made by the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. From the Conspiracies On Trial: The Da Vinci Code documentary:
“ The authors of the 1980s bestseller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail re-interpreted the Dossiers in the light of their own Biblical obsessions - the secret buried in the documents ceased to be the Merovingian bloodline and became the bloodline of Christ - the genealogies led to Christ's descendants.[12] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-11) ” While Pierre Plantard claimed that the Merovingians were descended from the Tribe of Benjamin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Benjamin),[13] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-12) the Jesus bloodline hypothesis found in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail instead hypothesized that the Merovingians were descended from the Davidic line (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davidic_line) of the Tribe of Judah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Judah).
Historian Marina Warner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Warner) commented on The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail when it was first published:
“ Of course there's not much harm in thinking that Jesus was married (nor are these authors the first to suggest it), or that his descendants were King Pippin and Charles Martel. But there is harm in strings of lurid falsehoods and distorted reasoning. The method bends the mind the wrong way, an insidious and real corruption".[14] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-13) ” Prominent British historian Richard Barber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Barber), wrote:
“ The Templar-Grail myth... is at the heart of the most notorious of all the Grail pseudo-histories, The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, which is a classic example of the conspiracy theory of history... It is essentially a text which proceeds by innuendo, not by refutable scholarly debate... Essentially, the whole argument is an ingeniously constructed series of suppositions combined with forced readings of such tangible facts as are offered.[15] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-14) ” In 2005, Tony Robinson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Robinson) narrated a critical evaluation of the main arguments of Dan Brown and those of Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, The Real Da Vinci Code, shown on Channel 4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_4). The programme featured lengthy interviews with many of the main protagonists. Arnaud de Sède, son of Gérard de Sède (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9rard_de_S%C3%A8de), stated categorically that his father and Plantard had made up the existence of a 1,000-year-old Priory of Sion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion), and described the story as “piffle.”[16] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-15) The programme concluded that, in the opinion of the presenter and researchers, the claims of Holy Blood were based on little more than a series of guesses.
The Priory of Sion myth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion#Myth) was exhaustively debunked (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debunking) by journalists and scholars as one the great hoaxes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoax) of the 20th century.[17] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-CBS-16) Some writers have expressed concern that the proliferation and popularity of books, websites and films inspired by this hoax have contributed to the problem of conspiracy theories (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conspiracy_theories), pseudohistory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudohistory) and other confusions becoming more mainstream (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainstream).[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-Thompson_13.2F01.2F2008-6) Others are troubled by the romantic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism) reactionary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionary) ideology unwittingly promoted in these works.[18] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-Klinghoffer_2006-17)
Quoting Robert McCrum, literary editor of The Observer newspaper, about The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail:
“ There is something called historical evidence - there is something called the historical method - and if you look around the shelves of bookshops there is a lot of history being published, and people mistake this type of history for the real thing. These kinds of books do appeal to an enormous audience who believe them to be 'history', but actually they aren't history, they are a kind of parody of history. Alas, though, I think that one has to say that this is the direction that history is going today..."[19] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail#cite_note-18)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Blood_and_Holy_Grail



PS: Marina Warner well known and respected historian, I've read a couple of her books.

[gruber]

to the time of the revolt against the Romans (68 AD).


That seems very likely the town got wiped out at that time. The Romans weren't the most tolerant lot when it came to rebels but what i don't think likely is that the scrolls (if any) survivied the Romans, they have used the tactic before to destroy a people's history or importance (hunting down the Druids in britannia, Burning down the Jewish temple in Jerusalem), especially if they were Jewish. (thats not being racist or anything because the Romans actualy did depise the Jews)