The Dead Sea Scrolls: Jesus, John the Baptist & Essenes
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2023
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Part 2/2. Of unknown authorship, the Dead Sea Scrolls - also known as the Qumran Scrolls - are some of the most important ancient documents ever discovered. Found by a young boy in a cave by the Dead Sea, the scrolls offer invaluable insight into what life was like in Qumran and the surrounding areas 2 millennia ago. But who, if anyone, actually lived there, and what does John the Baptist have to do with it?
In our second episode on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Tristan is once again joined by Dr Jodi Magness from the University of North Carolina, to help us understand the invaluable nature of these artefacts. Looking at how Jewish religion was organised at this time, early examples of etymology, and even some millennia old puns - what can we learn about the Dead Sea Scrolls, and why are they so valuable in our understanding of the ancient past?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Have you ever wondered what sorts of treasures were discovered in Tutankhamin's tomb, |
| 0:04.8 | or what our earliest evidence is for humans in Britain, |
| 0:09.3 | or even where the Alexander the Great died of a hangover? |
| 0:14.0 | Well, you can find the answer to questions like these and hundreds more in our new book, |
| 0:18.4 | The History Hit Miscellany. It's the perfect present for any history fan, |
| 0:23.6 | and it's available to buy now from your favourite bookshop, |
| 0:26.8 | or visit historyhit.com slash book. |
| 0:43.6 | It's The Entrance on History Hit. |
| 0:46.0 | Our Tristan Hughes, your host, and in today's episode where we are continuing, |
| 0:50.9 | our story are two-part episode with Dr. Jody Magnus all about |
| 0:56.9 | one of those great discoveries from the Holy Land, the Dead Sea Scrolls. |
| 1:02.9 | Now, in part one, Jody explained the archaeology, discovered at the nearby ancient settlement |
| 1:09.0 | of Comran, and what that archaeology has revealed about its inhabitants who live there, |
| 1:15.2 | at the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls some 2000 years ago. Now, there are lots of different theories |
| 1:21.7 | about almost everything about Comran and the Dead Sea Scrolls I must add, but Jody believes, |
| 1:27.4 | and it seems most likely, that the people who used to create the Dead Sea Scrolls in antiquity, |
| 1:34.0 | well, they were the community that lived at Comran. |
| 1:38.0 | Now, in this second part, Jody she continues the story. We're going to be looking at who these |
| 1:43.7 | people were, and why Jody believes them to be the Essenes, a Jewish sect with a fascinating history. |
| 1:52.3 | Of course, we're also going to be talking more about the scrolls themselves, don't you worry, |
| 1:56.9 | Jesus and John the Baptist too, so get ready. Jody is a force of nature, |
| 2:02.2 | lots of amazing detail coming your way in the next 14 minutes. So without further ado, here's Jody. |
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