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Israel Reveals New Fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls

NewfieMom

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On Tuesday (March 16) Israel revealed fragments of The Dead Sea Scrolls, the first to have been released in 60 years, from a recent archaeological dig in the Judean Desert. The linked article from "The New York Times" gives fascinating information about The Dead Sea Scrolls and where and how they were found. Comments by readers of "The New York Times" who are experts on ancient languages used in The Middle East add a great deal to the discussion about what was written on the new scrap of parchment just found. If this topic is of any interest to you, the article and the comments that follow it are rich in erudition.

 
On Tuesday (March 16) Israel revealed fragments of The Dead Sea Scrolls, the first to have been released in 60 years, from a recent archaeological dig in the Judean Desert. The linked article from "The New York Times" gives fascinating information about The Dead Sea Scrolls and where and how they were found. Comments by readers of "The New York Times" who are experts on ancient languages used in The Middle East add a great deal to the discussion about what was written on the new scrap of parchment just found. If this topic is of any interest to you, the article and the comments that follow it are rich in erudition.


Fascinating article.

If searching the Judean Desert had been left up to me nothing ever would have been discovered. No way in hell would I crawl through caves. Not a chance. Fortunately there are people who are willing to do it. On the other hand I enjoy reading about it.
 
Language always fascinates me and although I have studied some modern languages, I have not studied any classical ones like Greek, Latin, or Hebrew, let alone more esoteric ones. I have been trying to glean as much information as I can from the materials available to me that I can understand. Some of what i found is below,

The Dead Sea Scrolls are all written in Greek, except for the name of God which is represented by a tetragrammaton* of the Hebrew word (YHWH). Why they are all written in Greek is a matter of some debate, but apparently many Jews before the time of Jesus spoke Greek. This article claims that it was the lingua franca of the period, a language spoken by many people who could not speak each others' languages (like the Latin of the Romans).


*tetragrammaton: the Hebrew word for God, consisting of the four letters yod, he, vav, and he, transliterated consonantally usually as YHVH, now pronounced as Adonai or Elohim in substitution for the original pronunciation forbidden since the 2nd or 3rd century b.c.
 
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