Image Details

Baron Wolman

THE MANUSCRIPTS’ LAST STAND. The Romans attacked Qumran in 68 C.E. and burned Jerusalem’s Temple in 70 C.E. The fortress at Masada (shown here) was besieged for almost three years afterward as the final Jewish rebel stronghold beyond the grasp of Rome. Many of the manuscripts found at Masada were discovered in the third casemate of the fortress wall, near the first-century synagogue, and several bear relation to Qumran texts. Scholars have suggested that fleeing Qumranites carried important texts to Masada. A new paleographical study by Ada Yardeni is the first to confirm that scrolls at both sites were penned by the same hand.