The Essenes

2021 Reprint of the 1864 Edition. Facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The Essenes have gained fame in modern times as a result of the discovery of an extensive group of religious documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are commonly believed to be the Essenes' library. Though this conclusion is not definitive, many believe that the Dead Sea Scrolls are indeed a product of Essene culture. These documents preserve multiple copies of parts of the Hebrew Bible untouched from possibly as early as 300 BCE until their discovery in 1946. The first reference to the sect is by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder (died c.¿79 CE. Pliny relates in a few lines that the Essenes possess no money, had existed for thousands of generations, and that their priestly class ("contemplatives") do not marry. Unlike Philo, who did not mention any particular geographical location of the Essenes other than the whole land of Israel, Pliny places them somewhere above Ein Gedi, next to the Dead Sea.