The Dead Sea Scrolls are our bridge to a period that laid the foundation of Western traditions, beliefs, and practices throughout the past two millennium.
A handful of the priceless scrolls were on exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum through December 31st (2008).
(sdscrolls.org)
The Dead Sea Scrolls - objects of great mystery, intrigue and significance - are widely acknowledged to be among the greatest archaeological treasures ever discovered, according to the Museum Curators.
In 1947, young Bedouin shepherds searching for a stray goat in the Judean Desert entered a long-untouched cave and found jars filled with ancient scrolls. That initial discovery by the Bedouins yielded seven scrolls and began a search that lasted nearly a decade and eventually produced tens-of-thousands of scroll fragments from eleven caves.
The Scrolls date from about 350 B.C. to 68 A.D. and are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.
The artifacts that were unveiled to the public, consisted of Biblical and apocryphal works, prayers and legal texts, and sectarian documents.
What were museum guests treated to exactly?
For starters, the presentation represented the largest, longest, most comprehensive collection ever assembled in any country.
The exhibition spanned two floors and 12,000 square feet.
27 Dead Sea Scrolls (10 exhibited for the first time ever) were displayed over the course of the exhibit.
Among them, were Dead Sea Scrolls from Israel and never-before exhibited ancient Hebrew codices from the Russian National Library, medieval manuscripts from the British National Library, and stunning modern interpretations of the texts.
Scholars underscored that by tracing the scrolls and their meaning through time, the exhibition - in effect - connected the ancient world to the modern.
Try to catch the intriguing historical collection next time around!
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