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00:02The Dead Sea Scrolls.
00:05Mysterious texts from the time of Jesus Christ.
00:09Hidden in desert caves for 2,000 years.
00:13What were they doing in these caves? Who put them here? Why did they put them here?
00:18Discovered by chance, their secrets jealously guarded.
00:22Nothing like this was ever found before.
00:25What are these ancient writings?
00:27Do these fragile manuscripts predict a deadly apocalypse?
00:31There are graves all over here.
00:34Today, innovative multispectral imaging technology reveals the hidden meaning of the texts.
00:40For the first time, we have actual writings dating to about the time of Jesus.
00:46Why are the scrolls found in this remote desert?
00:50Who are the writers?
00:52To solve these mysteries, we'll dive deep inside desert caves.
00:58We'll resurrect a king's mountain lair.
01:01And discover traces of an epic cataclysm.
01:05To reveal the darkest secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
01:20Israel.
01:21The Dead Sea.
01:23The lowest point on Earth.
01:27Here in 1946, a Bedouin guarding his flock makes an extraordinary discovery.
01:35A chance find that will transform our understanding of biblical history.
01:39He was looking for a lost goat.
01:42When he came to the entrance to a cave, he decided to throw a stone into the cave to see
01:46if he could flush out the goat.
01:48Instead of hearing the stone hit rock, he hears it smash pottery.
01:54He enters the cave to investigate.
01:56What was in those caves was the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century.
02:04Hidden behind a narrow entrance lie strangely shaped ceramic jars.
02:11Curled up inside are ancient treasures.
02:17Delicate scrolls of Hebrew writing dating back 200 years before Jesus.
02:26One of them is over 20 feet long and contains almost the entire book of Isaiah from the Old Testament.
02:33These battered parchments become known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
02:38The oldest biblical texts in the world.
02:49Today, the Dead Sea Scrolls are here in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum.
02:56Almost one million people visit this museum to see the scrolls each year.
03:01The giant Isaiah scroll is the crown jewel.
03:06Penina Shore is the curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
03:09This is a sample of one of the big scrolls.
03:13We have five of them, really well preserved.
03:17Investigators have spent 70 years studying and decrypting the scrolls.
03:22These are the earliest copies of the Bible that we have.
03:25They are older than anything that we had previously.
03:29The scrolls are a thousand years older than any other biblical text we have.
03:35Today, Penina and her team are deciphering every last word and mark on them.
03:39They are making surprising new discoveries.
03:42We're now going through material that has not been deciphered yet
03:45because we couldn't see any of the ink on these fragments.
03:48And we are discovering new fragments.
03:54They photograph the scrolls with a special camera developed by NASA.
03:59It allows them to analyze the parchment under different lighting conditions.
04:04Sacred words lost for centuries emerge when they combine the images.
04:08Can you please show me on both sides?
04:11Even 70 years after their discovery, the scrolls are still giving up new secrets.
04:16Here.
04:17Yeah, as you can see, this is pretty clear.
04:18This fragment reveals a word missing from a biblical scroll.
04:23It's the word Yisrael.
04:24Oh, Yisrael.
04:26Yeah.
04:27Discoveries like this confirm that the Hebrew Bible is the same today as in the time of Jesus.
04:33It hasn't changed for thousands of years.
04:36Yeah, now you can see the letter is beautiful.
04:38It shows us how a minute fragment can actually help biblical studies and biblical research today.
04:48The scrolls are the greatest biblical treasures of all time.
04:53Handwritten copies of the Bible from the time of Christ.
04:56They shed light on Jesus, Judaism, and the emergence of early Christianity.
05:05But many great mysteries about the scrolls themselves remain unsolved.
05:11Their chance discovery is just the first of many.
05:15More caves containing hundreds of scrolls are soon revealed.
05:20The remains of approximately 1,000 different scrolls were found in 11 caves in this area.
05:26A cave less than a mile from the first proves the richest of them all.
05:37Inside it, the earliest copy of the Ten Commandments in existence.
05:45And around it, 500 scrolls in 15,000 scattered fragments.
05:53Some can be assembled and deciphered, like the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis.
06:00Others have crumbled into pieces so small they still elude decryption.
06:07Could they hold clues to who writes the Dead Sea Scrolls, then hides them in the desert caves?
06:20Dr. Eshbul Ratsan is part of an international team racing to decipher two fragmented scrolls.
06:28She's working on 66 tiny and mysterious pieces that could contain clues to reveal who writes the scrolls.
06:35My work is working with puzzles.
06:39This particular puzzle gives us a glimpse into a document that was preserved for 2,000 years in the desert.
06:49Pioneering ultra-high resolution photography means Eshbul can now read the words on even the tiniest scroll fragments.
06:57She moves the fragments around on her computer screen to try to put them back together.
07:03It's a 2,000-year-old electronic jigsaw puzzle.
07:08We got lucky because we got most of the fragments from the edges of the puzzle.
07:15Eshbul discovers that the writer of this scroll is leaving mysterious notes between the columns.
07:21I just had a hunch that these two notes were connected.
07:26Maybe the scribe just ran out of space and it turned.
07:31So I was able to join this bunch of fragments.
07:36With this bunch of fragments, I got a whole column from margin to margin.
07:42The technology allows Eshbul to finally reveal that one of the last two scrolls to be deciphered is a religious
07:49calendar.
07:50It's a very unique calendar. We don't know it from elsewhere except from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
07:572,000 years ago, following your own religious calendar is a radical act.
08:02Like deciding to celebrate Christmas in June.
08:06This calendar is a clue that can reveal who writes the scrolls.
08:14The ruling Jewish priests in the Temple of Jerusalem follow a lunar calendar with 354 days in a year.
08:24On the new moon, high priests make offerings of fruit and grains and sacrifice animals to please their God.
08:34The writers of the scrolls reject these offerings and instead become obsessed with purification, immersing in cold water at least
08:43twice a day.
08:46They decide to follow their own calendar with 364 days in a year, based on the movement of the sun.
08:58This was a huge step. It made the sect separate from the rest of the Jewish groups.
09:06The new technology allows Eshbul to solve the puzzle of who writes the Dead Sea Scrolls.
09:12It reveals the name of this breakaway Jewish sect.
09:16The group that is associated with this calendar refers to themselves in other Dead Sea Scrolls as the Yahad or
09:25the Sons of Righteousness or the Sons of Light.
09:29The Dead Sea Scrolls are the library of a mysterious sect.
09:33The Sons of Light.
09:35But who are they?
09:36What happens to them?
09:38And why do they hide their precious text to be lost for 2,000 years?
09:58The Dead Sea Scrolls.
10:00The Dead Sea Scrolls.
10:01Hundreds of documents dating from the time of Christ.
10:06Today, new technology is deciphering the last of the scrolls.
10:11Proving they belong to a mysterious Jewish sect.
10:15They call themselves the Sons of Light.
10:19Who are they?
10:20And why do they hide their holy texts in desert caves to be discovered by chance 2,000 years later?
10:30Clues to answer these questions may lie here.
10:34Next to the cave where the most scrolls are found are the ruins of an unusual walled settlement.
10:41It's called Qumran.
10:44Beside it, row upon row of mysterious stone mounds.
10:50Beneath, archaeologists unearth more than 70 skeletons.
10:54All buried in the same distinctive way.
11:00The bodies lie all alone.
11:03In six foot deep pits without any possessions.
11:09All lie on their backs.
11:11With their hands resting on their hips.
11:14And their heads point south towards the scorching midday sun.
11:23Are these the sons of light?
11:26The keepers of the scrolls?
11:34There are graves all over here.
11:37Here, look.
11:38Look at this structure here.
11:40Yossi Nagar investigates newly discovered skeletons from the cemetery.
11:45If you open these graves that you see here all around, you found that all of them looks the same.
11:52Someone devised it.
11:53It's not accidental.
11:55He excavates 33 of the graves.
12:00I found no children and no women, only males.
12:04So I say, okay, that's weird.
12:07Yossi investigates how old these men are when they die.
12:11The people that were buried here, their average age of days is much higher than a regular cemetery or a
12:20regular village.
12:23He discovers that almost all the men are more than 30 years old when they die.
12:29Jewish respect for human remains means all the skeletons are re-buried.
12:34Except for this one thigh bone.
12:38Experts extract samples from the Qumran bone.
12:41And for the first time use radiocarbon technology to date it.
12:47It works by measuring how organic material changes over time.
12:51Here we are.
12:53The test reveals that this bone is almost 2,000 years old.
13:01The bodies date to the same time as the scrolls.
13:09Yossi believes that the scrolls can reveal the reason for the existence of this mysterious all-male cemetery.
13:19When you read the Dead Sea Scrolls, you do find about a community of people living in the desert.
13:26The celibate males have their own rules.
13:29No women, no little children living to old age.
13:35Could Qumran be the home of the Sons of Light?
13:38We have no other site like Qumran anywhere.
13:42It is a unique archaeological site.
13:45Jodi Magnus searches Qumran for evidence that this could be the home of the Sons of Light as described in
13:52the scrolls.
13:53Based on the information that we have in the scrolls, what we would expect to find at Qumran is a
13:59settlement that is not an ordinary town or a village, but rather is a community center.
14:06Jodi investigates the buildings here.
14:10She starts with this mysterious stepped structure.
14:14Right behind me is a Jewish ritual bath where Jews would immerse in order to ritually purify themselves in the
14:21water.
14:23We know from the scrolls that the Sons of Light must ritually bathe twice a day.
14:29Qumran has 10 ritual baths.
14:36The scrolls say that the Sons of Light must always gather at mealtimes to eat together.
14:43So this room is the largest room in the Qumran settlement.
14:47In a room adjacent to it, a pantry of dishes with over a thousand dining dishes was found.
14:53This large room also apparently was used as a communal dining room.
15:00Qumran has all the facilities required to fulfill the strict religious laws of the sect laid down in the scrolls.
15:09Jodi thinks some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in this building.
15:13It's been identified as a scriptorium or writing room.
15:17At the second story level of this room, originally there was furniture, and mixed in with the debris of this
15:24furniture were ink wells.
15:27It's an exciting discovery, but Jodi thinks the final piece of evidence lies not with the scrolls, but with the
15:35ceramic jars they are found in.
15:37So this is a potter's workshop. Scientific analyses of the clay have indicated that the pots found here at Qumran
15:46and in the surrounding caves were made from the same clay.
15:50And therefore, we can say that we have both an archaeological and a scientific connection between the site of Qumran
15:56and the scrolls in the nearby caves.
15:59Jodi has no doubt that Qumran is the true home of the Sons of Light and their Dead Sea Scrolls.
16:06Locating the sect here by the Dead Sea reveals the Sons of Light are known by another name, their true
16:13identity.
16:15We do have sources that tell us who this sect was.
16:19All of these sources talk about a Jewish sect that lived on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in
16:27the area where Qumran is located, called the Essenes.
16:32Ancient sources tell the story of the sect.
16:38The Essenes hail from Jerusalem, but so detest its religious rulers, they abandon the city.
16:50They build a community near the Dead Sea where they can worship in their own way.
17:00Obsessed with writing, copying and collecting scripture, they have someone reading the Bible every minute of every day.
17:11They write the rules of the community on scrolls and store them alongside copies of their holy scriptures.
17:21In the time of Jesus, we know that there were many different Jewish groups, movements and sects.
17:27So the Essenes were part of this mosaic of different Jewish groups and movements.
17:33If the Essenes are obsessed with precious scrolls, why do they place them in dusty desert caves?
17:41Why do they never return to collect them?
17:44The answer could lie in a 2,000 year old apocalypse that destroys the Holy Land.
18:04The Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Bibles ever discovered.
18:11Archaeology and forensic science are revealing that the scrolls are created by a secretive Jewish sect.
18:18The Essenes.
18:21Religious outcasts from Jerusalem.
18:23Exiled to the wilderness of Judea.
18:27At Qumran.
18:29Why do the Essenes hide their precious scrolls in these caves?
18:34And never return to collect them.
18:39In these cliffs above Qumran, Jodi Magnus investigates a cave that might hold a clue to this mystery.
18:47This is the opening to Cave 11.
18:49One of the scrolls that was found here is a copy of the War Scroll,
18:53which describes the apocalyptic war at the end of days between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness.
19:032,000 years ago, the Essenes, just like the very first Christians, believe the world is about to end.
19:10They prepare for a war at the end of days and preach about the coming apocalypse.
19:16They are right to plan ahead.
19:19Judea is on the brink of war with the Romans.
19:24Back then, the Romans rule a vast empire with an iron fist.
19:28But there is resistance brewing in the province of Judea.
19:35In 66 AD, Jewish rebels wipe out the Roman garrison in Jerusalem and declare an independent Jewish state.
19:46The revolt spreads like wildfire.
19:49So the Romans send 60,000 troops to crush the rebellion.
19:57They rampage across Judea and Galilee, taking city after city, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Jews.
20:08In the middle of the revolt in the year 68 AD, the site of Qumran was destroyed.
20:15The excavations revealed Roman arrowheads.
20:19Now, could it be that the Essenes here at Qumran thought that this was, in fact, this apocalypse that they
20:26were awaiting?
20:29For Jody, this is the reason most of the scrolls are found in the cave right next to the settlement.
20:36The Essenes hide them there just before the Romans attack.
20:41I believe that there can be little doubt that at least some of the scrolls were deposited in the cave
20:46for safekeeping on the eve of the Roman destruction of the settlement in the year 68 AD.
20:53But why are the scrolls never recovered?
20:57Where do the Essenes go?
21:02Clues to this mystery could lie here, in the most holy city in the Roman province of Judea, Jerusalem.
21:10Jerusalem is the original home of the Essenes.
21:14This area, called Mount Zion, is its wealthiest district.
21:19Raffi Lewis and his team excavate a site here.
21:24Their dig unearthed something extraordinary.
21:27A house with rooms that are sealed 2,000 years ago.
21:32This is probably a blocked window, that if we open it, we'll be able to enter another room which belonged
21:40to this house.
21:40Now this is quite exciting, when we're thinking about a period with many interesting events, including the hiding of the
21:48Dead Sea Scrolls.
21:51As the team unearths the ritual bathing pool of the house, they find a missing link to the Dead Sea
21:58Scrolls.
22:05They extract four mysterious fragments from the rubble, parts of a carved limestone cup used in purification rituals.
22:17Scratched into its surface are three types of mysterious scripts.
22:23One of them is unique to the Dead Sea Scrolls.
22:26Could this cup belong to the Essenes?
22:29If so, what's it doing in a city they have long abandoned?
22:35This is one of the most exciting finds we've ever made in Jerusalem.
22:39This line is basically saying,
22:44I returned to the house of the Lord.
22:48Is the cup evidence that the Essenes flee the destruction of Qumran and return to their original home city?
22:56It might be holding an answer for us.
22:58He comes back to the house of the Lord, he's very excited about it.
23:02He picks up the first thing that comes into his hand and that's his stone cup.
23:06He's writing this script, I returned to the house of the Lord.
23:10It's an exciting discovery.
23:12There is a possibility that this was actually made by someone who came back to Jerusalem after being in Qumran.
23:19Nothing like this was ever found in Jerusalem.
23:24The cup tells Rafi that at least some Essenes leave Qumran and return to Jerusalem.
23:31The frantic inscription on the ceremonial cup,
23:34I returned to the house of the Lord.
23:37May be evident some Essenes escape the destruction of Qumran, looking for sanctuary in Jerusalem.
23:44It's a tragic mistake.
23:46This revolt culminated with the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by the Romans.
23:53Jerusalem falls two years after Qumran.
23:56In the year 70 AD, its inhabitants are slaughtered.
24:00Is that the end of the Essenes?
24:05The discovery of more scrolls in an impenetrable mountain fortress indicates a dramatic escape.
24:27The Dead Sea Scrolls
24:29The Dead Sea Scrolls
24:30Saved from destruction in the war against the Romans by the Essenes.
24:36Why do they never retrieve their biblical treasures?
24:41The Romans lay waste to their desert home and the Essenes disappear from the map.
24:47Until a discovery.
24:49Here.
24:51Masada.
24:53Masada.
24:53A magnificent mountain fortress, perched above the shores of the Dead Sea.
24:59Masada is built 100 years before the Jewish revolt by a notorious ruler, King Herod the Great.
25:07Masada.
25:09When archaeologists excavate this site, they make an astounding discovery.
25:17Inside the ruined fortress wall, buried under a pile of rubble, they find fragments of ancient parchments.
25:27One of them is a copy of holy verse only ever seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls, called Songs of
25:34the Sabbath Sacrifice.
25:37Is this evidence of an Essene presence in Masada?
25:43Once a palatial villa, Masada is testament to the power and wealth of its former owner, King Herod.
25:51Why would the Essenes come to a fortress once occupied by the most hated tyrant of Judea?
26:01Masada is an extraordinary mountaintop megastructure.
26:05A hanging palace sits inside the fortress.
26:09The palace is constructed on three terraces above cliffs over 1,000 feet tall.
26:16It houses a barracks, an armory, even a centrally heated bathhouse.
26:22But by the time of the revolt, King Herod is long dead.
26:26His palace a mothballed shell.
26:30Dr. Guy Stiebel investigates the secrets of Masada.
26:35He wants to know who occupies this vast fortress during the revolt against the Romans.
26:40What we have here is not only a palace or palatial fortress, but it's actually a villa in the middle
26:47of nowhere.
26:48This was the last stronghold in the entire province of Judea.
26:54Historic accounts from the time of the Roman war report Masada is held by violent Jewish extremists.
27:01They are called the Sicarii.
27:07The Sicarii are Jewish assassins who take their name from the Sika, a deadly dagger they hide in their cloaks.
27:17They're notorious for killing Roman occupiers in public places and vanishing into the crowd.
27:29At the start of the war, Sicarii rebels capture the fortress of Masada from the Romans.
27:40From their desert hideout, they can survive in safety while the Romans devastate the rest of the country.
27:53Guy investigates why this fragment of Dead Sea Scroll that matches those found at Qumran is found here in Masada
28:01in a rebel hideout.
28:04He starts looking for traces of the Essenes.
28:07The Essenes had to purify themselves, so we need to look for something that looked like a mikveh, an immersion
28:16pool.
28:18At the center of Masada, Guy examines a mysterious step structure.
28:24This construction was done during the time of the revolt.
28:28What we can see is a huge mikveh here.
28:31We have the steps that can allow me going all the way down.
28:35Guy identifies this as an Essene ritual bath.
28:40It looks like one of the many ritual baths found at their base in Qumran.
28:48They used to bathe as a group twice a day in the middle of the desert.
28:55This is something extremely unique.
28:58Next door to the ritual bath is this long, thin building.
29:03Guy thinks it matches those at Qumran, where the scrolls are written.
29:09The width of this hole is identical by the millimeter to what we have at Qumran.
29:16The length is exactly half the size of what we have there.
29:20For me, this led me to crack a riddle that we had about the location of the Essenes here on
29:27top of Masada.
29:28Guy thinks that these structures prove some Essenes build a new home at Masada.
29:35His latest excavations here reveal new evidence that transforms our understanding of this mountain fortress and its place in history.
29:45I'm sure that the Sikari were the most dominant group here at Masada, but they were not the only one.
29:52His team excavates two buildings built into the wall of the fortress during the revolt.
30:00It's a coin. It's what we call quarters of shackles.
30:03From the time of the revolt, on the floor. Nice.
30:08They unearth huge amounts of everyday artifacts from these two buildings.
30:13It's basically a wine cup to drink made of glass. You can see it fits perfectly.
30:21Guy believes that these discoveries are evidence of who is taking shelter behind these walls.
30:27They may also explain why Essenes are here in Masada.
30:32Actually, I'm really thrilled because we just picked out of the ground a beautiful discovery.
30:37What we have here is what we call a cabochon, a gemstone.
30:41For me, this is a truly big story.
30:45This tiny gemstone is only partially cut, suggesting that the owner hasn't had time to finish working on it.
30:53Imagine the Romans are out there, you need to leave your home.
30:56What do you take along?
30:58Jewelry is something that is small enough to be carried in your pocket or in your purse.
31:04Guy believes these discoveries prove Masada is a refuge for all Jews escaping the Romans.
31:12That includes Essenes fleeing the destruction at Qumran.
31:18The Essenes bring some of their precious scrolls with them and claim sanctuary at Masada.
31:24If you want to find shelter from the Romans, this was a place to come.
31:31Everyone was accepted on top of Masada.
31:36But Herod's mountain fortress is not as safe as the Essenes hope.
31:41In 73 AD, a mighty Roman army descends on Masada.
31:46Seeing the Roman scouts appearing on the horizon would be terrifying.
31:53Does the Roman march on Masada explain why the Essenes never recover their scrolls?
31:59Is this why the world's oldest Bibles are left in Dead Sea caves for 2,000 years?
32:21The Dead Sea Scrolls
32:23The Dead Sea Scrolls
32:23Ancient biblical treasures saved by a secret Jewish sect.
32:28The Essenes
32:31The Essenes run for safety with the last of their precious scrolls.
32:35They escape the Romans during a failed revolt.
32:39And flee to Masada, the last rebel stronghold in the whole of Judea.
32:45But the Roman Empire must crush all resistance.
32:49They turn their sights on Masada.
32:52Is this the place of the last stand of the Essenes?
32:55This was not a fair game. You don't mess with the Romans.
33:00In 73 AD, a whole Roman legion lays siege to Masada.
33:06They face a daunting task.
33:09Steep, slippery inclines and sheer cliffs surround the enemy stronghold.
33:17Inside the rocks is a network of huge cisterns that can hold enough water to supply the rebels for 10
33:23years.
33:27Around the citadel on top is a tall double wall.
33:31Over 6 feet thick.
33:33With 30 towers guarding the approach.
33:38How can the Romans break this mega fortress and finally extinguish the Jewish rebellion?
33:47Guy and his team use innovative drone mapping technology to capture a complete 3D model of the Roman siege system.
33:55Their new survey reveals the assault of Masada in unprecedented detail.
34:01The Romans construct eight forts surrounding the mountain.
34:07Each fort is a self-sufficient camp that can hold a thousand soldiers.
34:12Once the Romans decided to besiege Masada and to send to the desert between six to eight thousand soldiers.
34:20They mean business.
34:22Can you zoom in?
34:24Yeah.
34:25Guy and his team use the results of the drone survey to examine the Roman siege system.
34:31You can see how steep it is.
34:33Yeah, now you can see it definitely.
34:35Yeah, yeah.
34:36Having now the 3D modeling and all the data actually allow me to reconstruct the actual arena where this very
34:45important siege actually took place.
34:48Guy's survey and modeling reveals that the Romans construct this two mile long six foot thick stone perimeter wall that
34:58surrounds the whole mountain.
35:01The refuge of Masada is now a prison.
35:04It seems they invested a lot of manpower in that.
35:07It's like huge amounts of stone.
35:09There was no way out for the rebels whatsoever.
35:14The Romans are experts in siege warfare.
35:19But they've never attempted to storm anywhere like Masada.
35:24They couldn't use the classical technique of just rolling a battering ram on top of a tower.
35:36The Romans must find a way to overcome one thousand feet of sheer cliff.
35:42Their answer?
35:45To build this giant ramp.
35:48It's an astonishing achievement that still confounds archaeologists.
35:54Guy investigates why the Romans build it here.
35:58They decided to take advantage of the natural spur that we're standing on top of.
36:03Choosing this spot allows the Romans to reduce the height of the ramp they must build by half.
36:09Even so, building a 500 foot tall ramp in desert heat tests Roman military expertise to the limit.
36:21The Romans must shift hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble before the ramp reaches the fortress.
36:30Only then can they finally move their siege towers up to the defensive walls and begin the assault.
36:39Guy calculates the number of stones a fit soldier can move in a set time.
36:44This enables him to work out that the Romans build their whole siege system in less than nine weeks.
36:51The crucial element, of course, is one has to remember that we're in the middle of the desert.
36:55It is hot.
36:56So it is indeed imperative for them to get up there as quickly as possible.
37:03How do the Romans build so fast?
37:06He investigates these mysterious wooden fragments that stick out of the ramp.
37:14What is pretty amazing is that we have here organic remains of branches and trees that are laid here.
37:22They survived two thousand years.
37:24We can actually see the line here, one of the other.
37:29And if you go another meter up, you can see a few mores.
37:34By that you're creating kind of shelves and boxes that supported the rocks and the soil that was done quickly
37:41here,
37:41allowing the Romans to store Masada.
37:45Now only clifftop defenses stand between the defenders of Masada and death at the hands of the Romans.
37:54Could this be why they disappear from history, leaving only their Dead Sea Scrolls?
38:17Two thousand years ago, the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls hide their sacred texts in remote desert caves.
38:25Known as the Essenes, they then vanish from history.
38:31Now new discoveries are finally starting to reveal what happens to them.
38:37In the Jewish revolt, the Essenes flee to the mountaintop fortress of Masada.
38:43But the Romans besieged the fortress and now launched their final attack.
38:50They used the battering rams in the siege towers to crush the fortress walls.
39:02And to remove a second barricade the defenders have built up, the Romans set fire to it.
39:12As the sun goes down, the Romans pause the attack.
39:18And it's a very symbolic sunset.
39:21It was very clear that the end was near.
39:25Guy turns to a gory account by an ancient Jewish historian, Josephus.
39:31There was one act only that you can still do and die as a pride man, and that is to
39:37commit suicide.
39:39Ten rebels take the lives of the other 900 men, women, and children.
39:45Before one kills the final nine, sets fire to the fort, and takes his own life.
39:56When the Romans enter Masada, all the inhabitants are dead.
40:01The apocalypse the Essenes predict in their scrolls becomes reality.
40:07But Guy Stiebel believes the sect performs one last significant act before they die.
40:13His excavations at Masada unearth a cave, just like those at Qumran.
40:18The people of Qumran used to place their scrolls in jars and put it in caves.
40:29In the finds lab, Guy examines this remarkable piece of pottery found among the cave debris.
40:36He identifies the fragment of pot from its shape.
40:40Actually, we are very surreal.
40:41We just discovered a fragment of what we believe is a cylindrical jar of the type, the one that the
40:50Essenes, the people of Qumran, used to store their scroll in.
40:53And it was found in the cave just next to the dining hall.
40:57He believes that this pot matches the design of the jars found in Qumran that contain the Dead Sea Scrolls.
41:06Is this evidence that the terrified Essenes facing death hide their last sacred scrolls in a cave at Masada, just
41:15like they do at Qumran?
41:16For us to have that on top of Masada in context, in the cave, is extremely, extremely significant.
41:25The Essenes may vanish, but they leave us the oldest biblical treasure ever known.
41:31One may say that the Essenes that were here on top of Masada died, but their ideas clearly continued.
41:47The Essenes left us an enormous amount of information that tells us about the world of Jesus, Judaism in this
41:56period, and ultimately the context from which early Christianity would emerge.
42:07Without the discovery of these caves, the oldest Bible in the world would remain lost in the Judean desert.
42:14And the Essenes would have been consigned to oblivion.
42:21Today, the whole world can read the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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