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ABC News
5 days ago
- Science
- ABC News
How redating the Dead Sea Scrolls puts new spin on the apocalyptic visions of Daniel - ABC Religion & Ethics
Earlier this month a team of researchers from the Netherlands and Belgium made headlines when they claimed to have devised a method of using artificial intelligence (AI) to date the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scholarly community is still digesting the results of the new study, but it is an exciting development that could have significant implications for the way we understand the Dead Sea Scrolls and the people whose stories they represent. Lying behind the results is a new set of radiocarbon (or 14C) dates, which were used to train the AI model to recognise and classify changes in handwriting styles over time. One of the things that makes the 14C results remarkable is that they indicate many of the Dead Sea Scrolls may be older than previously thought. Debating the age of ancient texts Scholars have debated the age of the Dead Sea Scrolls since the discovery of the first manuscripts in 1947. Very few of the scrolls contain internal evidence — such as references to historical people or events — that could be used to establish when they were written, so the question of dating initially focused on validating the discovery and determining that the scrolls were in fact 2,000 or more years old, as they appeared to be. One of the first authorities to pronounce the scrolls authentic was the American archaeologist and ancient Hebrew handwriting expert, William Foxwell Albright (1891–1971). During the 1950s and 1960s, Albright's student Frank Moore Cross — a prominent member of the first team assembled to study the scrolls — went on to formulate a comprehensive model of the development of the Dead Sea Scrolls scripts between 300 BCE and 200 CE. 1947 excavation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of 981 texts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at Khirbet Qumran in the West Bank. They were found inside caves about a mile inland from the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. (Photo by Universal History Archive / UIG via Getty images) Cross's typology is the bedrock of the conventional dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, there are gaps in the data Cross used to develop his model, and many scholars doubt that it is as precise or reliable as is sometimes claimed. The new study is not the first time radiocarbon dating has been used to date the Dead Sea Scrolls. Samples of the scrolls were analysed in two batches in the 1990s. However, those earlier results have been criticised because of the way they were interpreted to corroborate the conventional model. The validity of the results was also challenged because of contamination due to castor oil, which was used by the first teams of scholars working on the scrolls to enhance their readability. Subsequent studies determined that contaminated samples were most likely reported with ages that are too young, but it was not known by how much. The use of new techniques to prepare and clean the latest samples and improved precision in 14C dating methods means the new radiocarbon results are the most dependable dates we have. Confirming the age of the book of Daniel One manuscript stands out among the new 14C dates — a copy of part of the book of Daniel, conventionally identified as 4Q114 or 4QDanc. The 14C results for that manuscript indicate that it was most likely composed between the years 355–285 BCE or 230–160 BCE. Significantly, the latter of these ranges seems to corroborate the widely held theory that the book of Daniel was completed sometime in the 160s BCE. The fact that scholars are so excited that a Daniel manuscript seems to date from near the time of composition of the book of Daniel in the 160s BCE may need explanation. A first perusal of the book would appear to indicate that Daniel received these prophecies of the far future in his historical setting of the sixth century BCE. Why second century, then? Daniel divides neatly in two. Chapters 1–6 tell of the adventures of Daniel and his friends in the Babylonian and Median royal courts. Chapters 7–12 are four apocalyptic visions. The redated Daniel manuscript, 4QDanc (4Q114) preserves small sections of the final vision found as chapters 10–12 of Daniel. Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, taken in May 1976. (Photo by Donald Black / Star Tribune via Getty Images) Ever since commentary on the book of Daniel began, readers aware of ancient history have agreed that this final vision — of the wars between the King of the North and the King of the South — refers to the conflicts between the successor kingdoms of Alexander the Great, the Seleucid dynasty in Syria and the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, in the third and second centuries BCE. The bulk of the vision in Daniel 10–12 focuses on one King of the North, agreed by commentators to be the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. According to sources like the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, around 165 BCE Antiochus attempted to suppress Jewish practices like keeping the Sabbath, circumcising children and reading the Torah. The Temple was profaned, and new rituals were introduced like offering pigs. This crisis is the focus of the four apocalyptic visions of Daniel. The crisis was resolved when the Hasmonean family, led by Judas Maccabaeus, fought against Antiochus and liberated the Temple after approximately three years of it being occupied. Most scholars of Daniel note how the account of the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes in Daniel chapters 11–12 transitions seamlessly into apocalyptic symbolism. The reign of Antiochus ends with the great final battle in the holy land, with Antiochus coming 'to his end, with no one to help him' (Daniel 11:45), and 'at that time' (12:1) the angel Michael shall appear, there will be a final period of suffering, followed by the resurrection of the dead (12:2–3). Based on analogies with other apocalyptic texts not in our Bibles — such as those found in the Book of Enoch — scholars consider that the point where the text shifts from detailed description of known historical events, to apocalyptic symbols indicating God's victory over the crisis, reflects the present of the author: which is to say, in the middle of the crisis under Antiochus in the 160s BCE. Partial view of the 3.6-metre-long Temple Scroll at the Martin Gropius Bau exhibition hall, Berlin, Germany, on 17 May 2005. (Photo taken by Michael Kappeler / DDP / AFP via Getty Images) The Book of Daniel as we know it is formed by a combination of the four visions focused on the crisis under Antiochus with an older story collection, and thus Daniel is commonly dated to a few years before 160BCE. Some readers of Daniel are uncomfortable with this dating, however. Surely the book itself claims that it was written by Daniel in the sixth century BCE. How could a false prophecy that wrongly predicted the end of history in the time of Antiochus IV be in the Bible? And the resurrection of the dead did not happen in the middle of the second century BCE. Scholars respond, first of all, by pointing out that 'authorship' in the ancient Jewish world, unlike in the modern, was used more as a genre marker than as an author attribution. Writing various works under the name of Moses, Solomon, Ezra, Enoch or others, in a range of historical contexts, marked them as belonging to the same intellectual stream as other works with the same attribution. In the same way, attributing apocalyptic visions to Daniel was a way of situating them in the context of the other Daniel literature collected in the book and elsewhere. Reading the apocalypse Moreover, ancient people seem to have had a more flexible understanding of the meaning of apocalyptic symbols than many modern people do. They considered that Daniel's visions had made true predictions about the defeat of Antiochus and the triumph of God's cause using apocalyptic symbols, rather than ticking off whether every detail of the visions literally happened. For example, early Christian commentators in the following centuries — such as Hippolytus of Rome around 200 CE or Ishodad of Merv around 850 CE — interpreted Daniel's statements about God's victory over Antiochus as referring to the Jewish military victories that liberated the Temple. It also seems evident that Daniel was highly esteemed soon after the time when its prophecies supposedly failed. The early date of 4QDanc (4Q114) is a glimpse of the book as it hits the ground running in terms of popularity and influence. This is one of eight Daniel manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, more copies than most books of the Hebrew Bible. Various non-biblical scrolls found at Qumran, such as the War Scroll, show the influence of Daniel in shaping how they discuss the future. The earliest Greek translation of Daniel is usually dated to the latter part of the second century BCE, its early translation showing the regard in which the book was held. So important was Daniel thought to be, in fact, that a second translation was made into Greek in the following century. Portion of the War Scroll. (Photo by Colin McConnell / Toronto Star via Getty Images) We have seen how Daniel's apocalyptic images were already understood flexibly by early readers. This flexibility has led to these images being reinterpreted throughout history, right up to the present day. One of the most important interpretative moves was to apply the visions to the rise of the Roman Empire. Once the Hellenistic kingdoms of Daniel's original visions had faded away, it made sense to understand that the great enemy empire of God's people referred to in Daniel was the current imperial power, Rome. Although Daniel chapter 8 was still understood as a vision fulfilled in Antiochus's day, the visions in chapter 7, 9 and 10–12, with their more explicit linking of the destruction of the final kingdom to the events of the end times, were re-interpreted to refer to Rome in what might be called the 'Western' tradition of interpretation. The Jewish historian Josephus in the late first century CE and various Christian commentators such as Hippolytus and St Jerome held this Roman interpretation, which became a common way of understanding Daniel throughout history. The flexible way that Daniel was understood by early interpreters is revealed when the Jewish apocalypse of 4 Ezra ( circa 100CE) says about one of its visions: The eagle that you saw coming up from the sea is the fourth kingdom that appeared in a vision to your brother Daniel. But it was not explained to him as I now explain to you. In other words, the author of 4 Ezra is conscious that the meaning of Daniel's vision as it was explained to him is not the same as the new meaning now being revealed, where the eagle stands for Rome. Even when the Roman Empire fell, the Roman interpretation has been upheld by many traditional Christian readers up to the present day, although what exactly 'Rome' now meant in each era has been a matter of discussion, with the Roman Catholic Church being one popular suggestion. The procession panel on the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, which shows the seven-branched candlestick taken from the Temple in Jerusalem being carried to Rome. (Photo by Ken Welsh / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images) East meets West, meets modernity The Roman interpretation of Daniel's final kingdom was not the only one, however. Eastern Christian interpreters, such as St Ephrem or Ishodad of Merv, continued to understand the final kingdom in all of Daniel's visions to be the Seleucid Greeks, with Antiochus IV as the last king. The translation of the Bible into Syriac used by the eastern churches, the Peshitta, even has headings identifying the major characters in this way. Other commentators throughout history have gone a yet different direction. Thus, for example, the Jewish commentator Yephet ibn Ali, who was active in the Middle East in the tenth century CE, suggested that the final kingdom in Daniel referred to the rise of Islam. There are even a few medieval bilingual Coptic-Arabic copies of Daniel that add an extra chapter to make this exact point. Moving the understanding of the last kingdom mentioned in Daniel away from the Seleucid Greek one has also had the effect of opening up the identity of the last king to new interpretations. A particularly popular interpretation, especially in the Western Christian tradition, is to understand Daniel to be talking about an Antichrist figure — a final evil king whose reign ushers in the Last Days before the final judgement. By combining statements about the final king in the book of Daniel with statements made elsewhere in the Bible, especially in the New Testament apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, a profile has been and continues to be constructed of what this last king will look like. Preoccupation with the Antichrist has often been associated with literalistic interpretations that see the book of Daniel as providing a map of what will happen (shortly) in the Last Days. This is the view generally held by conservative evangelical Christians, whose support of Donald Trump has often been paired with the claim that his political opponents are the Antichrist, but this has not prevented some literalistic readers of Daniel from coming to the conclusion that Trump himself is the Antichrist. Trump thereby joins a long list of candidates throughout history, which testifies to the enduring ability of Daniel's visions to speak to new historical situations of crisis. Ian Young is Professor of Biblical Studies and Ancient Languages at the Australian Catholic University. His research focuses on the Books of Daniel and 1 Enoch. Gareth Wearne is Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies and the history and archaeology of ancient Israel at the Australian Catholic University. His research focuses on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Evan Caddy is a PhD student at the Australian Catholic University. His research focuses on ancient copies and translations of the Book of Daniel.
The Hindu
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Review of Benyamin's The Second Book of Prophets
Fearless Malayalam novelist Benyamin's The Second Book of Prophets is unsurprising for its theme and bold storytelling. After reading interpretations of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts (both significant finds of the mid-20th century that offer insights into Judaism and Christian history), Benyamin was inspired to write this book that looks at the historical and spiritual figure of Jesus Christ through a new lens. The author has explored Christian themes in his earlier works (Body and Blood, Yellow Lights of Death) and earned plaudits for other powerful stories as well (Goat Days, Jasmine Days). This novel, translated by Ministhy S., is a brave, secularised retelling of the life and times of Jesus Christ, challenging some traditional Christian beliefs in an iconoclastic manner. Conflicts and betrayals Jesus makes his appearance at a crucial time when the Jews are struggling for freedom from centuries of Roman rule over territory that is broadly today's Israel. Many Jews believe Jesus could be their long-awaited 'messiah' who will liberate them, a matter in which Jesus shows no interest. Besides, in Benyamin's retelling, the Tribe of Benjamin is opposed to someone like Jesus (from the rival House of David) coming as 'messiah', as well as his message of peace, love and equality. They conspire with the Romans to betray Jesus. Yet, Jesus continues to lead a different freedom struggle, working with the various warring tribes to reconcile their differences, before sacrificing his life for the cause. Internecine conflicts, treachery, distrust, disunity, betrayals — the leitmotifs of failed revolts throughout history — play out plainly among the Jews who fail to overpower the Romans. Taking cues from history Evidently, the author desires a different understanding of Jesus, not through the eyes of faith but by studying historical texts. In the novel, Jesus appears not as the son of god but as a social reformer and revolutionary, fighting evil and injustice. The much-vaunted miracles performed by Jesus — turning water into wine, the healing of lepers and the resurrection of the dead — are interpreted in the book, not literally as miracles but as Jesus' spurning of prejudiced societal laws and customs of the time, or 'social miracles'. Even Judas' betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver is attributed to tribal rivalries, not greed as the Bible narrates. Undoubtedly, the Bible as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts allow different readings and perspectives of Jesus' life and that period in history. Clearly, Benyamin, with a passion for history, feels there is much to say about Jesus' life and times outside of the prevailing convictions, and has done so to also make the story relevant to our fractured times. The novel, originally published in Malayalam in 2007, and read widely, drew flak from die-hard believers for Benyamin's secularisation of Jesus' life, upending conventional beliefs. Time will tell how readers of the English translation will respond. The reviewer is a Bengaluru-based independent journalist. The Second Book of Prophets Benyamin, trs Ministhy S. Simon & Schuster India ₹599
Economist
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Economist
How can America escape the perils of its internal divisions?
Political assassinations. Troops on city streets. National protests. We examine the edgy mood inside America through the lens of past periods of intense, violent partisanship. Our correspondent sees two motives for the visit to Greenland by Emmanuel Macron, France's president: one aimed at Donald Trump and another at Europe's self-conception. And what AI learned from scans of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Runtime: 24 min
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Ottoman-era burial found in Israel may violate Islamic tradition
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. In an apparent violation of Islamic tradition, an Ottoman-era grave in Israel's Negev desert holds the remains of not one, but two people: a woman and a boy who might be her son. Islamic tradition states only one person should be buried in a single grave, although allowances can be made for practicality and emergencies. In this case, government archaeologists investigating the grave site, near Rahat in the northern Negev, were surprised to find two individuals in the same grave, which dates from a time when most of the Middle East was ruled by the Ottoman sultans in Istanbul. Radiocarbon dates from the woman's bones are imprecise, but they suggest she died between the ages of 30 and 50 in the middle of the 19th century; her grave was opened again a few years later when the bones of the second person were added, and then they were both reburied. A small limestone slab was found at the head of the grave; tombstones are uncommon for Islamic graves, and the researchers think it was placed at the time of the unusual second burial. Archaeologists think the woman and boy, who lived to between 10 and 15 years old, may have been mother and son, and that the son had first been buried somewhere else. But his bones were likely dug up and reburied alongside his mother so they could be together in death, possibly because of an emotional belief by their living family. "The most important aspect of this find, in my opinion, is the emotional aspect that may have been involved in this unusual burial," Yossi Nagar, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), told Live Science. Related: AI analysis suggests Dead Sea Scrolls are older than scientists thought, but not all experts are convinced He noted that the grave was located in front of the ruins of an ancient mosque that may be from the seventh century and the earliest in Israel, perhaps because it was considered a spiritually important place. But it was impossible to know exactly why these two people had been buried in the same grave. "This is a practice that is unusual in the Muslim burial tradition," he said in an email. "There must be a story behind it!" Nagar added that it's likely, but not yet proven, that the boy was the woman's son. Their ages and sexes were determined through careful study of the bones and teeth. But no DNA studies were attempted, and the researchers noted there have been no successful attempts to extract DNA from bones found in the Negev. (DNA does not preserve well in extremely arid conditions.) Nagar is the lead author of a study published in the latest issue of the IAA journal 'Atiqot that describes excavations of the strange grave, which was unearthed in 2022 on the edge of the archaeological site at Rahat. The modern town is dominated by the descendants of formerly nomadic Arabs, called Bedouins, and archaeological excavations have revealed traces of settlements there since the Iron Age. The land that is now Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria came under Ottoman Turkish rule when they defeated the Mamluk Sultans in the 16th century; and Ottoman rule there lasted until late 1917 and 1918, when the British Army seized the region near the end of World War I. Archaeologist and historian Uzi Baram, a professor emeritus at the New College of Florida, told Live Science the unusual burial at Rahat may show that family feelings had overcome traditions. RELATED STORIES —'Very rare' African ebony figurines found in 1,500-year-old Christian burials in Israeli desert —3,300-year-old cave 'frozen in time' from reign of Ramesses II uncovered in Israel —Ancient cave burial of 'Jesus' midwife' may actually hold a princess The grave was "a moment in time, captured by archaeological excavation and research [and] a facet of the lives of the Bedouin of the Negev, a group otherwise in the shadows of archival records," he said in an email. Baram, who was not involved in the latest study, added the Arab and Ottoman periods in Israel were now better studied than before: "The archaeology of the recent past has become a standard practice, and has produced meaningful insights into historical developments," he said.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New Evidence Rewrites the Origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: A scholar from the Netherlands used AI to determine that the Dead Sea Scrolls may be older than previously believed. The new AI model pairs handwriting data with radiocarbon dating information to date ancient manuscripts. In the future, scientists hope the model will be useful in dating other mysterious ancient texts Dating ancient artifacts is very difficult. Experts have a number of techniques they can use to get close, but there are limitations that often can't be overcome without additional information. That said, sometimes you get lucky, like the researchers investigating the famous Dead Sea Scrolls did when they realized that the author wrote the dates of creation directly on several of the pages. However, not every scroll was labeled, and as a result, the undated Dead Sea Scrolls have been much harder for scientists to pin down. But when new technologies arise, things can change. According to a new study—in which scientists used AI modeling to study handwriting styles across ancient manuscripts with known dates—some of the undated Dead Sea Scrolls may be older than previously believed. Mladen Popovic (from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands) and his research team claim that their work not only re-dates some Dead Sea Scrolls, but could open a new way to place undated manuscripts on the timeline of ancient history. The team published their findings in the open-access journal PLOS One. 'It is very exciting to set a significant step in solving the dating problem of the Dead Sea Scrolls and also creating a new tool that could be used to study other partially dated manuscripts from history,' the authors wrote in a statement. 'This would not have been possible without the collaboration between so many different scientific disciplines.' The process started with a bounty of ancient texts used to help build datasets. The team parsed through historic manuscripts from various sites in modern-day Israel and the West Bank and used radiocarbon dating to estimate the ages of the documents. The team then trained a machine-learning model to understand the handwriting styles of each document in direct relation to the historic date of the manuscript. The AI model—dubbed Enoch, after the prominent biblical figure—then merged the two datasets. The goal of the work is to be able to 'objectively determine an approximate age range' of a manuscript based solely on the handwriting style on the document. During testing, the scholars said that Enoch's age estimates for the 135 Dead Sea Scrolls were 'realistic' 79 percent of the time, and non-realistic 21 percent of the time (non-realistic here meaning significantly too old, significantly too young, or indecisive). The Enoch model, paired with radiocarbon dating, estimates older ages for 'many of the Dead Sea Scrolls' than traditional handwriting analysis methods. The authors said that more data and further research could help pinpoint the timelines. 'With the Enoch tool we have opened a new door into the ancient world, like a time machine, that allows us to study the hands that wrote the Bible,' the authors wrote in the statement, 'especially now that we have established, for the first time, that two biblical scroll fragments come from the time of their presumed authors.' You Might Also Like Can Apple Cider Vinegar Lead to Weight Loss? Bobbi Brown Shares Her Top Face-Transforming Makeup Tips for Women Over 50
