The Mystery of the Copper Scroll of Qumran
Page 1
To Vivien, Adam, Sarah, Jasmine, and Oxyrynchus
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A large number of people have been hugely generous in giving of their time, consideration and expert opinion during the preparation of this book. I do not list them in any particular order of appreciation. Each and every one has contributed a vital element in the completion of the book.
Thanks are due to the many librarians, archivists and museum personnel who have helped me in the gathering of information from so many different disciplines. Without the works of the authors from whom I quote I could not even have begun to write this book.
There are two people whose initial encouragement, ongoing support and friendship have been invaluable: Caroline Davidson, of The Caroline Davidson Literary Agency; and Professor George J. Brooke, Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, The University of Manchester, Co-director, The Manchester–Sheffield Centre for Dead Sea Scrolls Research.
To the many others my gratitude and thanks:
Dr Rosalie David, Reader and Keeper of Egyptology, The Manchester Museum
Rabbi William Wolff, Wimbledon and District Synagogue
Graham Young, Penciuk, Scotland
Jozef Milik, previously leader of the Dead Sea Scroll translation team at the École Biblique, Jerusalem
Henri de Contenson, Directeur de Recherche Honoraire au CNRS, France
Professor John Tait, University College London
Irene Morley, University College London
Csaba La’da, Hamburg University, Germany
Brian Norman, Editorial consultant
Barry Weitz, Cartographic and textual consultant
Alice Hunt, The Caroline Davidson Literary Agency
Donald W. Parry, Brigham Young University, Utah
Jonathan Stoppi, Qualum computer consultants, London
Mark Vidler, author of The Star Mirror
Miriam Blank Sachs, West Newton, Massachusetts, for permission to quote a poem from her mother’s book, The Spoken Choice
Chris Elston, Chief Executive, London Bullion Market Association
Lesley Fitton and Dr Paul Roberts, Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, The British Museum
Paul Craddock, Research Laboratory, The British Museum
Michelle Pilley, Belinda Budge, Paul Redhead, Charlotte Ridings, and Suzanne Collins, Thorsons, HarperCollins Publishers
Jon Graham, Jeanie Levitan, Patricia Rydle, and Collette Fugere, Inner Traditions • Bear & Company
Elizabeth Hutchins, Freelance Editor
Martin Weitz, Focus Productions, Bristol
Lesley-Ann Liddiard, Department of History and Applied Art, National Museums of Scotland
Andrea Davis, Egyptology Department, Liverpool Museum
Carol Andrews, Assistant Keeper, Department of Egyptian Antiquities, The British Museum
Dalia Tracz, Assistant Librarian, Library Services, University College London
Professor Stefan Reif, Director of the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, Cambridge University Library, and Professor of Medieval Hebrew Studies, Cambridge University
Gwil Owen, Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University
Dott Carla Gallorini, Librarian, The Egypt Exploration Society, London
P. W. Van Boxel, Librarian, Leo Baeck College, London
Lionel Bochurberg, Avocat au Barreau de Paris, France
Martin Stammers, The Institute of Materials, London
Dr Jack Harris, Consultant metallurgist and lecturer
Rabbi Mark Winer, West London Synagogue
Jonathan Williams, Curator, Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum, London
Robert Shrager, Consultant Historian, Chairman, House of Fraser
Roger Smolski, Mathematician and Computer Consultant, RAC, London
Professor Harold Ellens, University of Michigan, Michigan
CONTENTS
Cover Image
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Illustration Credits
Foreword to the New Edition
Foreword to the First Edition
Chapter 1. The Copper Scroll – Two Thousand Years in Hiding
COINCIDENCE OR MIRACLE?
DATING THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
THE CONTENTS OF THE SCROLLS
WHO WERE THE QUMRAN-ESSENES?
Chapter 2. Bullion by the Billion
THE LANGUAGE OF THE COPPER SCROLL
DECIPHERING THE COPPER SCROLL
WHOSE TREASURES WERE THEY?
Chapter 3. Metallurgy and Metrology
GOLD AND SILVER
PROVENANCE OF THE COPPER SCROLL
ASPECTS OF ANCIENT COPPER TECHNOLOGY
NUMBERING AND WEIGHING SYSTEMS
A SECOND OPINION
Chapter 4. The Hebrew Tribes and Egypt
ABRAHAM
JACOB
JOSEPH
THE LEADERS OF THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL
MOSES
OTHER POSSIBLE INFLUENCES ON THE HEBREWS
Chapter 5. The Cocooned Cauldron of Egypt – Hotbed of Civilization
EGYPT AND CREATION
INSTABILITY BRINGS NEW IDEAS
EGYPTIAN TEXTS AND THE BIBLE
DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE
PUBESCENT MONOTHEISM
THE NEW KINGDOM AND RELIGION
Chapter 6. The Amenhotep Family Continuum
THE RELIGIOUS REVOLUTION
Chapter 7. Abraham – Father of Three Religions, Founder of None
THE ASCENT OF MAN
DATES OF THE PATRIARCHS
A COOKE’S TOUR OF MIDDLE EASTERN TIME
BACK ON COURSE
Chapter 8. Abraham at Pharaoh’s Palace
ABRAHAM MEETS PHARAOH
THE AFTERGLOW OF EGYPT
Chapter 9. Pharaoh Akhenaten – The King Who Discovered God
INTERPRETATIONS OF AKHENATEN’S ACTIONS
LINKS WITH JUDAISM
Chapter 10. Joseph – Prophet of Destiny
JOSEPH AND PHARAOH
A SURFEIT – THEN FAMINE
JACOB IS WELCOMED BY AKHENATEN
CROSS-FERTILIZATION OF IDEAS
DEATHS AND CATASTROPHE IN THE FAMILY
SO WHAT OF JOSEPH?
PHOTO INSERT
Chapter 11. The Long Trek South
ATEN IN HIDING
Chapter 12. Moses – Prince of Egypt
THE ARBEITWERKE
Chapter 13. The Exodus – Moses Does a Schindler
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
THE TABERNACLE
SACRIFICE
THE DNA FACTOR
EVIDENCE FROM THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
MANETHO, MEYER AND MOSES
BACK TO THE COPPER SCROLL TREASURE
Chapter 14. Towards Qumran
THE LEVITE PRIESTS
PORTENTS OF DISASTER
EMERGENCE OF THE QUMRAN-ESSENES
A MODERN VIEWPOINT/SECOND OPINION
AKHENATEN’S HEIRS
ORIENTATIONS AT QUMRAN
LINKS WITH AKHETATEN
Chapter 15. The Lost Treasures of Akhenaten
CRACKING THE CODE OF THE COPPER SCROLL
THE TRANSLATIONS OF 3Q15 – THE COPPER SCROLL
THE FINAL HIDING PLACE
BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE TEXT
ON INTO ISRAEL?
ON INTO CANAAN?
MOUNT GERIZIM AND THE FINAL DESTINATIONS
Chapter 16. The Legacy of Akhenaten
ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE FROM THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
COMMUNITY RULES AND LIFESTYLE
&n
bsp; THE MESSIANIC ‘SOLDIERS OF LIGHT’
MYSTICISM AND KABBALAH
THE QUMRAN-ESSENE CALENDAR
FESTIVALS AND JUBILEES
THE SCROLL OF MOSES’ BIBLICAL FATHER
BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT
THE TEMPLE
SQUARING THE CIRCLE
THE LINKS FROM AKHENATEN TO THE QUMRAN-ESSENES
Chapter 17. Physical, Material and Technological Links Between Qumran and Akhetaten
WRITING MEDIA
TEXTILES
HYDROMECHANICS AND CLEANLINESS
Chapter 18. Egypt, Israel and Beyond – The Overlaying Commonalities
BEYOND THE ‘REED CURTAIN’
THE MUSICAL PSALMS
SOCIAL MORALITY
THE EGYPTIAN ‘WISDOM’ WRITINGS AND ARCHETYPE STORIES
EGYPTIAN INFLUENCES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT
STYLISTIC ASPECTS
THE BODY OF EVIDENCE
Chapter 19. Final Clues from the Copper Scroll – Elephantine Island and the Falashas of Ethiopia
ELEPHANTINE ISLAND IN THE ANCIENT LAND OF AB
THE ELEPHANTINE COMMUNITY
ELEPHANTINE ISLAND AND AKHETATEN
CUSH AND BEYOND TO LAKE TANA
TOMB KV55
A SEURAT OF POINTS TO COMPLETE THE PICTURE
Chapter 20. Academic and Scholarly Reaction
EXEGETISTS AND HISTORIOGRAPHERS
SUPPLEMENTARY EVIDENCE
FROM MOSES TO THE QUMRAN-ESSENES
IN THE KINGDOM OF THE BLIND. . .
THE TEMPLE
FOUND UNDER KANDO’S BED – THE TEMPLE SCROLL
THE COPPER SCROLL AND THE GREEK LETTERS THAT SPELL AKHENATEN
THE HEBREW-EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE LINK
SYMBOLS OF THE ATEN
SUMMATION
Appendix – Translation of the Copper Scroll
Glossary
Footnotes
Endnotes
Index
About the Author
About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company
Books of Related Interest
Copyright & Permissions
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Figures
Figure 1 Relational Map of the Ancient Middle East, by Robert Feather and Barry J. Weitz.
Figure 2 Graph: gold mined between 4000 BCE and 68 CE, by Robert Feather.
Figure 3 Graph: gold mined between 68 CE and 1998 CE, by Robert Feather.
Figure 4 Scheme of Egyptian Gods, by Robert Feather.
Figure 5 Akhenaten and Nefertiti, from The Rock Tombs of El Amarna – Part IV, by N. de G. Davies, reproduced courtesy of The Egypt Exploration Society.
Figure 6 Assumed figure of Joseph, from The Rock Tombs of El Amarna – Part III, N. de G. Davies, reproduced courtesy of The Egypt Exploration Society.
Figure 7 Akhenaten handing out gold collars, from The Rock Tombs of El Amarna – Part VI, by N. de G. Davies, reproduced courtesy of The Egypt Exploration Society.
Figure 8 The Divine Cow, redrawn from an original by Sue Cawood.
Figure 9 Time line of the Bible: Hieratic Ostracon reproduced courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Hieroglyphics © Ronald Sheridan/Ancient Art & Architecture Collection; Codex Sinaiticus © The British Library; Dead Sea Scroll Fragment © Ronald Sheridan/Ancient Art & Architecture Collection; Ryland fragment reproduced courtesy of the Director and University Librarian, The John Rylands University Library of Manchester.
Figure 10 Merneptah stela © P. Kyle McCarter, Jr, Ancient Inscriptions Biblical Archaeology Society, Washington D.C.
Figure 11 Relief at Karnak © K. Kenyon, The Bible and Recent Archaeology, British Museum Publications.
Figure 12 Timeline from Sinai to Qumran, by Robert Feather.
Figure 13 Layout of Akhetaten, redrawn from Akhenaten King of Egypt, by Cyril Aldred 1988, courtesy of Thames & Hudson.
Figure 14 Overlay of Khirbet Qumran on the City of Akhetaten, from The Atlas of Ancient Archaeology by Jacquetta Hawkes, 1974. Khirbet Qumran originally drawn by Fr H. M. Coüasnon from the 1959 Schweich Lecture ‘Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls’ by R. de Vaux, reproduced courtesy of The British Academy.
Figure 15 Map showing the location of Qumran, by Robert Feather
Figure 16 Site of Akhetaten district, from The Atlas of Ancient Archaeology by Jacquetta Hawkes, Rainbird Reference, 1974.
Figure 17 Schematic showing development of writing forms, by Robert Feather (based on the original by Jonathan Lotan in From A to Aleph: 3 Steps to Writing in Hebrew, Qualum Publishing, 1996).
Figure 18 Last column of the Copper Scroll, by John Marco Allegro from The Treasure of the Copper Scroll.
Figure 19 Archaeological sites at Akhetaten (known as El Amarna), from The Atlas of Ancient Archaeology by Jacquetta Hawkes, Rainbird Reference, 1974.
Figure 20 Schematic of the Great Temple, from The Rock Tombs of El Amarna – Part II, by N. de G. Davies, reproduced courtesy of The Egypt Exploration Society.
Figure 21 Plan of the Second Temple, from The Atlas of the Bible, by John Rogerson, 1991.
Figure 22 Possible sites of Copper Scroll treasures by Robert Feather.
Figure 23 Drawing and inscription from storage jar, courtesy of British Museum Publications; Section of parapet, courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum, New York.
Plates
Plate 1 View of Qumran © Robert Feather. Aerial view of the ruins at Qumran © Chris Bradley/Axiom.
Plate 2 Henri de Contenson © Robert Feather. The Copper Scroll being examined by John Marco Allegro reproduced courtesy of the Manchester Museum, the University of Manchester, © Estate of John M. Allegro.
Plate 3 The Copper Scroll restored by Electricité de France © Robert Feather. Part of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, an example of the ancient Egyptian numbering system, and Column 6 in the Copper Scroll © The British Museum.
Plate 4 Detail from an inscription on the east wall of the Tomb of Nefer-Seshem-Ptah at Saqqara, from Une Rue de Tombeaux a Saqqarah, Volume II by Jean Capart, Vromont & Co., Brussels, 1907, reproduced courtesy of The Egypt Exploration Society. Priest circumcising a boy © Werner Forman Archive. Meatus dating to c.1300 BCE found at El-Amarna, from The Royal Tomb at El-Amarna Part 7 by Geoffrey Thorndike Martin, 1974, reproduced courtesy of The Egypt Exploration Society.
Plate 5 The Osiris mythology, from a piece of jewellery made for Pharaoh Osorkon II, c.860 BCE, Louvre Museum © Ronald Sheriden/Ancient Art & Architecture Collection.
Plate 6 Colossal statue of Akhenaten, Cairo Museum © Werner Forman Archive. Colossal statue of Akhenaten from the Temple at Karnak, Cairo Museum © Robert Partidge/The Ancient Egypt Picture Library. Akhenaten kisses his daughter, Cairo Museum © Werner Forman Archive.
Plate 7 Nefertiti kissing eldest daughter, Meritaten, from a limestone block found at Hermopolis, Brooklyn Museum © Werner Forman Archive. Painted limestone bust of Nefertiti © John Stevens/Ancient Art & Architecture Collection.
Plate 8 Amenhotep II © Robert Partridge/The Ancient Egypt Picture Library. The throne chair of Tutankhamun © John G. Ross/Egypt Mediterranean Picture Archive.
Plate 9 An ancient Egyptian portable chest found in the antechamber of the tomb of Tutankhamun, ‘wishing chalice’, and triple lotus oil lamp reproduced courtesy of the Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. ‘Protective wings’ used in Egyptian design © James Morris/Axiom.
Plate 10 Jozef Milik © Robert Feather. View of hills immediately behind Qumran © Robert Eisenman, reproduced courtesy of Element Books.
Plate 11 The Shawabty figure of Meryra, High Priest of Aten © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1944 (44.4.71). Treasure jar found in the remains of a building on the ‘Crock of Gold Square’, from The City of Akhenaten, Part 2 by H. Frankfort and J. Pendlebury, reproduced courtesy of The Egypt Exploration Society.
Plate 12 Site of the Great Temple at El-Amarna, ancient Akhetaten © Gwil Owen.
Plate 13 Archaeological sites in the Saqqara burial district
© Gwil Owen. The Sun Temple at Abu Gurab, Egypt © Dr. Paul T. Nicolson F. R. G. S.
Plate 14 Two gold signet rings from Hagg Quandil reproduced courtesy of National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside, Liverpool Museum.
Plates 14 & 15 Jewellery from Hagg Quandil (nine photos) © The Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland.
Plate 16 View of Elephantine Island © Ronald Sheriden/The Ancient Art & Architecture Collection.
FOREWORD
TO THE NEW EDITION
Scholars are frequently challenged by a new perspective on an old idea or an innovative hypothesis that re-examines a traditional model. When such an exciting event happens it is crucial to discern the possibility and then the probability of truth in this new perspective. To view Robert Feather’s new hypothesis regarding the Copper Scroll and related issues of ancient Israelite tradition constructively, one must look at the whole picture through his worldview and model. In so testing, one can see that Feather’s book offers a legitimate new hypothesis, which is heuristically sustained by the evidence he presents.
Scholarship requires that all the disparate details of a new model be considered as a whole. Some of the individual aspects may not seem to make sense when taken by themselves. However, when all the facets of a model are taken together, they frequently paint a new picture on an old canvass. This new picture often is much more illumining than the traditional or familiar one, as in the case of Feather’s treatment of the Copper Scroll. His hypothesis manages all the data as a coherent whole somewhat better than previous attempts at interpreting this very enigmatic document. Feather’s hypothesis offers a novel, enlightening, and interesting way to look at the relevant phenomenon.
Feather has assembled here numerous strands of argumentation and a great variety of data, previously unnoticed or inadequately addressed. The manner in which all this converges, in confirmation of the author’s general hypothesis about major Egyptian relationships with and influences upon the Qumran community, produces a coherent whole that manages the data quite effectively—better than any other model advanced to date. Thus, Feather’s proposal is persuasive.
The Copper Scroll is a unique type of document among those found in the caves near Qumran. Two other kinds of documents were found there, namely, those that describe the ideology, outlook, theology, and history of the Jewish people after their return from exile in Babylon 500 BC, and those that pertain to the rule and worldview of the cloistered community of Qumran–Essenes. The Qumranites preserved this library of Dead Sea Scrolls.