Qumran is an archaeological site on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank, best known because the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in eleven caves nearby between 1947 and 1956. A settlement with buildings, cisterns and ritual baths was established there in the Hasmonean period and was destroyed by the Romans during the First Jewish Revolt. Many scholars link it with the Essenes, a Jewish group described by ancient authors such as Josephus and Pliny, who may have copied or collected the scrolls, while others interpret it as a fortress or a country villa; the question remains debated. The scrolls include the oldest known manuscripts of books of the Hebrew Bible, and many are displayed in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.
Before and after
- 134 BCETiberius Gracchus is murdered and the Republic enters its crisis
- c. 131 BCEHipparchus discovers the precession of the equinoxes
- from 111 BCE to 105 BCEJugurthine War
- 3 January 106 BCEBirth of Cicero
- 104 BCEEstablishment of Qumran
- 2nd century BCEOrigins of Vienna
- c. 100 BCEEruption of Okmok
- July 100 BCEBirth of Julius Caesar
- c. 90s BCEPublication of Records of the Grand Historian
More in Earth & climate
- c. 1,900 BCEEruption of Black Peak
- c. 1,750 BCEEruption of Veniaminof
- c. 1,645 BCEEruption of Aniakchak
- c. 1,050 BCEEruption of Pinatubo
- c. 63 CEEruption of Churchill
- c. 240 CEEruption of Ksudach
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 2nd century BCE.