Copper Scroll

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The Copper Scroll (3Q15) is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran, but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus, this scroll is written on metal: copper mixed with about 1% tin. Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of locations at which various items of gold and silver are buried or hidden. It differs from the other scrolls in its Hebrew (closer to the language of the Mishnah than to the literary Hebrew of the other scrolls, though 4QMMT shares some language characteristics), its orthography (i.e., its spelling), palaeography (forms of letters), and date (c.50-100 CE, possibly overlapping the latest of the other Qumran manuscripts).^[1] It is currently on display at the Archaeological Museum in Amman, Jordan.

History and origin

The scroll, on two rolls of copper, was found in 1952 at the back of Cave 3 at Qumran, the first cave to be explored. It was the last of 15 scrolls discovered in the cave, and is thus referred to as 3Q15.^[2] The corroded metal could not be unrolled by conventional means, and John Marco Allegro arranged for Professor H. Wright Baker, of the College of Technology at Manchester, England, to cut the sheets into 23 strips in 1955 and 1956.^[3] It then became clear that the rolls were part of the same document. Allegro, who had supervised the opening of the scroll, transcribed its contents immediately. Although the text was assigned to Józef Milik, the Jordanian Director of Antiquities approached Allegro in 1957 to publish the text, which he did with drawings and translation in 1960.^[4] Low-quality photographs of the scroll were published, but scholars found these difficult to work with, and have relied on a drawing of the text by Milik published in 1962. The scroll was rephotographed in 1988 with greater precision.^[5] From 1994 to 1996 extensive conservation efforts by Electricité de France (EDF) included evaluation of corrosion, photography, x-rays, cleaning, making a facsimile and a drawing of the letters. Emile Puech's edition had the benefit of these results (see Poffet, et al. 2006).

Scholarly estimates of the probable date range of The Copper Scroll vary, including dates from about 50 CE to 100 CE, and it may have been written after most of the other Qumran scrolls.^{[citation needed]}

Writing style

The style of writing is unusual, different from the other scrolls. It is written in a style similar to Mishnaic Hebrew. There is an unusual orthography, and the script has the features resulting from someone writing on copper with hammer and chisels. There is also the anomaly that seven of the names of locations are followed by a group of two or three Greek letters. The text is a listing of sixty-four locations; sixty-three of which are treasures of gold and silver, which have been estimated in the tons. The final listing points to a duplicate document with additional details. That other document has not been found.

Some scholars believe that the difficulty in deciphering the texts was perhaps copied from another original document by an illiterate scribe who did not speak the language in which the scroll was written. Perhaps this was done so that the secrecy of the content of the text would be preserved. This scribe made several errors, mistakes that someone familiar with the original language might not have made.

There is a distinctly minority view that the Cave of Letters might have contained one of the listed treasures ^[6], and, if so, artifacts from this location may have been recovered. Although the scroll was made of alloyed copper in order to last, the locations are written as if the reader would have an intimate knowledge of obscure references — e.g., "In the irrigation cistern(?) of the Shaveh, in the outlet that is in it, buried at eleven cubits: 70 talents of silver" (from Allegro's translation), or "In the cave that is next to the fountain belonging to the House of Hakkoz, dig six cubits. (There are) six bars of gold".^[7]

Translation

The following is an English translation of the opening lines of the Copper Scroll:^[8]

1:1 In the ruin which is in the valley of Acor, under
1:2 the steps leading to the East,
1:3 forty long cubits: a chest of silver and its vessels
1:4 with a weight of seventeen talents. KEN

Claims

The treasure of the scroll has been assumed to be treasure of the Jewish Temple, presumably the Second Temple, among other options.

There is mention of the "House of Hakkoz", with the family of Hakkoz being treasurers of the rebuilt Temple, following the return from Babylon, as listed in the Biblical Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The theories of the origin of the treasure were broken down by Theodor H. Gaster^[9]:

• First, the treasure could be that of the Qumran community. The difficulty here is that the community is assumed to be an ascetic brotherhood, with which vast treasures are difficult to reconcile. (Yet community, as opposed to individual wealth, for a future hoped-for temple is possible. Such is proposed by, among others, Andre Dupont-Sommer, Stephen Goranson, and Emile Puech.)
• Second, the treasure could be that of the Second Temple. However, Gaster cites Josephus as stating that the main treasure of the Temple was still in the building when it fell to the Romans, and also that other Qumranic texts appear to be too critical of the priesthood of the Temple for their authors to have been close enough to take away their treasures for safekeeping. (The Arch of Titus shows some temple items taken to Rome. But several scholars expressed this view.)
• Third, the treasure could be that of the First Temple, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in 586 BCE. This would not seem to fit with the character of the other scrolls, unless perhaps the scroll was left in a cave during the Babylonian Exile, possibly with a small community of caretakers who were precursors of the Dead Sea Scrolls community. (The scroll was written too late for this proposal.)
• Fourth, Gaster's own favourite theory is that the treasure is a hoax. If so, it is an elaborate hoax by an ancient people not known primarily for their sense of humor.

There are other options besides those listed by Gaster (see Wolters in Bibliography p. 15-17 for a more up-to-date list). For instance Manfred Lehmann considered it Temple contributions collected after 70 CE.

Scholars are divided on whether the Copper Scroll represents real burials, and, if so, the total measurements and the owners. If it is folklore, it is poor as literature. In any case, it merits mentioning that the Copper Scroll, unlike some other texts, does not mention the ark of the covenant (unlike 2 Maccabees 2:4-10), nor urim and thummin, nor the temple menorah and other objects sometimes mistakenly associated with it in sensationalistic literature.^{[citation needed]}

Thus far, no item mentioned in the Copper scroll has been found, in the majority view. The Qumran silver hoard has been suggested, but not linked specifically to a 3Q15 item. Even if it remains a failure as a treasure map, 3Q15, as a new, long ancient Hebrew text has significance. For example, as comparative Semitic languages scholar Jonas C. Greenfield noted, it has great significance for lexicography (in his review of Milik's edition, "The Small Caves of Qumran"^[10]).

Media

In 1958, novelist Nathaniel Norsen Weinreb published The Copper Scrolls, the tale of a scribe named Kandane who is hired by a priest from Qumran to inscribe a list of sacred treasures. Weinreb wrote his novel before he or the general public learned that the so-called 'scrolls' of copper, were in reality, two separated sections of what was originally a single scroll about eight feet in length.

A Long Way to Shiloh (known in the USA as The Menorah Men so as not to be thought a Civil War novel) is a thriller by Lionel Davidson, published in 1966, whose plot follows the finding and contents of a similar treasure scroll.

The denouement of Edwin Black's Format C: included using the Copper Scroll to find the Silver Scroll, giving the protagonists the information they needed to find and defeat the main threat of the book.

The Copper Scroll is the subject of a political thriller, The Copper Scroll, by Joel C. Rosenberg, published in 2006. This book implements its author's theory that the treasures listed in the Copper Scroll (and the Ark of the Covenant) will be found in the End Times to refurnish the Third Temple.

It also features in Sean Young's novel, Violent Sands. In this historical novel, Barabbas is the sworn protector of the Copper Scroll and the treasure it points to. He is under orders to protect this document at all costs.

The scroll—and a search for its treasures—was featured in a 2007 episode of The History Channel series Digging For The Truth. The program gives a basic knowledge of the research of the Copper Scroll and all the major theories of its interpretation.

See also

• Kohlit

Footnotes

References

• John M. Allegro (1960). The Treasure of the Copper Scroll. Garden City, NY, Doubleday. 
• Robert Feather (2003). The Mystery of the Copper Scroll of Qumran. Bear & Company. ISBN 1-59143-014-3.  This book attempts to link the Copper Scroll to the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten.
• Theodor H. Gaster (1976). The Dead Sea Scriptures. Peter Smith Publishing Inc. ISBN 0-8446-6702-1. 
• Hershel Shanks, ed. (1992). Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York, Random House. ISBN 0-679-41448-7. 

Bibliography

• Brooke, George J.; Philip R. Davies, eds. (2002). Copper Scroll Studies. Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series, Vol. 40. New York: Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 0-82646-055-0. 
• Lefkovits, Judah K. (2000). The Copper Scroll 3Q15: A Reevaluation: A New Reading, Translation, and Commentary. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Vol. 25. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-10685-5. 
• Parry, Donald W.; Emanuel Tov, eds. (2005). Additional Genres and Unclassified Texts. The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader, Vol. 6. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 250–261. ISBN 90-04-12646-5. 
• Poffet, Jean-Marie, Emile Puech, et al., Le rouleau de cuivre de la grotte 3 de Qumrân (3Q15): expertise, restauration, epigraphie. Leiden: Brill: École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem: EDF Foundation, 2006. 2 volumes. Puech had access to the cleaned artifact and scans; Vol. 1, pages 169-216 has his text, commentary and French and English translations.
• Wolters, Albert. The Copper Scroll: Overview, Text and Translation (Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, 1996).

External links

• English text of Copper Scroll with explanatory footnotes
• Hebrew text of Copper Scroll with English translation (work in progress)