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Re: orion myths, etc.
Dave Washburn.,
Thanks for your response. But de Vaux was not the first to see the Essene
identification. Brownlee, Trever, Sowmy, Sukenik, and others preceded him.
Still others whom de Vaux surely did not control, e.g., Dupont-Sommer and
Allegro, also recognized Essene evidence. I take your word that you don't
think overthrowing the "Essene hypothesis" is ineluctably part two of the
so-called "liberation" of the scrolls--but some other folks certainly and
avowedly do think so.
Of course I regard Pliny as evidence for a Qumran-Essene link (and
Bob Kraft did not support the "hills above En Gedi" mistranslation, nor
does the text, nor does Pliny secondary literature). (Ian opposed the link
even when he thought the word under contention was "hos" rather than
"infra.") But I do not call Pliny the "linchpin." Archaeology is important.
Even more important evidence is the fact that the texts (more precisely,
some of them, e.g. S and some pesharim) tell us they are Essene.
On a merely technical misunderstanding: the message you mistakenly
sent to me, I did not delete, but returned it immediately to you for you to
forward to the list (which you may wish to do; I assumed you realized
that). I didn't wish to confuse the list with a message coming from me but
with your views.
Stephen Goranson goranson@duke.edu