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Re: Copper Scroll (was Re: orion-list Essenes, Zias article, etc.
On December 29, Russell Gmirkin wrote:
<< Dear Robert Leonard,
Thank you for your thoughtful and interesting reply to the possibility I
raised that the Copper Scroll may list treasures hidden by the former
Jannaeus partisans exiled from Jerusalem in 76 BCE rather than during the
First Revolt.
> While no Herodian Era placenames (Masada, Caesarea, etc.) are mentioned in
> the Copper Scroll, references to the Portico or Stoa (Column XI, Line 2)
and
> the Colonnades (Column XI, Line 8) may refer to Herod's reconstruction of
> the Temple. Neither of these translations is universally accepted,
however.
This is an interesting argument. That these features are commonly
interpreted as referring to Herod's temple may however simply reflect the
widespread assumption that the Copper Scroll dates to a time when that
temple
was standing. In articles I have read I have seen no discussions of the
possibility of referring these lines to the earlier temple. Since this
possibility that these lines refer to the pre-Herodian temple has (to my
knowledge) never been raised, it has not yet been excluded. Assuming the
above translations are correct, and granted that Herod's temple contained a
Royal Portico and Colonnades, this only points to the Herodian period if it
can be demonstrated that the pre-Herodian temple lacked similar
architectural
features. I would welcome further discussion on this point.>>
Please accept my apologies for this tardy response; my computer required
servicing. You are certainly right that "Portico" and "Colonnades" may
reflect circular reasoning based on the assumption that the Copper Scroll was
written when Herod's Temple was standing. Column XI, Line 2, contains a word
similar to the Greek "stoa," portico, and this translation is accepted by
Martinez and Wolters. However, Lefkovits, in his thesis, argues for
"ossuary," based on tractate Semahot of the Talmud. Likewise, the word
translated as "Colonnades" has the meaning of "stones" and has been variously
translated as paving stones, thresholds, door sills, etc. as well as
colonnades. Either Herodian or pre-Herodian times can be argued.
>> > If there is thought to be any correlation between the hoarding
described
in
> the Copper Scroll and recovered coin hoards from Israel in general, the
> First Revolt is still the most likely. There are a number of shekel
hoards
> associated with the First Revolt, but none from c. 76 B.C.E. and
relatively
> few from the Second Revolt. An Inventory of Greek Coin Hoards, 1973,
lists
> the following hoards for Hellenistic Phoenicia - Palestine for this
period:
> El-Jib (Gibeon), Judaea, c. 75 B.C.E., 23 copper coins; Golan
> (Gaulanitis/Trachonitis), c. 100-75 B.C.E., 40 copper coins;
Samaria-Sebaste,
> Samaria, after 74 B.C.E., 22 copper coins, 1 shekel of Tyre. A large
hoard
> of shekels (200+) was recovered at Jericho, but the latest coin was dated
> 103/2 B.C.E. I haven't checked for hoards published after 1973, but
would
> be surprised if they change this picture very much.
The First Revolt was of course unsuccessful and as a result many who hid
coin
hoards died before retrieving their treasures. This was not the case in 76
BCE. The (Sadducee) former partisans on Alexander Jannaeus exiled to the
Judean fortresses in 76 returned to power under Aristobulus II in the years
67-63 BCE. Doubtless they recovered their hoarded treasures. Josephus,
Ant.
13.427 states that "in barely fifteen days he [Aristobulus] occupied
twenty-two fortresses, and obtaining resources from these, he gathered an
army from Lebanon, Trachonitis and the local princes." That is, Aristobulus
hired mercenaries for his revolt using funds provided by his loyalists in
the
fortresses to . (At 13.429 the same word "resources" is applied to both an
army and "money in the various treasuries.") The historical argument can be
made that the Jannaeus/Aristobulus partisans recovered the treasures of the
Copper Scroll and used some of this wealth to finance their uprising and
return to power. One would therefore not expect the Copper Scroll treasures
to still be in the ground in modern times.>>
I have since checked coin hoards published through 1994 (in the standard
publication) and found one additional hoard: "Israel, before 1992," c. 70
B.C.E., c. 4000 copper coins. Thus, of these four hoards that could have
deposited c. 76 B.C.E., only one contains any silver, and that one only a
single coin. This is in sharp contrast to the dozens of silver hoards of the
First Revolt period. So, from this standpoint, 76 B.C.E. seems less likely
than the First Revolt period for Copper Scroll-type hoarding of silver and
gold.
Certainly the situation in 76 B.C.E. was much different from the wholesale
slaughter and enslavement of the First Revolt, which left so many hoards
unrecovered. But even when the hoarder survives, many hoards cannot be
located later. Leo Kadman gives two examples in his paper on Jewish coin
hoards, and even Pepys was unable to recover all the money he buried in his
garden a few weeks later. J. Frank Dobie, in Coronado's Children, recounts
many anecdotes of lost mines and buried treasure. We would expect to find
some hoards from 76 B.C.E., and no doubt they include these copper hoards.
While it is certainly possible that the entire treasure of the Copper Scroll
was recoverd under Aristobulus II (from the second copy), this seems unlikely
to me.
Best regards,
Robert Leonard
Winnetka, IL
For private reply, e-mail to RLWinnetka@aol.com
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