A Reconsideration of the Name "Essene" in Greco-Jewish Literature in Light of Recent Perceptions of the Qumran Sect
Almost all of the proposals for the origin of the terms essaioi and essēnoi used by Philo and Josephus have been based on the assumption that it was derived from some Semitic term. This paper suggests that all of those proposals have been found wanting. It is proposed that we should rather look at t...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
1987
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1986, Volume: 57, Pages: 61-81 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Almost all of the proposals for the origin of the terms essaioi and essēnoi used by Philo and Josephus have been based on the assumption that it was derived from some Semitic term. This paper suggests that all of those proposals have been found wanting. It is proposed that we should rather look at those instances in Greek literature where the term has actually been employed. Looking primarily at inscriptions, we see that it is used most frequently to designate some important functionaries in the cult of Artemis at Ephesus who had to observe an ascetic lifestyle while in office. It then comes as no surprise that a Greek observer of Palestinian Jewish life, possibly Nicolaus of Damascus, was reminded of these cultic officials when he saw the kind of life lived by these persons who also valued asceticism and lived a priestly lifestyle. The account of that Greek writer served as the source of the name that we find in Philo and Josephus |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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