Text and Artifact in the Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity: Essays in Honour of Peter Richardson

25. What Josephus Says about the Essenes in his Judean War

25 WHAT JOSEPHUS SAYS ABOUT THE ESSENES IN HIS JUDEANWAR STEVE MASON Probably the most famous text­artifact connection made by modern scholarship in our field has been the marriage of Qumraner with Essene—a figure known for two millennia in Greek and Latin texts. Parallels between Josephus's Essenes, particularlythose of War 2.119­61, and the people of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been crucialin forging this happy union, along with the elder Pliny's notice about Esseni who lived in the Judean desert (Hist. Nat. 5.15.73). In the past decade a growing cadre of scholars has objected to the Qumran­Essene theory from various perspectives, while the orthodox have responded bymaking the theory unfalsifiable, along such lines as these (Rajak 1994: 142): Josephus was describing Jewish ascetics who were, at the very least, part of the same tradition as those who, over the generations, wrote the sectarian scrolls from Qumran, even if the correlation is not exact;. . . the portrait [of the Essenes in Josephus] is based upon those who occupied, in one fashion or another, at one stage or another, the installations at Qumran. With similar open­endedness, the "Groningen hypothesis" postulates a rift within Essenism to explain the differences between Qumran and the classical sources (Garcia Martinez 1996: lii­liii). And Hartmut Stegemann tries to reconcile all the evidence byunderstandingQumran as a mere outpost, a quiet research retreat (1992:161), ofa much largerEssenecommunity—understood as the "main Jewish Union" of the time (165). This is a long way from the original and still popular Sukenik/de Vaux understanding of Qumran as the Essene home or base, but it shows how difficult it now is to engage the Qumran­Essene theory: the theory will accommodate almost any problem by 424' TEXT ANDARTIFACT resorting to different times, places and factions of an exquisitely malleable "Essene" phenomenon. My primarygoal in this essay is not to meddle in such a famous, though by no means blissfully secure, marriage. I want to ask, very simply, what Josephus says about the Essenes in Judean War. I want to ask this chiefly because the question has not yet been answered, or even been unambiguously posed, to my knowledge. We need to read Josephus's Essenes in the contexts he provides. As a corollary (only), I shall ask how any fair reading ofJosephus's Essenes in War bears on the Qumran­Essene question. 1. The Essenes of Josephus: Overview and Correlations Let us begin our study proper with a synopsis of references to Essenes in Josephus. War Antiquities 13.171­72 'EaoT|voi [yevogin 172]. At the time ofJonathan the Hasmonean(ca. 150 BCE), Josephus interrupts his paraphrase of 1 Mace to date and describe three schools;compares Essenes philosophically with Pharisees and Sadducees; refers back to his fuller description in War 2. 13.298 'Eoar)voi'. Passing reference, after comparison of Pharisees and Sadducees, to explain John Hyrcanus's defection to the Sadducees, the beginning of later problems; refers to fuller descriptionin War 2. 1.78 ' Eooaioc.yevog.Judas, teaching 13.311 'Eoocciog (mss. AMWE Lat) or students in Jerusalem at the time of 'Eoor|v6iAa&eA(j)r|v6c,, IIepYau.r|v6c,) and ­nr|g, a form of nomen agentis (IIepaiTr|c,, raA,a5vur||ia ij/uxpoig u6aaiv) for purification (ccyveicc) and participate in various trades or crafts (TCXVCU) (War 2.129). These acts are not unusual in the broader context. Elsewhere, Josephus explains, Judeans who experience nocturnal emissions plunge into cold water the next day (Ant. 3.263). He himself was no stranger to the purificatorycold bath. He boasts in Life 11 that when he was with Bannus he "bathed frequently in frigid water, day and night, for purification." The reference to trades is also significant because, as we saw in the opening quotation from AgainstApion 2.293­94 above, Josephus considers participation in trades and agriculture the admirable peacetime activity of all Judeans. It ishardly coincidental that according toAntiquities 18.19 the Essenes engage in the other side of this pair, agriculture—an ideal Roman pursuit (Plutarch, Cat. Ma. 2.1; 3.1­4). Sixth, of the Essenes' main meal, Josephus says that no bawling or mob noise pollutes it (ouie 6e Kpauyrj • • • oute Odpupog (iiaivei); it is marked by sobriety and measuring or rationing (TO jieTpeioOai) of food and drink (Tpo(|>f) KCU TTOTOC,). They eat and drink until satisfied (fieXP1 Kopou, War 2.132­33). With these phrases, compare: KpauyTJ TG KCU Oopupog in War 3.493 (also 6...