Holy Wealth: Economics and Religion at Qumran and in the Dead Sea Scrolls

The identification of the sectarians at Qumran with the Essenes, a group that Josephus and Philo characterized as rigorously ascetic, has led many scholars to conclude that the Qumran sectarians identified wealth with corruption and immorality and poverty with virtue. Some of these scholars further support their argument by pointing to several disparaging references to wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Archaeological evidence, however, can attest that the ideological relationship that the Qumran community had with wealth was much more complex. The industrial remains at Qumran indicate that the site probably manufactured many different products. It is also inaccurate to say that the inhabitants of Qumran participated in the thriving economy of the Judean region only enough to ensure their survival, for evidence of surplus wealth is also present at the site. The hoard of Tyrian tetradrachmas, multiple isolated coins, sherds of Nabatean fineware, a jar of precious oil, and multiple metal items are a few examples. In addition, a closer textual analysis of IQS and the Damascus Document reveals some of the positive, purifying connotations that wealth held for the Yahad. Indeed, in IQS, merging one’s wealth with that of the community’s is a high honor and the final step in becoming a sectarian. Among many Jews of the Second Temple Period, wealth could be used to help fulfill religious obligations: the hoard of Tyrian tetradrachmas and the treasures listed in the Copper Scroll have both been tentatively identified with the Temple tax, an institution described in Ordinances 4Q159 and 4Q513. In this paper, I will explore how the evidence of economic prosperity at Qumran can be squared with the references to wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls. What were the positive aspects of wealth for the members of the Yahad, and how could wealth be used for religious purposes? More specifically, what was the Yahad’s attitude towards and interpretation of the Temple taxes and sacrifices mentioned in the Hebrew Bible

Constructing Gender: Female Architectural Patronage in Roman Asia Minor and Syria in the First through Sixth Centuries CE

The patronage of architectural projects was a major way that prominent citizens of the Roman Empire shaped urban landscapes. These acts of patronage constituted a series of performances through which categories such as “male,” “female,” “public,” and “private” were constructed. In this paper, I use architectural, epigraphical, and literary evidence to analyze examples of female architectural patronage in the cities of Roman Asia Minor and Syria in the first through sixth centuries CE. I explore how these architectural performances contributed to an ongoing discourse about gender and the allocation of space

Fouilles de l’Anavlochos I

Données scientifiques produites :Carnet hypothèses Anavlochos ProjectGroupe Facebook ANAVLOCHOS PROJECTCompte Twitter Anavlochos @cretansite  Chroniques de l’EfA : https://chronique.efa.gr/?kroute=report&id=6890 À la suite de la prospection de l’ensemble du massif, conduite en 2015-2016, et dans le cadre du programme quinquennal (2017-2021) de l’EFA, des fouilles ont été entreprises sur l’Anavlochos du 24 juillet au 18 août 2017. Lors de cette première campagne, les recherches ont été engagée..

Fouilles de l’Anavlochos V

Données scientifiques produites :Carnet hypothèses ; Groupe Facebook ; Compte Twitter En 2022, les fouilles se sont concentrées dans la nécropole (Zone 1), où deux tumuli d’époque protogéométrique ont notamment été mis au jour, et dans l’agglomération urbaine, où l’on a achevé la fouille de l’édifice installé sur la « terrasse Demargne » et de ses abords (fig. 1). On a par ailleurs progressé dans l’étude des restes osseux humains mis au jour dans la nécropole en 2021 et du mobilier métallurgi..

Fouilles de l’Anavlochos II

La nécropole de Lami Les tumuli La nécropole de Lami s’étend sur une douzaine d’hectares en contrebas de l’agglomération urbaine qui occupe la partie haute du vallon central de l’Anavlochos (fig. 1). On y a poursuivi la fouille engagée en 2017 dans l’Agrégat (AG) 47.04. Un tumulus de pierre de près de 15 m de diamètre a ainsi été mis au jour autour des trois fosses (FE 2, FE 3, FE 4) découvertes en 2017 (fig. 2-3). Ce tumulus est délimité par un péribole circulaire (FE 5), que soutient une as..

Microbiota regulates visceral pain in the mouse

The perception of visceral pain is a complex process involving the spinal cord and higher order brain structures. Increasing evidence implicates the gut microbiota as a key regulator of brain and behavior, yet it remains to be determined if gut bacteria play a role in visceral sensitivity. We used germ-free mice (GF) to assess visceral sensitivity, spinal cord gene expression and pain-related brain structures. GF mice displayed visceral hypersensitivity accompanied by increases in Toll-like receptor and cytokine gene expression in the spinal cord, which were normalized by postnatal colonization with microbiota from conventionally colonized (CC). In GF mice, the volumes of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and periaqueductal grey, areas involved in pain processing, were decreased and enlarged, respectively, and dendritic changes in the ACC were evident. These findings indicate that the gut microbiota is required for the normal visceral pain sensation

The wound healing effect of Morinda citrifolia leaf extract and biomolecular analysis on inflammation and proliferation stages in Wistar rats.

This research aims to evaluate the wound healing effect of noni’s leaf extract (Morinda citrifolia L.) based on phytochemical analysis, the number of fibroblast cells, wound diameter, healing time, TNF-a and IL-1 at inflammation stage, PDGF and TGF-b at proliferation stage. This study is a true experimental with a post-test-only control group design. We divided 25 male Wistar rats into five groups; positive control (with povidone-iodine), negative control (with no treatment), treated by NLEE 20%, 25%, and 30%. NLEE has good physical characteristics based on the value of ethanol soluble extract, water-soluble extract, water content, ash content, and acid insoluble ash content. GCMS analysis showed bioactive compounds such as N-ethyl hydrazine carbothioamide (31.57%), 2-furancarboxaldehyde 5-hydroxymethyl (15,64%), 2E-3,7,11,15-tetramethyl-2-hexadecene-1-of (7.08%), 3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-2,3-dihydro-4H-pyran-4-one (4.29%), D:C-friedooleana-7,9(11)-dien-3-ol,3beta (4.04%), while the rest are considered as the decanoic acids methyl ester, piperazine (3%) and vitamin E (1%). We observed the slight effects of NLEE 20%, 25%, and 30% on the number of fibroblasts, wound diameter, healing time, TNF-a, IL-1, PDGF, and TGF-b. The optimum concentration of NLEE at any treatment was 20%. However, there were no significant differences between groups based on a two-way ANOVA analysis

« Fouilles de l’Anavlochos III » [notice archéologique]: L’agglomération urbaine du vallon central et la nécropole de Lami

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Fouilles de l’Anavlochos IV

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