Die Essener-Berichte des Josephus und die "essenischen" Schriften aus Qumran

Abstract

A confrontation between Josephus’ description of the Essenes and 1QS – the only text that is relevant for a comparison with the Yahad – presents a picture rich in nuance. On the one hand there are amazing similarities, on the other there are also significant differences. We can conclude, however, that Josephus’ image of Essenism is relatively correct although it was not so uniform and homogeneous as he pretends in De Bello Judaico and in Antiquitates Judaicae. Despite these details, his descriptions of Essenism remain relevant till today – if we wish to give a name to the authors of some of the manuscripts found in the Judean Desert.