Travel Guide Qumrân

The site of Qumran lies near Kalia. It was already inhabited by Israelites in the 8th century BC. But the site owes its fame to later occupants: an Essene community that settled on the shores of the Dead Sea in the 2nd century BC. In the 1st century BC, it was abandoned for several decades, perhaps due to persecutions that forced the community into exile in Damascus. At the beginning of the Christian era, the site was rebuilt and inhabited until the first major revolt against the Romans: in 68 AD, Titus' troops captured Qumran. This strategic point was again occupied by the Romans during Bar Kochba's revolt against Hadrian (132-135), and the site fell into oblivion until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in nearby caves in 1947. These fragments of parchment and papyrus constitute one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time, according to archaeologists. Most of the documents are written in Hebrew, some in Aramaic and the rest in Greek. Spread over a dozen caves, the 970 manuscripts discovered are believed to have been copied between the 3rd century BC and the 1st century AD. The archaeological site of the city of Qumran is today under the administration of the Israeli National Parks.