Biblical Archaeology Review

Josephus, The Life of Josephus 11–12.

The description that follows includes only the site as it existed in the Second Temple period (which ended in 70 C.E. with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem) and the period leading up to the Second Jewish Revolt of 132–135 C.E. It ignores the small settlement at Upper Ein Gedi of the Byzantine period.

Yizhar Hirschfeld, “A Settlement of Hermits Above ‘Ein Gedi,” Tel Aviv 27 (2000), pp. 103–155. Except where otherwise noted, Hirschfeld’s quotations that follow are from this article.

Yizhar Hirschfeld, “Early Roman Manor Houses in Judea and the Site of Khirbet Qumran,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 57:3 (1998), p.161.

Some scholars think the term “Essene” derives from the expression ‘osei ha-torah, “doers of the Torah,” a term that appears numerous times in the scrolls. See Stephen Goranson, “Others and Intra-Jewish Polemic as Reflected in Qumran Texts,” in Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam, eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Comprehensive Assessment vol. 2 (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 534–551.

Again, see Kitchen, Reliability, chapters 6 and 7, for a full survey.

Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, I–VII (Oxford: Blackwell, 1968–1990). Currently, 14 volumes of Translations and Notes & Comments are in process of publication.

Full references can be found in my Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (Warminster, U.K.: Aris & Phillips, 1996 edition), pp. 479, 594, table 12. (This book is the acknowledged basic handbook for the period.)

See Aaron Demsky, “Discovering a Goddess,” BAR 24:05, and W.W. Hallo and K.L. Younger, eds., The Context of Scripture, vol. 2 (Leiden: Brill, 2000), p. 164.