Representations of History in 4q331 (4qpaphistorical Text C), 4q332 (4qhistorical Text D), 4q333 (4qhistorical Text E), and 4q468e (4qhistorical Text F): An Annalistic Calendar Documenting Portentous Events?

Atkinson, Kenneth

doi:10.1163/156851707781498265

Cited by 2 publications

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“…The mishmarot chronology was used as the dating system in this annalistic list. Wise's insights were re-evaluated and carried further in the recent study by Atkinson (2007). According to Talmon and Ben-Dov (forthcoming), however, the historical texts should be separated from the calendrical texts on both material and contextual grounds.…”

Section: Calendar-related Sources In Qumran and The Pseudepigraphamentioning

confidence: 99%

Qumran Calendars: A Survey of Scholarship 1980—2007

Ben-Dov

Saulnier

2008

Currents in Biblical Research

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The present article surveys the scholarship on the calendars represented in the Qumran texts and the Pseudepigrapha. The survey commences with the influential articles by VanderKam in the late 1970s, while relating also to Jaubert's earlier hypothesis. After a presentation and classification of the relevant texts, we proceed to elucidate the prominent calendrical and historical themes: the calendar in Jubilees and the Temple Scroll; the early history of the 364-day year in Judah; the non-Jewish origins of the 364-day calendar tradition; intercalation and the beginning of the day; and the various accounts of lunar phases in writings from Qumran. Broadly speaking, present-day research tends to emphasize the schematic aspect of the 364-day calendar tradition, renouncing the older view of this system as a `solar' calendar. In addition, Jaubert's hypothesis on the antiquity of the 364-day calendar, although still upheld in significant parts of current scholarship, is seriously challenged when viewed in a broader historical context. Finally, the Jewish astronomical and calendrical lore is increasingly explained on the background of astral sciences in the Hellenistic world—from Mesopotamia to Egypt.

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Section: Calendar-related Sources In Qumran and The Pseudepigraphamentioning

confidence: 99%