Editing Essenes (section)

==Location==
[[File:QumranLivingQuarters.jpg|thumb|Remains of part of the main building at Qumran.]]
According to [[Josephus]], the Essenes had settled "not in one city" but "in large numbers in every town".<ref>[[Josephus]] ({{c.|lk=no|75}}). ''[[The Wars of the Jews]]''. 2.124.</ref> Philo speaks of "more than four thousand" ''Essaioi'' living in "Palestine and [[Roman Syria|Syria]]",<ref name=quodxii75>[[Philo]] ({{c.|lk=no|20–54}}). ''[http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book33.html Quod Omnis Probus Liber]''. XII.75.</ref> more precisely, "in many cities of Judaea and in many villages and grouped in great societies of many members".<ref>[[Philo]]. ''[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book37.html Hypothetica]''. 11.1. in [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]]. ''[[Praeparatio Evangelica]]''. VIII.</ref>

Pliny locates them "on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast&nbsp;... [above] the town of [[En Gedi|Engeda]]".<ref name=Pliny/>

Some modern scholars and [[Archaeology|archeologists]] have argued that Essenes inhabited the settlement at [[Qumran]], a [[plateau]] in the [[Judean Desert]] along the Dead Sea, citing Pliny the Elder in support and giving credence that the Dead Sea Scrolls are the product of the Essenes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Biblical Archeology Society Staff |title=Who Were the Essenes? |url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/who-were-the-essenes/?mqsc=E4143878&dk=ZE2250ZF0 |website=Biblical Archaeology Society |publisher=Biblical Archeology Society |access-date=9 May 2022 |language=en |date=8 May 2022}}</ref> This theory, though not yet conclusively proven, has come to dominate the scholarly discussion and public perception of the Essenes.<ref name=Ellegard>[[Alvar Ellegård|Ellegård, Alvar]]; ''Jesus—One Hundred Years Before Christ: A Study in Creative Mythology'', (London 1999).</ref>

In the same area along the Dead Sea shore there are also the sites of [[Ein Feshkha]] and [[Ain el-Ghuweir]] that have been linked with the Qumran settlement. In particular, the cemetery at Ain el-Ghuweir is somewhat similar, although it also includes the burials of women and children.<ref>R. Hachlili 2005, [https://archive.org/stream/rachel-hachlili-jewish-funerary-customs-practices-and-rites-in-the-second-temple-period/Hachlili%2C%20Rachel%20-%20Jewish%20funerary%20customs%2C%20practices%2C%20and%20rites%20in%20the%20Second%20Temple%20period_djvu.txt Jewish Funerary Customs, Practices and Rites in the Second Temple Period.] archive.org p.474</ref>

Individual burials found at the [[Qumran cemeteries]] are different from the practice found elsewhere in Israel.

:"The old Jewish tradition of burying the dead with their ancestors was not followed by the Qumran community, where individual burial was stressed."

This seems to testify "that the residents of Qumran were 
not families and that it was a community cemetery."<ref>R. Hachlili 2005, [https://archive.org/stream/rachel-hachlili-jewish-funerary-customs-practices-and-rites-in-the-second-temple-period/Hachlili%2C%20Rachel%20-%20Jewish%20funerary%20customs%2C%20practices%2C%20and%20rites%20in%20the%20Second%20Temple%20period_djvu.txt Jewish Funerary Customs, Practices and Rites in the Second Temple Period.] archive.org p.478</ref>