Re: [Megillot] Qumran history, again

[RUSSELLGMIRKIN]

(cross-posted on ANE)

Stephen Goranson writes:

> The confluence of evidence now establishes that Alexander Jannaeus was the
> Qumran wicked priest (tyannical and superstitious par excellence, the Essene
> sources Posidonius and Strabo assessed).

Source critical considerations weigh against your view that Posidonius was a contemporary source on the Essenes.  It is generally agreed that Josephus never read Posidonius directly.  As is well known, Josephus does not cite Posidonius in Wars or Antiquities, and his mention of Posidonius in Life appears to come from a third source.  It is true that in one fragment Posidonius mentioned Dacian celibacy, but in connection with Homer, not the Essenes (as in Josephus).  Strabo, Geography 16.2.35-37, 40 is generally (and properly) understood to draw on Posidonius, and there is no mention of Jewish sects there.  Rather, the Jewish religion is described as a monolithic whole.  Nor does Strabo elsewhere mention Jewish sects in Geography or his other fragmenta.  All evidence appears consistent with Nicolas of Damascus having been the first Greek writer to describe the sects of the Jews.

That said, let us discuss your assertion that Alexander Jannaeus as Wicked Priest is somehow supported by the description of Jewish superstition and tyranny in Strabo, Geography 16.2.37, 40

First, you completely misunderstand Posidonius on the superstition of the Jews.  Posidonius periodized Jewish history into three phases:  the Golden Age under Moses and his successors; a period under later Jewish priests characterized by various "superstitions"; and the monarchical period, i.e. the recent tyranny of Alexander and his two sons (the latter whom you neglect to mention).  This periodization, in line with Posidonius' general views on the historical evolution of politics in other fragments, is clearly laid out at Geo. 16.2.34:

"[1] His [Moses'] successors... acting righteously and being truly pious towards God; [2] but afterwards, in the first place, superstitious men were appointed to the priesthood, [3] and then, tyrannical people" (bracketed numbers mine).

Posidonius then explained that the superstitious priests after Moses introduced "abstinence from flesh [i.e. dietary laws]" and "circumcisions and excisions".  Jewish "superstition" was a common anti-Semitic theme in Graeco-Roman literature, the three major examples routinely listed being Jewish circumcision, the sabbath, and refusing to eat pork.  Your misunderstanding of Posidonius (and indeed Graeco-Roman writings) on this point is total.  Posidonius did not single out Jannaeus or his sons on the issue of superstition, and I seriously doubt that the Essenes criticized Jannaeus for being circumcised or having a kosher diet!

Second, your attempt to enlist Posidonius' criticism of Alexander Jannaeus and his two sons as tyrants as evidence of Jannaeus as Wicked Priest is misguided in several respects.  We may agree that Strabo's source here was Posidonius.  A comparison of Geography 16.2.37,40 shows that it must have drawn specifically on Posidonius' excursus on Pompey (whether a separate essay or an appendix to his history is irrelevant here).  Posidonius in turn clearly drew on Theophanes of Mitylene's propagandistic biography of Pompey's eastern campaigns, published in 62 BCE.  Theophanes characterized Jannaeus and his sons (whom you omit to mention) as brigands and tyrants in order to justify Pompey's abolition of the Judean monarchy.  Theophanes in turn drew on the speeches of the three Jewish delegations before Pompey at Damascus in 63 BCE for information on the civil wars that gripped Judea under Jannaeus and his sons.  This information - negative towards both of the sons, as well as their father - came from the delegation at Damascus representing the "nation", who explained the genesis of the current civil war in the earlier troubles under Jannaeus.  The language used to describe this delegation shows that it represented the predominantly Pharisee gerousia under Salome Alexandra who sought reinstatement after being disenfranchised under Aristobulus' monarchy.  (And indeed Pompey restored the form of govenment under Salome Alexandra, i.e. a [Pharisee] gerousia headed by Hyrkanus as high priest.)  Thus the anti-monarchical theme in Posidonius reflects the rhetoric of the Pharisee presentation at Damascus before Pompey.

The criticism of Jannaeus and his sons in Strabo thus originated with the Pharisees  - not the Essenes, as you appear to imagine.  It was directed against the institution of the monarchy, which was characterized as tyranny.  Tyrant in Greek means an individual who seizes sole rule by force, and in this context signifies the illegitimacy of the Judean monarchy.  Note that the one criticism never leveled against the Wicked Priest is that of being a tyrant, i.e. seizing the office of king.  The Wicked Priest is never called a king, and indeed pH uses the word moshel, not malek, to describe his rule (1QpHab 8.9-10).

What then can be learned from Graeco-Roman sources (including here Josephus) about Alexander Jannaeus's relations with the Jewish sects?  (1)  Per Ant. 13.288, 296-297, the nation, and especially the Pharisees, opposed John Hyrkanus and his sons (including here Alexander Jannaeus) on account of the change in affiliation of the Hasmoneans to the Sadducee party.  If and since the Wicked Priest was originally well-regarded by the sectarians and likely a member (was at first "called by the name of truth" - 1QpHab 8.9), if this figure was the Wicked Priest this would be consistent with the sectarians being Sadducees, not Essenes.  (2) The Pharisees held a special grudge against Alexander Jannaeus and considered his monarchy an illegitimate tyranny (Josephus, Strabo = Posidonius).  Here Strabo doesn't add anything not already known from Josephus.  This Pharisee animosity might be relevant to the identity of the Wicked Priest if the sectarians were Pharisees, but not the Essenes.

In short, Strabo=Posidonius reflects Pharisees views on Jannaeus, not Essene as you imagine; the Posidonian charge of Jewish superstition is stereotypical Graeco-Roman anti-Semitism, and applied to Jannaeus' predecessors, not Jannaeus; and the charge of tyranny against Jannaeus and his sons has nothing to do with the views of the Essenes or the scrolls sect, but well-known Pharisee animus.  Your attempt to invoke Strabo on behalf of your theories regarding the Wicked Priest are thus unfounded. 

Best regards,
Russell Gmirkin