Wadi Murabbaʿat

Wadi Murabbaʿat

Wadi Murabbaʿat is a wadi in the Judean Desert in the West Bank . It begins east of Bethlehem , extends in a southeastern direction and flows into the Dead Sea 18 km south of Qumran . Its importance for archeology and history lies in 174 ancient documents (most from the first two centuries AD) discovered in five caves on the northern flank of the lower reaches of the wadi.

The Arabic name وادي مربعات / Wādī Murabbaʿāt means "square wadi" and is derived from the striking square cave entrances of three of the caves mentioned. Alternative names are Wadi Daraǧa (Arabic) or Naḥal Deragot (Hebrew). Both mean “step wadi”, as the wadi slopes gradually downwards in the lower part.

The rugged wadi is accessible by marked hiking trails along almost its entire length. The path in the lower part of the wadi bed contains challenging climbing passages and leads through pools of water that you have to cross by swimming.

In 1951, a few years after the discovery of the first Qumran scripts , Bedouins found remains of ancient documents on papyrus and animal skin (a forerunner of parchment ) and some other finds in the caves . In the spring of 1952, excavations were carried out in four caves by the École biblique in Jerusalem and the Jordanian antiquities authorities, which brought to light further ancient writings and finds from different epochs (from the Copper Age to the 14th century AD). In 1955, again initially by Bedouins, a well-preserved scroll with the Book of the Twelve Prophets (Mur88) was discovered in a fifth cave . In 1968 and 1993, Israeli archaeologists carried out further research.

In the first edition of the texts it is not specified which documents or fragments were found by Bedouins and which were found within the framework of controlled archaeological excavations (with the exception of Mur88). Mur174 and a few tiny fragments that were edited with it prove that not all texts found by the Bedouins made it to the Palestine Archaeological Museum at that time, today's Rockefeller Museum , (and thus into the first edition). The fact that Mur26 and XḤev / Se50 are part of the same document allows one of the following conclusions: Either Mur26 (and possibly other documents that are considered to be Murabbaʿat documents) do not come from here, but from elsewhere (e.g. from Nachal Chever ), or XḤev / Se50 (and possibly other documents) was actually discovered in Wadi Murabbaʿat.

The documents from Wadi Murabbaʿat

Unless otherwise stated, the texts are written on papyrus.

document	language	Dating	content	Remarks
Mur1	Hebrew	Early 2nd century AD	Biblical text (Gen-Num)	Animal skin
Mur2	Hebrew	1st century AD	Biblical text (Dtn)	Animal skin
Mur3	Hebrew	1st century AD	Biblical text (Isa 1: 4-14)	Animal skin
Mur4	Hebrew		Phylactery	Animal skin
Mur5	Hebrew		Mezuzah ?	Animal skin; tiny font, practically illegible
Mur6	Hebrew	1st century BC / 1st century AD	Religious text	Animal skin
Mur7	Hebrew	Early 2nd century AD	Contract?	Animal skin; 15 small fragments with only a few surviving words
Mur8	Aramaic	Early 1st century AD	Barley and Lentil Bill?	Animal skin
Mur9	Aramaic		Invoice?	Animal skin
Mur10	A: aram. B: Hebrew / Aram.	B: 1st century AD	A: Invoice B: two Hebrews / aram. Alphabets	Animal skin; Palimpsest (A: lower, washed-off text)
Mur11			Remains of a Hebrew / Aram. Alphabet	Animal skin
Mur12				Animal skin; illegible fragment
Mur13				Animal skin; illegible fragment
Mur14				Animal skin; illegible fragment
Mur15				Animal skin; illegible fragment
Mur16				Animal skin; illegible fragment
Mur17	A: Heb. B: Hebrew / Aram.	A: 8th / 7th century BC Chr.	A: letter B: List of names and quantities of grain?	palimpsest
Mur18	Aramaic	55/56 AD	Promissory note	Double certificate
Mur19	Aramaic	71 AD	Divorce Letter ( Get )	Double certificate; written in Masada by the husband himself (cf. Dtn 24.1 EU ); palimpsest
Mur20	Aramaic	Late 1st / early 2nd century AD	Marriage contract ( ketubba )	Double certificate
Mur21	Aramaic	Late 1st / early 2nd century AD	Marriage settlement	Double certificate
Mur22	Hebrew	69 (or 66/132/135) AD	Land sale contract	Double certificate
Mur23	Aramaic	1/15/67 / 1/31/71 AD	Sales contract	Double certificate
Mur24	Hebrew	3.2.134 AD	12 leases
Mur25	Aramaic	Oct / Nov. 134 AD	Land sale contract	Double certificate; 23, mostly tiny papyrus fragments, from which a rat had built its nest
Mur26	Aramaic			Part of document XḤev / Se50
Mur27	Aramaic	1st / early 2nd century AD	Sales contract
Mur28	Aramaic	1st / early 2nd century AD	Sales contract	Double certificate
Mur29	Hebrew	9/11/67 / 8/31/68 AD	Sales contract	Double certificate
Mur30	Hebrew	9/26/69 AD	Land sale contract	Double certificate
Mur31	Aramaic	1st / early 2nd century AD	Sales contract	6 small fragments
Mur32	Aramaic	v. Chr.	Sales contract / promissory note
Mur33	Aramaic	1st / early 2nd century AD	receipt
Mur34	Aramaic?	1st / early 2nd century AD	Contract?	Fragment with few legible letters
Mur35	Aramaic	1st / early 2nd century AD	Contract?	Fragment with a readable word ("living")
Mur36	Hebrew?	1st / early 2nd century AD	contract	2 fragments with few readable words
Mur37	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		3 fragments with few legible letters
Mur38	Aramaic	1st / early 2nd century AD	Contract?	6 fragments with remains of 6 signatures
Mur39	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD	Contract?	3 fragments with remains of 2 signatures
Mur40	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD	Contract?	2 fragments with remains of 2 signatures
Mur41	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD	List of names	6 fragments, few names legible
Mur42	Hebrew	A.D. 134/135	Letter: Confirmation of purchase and message about Roman troop movement	Received completely
Mur43	Hebrew	132-135 AD	Letter: Letter of protection for Galileans	Sender: Simon, son of Kosiba ( Bar Kochba )
Mur44	Hebrew	132-135 AD	Letter: Request for Wheat	Completely preserved; Sender: Simon (Bar Kochba); not the same handwriting as Mur43
Mur45	Hebrew	A.D. 134/135	Letter: Description of the emergency situation	Mentioned "Mezad Hasidin" (Fortress of the Pious) - Qumran ?
Mur46	Hebrew		Letter: Request to send a man to En Gedi
Mur47	Hebrew		letter	7 line starts were retained
Mur48	Hebrew		letter	Remnants of 7 lines
Mur49	hebr./aram.		Letter?	Remnants of 4 lines
Mur50	Hebrew		Letter?	4 fragments with few readable words
Mur51	hebr./aram.		Letter?	2 fragments with few readable words
Mur52	Hebrew		Letter?	6 fragments with few readable words
Mur53				Illegible remains of characters
Mur54	hebr./aram.			Small fragments with illegible remains in italics
Mur55	Aramaic?	1st / early 2nd century AD		7 fragments with few legible letters
Mur56	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with the first letters of 8 lines
Mur57	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur58	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		4 fragments with few legible letters
Mur59	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur60	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		2 fragments with few legible letters
Mur61	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		5 fragments with one readable word ("Simon")
Mur62	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur63	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur64	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur65	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur66	Aramaic	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with one readable word ("three")
Mur67	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur68	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		3 illegible fragments
Mur69	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with remains of letters
Mur70	hebr./aram.	1st / early 2nd century AD		Fragment with remains of letters
Mur71	nabatean	1st century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur72	Aramaic	End of 2nd / beginning of 1st century BC Chr.	Letter: report	Ostracon ; mentions Masada
Mur73	Aramaic	approx. 50 BC Chr.	Beginning of an alphabet and names	Ostracon
Mur74	Aramaic	Mid 1st century AD	List of names	Ostracon
Mur75	Hebrew		Personal name	Ostracon
Mur76	Aramaic		Personal name	Ostracon
Mur77	hebr./aram.		Surname	Ostracon; The name " Herod ", a person or the fortress Herodium call
Mur78	hebr./aram.		Beginning of a double alphabet	Ostracon
Mur79	hebr./aram.		Alphabet and part of another	Ostracon
Mur80	hebr./aram.		Remnants of two alphabets	Ostracon
Mur81	hebr./aram.			Ostracon; received few letters
Mur82	hebr./aram.			Ostracon; 1 letter received
Mur83	hebr./aram.			Ostracon; 1 letter received
Mur84	hebr./aram.			Ostracon; received few letters
Mur85				Ostracon; unclear whether labeled
Mur86				Ostracon; unclear whether labeled
Mur87	Aramaic			Ostracon; the only legible word Abba can be a proper name or " the father "
Mur88	Hebrew		Biblical Text (Book of the Twelve Prophets)	Animal skin
Mur89	Greek		Names and amounts of money	Animal skin
Mur90	Greek		List of names and quantities of grain	Animal skin
Mur91	Greek		List of names and quantities of grain	Animal skin
Mur92	Greek		Grain settlement	Animal skin
Mur93	Greek		Grain settlement	Animal skin
Mur94	Greek		Grain settlement	Animal skin
Mur95	Greek		List of names	Animal skin
Mur96	Greek		Grain settlement	Animal skin
Mur97	Greek		Grain settlement	Animal skin
Mur98	Greek		Grain settlement?	Animal skin; Remnants of 2 lines
Mur99	Greek			Animal skin; Fragment with a few letters
Mur100	Greek		Grain settlement?	Animal skin; Remnants of 3 lines
Mur101	Greek		Grain settlement?	Animal skin; Fragments with a readable word (" vetch ")
Mur102	Greek			Animal skin; 3 fragments with few legible letters
Mur103	Greek		List of names	Animal skin
Mur104	Greek			Animal skin; few readable letters
Mur105	Greek			Animal skin; Verso by Mur97, Fragm. E; 2 letters
Mur106	Greek			Animal skin; few readable letters
Mur107	Greek			Animal skin; a legible name ("Eleazar")
Mur108	Greek	2nd half of the 1st century AD	Philosophical or religious text
Mur109	Greek	Late 1st / early 2nd century AD	Literary text
Mur110	Greek		Literary text?	Verso by Mur109; few readable letters
Mur111	Greek		Literary text?	Few legible words
Mur112	Greek	1st half of the 2nd century AD	Literary text?	Few legible words
Mur113	Greek	1st half of the 2nd century AD	Case file
Mur114	Greek	115 or 171 AD	Promissory note	Double certificate?
Mur115	Greek	October 19, A.D. 124	Marriage settlement	Double certificate
Mur116	Greek	1./2. Century AD	Marriage settlement	Double certificate?
Mur117	Greek	approx. 185 AD	Verso: Official orders	Recto : practically illegible text
Mur118	Greek		Verso: settlement	Recto (crossed out): few legible letters
Mur119	Greek		Billing?
Mur120	Greek		Billing?
Mur121	Greek		Billing
Mur122	Greek		Billing?
Mur123	Greek		Billing
Mur124	Greek		Billing
Mur125	Greek		Billing
Mur126	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur127	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur128	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur129	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur130	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur131	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur132	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur133	Greek			6 fragments with few legible letters
Mur134	Greek			4 fragments with few legible letters
Mur135	Greek			2 fragments with few legible letters
Mur136	Greek			2 fragments with few legible letters
Mur137	Greek			3 fragments with few legible letters
Mur138	Greek			5 fragments with few legible letters
Mur139	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur140	Greek			3 fragments with few legible letters
Mur141	Greek			2 fragments with few legible letters
Mur142	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur143	Greek			Fragment with a few legible letters written on both sides
Mur144	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur145	Greek			4 fragments with few legible letters
Mur146	Greek			2 fragments with few legible letters
Mur147	Greek			2 fragments with few legible letters
Mur148	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur149	Greek			3 fragments with few legible letters
Mur150	Greek			2 fragments with few legible letters
Mur151	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur152	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur153	Greek			Fragment with few legible letters
Mur154	Greek	5th / 6th century BC Chr.		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur155	Greek			36 fragments, 10 of them with few legible letters
Mur156	Greek	11th century AD	Liturgical text from the Byzantine Horologion	Paper written on both sides
Mur157	Greek	10th century AD	Magic text with drawing	paper
Mur158	Latin	1st century AD	Military or administrative text
Mur159	Latin	Late 2nd / early 3rd century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur160	Latin	Middle of 2nd century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur161	Latin?			Fragment with a few letters
Mur162	Latin	1./2. Century AD		Fragment with few legible letters
Mur163	Latin	Early 2nd century AD		5 fragments with few readable words
Mur164	Greek	2nd century BC Chr.		Shorthand text
Mur165	Greek			Ostracon with few legible letters
Mur166	Greek			Ostracon with few legible letters
Mur167	Greek			Ostracon with few legible letters
Mur168	Latin			Ostracon with a legible but incomprehensible word ("crisius")
Mur169	Arabic	Late 938 / early 939 AD	receipt	paper
Mur170	Arabic	9th / 10th century AD	Sales contract	paper
Mur171	Arabic	10th century AD	Magic text	Paper; Back: three incomprehensible lines in Greek script
Mur172	Arabic	10th century AD	Religious / magical text	paper
Mur173	Arabic	10th century AD	Religious / magical text	paper
Mur174	Hebrew	11/28/132 / 12/17/133 AD	Promissory note	Edited separately
Mur263-284				Coins

literature

• Pierre Benoit, Józef T. Milik, Roland de Vaux: Les Grottes de Murabbaʿât (= Discoveries in the Judaean Desert . Volume II). Clarendon Press, Oxford 1961 (excavation report, edition and French translation of the documents).
• Ada Yardeni: Textbook of Aramaic, Hebrew and Nabataean Documentary Texts from the Judaean Desert and Related Material. A: The Documents. Hebrew University, Ben-Zion Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, Jerusalem 2000 (re-edition and [modern] Hebrew translation of the Hebrew and Aramaic documents).
• Ada Yardeni: Textbook of Aramaic, Hebrew and Nabataean Documentary Texts from the Judaean Desert and Related Material. B: Translation, Palaeography, Concordance. Hebrew University, Ben-Zion Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, Jerusalem 2000 (English translation of the Hebrew and Aramaic documents).
• Elisabeth Koffmahn: The double documents from the Judah desert. Law and Practice of the Jewish Papyri of the 1st and 2nd Century AD (= Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Volume 5). Brill, Leiden 1968 (German translation of the double certificates and commentary).
• Klaus Beyer: The Aramaic Texts from the Dead Sea . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1984 (German translation of the Aramaic documents).
• Gregor Geiger: The manuscripts from the Judean desert: The texts outside Qumran. Introduction and German translation (= Fontes et Subsidia ad Bibliam Pertinentes. Volume 9). De Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2019 (pp. 319–374: German translation of all texts from the Wadi Murabbaʿat).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Roland de Vaux: Archeology. In: Pierre Benoit, Józef T. Milik, Roland de Vaux: Les Grottes de Murabbaʿât (= Discoveries in the Judaean Desert . Volume II). Clarendon Press, Oxford 1961, pp. 3-50.
2. ↑ Ephraim Stern, Hanan Eshel: Murabba'at, Wadi. In: Lawrence H. Schiffman, James C. VanderKam (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Volume 1, Oxford 2000, pp. 581-586.
3. ↑ Pierre Benoit, Józef T. Milik, Roland de Vaux: Les Grottes de Murabbaʿât (= Discoveries in the Judaean Desert . Volume II). Clarendon Press, Oxford 1961. For some of the documents such a reference is found in: Stephen J. Pfann: V. Sites in the Judean Desert where Texts have been Found. In: Emanuel Tov (ed.): Companion Volume to the Dead Sea Scrolls Microfiche Edition. EJ Brill: Leiden, New York, Cologne 1995, pp. 109-119, 113.
4. ↑ Roland de Vaux: VIII. Le rouleau des douze prophètes. In: Pierre Benoit, Józef T. Milik, Roland de Vaux: Les Grottes de Murabbaʿât (= Discoveries in the Judaean Desert . Volume II). Clarendon Press, Oxford 1961, p. 50.
5. ↑ Esther Eshel; Hanan Eshel ; Gregor Geiger: Mur 174: A Hebrew IOU Document from Wadi Murabba'at. In: Liber Annuus 58 (2008), pp. 313-326; Gregor Geiger: Papyrus fragments, possibly from the Wadi Murabbaʿat. In: Dead Sea Discoveries 19 (2012), pp. 215-220.
6. ↑ Esther Eshel; Hanan Eshel ; Gregor Geiger: Mur 174: A Hebrew IOU Document from Wadi Murabba'at. In: Liber Annuus 58 (2008), pp. 313-326; Gregor Geiger: Papyrus fragments, possibly from the Wadi Murabbaʿat. In: Dead Sea Discoveries 19 (2012), pp. 215-220.

Coordinates: 31 ° 35 ′ 10 ″  N , 35 ° 22 ′ 27 ″  E