Dead Sea and Qumran

On the way to the Dead Sea, 300 meters below the ocean level and amid Judean dessert... 
...and finally at the lowest point on earth but in the highest spirit!
Surpassingly enough I did arrive to the Dead Sea. And now, let us have a quick swim!

OBLOM!! (=a colloquial Russian word expressing emotions caused by a sudden burst-up.) The fence, apparently, is to prevent me from swimming away to the hostile Jordan.
So the only alternative left is to explore the lying nearby Qumran, which looks quite interesting from afar.
Closer...
Another OBLOM. I am about 2,000 years too late: all that remains of the village is only these excavations.

But in fact, it is a quite remarkable place. An ancient sect lived here, in isolation. They had original culture, tradition and, accordingly to the Book of Isaiah, were waiting for the Saviour. They took part in the Jewish revolt against Romans in 60-70 CE and were all killed.
However, in 1948 some beduins found two vases with some writings of the tribe, which are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls now.

The scrolls (dating between 100 BCE and 70 CE) are

  • Apocrypha to Genesis;
  • the Book of Isaiah;
  • Thanksgiving Hymns of the sect;
  • Description of the War between the Sons of Light and the Sons of the Darkness;
  • Serekh ha-Yahad (the manual of discipline of the sect);
  • Commentary on the Book of Habakkuk.
This is the cave where the scrolls were found.
And yet another picture of this important place. (Simply, I like very much the scenery---that's the real excuse for putting in so many images of the same object!)

After this I decided to climb some mountain in the background. (What else could I do?!)
And at the top I discovered that I was not alone ...
... I found two very friendly beduins there! They were about to have a lunch and invited me. (I always know proper time to come!)

Their English was very bad (so we were using mostly jests!) and our conversation looks approximately in the following way.
"Are you wife?" (This means "Are you married?") I reply: "No, are you wife?" Yes, the both are married. One asks: "Ukraine, wife..." and shows an international jest of counting money. (That is how much a bridegroom has to pay the parents of the bride.) "Nothing." They don't understand. "Nichts"---I switched to German. They don't belive. I invite them: "Come to Ukraine and no problem!"
Afterwards they showed me the way to the closest beach. And finally, the Dead Sea!!!

This should have been a nice picture: I was covered all over with the salubrious mud of the Dead Sea!
Unluckily, all my photos taken directly on the beach were overexposed although the other pictures (e.g. Qumran's) on the same film developed out nicely. (I guess the sun radiation is extremely high near the Dead sea, multiplied reflections from the water.) Here is the best picture that I have of the Dead Sea!
And here is a colourful picture from a promo brochure for tourists!
© Palphot