Undoubtedly the Dead Sea Scrolls are the most controversial archaeological discovery of the 20th Century. The Art Gallery of New South Wales together with the Israel Antiquities Authority will present an exhibition of these enigmatic manuscripts for the first time in Australia. The initial discovery in 1947 by Bedouin shepherds in a cave on the shores of the Dead Sea revealed seven nearly complete scrolls encased in clay jars. The scrolls are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek and contain Biblical texts in the Hebrew Bible, some apocryphal literature, prayer texts and sectarian documents.
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