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Chapter 3-The Therapeutae  
     
1.
 Qumran is by no means the only source of historic evidence concerning the Essenes.
  
2.
 Philo of Alexandria dedicated a whole document to the wonderous healing powers and humanitarian attitudes of an Essene community called “The Therapeutae” located on the shoreline of Lake Mareotis close to Alexandria at a town with the same name (Therapeutae) after them.
 
3.
 Philo makes no mention of the age of the town but the location itself was regarded as a pilgrimage site for the wealthy of Alexandria for at least two hundred years prior to Philo.
  
4.
 Curiously, another site of the “The Therapeutae” both reported in ancient times and archeologically verified is Magnesia (derived from the Macedonian tribe name Magnetes) in the southeastern area of Thessaly in central Greece.
  
5.
 Not surprisingly, it is the original source of the word and concept of the magnet which means literally "magnesian stone". It is also the mythical home of heroes Jason, Peleus and his son Achilles. The town of Magnesia is even older than Therapeutae and was a place of permanent settlement from at least 1,000 BCE.
  
6.
 It also places the Essenes as influential priests and healers in Macedonia leading up to the ascendancy of Alexander the Great. It might also explain the high esteem in which the Essenes were held by the “enlightened” Greeks.
  
7.
 Interestingly, little historic work has been done to connect the obvious Aramaic root of the word “Essene” meaning healer and the Therapeutae (Ancient Greek implying healer). Possibly because such connections make it impossible to claim the Essenes being the “youngest” compared to the Pharisees and Sadducees.
  
8.
 There is also direct references and ancient historical evidence linking a class of Essene Jewish priests in the operation of a very large fully functional Jewish Temple at Leontopolis in Egypt, known to the ancients as “The Temple of Onias”.
  
9.
 While both Jewish and Christian scholars seek to remove any reference to this fully operational Essene run temple, it age is difficult to dispute. It was functioning as a Jewish Temple from at least 175 BCE.
  
10.
 But while some Biblical scholars are prepared to accept the existence of this historic site, most refuse to speak or acknowledge the existence of an even older Essene run Temple located on Elephantine Island, that through indisputable evidence ceased operation around 415 to 410 BCE and had been in operation for at least four hundred years prior.
  
11.
 It is because there are so many ancient references to the Essenes, that contemporary Biblical scholars are unable to deny their existence.
  
12.
 However, what they have managed to achieve is the reduction of their general historical footprint by reclassifying them as an assortment of non-related sounding names and theologies such as Therapeutae, esoteric sects, proto-essenes, essenes and others.
  
13.
 This had made the general position of Jewish Rabbinical scholars as the descendents of the Pharisees a much easier task by debating the merit of one alleged Essene community at a time, instead of a well organized, very ancient sect of Judaism.
  
14.
 Of course, the evidence when taken as a whole makes the Pharisee and Rabbinical position both absurd and untenable. It is therefore time to understand who exactly were the Essenes? and why they believed what they believed and did what they did?
  

 
 
 

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