The Cave 3 Copper Scroll: A Symbolic Journey by Jesper Høgenhaven

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Cave 3 Copper Scroll: A Symbolic Journey by Jesper Høgenhaven Al Wolters jesper høgenhaven, The Cave 3 Copper Scroll: A Symbolic Journey (STDJ 132; Leiden: Brill, 2021). Pp. x + 267. €116/$140. In this substantial monograph the author takes a fresh look at the Copper Scroll (3Q15), one of the most enigmatic of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is often described as a list of buried treasure. The monograph is divided into five chapters, followed by an appendix in which a new translation of the scroll is presented. [End Page 302] The first chapter, entitled "Legend or History: A Brief History of Scholarship," gives a comprehensive survey of the scholarly literature surrounding the Copper Scroll, highlighting especially the debate between those who consider the hidden treasure to be real, possibly deriving from the Second Temple before its destruction by the Romans in 70 c.e., and those who regard the treasure as folklore or fiction. In the second chapter, somewhat oddly called "A Walk on the Wild Side: A Suggested Reading of 3Q15," Høgenhaven takes the reader on a guided tour of the Copper Scroll on the assumption that it is not just a list of places where treasures are hidden but rather an itinerary, in which the scroll's author directs the addressee to go on a journey, moving sequentially from one hiding place to the next. Most of the journey involves traveling in Judea and includes three separate visits to Jerusalem (which is never explicitly named) and five visits to a mysterious place that H. calls "Kohlit," which he equates with Tell es-Sultan near Jericho. The last part of the itinerary takes the addressee on a trip well to the north of Judea, before returning again to Kohlit. The third chapter is entitled "A Map of Meanings: Places and Items in the Copper Scroll." Here, H. goes through the itinerary of the Copper Scroll again, this time noting what he calls the "inherent symbolic meanings" (p. 96) of the place-names and treasure descriptions of 3Q15. Drawing especially on the "phenomenology of landscape" developed by Christopher Tilley (A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths and Monuments [Oxford: Berg, 1994]), H. highlights the dialectic between story and place and discerns various artful arrangements in the itinerary, as well as multiple literary allusions and historical reminiscences in what might appear at first glance to be a dry catalogue of locations and valuables. Thus, "the valley of Achor" (3Q15 1.1), reminiscent of both Joshua 7 and Hosea 2, is a place of both divine wrath and divine blessing (p. 108). Similar patterns of significance can be discerned in the distribution of sacred objects that are included among the hidden treasures. There is a suggestion that the cult in the temple in Jerusalem has become illegitimate and that Kohlit replaces Jerusalem as the current cultic center. Analogous symbolic inferences may be drawn from the books and other valuables included among the treasures, as well as from the buildings and installations where the treasures are hidden, many of which convey the picture of a desolate and derelict landscape. The fourth chapter, called "What Is Real? The Copper Scroll as a Material Artefact," covers a lot of different ground. It discusses the significance of copper as the writing material, describes how in many ways the scroll is a metallic imitation of a regular scroll of parchment or papyrus, argues that it was not a secondary deposit after the other Qumranrelated material, defends a paleography-based dating to the mid-first century c.e., discusses the mysterious Greek letters in the first four columns, analyzes the type of Hebrew used, describes the way numbers are expressed and abbreviations used, and lays out the stereotypical literary pattern of the sixty-four distinct entries. In addition, drawing on current genre theory, H. in this chapter defends the view that the genre of 3Q15 is not "list" or "inventory" but rather "instruction for retrieving hidden treasures" (p. 172). Finally, he returns to the question whether the treasures recorded in 3Q15 were real or fictitious, lays out the arguments for and against each position, and concludes that the dilemma posed by the...