The Royal Ontario Museum will be bringing the Dead Sea scrolls to Toronto next summer. This is an enormous coup as the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered to be the greatest manuscript find of the 20th century. Together they represent a library dating from the 3rd century B.C.E. to 68 C.E. and represent a great deal of importance to Jews and Christians alike, not to mention the historical implications to everyone. According to ROM chief executive William Thorsell, “They are foundation documents in the Jewish tradition, in the Christian tradition and they are seen as divinely inspired in the Islamic tradition”.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 11 caves along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea between the years 1947 and 1956. They had been hidden in the caves for over 2,000 years. Although they are most commonly made of animal skins, there have been discoveries of scrolls on papyrus, as well as one made of copper. They were written in three different languages - Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek - with a carbon-based ink, from right to left, using almost no punctuation.

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit will be on at the ROM from June 27, 2009 – January 3, 2010. Eight of the original scrolls, written on papyrus and parchment, will be on display for three months at a time. In addition on display will be the jars that they were stored in, the stone portals of a temple that the Romans disassembled in 70 AD, and other artifacts from ancient Judea. The Dead Sea Scrolls are an incredibly important learning tool in understanding the evolutionary link between Judaism and Christianity. The ROM will be offering 6 months of lectures, special programs, and events to support and enhance the exhibit.