As part of Google’s mission to index the world’s information and
bring it online, the search giant has brought the Dead Sea
Scrolls to the Web. Written between the third and first
centuries BCE, the Dead Sea Scrolls can now be accessed in a
number of interactive ways online, including in English
translation from Hebrew. Dr. Adolfo D. Roitman, Curator of the
Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum, where they’ve been housed
said: “Since 1965 you’ve had to come to the shrine of the book,
you’ve had to be physically in Jerusalem to see the scrolls.
Today, after 2000 years, thanks to Google’s technology, these
documents are online.” In all, there are 5 Dead Sea Scrolls
available online: the Great Isaiah Scroll, the largest, oldest,
most famous, and best preserved; the War Scroll, the Temple
Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, and Commentary on the
Habakkuk Scroll. In 68 BCE these scrolls were hidden in 11 caves
in the Judean desert on the banks of the Dead Sea to protect
them from the advancing Roman army. A Bedouin