An "Essene" house??? No Essenes lived in Yerushalayim! That was the whole point of being an Essene! They all withdrew to the desert...
Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Judean wilderness, the only material available on the Essenes came from the classical historians. Because the community was semi-monastic and separatist, it is not surprising that the information was sometimes vague or incomplete. Furthermore, the philosophical biases of the writers may account for some inconsistencies in our understanding the sect.
The Classical Sources
The oldest accounts of Essenes we have come from Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 B.C.--50 A.D.): Quod omnis liber probus sit ( Every Good Man Is Free) and Hypothetica also called Apologia. He tended to idealize the Essenes and accommodate their ideas and lives to his Greek readers.
There are three major accounts of the Essenes in Josephus. The best known and earliest (shortly after 70) is Bellum Judaicum ( History of the Jewish Wars) 2. 8. 2-13. The other two notices are in Antiquitates ( Jewish Antiquities) 13.5.9 and 18.1.5. Josephus also pointed to features in the Essenes that would appeal to the Greeks. He compared the Essenes to Pythagorus, the Pharisees to the Stoics and the Sadducees to the Epicureans.
The elder Pliny, a Latin writer who accompanied Titus in the war, briefly mentions the Essenes in his Natural History, V, 17,4. He writes about the marvels of the Dead Sea; but he locates and describes the Essenes in that area.
Pliny locates a community of Essenes on the shore of the Dead Sea, just north of Engada and Masada. But other Essenes lived in towns and villages and had an open house policy for traveling Essenes. There were apparently different orders of the sect; Josephus refers to the customs of one "order of Essenes"
Admission required a postulant to live outside the camp for a year with minimal provisions and follow the rules of discipline. If he remained faithful he could draw near to the purification water. Then, after two more years as a novitiate, he could take the oath and join the meal.
The Essenes were ascetics. Their life was one of self-denial for the performance of virtuous acts. They had no money, no luxuries, no pleasures of love (with women); they sought contentment away from the world. One whose name was Banus lived in the desert, wore only what grew on trees, ate only what grew of its own accord, and bathed in cold water to preserve his chastity.
The Essenes held all things in common. They were indeed a brotherhood; all activity was for the common good of the community. When they joined they relinquished all their personal property. When they worked, their salaries were handed over to a common purse. If any were in need, they could simply take from the common supplies. And no one had a private house, for the dwellings were open to all travelers. Any Essene traveling could therefore go unencumbered, except for being armed for safety.
Also see Philo page 745.
