Acil, Okan2024-08-042024-08-0420221300-49212458-908Xhttps://hdl.handle.net/11616/102314The Essenes, who lived in Judea from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD, are considered by modern researchers to be an ancient Jewish sect. In the study we aim to examine this group, which has not been the subject of much study in the Turkish literature, maximum effort has been made to benefit from primary sources. In addition, some secondary sources were also used. In this study, the definition, geography, beliefs and lifestyles of the Essenes, as well as their organizational and social structures have been tried to be examined. As a result of the research, it was seen that the Essenes did not consist of a single community, on the contrary, other than the main community located near the western shores of the Asphaltites, there were other dispersed Essenes communities in Judea. The population of Esseni was about four thousand people in the 1st century AD. The sect differed from the Judaism of the 2nd Temple Period due to various reasons in terms of belief and life. There are indications that there has been an organization within the sect's communities and members, especially in the administrative and financial areas. It is observed that the candidates for Essenism are subjected to a selection consisting of various stages in line with the criteria of the community, and the methods of education and knowledge transfer are resorted to initiation. The initiation, which we believe to exist, the intimacy of deep knowledge and secrets of the sect, and the ability to access this information only by those who are deemed competent and the transfer of information to new members by protecting it with the principle of strict confidentiality, form the basis of our evaluation of the Essenes as an esoteric community.trinfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessEsseneEssaioiEssenoihistory of regionsJudaismArticle48331348WOS:000905120300019N/A