[LITERATURE.—Lucius, _Der Essenismus in seinem Verhältniss zum Judenthum_ (1881); Lightfoot, _Colossians_, pp. 349-419 (1884); M. Friedländer, _Zur Enstehungsgeschichte des Christenthums_, pp. 98-142 (1894); Schürer, II, ii. pp. 188-218, German ed. II, pp. 651-680; M. Friedländer, _Die religiösen Bewegungen_ ..., pp. 114-168 (1905); the articles “Essenes” in Hastings’ _Dict. of the Bible_ and in the _Jewish Encycl._, by F. C. Conybeare and Kohler respectively.] The name Essene is in all probability derived from the Aramaic word which is the equivalent of the Hebrew _Chassid_ (“Pious”).[45] The question as to whether any signs of Hellenistic influence are to be discerned in Essenism is one upon which much difference of opinion exists among scholars. A massive literature upon the subject exists. To go into much detail here would be out of the question; we can only refer to a few points which make it difficult to believe that Essenism was uninfluenced by Hellenism.[46] There are, undoubtedly, a number of facts regarding Essene belief and practice which show how un-Jewish they were in some respects, though, as Josephus says, they were Jews by race.[47] Philo, who is our earliest authority regarding the Essenes, says: “In the first place, these men live in villages, avoiding the towns on account of the sinfulness that reigns in them; for they know that just as disease arises through unwholesome air, so, too, incurable infection to the soul through intercourse.”[48] This withdrawing from the world is elsewhere extolled by Philo when he speaks of it as characteristic of those Greeks and barbarians who have dedicated their lives to the search for wisdom, and “who have turned their backs upon the crowded market-place and public life in order that they may be able to devote themselves to meditation in their solitude.”[49] It is unnecessary to insist upon the fact that withdrawing from the world and seeking solitude was entirely un-Jewish; the Jews were essentially social in their habits of life, their whole legislation assumes this, and their history shows it throughout. It is, therefore, not from the Jews that the Essenes acquired this characteristic. There are, on the other hand, ample grounds for believing that among the Greeks and Orientals examples of this were to be found; it is from one or other of these, probably from a Greek pattern borrowed from the east, that the Essenes adopted this.