Who were the Essenes?

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the 1950’s in a cave in Jordan, and the world became aware that there was more to history than most of us had been taught. They contained many books from the collective work known in the Christian world as “The Bible”; history and teachings that were not included in the King James version, which has been the standard used by the hierarchical religious power structure of the modern age. The Scrolls carried the ancient wisdom and philosophies of the Essenes; the legacy of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.