Two time periods have been put forward and defended as the most probable time of composition: the Seleucid period and the Roman period.[3] The Seleucid period proposals include the very beginning of the Maccabean Revolt (165 or 164 BCE), the height of Jonathan's military power (143 BCE), and the reign of John Hyrcanus (135–104 BCE).[4] Scholars who believe the scroll was composed during the Roman period propose a date from the middle of the 1st century BCE to the first decade of the 1st century CE.[4] The War Scroll's description of the weaponry and tactics led Yigael Yadin to assign the composition of the scroll to a date between the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey (65 BCE) and the death of Herod (4 BCE).[1] More recently, author Russell Gmirkin disagrees with Yadin's analysis and assigns the weaponry described in the War Scroll to the 2nd century BCE.[5] Lt. Col. Peter Fromm (US Army Ret.) sides with Gmirkin also assigning the army and weaponry described in the War Scroll to the 2nd century BCE.[6]
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