The Maccabees did not reestablish the old order of priesthood, which gave rise to the Teacher of Righteousness and the Essenes. While generally believed to be centered on Qumran, the sect had followers all around Judea. Authorship of the Dead Sea Scrolls is not universally accepted to have been the Essenes alone - although it seems to me any other alternative is similar to shovelling smoke...
There was an Essene Gate built by Herod in the SE corner wall of Jerusalem.
Fair enough. I actually listened to the video in this thread last night:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3638999/posts
Go to 38:30 mark where he briefly discusses the Essenes. He clearly agrees with your timeline but the reasons for the sect breaking away are not far from what I posted. There’s not a lot of information on the Essenes and I certainly wouldn’t be an expert.
I’ll add that I had never heard of the person in the video before and I didn’t particularly care for the presentation. I would like your opinion on his comments.