Qumran Aramaic texts were not written on the spot. Dated to various times they represent
fragments of biblical books works related to biblical traditions and several texts citing
biblical passages. The texts contain a number of Mesopotamian elements. By the 7th century BC
Mesopotamia had become bilingual and Aramaic became the mediating language that conveyed
cuneiform literature and science to foreign groups living in Mesopotamia and abroad. In the
present volume science is understood as human knowledge about the natural and human world that
had been described systematized and transmitted. Thus traditional fields of science are
expanded by astrology magical healing and others. The contributors show that Qumran Aramaic
texts reflect the incorporation and adaptation of Mesopotamian science into the culture of
Jewish diaspora communities. They express a new scientific worldview created by these groups as
well as their self-definition and show a new face to the community that preserved them.
