Reading the Human Body (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9789004157170)

This study deals with physiognomic and astrological texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls that represent one of the earliest examples of ancient Jewish science. For the first time the Hebrew physiognomic-astrological list 4Q186 (4QZodiacal Physiognomy) and the Aramaic physiognomic list 4Q561 (4QPhysiognomy ar) are comprehensively studied in relation to both physiognomic and astrological writings from Babylonian and Greco-Roman traditions. New reconstructions and interpretations of these learned lists are offered that result in a fresh view of their sense, function, and status within both the Qumran community and Second Temple Judaism at large, showing that Jewish culture in Palestine participated in the cultural exchange of learned knowledge between Babylonian and Greco-Roman cultures.

Author: Mladen Popovic
ISBN-10: 9004157174
ISBN-13: 9789004157170
Publisher: Brill
Language: English
Published: 06/05/2007
Pages: 366
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.80lbs
Size: 9.70h x 6.60w x 1.00d