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This article is about the ancient Arameans. For other uses, see Aramean (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Armenians or Aromanians.

The Arameans, or Aramaeans (Old Aramaic: 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀, Aramayya; Hebrew: אֲרַמִּים; Ancient Greek: Ἀραμαῖοι; Classical Syriac: ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Aramaye,[1] Syriac pronunciation: [ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje]), were a tribal[2] Semitic people[3][4] in the ancient Near East, first documented in historical sources from the late 12th century BC. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of Aram, originally covered central regions of modern Syria.[5]

The Arameans were not a single nation or group; rather, Aram was a region with local centers of power spread throughout the Levant. That makes it almost impossible to establish a coherent ethnic category of "Aramean" based on extra-linguistic identity markers such as material culture, lifestyle or religion.[6][7] The people of Aram were called “Arameans” in Assyrian texts[8] and in the Hebrew Bible,[9] but the terms “Aramean” and “Aram” were never used by later Aramean dynasts to refer to themselves or their country, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram.[10] "Arameans" is merely an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to 1st-millennium BC inhabitants of Syria.[11][12]

At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, several Aramean-ruled city-states were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was Aram-Damascus which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BCE during the reign of King Hazael. During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were gradually conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The policy of population displacement and relocation that was applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected Arameans, many of whom were resettled by Assyrian authorities. That caused a wider dispersion of Aramean communities throughout various regions of the Near East, and the range of Aramaic also widened. It gained significance and eventually became the common language of public life and administration, particularly during the periods of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (612–539 BCE) and the Achaemenid Empire (539–330 BCE).

Before Christianity, Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable Hellenization and Romanization in the Near East.[13] Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.[14] Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the Greeks.[15] The early Muslim conquests in the 7th century were followed by the Islamization and the gradual Arabization of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and acculturation.[16] Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some Syriac-Christian or Neo-Aramaic speaking groups, such as the Maronites and the Aramean inhabitants of Maaloula and Jubb’adin near Damascus in Syria.[17][18][19][20]

Etymology

The toponym A-ra-mu appears in an inscription at the East Semitic-speaking kingdom of Ebla listing geographical names, and the term Armi, the Eblaite term for nearby Idlib, occurs frequently in the Ebla tablets (c. 2300 BCE). One of the annals of Naram-Sin of Akkad (c. 2250 BCE) mentions that he captured "Dubul, the ensí of A-ra-me" (Arame is seemingly a genitive form), in the course of a campaign against Simurrum in the northern mountains.[21] Other early references to a place or people of "Aram" have appeared at the archives of Mari (c. 1900 BCE) and at Ugarit (c. 1300 BCE). There is no consensus on the origin and meaning of the word "Aram", one of the most accepted suggestions being that it is derived from a Semitic root rwm, "to be high". Newer suggestions interprets it as a broken plural meaning "white antelopes" or "white bulls".[22] However, there are no historical, archaeological or linguistic evidences that those early uses of the terms Aramu, Armi or Arame were actually referring to the Arameans; thus, it is believed to originally be a toponym without any ethnic connotations.[11] The earliest undisputed historical attestation of Arameans as a people appears much later, in the inscriptions of Tiglath Pileser I (c. 1100 BCE).[23][24][25]

History

Sin zir Ibni inscription
Si Gabbor stele
The Neirab steles, a pair of 7th century BCE Aramaic inscriptions found in 1891 in Al-Nayrab near Aleppo, Syria.

Origins

Nomadic pastoralists have long played a prominent role in the history and economy of the Middle East, but their numbers seem to vary according to climatic conditions and the force of neighbouring states inducing permanent settlement. The Late Bronze Age seems to coincide with increasing aridity, which weakened neighbouring states and induced transhumance pastoralists to spend longer and longer periods with their flocks. Urban settlements (hitherto largely inhabited by Amorite, Canaaite, Hittite, and Ugarite peoples) in the Levant diminished in size until fully-nomadic pastoralist lifestyles came to dominate much of the region. The highly mobile competitive tribesmen, with their sudden raids, continually threatened long-distance trade and interfered with the collection of taxes and tribute.

The people who had long been the prominent population in what is now Syria (called the Land of the Amurru during their tenure) were the Amorites, a Northwest Semitic-speaking people who had appeared during the 25th century BCE, destroyed the hitherto dominant state of Ebla, founded the powerful state of Mari in the Levant and during the 19th century BCE also Babylonia, in southern Mesopotamia. However, they seem to have been displaced or wholly absorbed by the appearance of a people called the Ahlamu by the 13th century BCE and disappear from history. Ahlamû appears to be a generic term for Semitic wanderers and nomads of varying origins who appeared during the 13th century BCE across the ancient Near East, the Arabian Peninsula, Asia Minor, and Egypt.

The Arameans would appear to be one part of the larger generic Ahlamû group rather than synonymous with the Ahlamu.[26] The presence of the Ahlamû is attested during the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1020 BCE), which already ruled many of the lands in which the Ahlamû arose in the Babylonian city of Nippur and even at Dilmun. Shalmaneser I (1274–1245 BCE) is recorded as having defeated Shattuara, King of the Mitanni and his Hittite and Ahlamû mercenaries. In the next century, the Ahlamû cut the road from Babylon to Hattusas. Also, Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244–1208 BCE) conquered Mari, Hanigalbat and Rapiqum on the Euphrates and "the mountain of the Ahlamû", apparently the region of Jebel Bishri in northern Syria.

Aramean states

Main article: Syro-Hittite states
Various Luwian and Aramean (orange shades) states in the 8th century BCE

The emergence of the Arameans occurred during the Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE), which saw great upheavals and mass movements of peoples across the Middle East, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, the East Mediterranean, North Africa, Ancient Iran, Ancient Greece and the Balkans and led to the genesis of new peoples and polities across those regions. The Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BCE), which had dominated the Near East and Asia Minor since the first half of the 14th century BCE, began to shrink rapidly after the death of Ashur-bel-kala, its last great ruler in 1056 BCE. The Assyrian withdrawal allowed the Arameans and others to gain independence and take firm control of Eber-Nari in the late 11th century BCE.

Some of the major Aramean-speaking city states included Aram-Damascus,[27][28] Hamath,[29][30] Bet-Adini,[31][32] Bet-Bagyan,[33] Bit-Hadipe, Aram-Bet Rehob,[34] Aram-Zobah, Bet-Zamani,[35] Bet-Halupe,[36] and Aram-Ma'akah, as well as the Aramean tribal polities of the Gambulu, Litau and Puqudu.[37] Akkermans and Schwartz note that in assessing Luwian and Aramean states in ancient Syria, the existing information on the ethnic composition of the regional states in ancient Syria primarily concerns the rulers and so the ethnolingustic situation of the majority of the population of the states is unclear. Furthermore, they mean that the material culture shows no distinctions between states dominated by the Luwians or the Arameans.[38]

Aramean tribal groups were identified by family names that often began with the Semitic prefix Bit, meaning "house of", such as "Bit Adini". This naming convention was influenced by the writing system used by the coastal Phoenicians. Each tribe's name signified the house or ancestral lineage to which it belonged.[39][40] The term "Aram" sometimes referred only to a part and other times to the whole of the Syrian region during the Iron Age. The expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” in Sefire treaty inscriptions have been variously interpreted but can suggest a degree of political and cultural unity among some of the polities in the area.[41][42][43][44]

Biblical sources tell that Saul, David and Solomon (late 11th to 10th centuries BC) fought against the small Aramean states ranged across the northern frontier of Israel: Aram-Sôvah in the Beqaa, Aram-Bêt-Rehob (Rehov) and Aram-Ma'akah around Mount Hermon, Geshur in the Hauran, and Aram-Damascus. An Aramean king's account dating at least two centuries later, the Tel Dan stele, was discovered in northern Israel and is famous for being perhaps the earliest non-Israelite extra-biblical historical reference to the Israelite royal dynasty, the House of David. In the early 11th century BCE, much of Israel came under foreign rule for eight years according to the Book of Judges until Othniel defeated the forces led by Cushan-Rishathaim, who was titled in the Bible as ruler of Aram-Naharaim.[45]

Further north, the Arameans gained possession of post-Hittite Hamath on the Orontes River and became strong enough to dissociate with the Indo-European-speaking post-Hittite states. The Arameans, together with the Edomites and the Ammonites, attacked Israel in the early 11th century BCE but were defeated. Meanwhile, Arameans moved to the east of the Euphrates and into Babylonia, where an Aramean usurper was crowned king of Babylon under the name Adad-apal-iddin.[46]

During the 11th and the 10th centuries BCE, the Arameans conquered Sam'al and renamed it Bît-Agushi,.[47] They also conquered Til Barsip, which became the chief town of Bît-Adini, also known as Beth Eden. North of Sam'al was the Aramean state of Bit Gabbari, which was sandwiched between the post-Hittite states of Carchemish, Gurgum, Khattina, Unqi and the Georgian[citation needed] state of Tabal. One of their earliest semi-independent kingdoms in northern Mesopotamia was Bît-Bahiâni (Tell Halaf).

Under Neo-Assyrian rule

See also: Assyrian conquest of Aram
Aramean king Hazael of Aram-Damascus
Illustration by Gustave Doré from the 1866 La Sainte Bible depicting an Israelite victory over the army of Ben-Hadad, described in 1 Kings 20:26–34

The first certain reference to the Arameans appears in an Assyrian inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I, which refers to subjugating the "Ahlamû-Arameans" (Ahlame Armaia). Shortly afterward, the Ahlamû disappear from Assyrian annals and are replaced by the Arameans (Aramu, Arimi). That indicates that the Arameans had risen to dominance amongst the nomads. Among scholars, the relationship between the Akhlame and the Arameans is a matter of conjecture.[48] By the late 12th century BCE, the Arameans had been firmly established in Syria; however, they were conquered by the Middle Assyrian Empire.

Assyrian annals from the end of the Middle Assyrian Empire c. 1050 BCE and the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 911 BCE contain numerous descriptions of battles between Arameans and the Assyrian army.[37] The Assyrians launched repeated raids into Aramean lands, Babylonia, Ancient Iran, Elam, Asia Minor, and even as far as the Mediterranean to keep its trade routes open. The Aramean city-states, like much of the Near East and Asia Minor, were subjugated by the Neo Assyrian Empire from the reign of Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE, who cleared Arameans and other tribal peoples from the borders of Assyria and began to expand in all directions. The process was continued by Ashurnasirpal II and his son Shalmaneser III, who destroyed many of the small Aramean tribes and conquered Aramean lands for the Assyrians.

In 732 BCE, Aram-Damascus fell and was conquered by Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III. The Assyrians named their Aramean colonies Eber Nari but still used the term "Aramean" to describe many of its peoples. The Assyrians conducted forced deportations of hundreds of thousands of Arameans to both Assyria and Babylonia, where a migrant population already existed.[49] Conversely, the Aramaic language was adopted as the lingua franca of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 8th century BCE, and the native Assyrians and Babylonians began to make a gradual language shift towards Aramaic as the most common language of public life and administration.

The Neo Assyrian Empire descended into a series of brutal internal wars from 626 BCE that weakened it greatly. That allowed a coalition of many its former subject peoples (Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, Parthians, Scythians, Sagartians and Cimmerians) to attack Assyria in 616 BCE, sack Nineveh in 612 BCE and finally defeat it between 605 and 599 BCE.[50] During the war against Assyria, hordes of horse-borne Scythian and Cimmerian marauders ravaged through the Levant and all the way into Egypt.

As a result of migratory processes, various Aramean groups were settled throughout the ancient Near East, and their presence is recorded in the regions of Assyria,[51] Babylonia,[52] Anatolia,[53] Phoenicia,[54] Palestine,[55] Egypt[56] and Northern Arabia.[57] Population transfers, conducted during the Neo-Assyrian Empire and followed by the gradual linguistic Aramization of non-Aramean populations, created a specific situation in the regions of Assyria proper among ancient Assyrians, who originally spoke the ancient Assyrian language, a dialect of Akkadian, but later accepted Aramaic.[58]

Neo-Babylonian Empire

Eber-Nari was then ruled by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian Empire, which was initially headed by a short-lived Chaldean dynasty. The Aramean regions became a battleground between the Babylonians and the 26th Dynasty of Egypt, which had been installed by the Assyrians as vassals after they had defeated and ejected the previous Nubian-ruled 25th Dynasty. The Egyptians, having entered the region in a belated attempt to aid their former Assyrian masters, fought the Babylonians, initially with the help of remnants of the Assyrian army, in the region for decades before they were finally vanquished.

The Babylonians remained masters of the Aramean lands only until 539 BCE, when the Persian Achaemenid Empire overthrew Nabonidus, the Assyrian-born last king of Babylon, who had himself overthrown the Chaldean dynasty in 556 BCE.

Under Achaemenid and Hellenistic rule

Further information: Imperial Aramaic and Eber Nari

The Arameans were later conquered by the Achaemenid Empire (539–332 BCE). However, little changed from the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian times, as the Persians, seeing themselves as successors of previous empires, maintained Imperial Aramaic as the main language of public life and administration.[59][60] Provincial administrative structures also remained the same, and the name Eber Nari still applied to the region.

The conquests of Alexander the Great marked the beginning of a new era in the history of the entire Near East, including the regions inhabited by Arameans. By the late 4th century BCE, two newly created Hellenistic states emerged as main pretenders for regional supremacy: the Seleucid Empire (305–64 BCE) and the Ptolemaic Empire (305–30 BCE). Since earlier times, ancient Greeks commonly used "Syrian" labels as designations for Arameans and heir lands, but it was during the Hellenistic (Seleucid-Ptolemaic) period that the term "Syria" was finally defined to designate the regions west of the Euphrates, as opposed to the term "Assyria", which designated the regions further east.[61][62]

In the 3rd century BCE, various narratives related to the history of earlier Aramean states became accessible to wider audiences after the translation of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek language. Known as Septuagint, the translation was created in Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt that was the most important city of the Hellenistic world and was one of the main centres of Hellenization. Influenced by Greek terminology,[63] translators decided to adopt ancient Greek custom of using "Syrian" labels as designations for Arameans and their lands and thus abandon the endonymic (native) terms that were used in the Hebrew Bible. In Septuagint, the region of Aram was commonly labelled as "Syria", and the Arameans were labelled as "Syrians".[64] When reflecting on traditional influences of Greek terminology on English translations of the Septuagint, American orientalist Robert W. Rogers noted in 1921 that it was unfortunate that the change also affected later English versions.[65] In Greek sources, two writers spoke particularly clearly on the Arameans. Posidonius, born in Apamea, as quoted by Strabo, writes: "Those people whom we Greeks call Syrioi, call themselves Aramaioi".[66] Further, Josephus, who was born in Jerusalem, defines the regions of "Aram's sons" as the Tranchonitis, Damascus "midway between Palestine and Coelo-Syria", Armenia, Bactria, and the Mesene around Spasini Charax.[66]

Early Christianity and Arab conquest

The ancient Arameans lived in a close relationship with other distinct societies in the region. Throughout much of their history, they were heavily influenced by the cuneiform culture of Mesopotamia and the surrounding areas. Bilingual texts in Aramaic and the Assyrian dialect of Akkadian are among the earliest examples of Aramaic writing. In the western regions, Aramean states had close contact with Israel, Phoenicia, and northern Arabia. The Phoenician god Baʿalšamem was even incorporated into the Aramean tradition. Identifying distinct elements of the Aramean heritage in later times is challenging because of the diverse influences on their culture. For example, the earliest Syriac legal documents contain legal formulae that could be considered Aramean, but they could also be interpreted as Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian.[67]

After the establishment of Roman Syria in the 1st century BCE, Aramean lands became the frontier region between two empires, Roman and Parthian, and later between their successor states, the Byzantine and Sasanid Empires. Several minor states also existed in frontier regions, most notably the Kingdom of Osroene, centred in the city of Edessa, known in Aramaic as Urhay.[68] However, it is not easy in either pre-Christian or Christian periods to trace purely-Aramean elements in Edessan culture.[69]

During the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, the Ancient Greek custom of using Syrian labels for Arameans and their language started to gain acceptance among an Aramaic-speaking literary and ecclesiastical elites. The practice of using Syrian labels as designations for Aramaic-speakers and their language was very common among ancient Greeks, and under their influence, the practice also became common among the Romans and Byzantines.[70]

An Arabization process was initiated after the Arab conquest in the 7th century. In the religious sphere of life, Aramaic-speaking Christians (such as Melkites in Palestine) were exposed to Islamization, which created a base for gradual acceptance of the Arabic language not only as the dominant language of Islamic prayer and worship but also as a common language of public and domestic life. The acceptance of Arabic language became the main vessel of the gradual Arabization of Aramean communities throughout the Near East and ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and acculturation. Those processes affected not only Islamized Aramaic-speakers but also some of those who remained Christians, which created local communities of Arabic-speaking Christians of Syriac Christian origin who spoke Arabic in their public and domestic life but continued to belong to churches that used the liturgical Aramaic/Syriac language.[71][72]

In the 10th century, the Byzantine Empire gradually reconquered much of northern Syria and upper Mesopotamia, including the cities of Melitene (934) and Antioch (969) and thus liberated local Aramaic-speaking Christian communities from the Muslim rule. Byzantines favoured Eastern Orthodoxy, but the leadership of the Antiochian Oriental Orthodox Patriarchate succeeded in reaching agreement with the Byzantine authorities and thus secured religious tolerance.[73] The Byzantines extended their rule up to Edessa (1031) but were forced into a general retreat from Syria during the course of the 11th century and were pushed back by the newly-arrived Seljuk Turks, who took Antioch (1084). The later establishment of Crusader states (1098), the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa, created new challenges for local Aramaic-speaking Christians, both Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox.[74]

Culture

The Iron Age culture of Syria is a topic of interest among scholars but is never referred to simply as "Aramean". Scholars have difficulty in identifying and isolating characteristic Aramean elements in the culture. Even in North Syria, where more substantial evidence is available, scholars still find it difficult to identify what is genuinely Aramean from what is borrowed from other cultures. Widespread scholarly opinion still maintains that since several ethnic groups, such as Luwians and Aramaeans, interacted in the region, one material culture with "mixed" elements resulted. The material culture appears to be so homogeneous that it "shows no clear distinctions between states dominated by Luwians or Aramaeans".[75]

Language

Ancient mosaic from Edessa in Osroene (2nd century AD) with inscriptions in early Edessan Aramaic
Initial area of the Aramaic language in the 1st century, and its gradual decline
Main article: Old Aramaic language
Further information: Aramaic language

Arameans were mostly defined by their use of the West Semitic Old Aramaic language (1100 BCE – 200 CE), which was first written using the Phoenician alphabet but over time modified to a specifically-Aramaic alphabet. Aramaic first appeared in history during the opening centuries of the Iron Age, when several newly-emerging chiefdoms decided to use it as a written language. The process coincided with a change from syllabic cuneiform to alphabetic scribal culture and the rise of a novel style of public epigraphy, which was formerly unattested in Syria-Palestine. The language is considered a sister branch of the idiom used in the Bronze-Age city-state of Ugarit, on the one hand, and Canaanite, which comprises languages further south in the speech area such as Hebrew, Phoenician, and Moabite, on the other hand. All three branches can be subsumed under the more general rubric Northwest Semitic and thus share a common origin. [76] The earliest direct witnesses of Aramaic, which were composed between the 10th and 8th centuries BC, are unanimously subsumed under the term "Old Aramaic". The early writings exhibit variation and anticipate the enormous linguistic diversity within the Aramaic language group. Despite the variation, they are connected by common literary forms and formulaic expressions. [77]

As early as the 8th century BCE, Aramaic competed with the East Semitic Akkadian language and script in Assyria and Babylonia and then spread throughout the Near East in various dialects. By around 800 BCE, Aramaic had become the lingua franca of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which continued during the Achaemenid period as Imperial Aramaic. Although it was marginalized by Greek during the Hellenistic period, Aramaic in its varying dialects remained unchallenged as the common language of all Semitic peoples of the region until the Arabs' Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia in the 7th century AD, when the language became gradually superseded by Arabic.

The vernacular dialects of Eastern Old Aramaic, spoken during the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Achaemenid Persian empires, developed into various Eastern Middle Aramaic dialects. Among these were the Aramaic dialects of the ancient region of Osrhoene, one of which later became the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity. In the first centuries AD, the Christian Bible was translated into Aramaic and by the 4th century, the local Aramaic dialect of Edessa (Syriac: Urhay) had evolved into a literary language known as Edessan Aramaic (Syriac: Urhaya).[78][79] Since Edessan Aramaic (Urhaya) was the primary liturgical language of Aramaic Christianity,[80][81][82] it also became known as Edessan Syriac and was later defined by Western scholars as Classical Syriac. This laid the foundation for the term Syriac Christianity.[83][84][85] The Eastern Orthodox patriarchates were dominated by Greek episcopate and Greek linguistic and cultural traditions. The use of the Aramaic language in liturgical and literary life among Melkites of Jewish descent persisted throughout the Middle Ages[16] until the 14th century,[86] as exemplified in the use of a specific regional dialect known as Christian Palestinian Aramaic or Palestinian Syriac in the Palestine region, Transjordan and Sinai.[87]

Descendant Neo-Aramaic languages of the Eastern Aramaic branch continue to serve as the spoken and written languages of the Assyrians, Mandeans and Mizrahi Jews. These languages are primarily found in Iraq, northwestern Iran, southeastern Turkey and northeastern Syria, and to a lesser extent, in migrant communities in Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Azerbaijan, as well as in Assyrian diaspora communities in the West, particularly in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, Australia and Germany.

Western Neo-Aramaic, the only surviving modern variety of the Western branch, is now spoken by Muslims and Christians solely in Maaloula and Jubb'adin in the Qalamoun mountains of southwestern Syria.

During the early modern period, the study of the Aramaic language, both ancient and modern, was initiated among Western scholars. This led to the formation of Aramaic studies as a broader multidisciplinary field, encompassing the study of the cultural and historical heritage of Aramaic. The linguistic and historical aspects of Aramaic studies have been further expanded since the 19th century through archaeological excavations of ancient sites in the Near East.[88][89][90]

Religion

See also: Canaanite religion and Mesopotamian religion

What is known of the religion of the Aramean groups is derived from excavated objects and temples and by Aramaic literary sources, as well as the names they had. Their religion did not feature any particular deity that could be called an Aramean god or goddess.[91] It appears from their inscriptions and their names that the Arameans worshipped Canaanite and Mesopotamian gods such as Hadad, Sin, Ishtar (whom they called Astarte), Shamash, Tammuz, Bel and Nergal, and Canaaite-Phoenecian deities such as the storm-god, El, the supreme deity of Canaan, in addition to Anat (‘Atta) and others.[citation needed]

The Arameans who lived outside their homelands apparently followed the traditions of the countries in which they settled. The King of Damascus, for instance, employed Phoenician sculptors and ivory-carvers. In Tell Halaf-Guzana, the palace of Kapara, an Aramean ruler (9th century BCE) was decorated with orthostates and with statues that display a mixture of Mesopotamian, Hittite and Hurrian influences.

Legacy

Further information: Aramaic studies, Neo-Aramaic languages, and Terms for Syriac Christians § Aramean identity
Limestone relief; stele. This unusual stele depicts an unidentified Aramaean king holding a tulip in one hand while grasping a staff or a spear in the other hand. 11th century BCE. From Tell es-Salihiyeh, Damascus

The legacy of ancient Arameans became of particular interest for scholars during the early modern period and resulted in the emergence of Aramaic studies as a distinctive field, dedicated to the study of the Aramaic language.[88] By the 19th century, the Aramean question was formulated, and several scholarly theses were proposed regarding the development of the language and the history of the Arameans.[92]

In modern times, Aramean identity is held mainly by a number of Syriac Christians, from southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria, in the diaspora, especially in Germany and Sweden.[93][94] In 2014, Israel officially recognised Arameans as a distinctive minority.[95] Questions related to the minority rights of Arameans in some other countries were also brought to international attention.[96][97]

See also

References

  1. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. p. 234. ISBN 9780192562463.
  2. ^ Sargon II, King of Assyria. p. 179. ISBN 9780884142232. The origin of the Aramean tribal groups in this area still remains unclear, in spite of the several hypotheses proposed.? Aramean tribal groups are attested at least from the eleventh century as new occupants of strategic areas in the Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia, and the Syrian steppe.
  3. ^ The Ancient Assyrians. p. 13. ISBN 9781472848079.
  4. ^ Ancient Egypt and the Near East. p. 140. ISBN 9780761499572.
  5. ^ Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine. ISBN 9789004294233. The spread of the Aramaic language from its Syrian homeland resulted in large part from Aramean migration and expansion, and was abetted by the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation operative during the gth to the 7th cen turies. These factors led to the so-called Aramaization of Assyria and Babylonia, a process that gained momentum in the latter days of the Assyrian Empire.
  6. ^ Doak 2020, p. 51:However, we must be clear at the outset: the Arameans were never, in fact, a single nation or group; rather, Aram was a region with local centers of power spread throughout contemporary Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, at major cities such as Damascus and Hamath.
  7. ^ Gzella 2017, p. 23:It is nonetheless difficult if not impossible to establish a coherent ethnic category "Aramean" on the basis of extra-linguistic identity markers such as material culture, lifestyle (including cuisine), or religion and other cultural core traditions.
  8. ^ Jan Dušek; Jana Mynářová. Aramaean Borders. Brill. p. 82. ISBN 9789004398535. Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.
  9. ^ Thomas V Brisco. Holman Bible Atlas. ISBN 9781433670312. The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.
  10. ^ Sader 2014, p. 15"It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."
  11. ^ a b Berlejung 2014, p. 339.
  12. ^ Sader 2014, p. 16"So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"
  13. ^ Healey 2019, p. 443.
  14. ^ Healey 2019, p. 444.
  15. ^ Witakowski 1987, p. 76:Ever since the time of christianization those Arameans who embraced the new religion have been referred to as the Syrians, a name of Greek origin which they eventually accepted themselves.
  16. ^ a b Griffith 1997, p. 11–31.
  17. ^ Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World. p. 17. ISBN 9781107244566. As Greek politai became a sub-category for a wider group of Syrians, the Greek peer polity network of Syria and, more broadly, the Roman imperial Syrian ethnos maintained cognitive and performative commonality, even if it did not always enjoy political solidarity or engage in unified mass action. Within it, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Syrians, whether speaking Greek or Aramaic, deemed ancient (As)Syrians/Arameans among their ethnos civic founders (if not ethnic ancestors), but their historical narratives were often informed by Greek influences and categories. In this sense, Syrians of the Roman imperial era, and even Assyrians or Arameans beyond the frontier, posited links to various ancient Greek or Syrian "founders," with or without positing ethnic descent.
  18. ^ The Maronites in history. p. 177. Lammens states that al-Baladhuri labeled these Maronites al-Anbat to indicate their Aramaic (Syriac) origin.
  19. ^ Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain. Victoria Institute. p. 51. The only people that remain who might be considered lineal descendants of the Aramean race are the Droozes and Maronites.
  20. ^ Asher Kaufman. Reviving Phoenicia. The Syrians today, Zaydan continued, are divided by their origin into two groups: Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are Arabs. As for the Christians, the majority are descendants of the Arameans, the Arabs and the Greeks. The Arameans were the original inhabitants of the land, then came the Greeks from the West, followed by the Arabs, the Ghasanis, who came from the Hauran in the hinterland. In short, Christian Syrians are not genealogically Arabs, even if there is some Arab blood flowing in their veins. Yet they are considered Arabs because they speak Arabic, they procreate in an Arab land and they live according to Arab morals. Thus, Syria became an Arab country after the Islamic occupation.
  21. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 26-40.
  22. ^ Sader 2010, p. 277.
  23. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 25–27.
  24. ^ Gzella 2015, p. 56.
  25. ^ Younger 2016, p. 35-108.
  26. ^ Marc Van De Mieroop (2009). The Eastern Mediterranean in the Age of Ramesses II. John Wiley & Sons. p. 63. ISBN 9781444332209.
  27. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 347.
  28. ^ Younger 2016, p. 549-654.
  29. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 249.
  30. ^ Younger 2016, p. 425-500.
  31. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 163.
  32. ^ Younger 2016, p. 307-372.
  33. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 119.
  34. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 319.
  35. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 135.
  36. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 78.
  37. ^ a b Younger 2016.
  38. ^ Akkerman & Schwartz 2003, p. 367.
  39. ^ Ancient Israel's Neighbors. pp. 54–55. ISBN 9780190690618. Groups of family members lived near one another, and the social structure was probably focused on the identity of a primarymale figure in the family ("patriarchal") and possibly even traced its roots to some local tribal ancestor, after which the group was named (e.g., Bit Adini, Bit-Agusi, Bit-Gabbari, Bit-Hazaili; the Semitic word "Bit" means "House of," followed by the name of a founding figure). Most scholars who study the Arameans speak of their origins in terms of "tribes" and tribal leaders who took advantage of political instability in the region during certain time periods to expand their territory.
  40. ^ A History of Syria in One Hundred Sites. p. 5. ISBN 9781784913823. Each Aramean tribal group was called by the family name, 'Bit' (house), following a coastal Phoenician writing system. The most important Aramaic kingdoms were established at Halaf (Kingdom of Guzana - the Kingdom of Bit-Bahiani), Ahmar (the Kingdom of Bit-Adini), Damascus (the Kingdom of Aram Damascus) and North of Aleppo (the Kingdom of Bit-Agushi).
  41. ^ Sader 2014, p. 15-16In the 8th century B.C. Aramaic inscriptions of Sefire (KAI 222–224) expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” were variously interpreted but it can be safely argued that “All Aram” refers to a geographical area that included the territories of the Aramaean and non-Aramaean kingdoms united in the coalition against Matiʾel of Arpad, and that roughly covers the boundaries of modern Syria, while “Upper and Lower Aram” may refer to North and South Syria, respectively.
  42. ^ Steven Grosby. Biblical Ideas of Nationality. pp. 150–165. ISBN 9781575060651. The qualifier "all" in "all Aram" is clearly of some sociological significance; it implies a certain kind of collective unity. One is immediately re-minded of the Deuteronomistic use of "all" in "all Israel (kol yisra'el) from Dan to Beersheba."
  43. ^ J. Brian Peckham. Phoenicia. ISBN 9781646021222. By mid-century, the Syrian chiefdoms, through a system of alliances, affirmed their Aramean identity as "All Aram", consisting of the states in "Upper and Lower Aram", and together defied the Assyrian Empire.70
  44. ^ Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant. Brill. p. 117. ISBN 9789004685581. What is certain is that no united, pan-Aramean national state ever existed, yet clearly "Aram" served as a common identity marker and (self-)designation, although possibly with different meanings (e.g. as a region, as a collective noun for the people; or another appellation of the Damascus-centered polity). The brief analysis of the lists of treaty partners as well as the geographical description in the Sefire Treaties, furthermore, appears to suggest that "all Aram" may indicate the highest level of identity among different Aramean polities, above the tribe, the city-state and the individual ruling families, even if not all Aramean speakers, all Aramean tribes or states were included in this "all Aram". 119 The phrase more likely refers to a group of polities that shared common Aramean cultural and social features, perhaps all with Aramean tribal structures internally in addition to the use of varieties of the Aramean language, who chose to pick Aram as a common denominator in this context. 120 How inclusive or exclusive this phrase is in reality cannot be judged. Finally, while the nature of the Aramean identity is largely cultural and perhaps ethnic, the presence of political elements is also likely. Although a united Aramean polity, as the one suggested by B. Mazar (1962), might not be fully tenable, the fact that "all Aram", with Arpad as its representative, can serve as a party in international treaties indicates that the Arameans as an cultural community may have engaged in joint political acts, at least conceptually.
  45. ^ Billington 2005, p. 117–132.
  46. ^ "Aramaean (people)". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  47. ^ Younger 2016, p. 501-548.
  48. ^ "Akhlame". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  49. ^ Wunsch 2013, p. 247–260.
  50. ^ Saggs 1984, p. 290: "The destruction of the Assyrian empire did not wipe out its population. They were predominantly peasant farmers, and since Assyria contains some of the best wheat land in the Near East, descendants of the Assyrian peasants would, as opportunity permitted, build new villages over the old cities and carry on with agricultural life, remembering traditions of the former cities. After seven or eight centuries and various vicissitudes, these people became Christians."
  51. ^ Nissinen 2014, p. 273-296.
  52. ^ Streck 2014, p. 297-318.
  53. ^ Lemaire 2014, p. 319-328.
  54. ^ Niehr 2014b, p. 329-338.
  55. ^ Berlejung 2014, p. 339-365.
  56. ^ Botta 2014, p. 366-377.
  57. ^ Niehr 2014c, p. 378-390.
  58. ^ Millard 1983, p. 106-107.
  59. ^ Lipiński 2000.
  60. ^ Gzella 2015.
  61. ^ Frye 1992, p. 281–285.
  62. ^ Heinrichs 1993, p. 106-107.
  63. ^ Joosten 2010, p. 53–72.
  64. ^ Wevers 2001, p. 237-251.
  65. ^ Rogers 1921, p. 139.
  66. ^ a b Frenschkowski 2019, p. 468.
  67. ^ Healey 2014, p. 391-392.
  68. ^ Harrak 1992, p. 209–214.
  69. ^ Healey 2014, p. 395.
  70. ^ Minov 2020, p. 256-257.
  71. ^ Rubin 1998, p. 149-162.
  72. ^ Bcheiry 2010, p. 455-475.
  73. ^ Debié 2009, p. 110-111.
  74. ^ Weltecke 2006, p. 95-124.
  75. ^ Sader 2010, p. 286-288.
  76. ^ Gzella 2014, p. 71.
  77. ^ Gzella 2014, p. 72.
  78. ^ Brock 1992a, p. 16.
  79. ^ Brock 1992b, p. 226.
  80. ^ Aufrecht 2001, p. 149.
  81. ^ Quispel 2008, p. 80.
  82. ^ Healey 2019, p. 433–446.
  83. ^ Griffith 2002, p. 5–20.
  84. ^ Healey 2007, p. 115–127.
  85. ^ Healey 2014, p. 391–402.
  86. ^ Brock 2011, p. 96–97.
  87. ^ Gzella 2015, p. 317-326.
  88. ^ a b Burnett 2005, p. 421-436.
  89. ^ Niehr 2014, p. 1-9.
  90. ^ Gzella 2015, p. 3-16.
  91. ^ Doak 2020, p. 57.
  92. ^ Nöldeke 1871, p. 113-131.
  93. ^ Woźniak 2012, p. 73–83.
  94. ^ Woźniak 2015, p. 483–496.
  95. ^ Eti Weissblei (2017). "Arameans in the Middle East and Israel: Historical Background, Modern National Identity, and Government Policy" (PDF). Knesset.
  96. ^ Teule 2012, p. 47-56.
  97. ^ Sommer 2012, p. 157-170.

Sources

  • Media related to Arameans at Wikimedia Commons
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