Arameans

The Aramaeans, or Arameans, were a Semitic, seminomadic and pastoralist people who originated and had lived in upper Mesopotamia and Syria. Aramaeans have never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. Yet to these Aramaeans befell the privilege of imposing their language and culture upon the entire Near East and beyond. Scholars even have used the term 'Aramaization' for the Syro-Mesopotamian peoples, languages and cultures that have been made 'Aramean'.

Language

Aramaeans are mostly defined by their use of the Aramaic language, first written using the Phoenician alphabet slightly modified. Their language, namely Aramaic, belongs -- like Hebrew, Ammonite and others -- to the north-western group of Semitic dialects. As early as the 8th century BC, Aramaic language and writing competed with the Akkadian language and script (cuneiform) in Assyria, and thereafter it spread throughout the Orient. Around 500 BC, when the Achaemenid monarchs looked for a tongue that could be understood by all their subjects, they chose Aramaic, which became the lingua franca of their vast empire. It was not until Greek emerged several centuries later that Aramaic lost its prestige as the most sophisticated language; but it remained unchallenged as the common dialect of all peoples of the Near East and was to remain so until the Arab invasion (7th century AD).

The according to the linguist Klaus Beyer, the history of the Aramaic language is broken down into three broad periods:

Old Aramaic (1100 BCE–200 CE), including:
- The Biblical Aramaic of the Hebrew Bible.
- The Aramaic of Jesus.
- The Aramaic of the Targums.

The turning point of Old Aramaic was about 500 BCE when it shifted to Imperial Aramaic, the lingua franca of the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian Empires.

Middle Aramaic (200 CE –1200 CE), including:
- Literary Syriac.
- The Aramaic of the Talmuds and Midrashim.

In this period the Nabataeans 'l' is often turned into 'n', and there are a few Arabic loan words. Some Nabataean Aramaic inscriptions exist from the early days of the kingdom, but most are from the first four centuries CE. The language is written in a cursive script that is the precursor to the modern Arabic alphabet. The number of Arabic loan words increases through the centuries, until, in the fourth century, Nabataean merges seamlessly with Arabic.

Modern Aramaic (1200 CE – present), including:
- Various modern vernaculars.

These languages are not all mutually understandable, for instance Eastern Syriac is called Chaldean or Assyrian and is very different from the language of the few Mandaeans living in the province of Khuzestan in Iran who speak Modern Mandaic. Very little remains of Western Aramaic, which today is only now spoken in the Christian village of Ma`loula in Syria and the Muslim villages of Bakh`a and Jubb`adin in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains.

History

The origin of the Aramaeans is still uncertain, arising from the limited amount of evidence regarding the mention of Aramaeans in Mesopotamian inscriptions. The appearance of the Aramaeans is retraced to two different dates: the 14th and the 12th centuries depending upon the acceptance of some kind of relationship between the Aramaeans and the Ahlamû. Nonetheless, present-day scholarship seems to be agreed upon their Upper Mesopotamian origins.

14th century BC

Nomadic pastoralists have always been a feature of the Middle East, but their numbers seem to vary according to climatic conditions and the force of neighbouring states inducing permanent settlement. The period of the Late Bronze Age seems to have been one of increasing aridity, weakening neighbouring states, and inducing transhumance pastoralists to spend longer and longer periods with their flocks. Urban settlements diminished in size, until eventually fully nomadic pastoralist lifestyles came to dominate the region. These highly mobile, competitive tribesmen with their sudden raids were a continued threat to ling distance trade and interfered with the collection of taxes and tribute.

The Ahlamû (= wanderers) are first mentioned in the el-Amarna letters alluding to the king of Babylon; the presence of the Ahlamû are also attested in Assyria, Nippur and even at Dilmun (Bahrain); Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BC) defeated the Shattuara, King of Mitanni and his Hittite and Ahlamû mercenaries are mentioned in the Jazirah. The term appears equivalent to the Egyptian term Shasu (Shsw = wanderer), who replaced the outlaw 'Apiru (Akkadian SA.GAZ) as the major source of instability in the Egyptian Levantine empire from the reign of Tutankhamon onwards. In the following century, they cut (the Ahlamû) the road from Babylon to Hattusas, and Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244-1208 BC) claims that he conquered Mari, Hana and Rapiqum on the Euphrates and "the mountain of the Ahlamû", aparently the region of Jebel Bishri.

12th century BC

For the first time, an inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1077 BC) refers to the ‘Ahlamû-Aramaeans’ (Ahlame Armaia) and from then on, the Ahlamû rapidly disappear from Assyrian annals -- to be replaced by the Aramaeans (Aramu, Arimi). ‘Ahlamû-Aramaeans’ would consider the Aramaeans as an important and in time dominant faction of the Ahlamû tribes, however it is possible that the two peoples had nothing in common, but operated in the same area. It is conceivable that the name 'Arameans' was a more accurate form of the earlier ethnonym Martu (Amorites, westerners) in the Assyrian tablets.

11th century BC

The Aramaeans were, in the 11th century BC, established in Syria. The Bible tells us that Saul, David and Solomon (late 11th to 10th centuries) fought against the Aramaeans kingdoms across the northern frontier of Israel: Aram-Sôvah in the Beq’a, Aram-Bêt-Rehob and Aram-Ma’akah around Mount Hermon, Geshur in the Hauran, and Damascus. Farther north, the Aramaeans were in possession of Hamath on the Orontes and were soon to become strong to dissociate the Neo-Hittite block.

10th – 9th centuries BC

The Aramaeans conquered, during the 10th and the 9th centuries, Sam’al (Zenjirli), the region of Aleppo which they renamed Bît-Agushi, and Til-Barsip, which became the chief town of Bît-Adini. At the same time, Aramaeans moved to the east of the Euphrates, where they settled in such numbers that the whole region became known as Aram-Naharaim or "Aram of the two rivers". One of their earliest kingdoms in Mesopotamia was Bît-bahiâni (Tell Halaf).

From 8th century BC

Aramaean kingdoms were subjugated by Adad-nirari II, Ashurnasirpal II, and his son Shalmaneser III, who destroyed many of the small tribes, and gave control of Syria and local trade and natural resources to the Assyrians. Some Assyrian kings even took Aramaean wives. Though without a state, Arameans continued their presence in the Near East.

Religion and art

It appears from their inscriptions as well as from their names, that Aramaeans worshipped Sumero-Akkadian and Canaanite gods, such Haddad, (Adad), the storm-god, El, the supreme deity of Canaan, Sin, Ishtar (whom they called ‘Attar), the Phoenician goddess Anat (‘Atta) and others.

The Aramaeans apparently followed the traditions of the country where they settled. The King of Damascus, for instance, employed Phoenician sculptors and ivory-carvers. In tell Halaf-Guzana, the palace of Kapara, an Aramaean ruler (9th century B.C.), was decorated with orthostats and with statues that display a mixture of Mesopotamian, Hittite and Hurrian influences.

Modern

Modern Arameans, also known as Syriacs, are mostly Christians. Modern Arameans are the original Syrians, but because of the large modern-day Arab population with this appellation, the term Syriacs is used to refer to more recent Aramaic-speaking peoples. These people are sometimes called, Assyrians or Chaldeans and most of them have lived in northern Iraq. The modern-day Arameans are followers of the Melkite, Maronite, Syriac Catholic, Chaldean Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Antiochian Orthodox, and the Assyrian Church of the East. The original word for Syriac in Syriac-Aramaic is Suryoye/Suryaye, from which Suroye/Suraye developed. The term for Syriac in Arabic is Suryani.

External references

Jewish Encyclopedia: Aram-Naharaim
The Arameans
The Indigenous Origins of the Arameans of Upper Mesopotamia. See also the article section for more on the Arameans.

References

S. Moscati, 'The Aramaean Ahlamû', FSS, IV (1959), pp. 303-7;
M. Freiherr Von Oppenheim, Der Tell Halaf, Leipzig, 1931 pp. 71-198;
M. Freiherr Von Oppenheim, Tell Halaf, III, Die Bauwerke, Berlin, 1950;
A. Moortgat, Tell Halaf IV, Die Bildwerke, Berlin, 1955;
B. Hrouda, Tell Halaf IV, Die Kleinfunde aus historischer Zeit, Berlin, 1962;
G. ROUX, Ancient Iraq, London, 1980.
Beyer, Klaus (1986). "The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions". (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht). ISBN 3525535732.