Arameans
Ancient Semitic people in the Near East / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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 never 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] 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.[13][14] The term "Aram" sometimes referred only to a part and other times to the whole of the Syrian region during the Iron Age. The concept of "All Aram" (ʿAram Kulloh) and a collective Aramean identity emerged in the mid-8th century BC. During this period, various Aramean chiefdoms and states, particularly in regions referred to as "Upper and Lower Aram", formed alliances that reinforced their shared identity. This collective identity, known as "All Aram", is mentioned in historical sources such as the Sefire Treaties, suggesting a degree of political and cultural unity among these Aramean polities. This coalition played a role in their opposition to the expanding Assyrian Empire.[15][16][17]
At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, a number of Aramean-ruled city-states were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was Aram-Damascus, located in modern-day Syria, which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BCE during the reign of King Hazael. During the eighth 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 later Achaemenid Empire (539–330 BCE).
A distinctive Aramaic alphabet was developed and used to write Old Aramaic.[18][19][20] As a result of linguistic Aramization, a wider Aramaic-speaking area was created throughout the central regions of the Near East that exceeded the boundaries of Aramean ethnic communities. During the later Hellenistic and Roman periods, minor Aramaic-speaking states emerged, the most notable of them being Osroene, centred on Edessa, the birthplace of Edessan Aramaic, which later came to be known as Classical Syriac.[21][22][23]
Before Christianity, Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable Hellenization and Romanization in the Near East.[24] Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.[25] Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the Greeks.[26] The early Muslim conquests in the 7th century was followed by the Islamization and the gradual Arabization of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and acculturation.[27] 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.[28][29][30][31]