Arameans

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For other uses, see Aramean (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Armenians or Aromanians.

Arameans
Syro-Hittite states
Aramean kings
Aramean cities
Sources

The Arameans, or Aramaeans (

Classical Syriac: ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, romanized: Ārāmāyē), were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East that was first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BC. The Aramean homeland, sometimes known as the land of Aram, encompassed central regions of modern Syria
.

At the beginning of the

1st millennium BCE, a number of Aramean-ruled states were established throughout the western regions of 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
.

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.[1][2]

The people of "Aram" were called "Arameans" in

self-designation. "Arameans" is merely an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to 1st-millennium BC inhabitants of Syria.[3][4]

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

Classical Syriac.[8][9][10]

Before Christianity, Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable Hellenization and Romanization in the Near East.[11] Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.[12] Some scholars consider that Arameans who accepted Christianity came to be referred to as Syrians by the Greeks.[13]

The

Islamization and the gradual Arabization of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and acculturation.[14]

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

The

Tiglath Pileser I (c. 1100 BCE).[17][18][19]

Nomadic pastoralists have long played a prominent role in the history and economy of the

Amorite, Canaaite Hittite, Ugarite peoples) in the Levant
diminished in size until eventually, 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

Asia Minor, and Egypt
.

The Arameans would appear to be one part of the larger generic Ahlamû group rather than synonymous with the Ahlamu.

Hanigalbat and Rapiqum on the Euphrates and "the mountain of the Ahlamû", apparently the region of Jebel Bishri
in northern Syria.

Aramean states

Various Luwian and Aramean (orange shades) states in the 8th century BCE

The emergence of the Arameans occurred during the

Ancient Iran, Ancient Greece and the Balkans
and led to the genesis of new peoples and polities across those regions.

The

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 what was then Eber-Nari
(now Syria) in the late 11th century BCE.

Some of the major Aramean-speaking city states included

Bet-Halupe,[30] and Aram-Ma'akah, as well as the Aramean tribal polities of the Gambulu, Litau and Puqudu.[31] Akkermans and Schwartz noted 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.[32]

Later

Cushan-Rishathaim, who was titled in the Bible as ruler of Aram-Naharaim.[33]

Further north, the Arameans gained possession of post-Hittite

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 of Adad-apal-iddin.[34]

During the 11th and the 10th centuries BCE, the Arameans conquered

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

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 (1115–1077 BCE), 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.[36] By the late 12th century BCE, the Arameans had been firmly established in Syria; however, they were conquered by the Middle Assyrian Empire, like the Amorites and Ahlamu before them.

Assyrian annals from the end of the Middle Assyrian Empire c. 1050 BCE and the rise of the

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.[37]
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 bitter series of brutal internal wars from 626 BCE that weakened it greatly. That allowed a coalition of many its former subject peoples (

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.[38]
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

Northern Arabia.[45]

ancient Assyrian language, a dialect of Akkadian, but later accepted Aramaic.[46]

Neo-Babylonian Empire

Eber-Nari was then ruled by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian Empire (612–539 BCE), 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:
Eber Nari

The Arameans were later conquered by the

Eber Nari
still applied to the region.

The conquests of

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.[49][50]

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

endonymic (native) terms that were used in the Hebrew Bible. In the Greek translation (Septuagint), the region of Aram was commonly labelled as "Syria", and the Arameans were labelled as "Syrians".[52] When reflecting on traditional influences of Greek terminology on English translations of the Septuagint, the American orientalist Robert W. Rogers noted in 1921 that it was unfortunate that the change also affected later English versions.[53] In Greek sources, two writers spoke particularly clearly on the Arameans. Posidonius, born in Apamea, as quoted by Strabo, wrote: "Those people whom we Greeks call Syrioi, call themselves Aramaioi".[54] Further, Josephus, who was born in Jerusalem, defined the regions of "Aram's sons" as the Tranchonitis, Damascus "midway between Palestine and Coelo-Syria", Armenia, Bactria, and the Mesene around Spasini Charax.[54]

Heritage under early Christian period 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

Neo-Babylonian.[55]

After the establishment of

Edessa, known in Aramaic as Urhay.[56] However, it is not easy in either pre-Christian or Christian periods to trace purely-Aramean elements in Edessan culture.[57]

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.[58]

An

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.[59][60]

In the 10th century, the

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.[62]

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".[63]

Language

Edessan Aramaic language
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
Northwest Semitic and thus share a common origin. [64] 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. [65]

As early as the 8th century BCE, Aramaic competed with the East Semitic

Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia in the 7th century AD, when the language became gradually superseded by Arabic
.

The late Old Aramaic language of the

Classical Syriac. That created a base for the term Syriac Christianity[71][72][73] although Eastern Orthodox patriarchates were dominated by Greek episcopate and Greek linguistic and cultural traditions. The use of Aramaic language in liturgical and literary life persisted throughout the Middle Ages[14] until the 14th century,[74] as embodied in the use of a specific regional dialect known as the Christian Palestinian Aramaic language.[75]

Descendant dialects of the

Hebrew
, especially within the Israeli-born generations.

The

Gnostic Mandaean sect, mainly in Iraq and Iran
.

During the early modern period, the study of Aramaic languages (both ancient and modern) was initiated among western scholars, which led to the formation of Aramaic studies as a wider multidisciplinary field that also includes the study of cultural and historical heritage of Aramaic. Linguistic and historical aspects of Aramaic studies have been widened since the 19th century by archaeological excavations of ancient sites in the Near East.[76][77][78]

Religion

See also:
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.

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

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.[76] 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.[80]

In modern times, Aramean identity is held mainly by a number of

recognised Arameans as a distinctive minority.[83] Questions related to the minority rights of Arameans in some other countries were also brought to international attention.[84][85]

See also

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b Berlejung 2014, p. 339.
  4. ^ Sader 2014, p. 16.
  5. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 25-54, 347–407.
  6. ^ Gzella 2015, p. 16-45, 53–103.
  7. ^ Younger 2016, p. 109-220, 549–654.
  8. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 409-489.
  9. ^ Gzella 2015, p. 104-211.
  10. ^ Younger 2016, p. 655-740.
  11. ^ Healey 2019, p. 443.
  12. ^ Healey 2019, p. 444.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ a b Griffith 1997, p. 11–31.
  15. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 26-40.
  16. ^ Sader 2010, p. 277.
  17. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 25–27.
  18. ^ Gzella 2015, p. 56.
  19. ^ Younger 2016, p. 35-108.
  20. ISBN 9781444332209
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  21. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 347.
  22. ^ Younger 2016, p. 549-654.
  23. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 249.
  24. ^ Younger 2016, p. 425-500.
  25. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 163.
  26. ^ Younger 2016, p. 307-372.
  27. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 119.
  28. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 319.
  29. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 135.
  30. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 78.
  31. ^ a b Younger 2016.
  32. ^ Akkerman & Schwartz 2003, p. 367.
  33. ^ Billington 2005, p. 117–132.
  34. ^ "Aramaean (people)". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  35. ^ Younger 2016, p. 501-548.
  36. ^ "Akhlame". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  37. ^ Wunsch 2013, p. 247–260.
  38. ^ 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."
  39. ^ Nissinen 2014, p. 273-296.
  40. ^ Streck 2014, p. 297-318.
  41. ^ Lemaire 2014, p. 319-328.
  42. ^ Niehr 2014b, p. 329-338.
  43. ^ Berlejung 2014, p. 339-365.
  44. ^ Botta 2014, p. 366-377.
  45. ^ Niehr 2014c, p. 378-390.
  46. ^ Millard 1983, p. 106-107.
  47. ^ Lipiński 2000.
  48. ^ Gzella 2015.
  49. ^ Frye 1992, p. 281–285.
  50. ^ Heinrichs 1993, p. 106-107.
  51. ^ Joosten 2010, p. 53–72.
  52. ^ Wevers 2001, p. 237-251.
  53. ^ Rogers 1921, p. 139.
  54. ^ a b Frenschkowski 2019, p. 468.
  55. ^ Healey 2014, p. 391-392.
  56. ^ Harrak 1992, p. 209–214.
  57. ^ Healey 2014, p. 395.
  58. ^ Minov 2020, p. 256-257.
  59. ^ Rubin 1998, p. 149-162.
  60. ^ Bcheiry 2010, p. 455-475.
  61. ^ Debié 2009, p. 110-111.
  62. ^ Weltecke 2006, p. 95-124.
  63. ^ Sader 2010, p. 286-288.
  64. ^ Gzella 2014, p. 71.
  65. ^ Gzella 2014, p. 72.
  66. ^ Brock 1992a, p. 16.
  67. ^ Brock 1992b, p. 226.
  68. ^ Aufrecht 2001, p. 149.
  69. ^ Quispel 2008, p. 80.
  70. ^ Healey 2019, p. 433–446.
  71. ^ Griffith 2002, p. 5–20.
  72. ^ Healey 2007, p. 115–127.
  73. ^ Healey 2014, p. 391–402.
  74. ^ Brock 2011, p. 96–97.
  75. ^ Gzella 2015, p. 317-326.
  76. ^ a b Burnett 2005, p. 421-436.
  77. ^ Niehr 2014, p. 1-9.
  78. ^ Gzella 2015, p. 3-16.
  79. ^ Doak 2020, p. 57.
  80. ^ Nöldeke 1871, p. 113-131.
  81. ^ Woźniak 2012, p. 73–83.
  82. ^ Woźniak 2015, p. 483–496.
  83. ^ Eti Weissblei (2017). "Arameans in the Middle East and Israel: Historical Background, Modern National Identity, and Government Policy" (PDF). Knesset.
  84. ^ Teule 2012, p. 47-56.
  85. ^ Sommer 2012, p. 157-170.

Sources

External links

  • Media related to Arameans at Wikimedia Commons
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