Aram (region)

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Aramea
)
The Levant c. 830 BCE

Aram (

Arameans. The area did not develop into a larger empire but consisted of a number of small states in present-day Syria and northern Israel. Some of the states are mentioned in the Old Testament, Damascus being the most outstanding one, which came to encompass most of Syria. Furthermore, Aram-Damascus is commonly referred to as simply Aram in the Old Testament.[1]

After the final conquest by the rising

Hellenistic designation for this region.[2][3] By the beginning of the 5th century, that practice also started to affect terminology of Aramean ecclesiastical and literary elites, and Syrian labels started to gain frequency and acceptance not only in Aramean translations of Greek works, but also in original works of Aramean writers. [4]

Christian Bible was translated into Aramaic, and by the 4th century the local Aramaic dialect of Edessa (Urhay) developed into a literary language, known as Edessan Aramaic (Urhaya).[7][8]

Etymology

Various Neo-Hittite and Aramean (orange shades) western states in the 8th century BC
Aramean eastern states (various non-green shades) in the 9th century BC

The

genitive form), in the course of a campaign against Simurrum in the northern mountains.[10] 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). The terms Aram and Aramean frequently occur in the letters of a governor's archive from Nippur. The written text informed about farmers from Bīt-Aram referring to the region of Aram.[11]

The word Aḫlamū was attested since the Old Babylonian period, first as a designation for the Amorites and later for the Arameans. In the Assyrian royal inscriptions the term Aḫlamū and the name A-ra-mu are sometimes combined to form a double designation for Arameans.[12]

Early Jewish tradition claims that the name is derived from the biblical Aram, son of Shem, a grandson of Noah in the Bible.[13]

History

The

Mediterranean regions, with great upheavals and mass movements of people. The early history of the Arameans is tied to that of the Aḫlamū and Sutû who were already known in the Late Bronze Age and who seem to have played a role in the period's demise. The Arameans rose to be the prominent group amongst the Ahlamu, and from c. 1200 BC on, the Amorites disappeared from the pages of history and the term Ahlamu underwent a semantic shift, becoming an accepted term for Aramean. From then on, the region that they had inhabited became known as Aram and Eber-Nari
.

The Arameans emerged in a region which was largely under the domination of the

Two medium-sized

Aram-Zobah, Bit-Zamani, Bit-Halupe and Aram-Ma'akah, as well as the Aramean tribal polities of the Gambulu, Litau and Puqudu
.

There was some synthesis with neo

Arvad
.

With the advent of the

Mandeans
of northern Iraq, south east Turkey, north east Syria and north west Iran, descend from this language.

The Neo Assyrian Empire was riven by unremitting civil war from 626 BC onward, weakening it severely, and allowing it to be attacked and destroyed by a coalition of its former vassals between 616 and 605 BCE. The region of Aram was subsequently fought over by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and Egyptians, the latter of whom had belatedly come to the aid of their former Assyrian overlords. The Babylonians prevailed and Aram became a part of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (612–539 BC) where it remained named Eber-Nari.

The

(539–332 BC) overthrew the Babylonians and conquered the region. They retained the Imperial Aramaic introduced by the Assyrians, and the name of Eber-Nari.

In 332 BC the region was conquered by the

Aramean and Phoenician inhabitants.[19]

It is from this period that the later

Greco-Roman
culture.

This area, by now called Syria, was fought over by

Aramean
kingdom arose during this period, and for a time it dominated the area and successfully resisted Roman and Persian attempts at conquest. The region eventually came under the control of the
.

In the mid-7th century AD the region fell to the

Eastern Aramaic, which still contains a number of loanwords from the Akkadian, as well as structural similarities, still survives among the majority of ethnically distinct Assyrians, who are mainly based in northern Iraq, north-eastern Syria, south-eastern Turkey and north-western Iran
.

Culture

After the fall of the last Aramean kingdoms and city-states the Arameans isolated themselves mainly in

Religion

Ancient Aramean Religion

Records of the religion and worship habits among ancient Arameans are fairly scarce. The Aramean pagan pantheon mainly consisted of common Semitic gods who were also worshipped by other

Mabbug, which the Greeks called Hierapolis (“sacred city”). The main temple built in Hadad’s name was located in Aram-Damascus. The fate of this temple is remarkable, under the Roman Empire it was rebuilt as a Temple of Jupiter, during Byzantine times it was turned into a church and after the Arab conquest of Syria it became the biggest mosque of modern day Syria, named Umayyad Mosque. The name Bar-Hadad, which several Aramean kings bore, literally means son of Hadad. It was a royal title, so no one else had the right to be called by that name. Eventually the name lost its distinction, and despite its pagan origins, the Arameans preserved the name after the adoption of Christianity. After the Arameans became christianized there even was a bishop called Bar-Hadad. [21][22]

It appears from their inscriptions as well as from their names that the Arameans also worshipped other

Tammuz, Bel and Nergal, but also some Canaanite-Phoenician deities such as the storm-god, El, the supreme deity of Canaan, in addition to Anat (‘Atta) and others.[22]

Language

With the spread of the Arameans in large numbers throughout

Neo-Aramaic languages that are still spoken in modern times.[23][24][2][25][26]

Architecture and art

Bit Gabbari

Aramean cities were enclosed by a city wall and a fortified upper town or citadel on which palaces and other representative buildings are located. The entrance of the palaces of the kings mostly included several steles of winged bulls or lions as a sign of power and dominance. Surprisingly, no temples have been excavated on the citadels of the major Aramean cities. The only remarkable exception is the temple in antis in Tell Afis. The fact that the main temple of

Sam'al was not located in the capital city but on the rocky hill called Gerçin about seven kilometers north of Zincirli may indicate different solutions in the use of religious spaces.[27][28]

The

Aramean kings showed a different headgear and stylization of hair and beard compared to other nations at that time. They distinguished themselves by their exclusive headgears, medium-length beards and large curved noses. Especially a braid hanging down in front of their headgear was a typical form of Aramean art.[27][28]

See also

References

  1. ^ BibleGateway.com, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE BIBLE, "Aram, Aramaeans", [1]. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b Lipiński 2000.
  3. ^ Younger 2016.
  4. ^ Minov 2020, p. 255-263.
  5. ^ "Aramaic language | Description, History, & Facts | Britannica".
  6. ^ Akopian 2017, p. 87.
  7. ^ Brock 1992a, p. 16.
  8. ^ Brock 1992b, p. 226.
  9. ^ Herbert Niehr, The Arameans in Ancient Syria, Brill, 2014, pg. 338
  10. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 26-40.
  11. ^ Herbert Niehr, The Arameans in Ancient Syria, Brill, 2014, pg. 340
  12. ^ Herbert Niehr, The Arameans in Ancient Syria, Brill, 2014, pg. 344
  13. ^ See Genesis 10:22
  14. ^ W.T. Pitard, Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 2, De Gruyter, 2009, pg. 638
  15. ^ Marti Nissinen, "Assyria" in (ed. Herbet Niehr) The Arameans in Ancient Syria (Brill, 2014, pp. 273-274)
  16. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 375-376.
  17. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 406-407.
  18. ^ Lipiński 2000, p. 315.
  19. ^ Rollinger 2006, p. 283-287.
  20. ^ "Aramaic and Endangered Languages - Ideas | Institute for Advanced Study". 10 December 2015.
  21. ^ "Aramean Religion | Encyclopedia.com".
  22. ^ a b Akopian 2017, p. 51.
  23. ^ Sokoloff 1983.
  24. ^ Beyer 1986.
  25. ^ Creason 2008, pp. 108–44.
  26. ^ Gzella 2015.
  27. ^ .
  28. ^ a b "The Hattian and Hittite Civilizations". yumpu.com.

Sources

External links

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