circa 1000 - 700 BCE

-==The Arameans were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in Biblical Aram, which is now modern Syria, during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia where they intermingled with the native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Arameans were divided into small independent kingdoms across parts of the Near East, particularly in what is now modern Syria. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to a number of SyroHittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th 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 long distance trade and interfered with the collection of taxes and tribute. -==The Aramean migration which occurred between 1500 and 1200 BC, formed the third wave of migration from the Arabian Peninsula to the Fertile Crescent. By the end of the 13th century BC the Arameans were settled in their new homes on the banks of the Euphrates. One Aramean state was Harran in Mesopotamia. Situated on a great trade route, Harran, whose name means "route," developed into one of the great centers of Aramean culture. According to the Hebrew tradition, the Patriarchs -the founders of the Hebrews- came from that district before settling in Palestine. Also, Abraham sent his messenger to Harran in quest of a wife, Rebekah, for his son Isaac, and dispatched Jacob in person to marry Leah and Rachel (see Genesis 24:4; 29:21 seq.).

The Aramaic language came to be the lingua franca of the entire Fertile Crescent, by Late Antiquity developing into the literary languages such as Syriac and Mandaic. Scholars have used the term "Aramaization" for the process by which the Akkadian or AssyroBabylonian peoples became Aramaic-speaking during the later Iron Age. -==-

Accordingly, the maternal ancestry of Jacob's children is Aramean. Damascus, seat of the future Aramean state, was already peopled by Arameans in 1200 BC. The annals of the Egyptian King Ramses III (1198 - 1167 BC) give the Aramaic spelling of the name. The Arameans assimilated smoothly with the Canaanites and Amorites among whom they settled (after all, as peoples they were branches from the Arameans' same origins), but quite significantly, they retained their own language. Established in the late eleventh century BC, Damascus developed into a major state with its frontier extended on one side to the Euphrates and on the other to the Yarmuk River.

In 734 BC the areas around Damascus were overrun by the Assyrians and the city was laid to siege before it was taken in 732 BC. Despite this military defeat, peaceful dissemination of Aramean commerce and culture proved more important to the spread of the Aramean language than did political and military means. The Aramean culture attained its height in the ninth and eighth centuries BC. Aramean merchants were most responsible for spreading their language and culture. Once restricted to being the mercantile language of a people living in present-day Syria, by about 500 BC, Aramaic had become the universal language of commerce, culture, and government throughout the entire Fertile Crescent.

-==Indeed, the Arameans had little political influence compared with the major powers of the Assyrians and the Egyptians but they have done humanity a great service by transmitting the alphabet eastward from Syria. Furthermore, few languages in the world have had such a long and continuous tradition. Clearly, while the Arameans seemed simply to be nomads, they have contributed a great deal to history by transmitting the alphabet eastward, and by introducing a language that influenced many others and that outlasted most languages. -==-

It became the language of Jesus and his people. By the sixth century AD, the Aramaic language was still of such influence that it gave birth in northern Mesopotamia to Syriac, which has survived to become the liturgic language of several Eastern churches. In fact Aramaic dialects are still spoken in some parts of the Near East, in particular among the Christian communities in northern Iraq, and in a small mountain village just outside of Damascus.

Photo Gallery

An 8th century BC silver ingot inscribed with the name of King Bar-Rakib son of Panammu II, the king of Sam'al (modern Zenjirli), now at the British Museum.

Coin of Alexander the Great bearing an Aramaic language inscription.

Funeral stele of Si` Gabbor, priest of the Moon God. Basalt, early 7th century BC, found in Neirab (Syria), bears an Aramaic inscription.