Arameans - Revision history

Firekong1 at 03:45, 22 September 2025

2025-09-22T03:45:16Z

← Previous revision		Revision as of 03:45, 22 September 2025
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	At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, the [[Syro-Hittite states]] were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was [[Aram-Damascus]], which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BC during the reign of King [[Hazael]]. During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. The policy of population displacement and relocation applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected the 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 [[lingua franca]] of public life and administration as [[Imperial Aramaic]], particularly during the periods of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (612–539 BC) and the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–330 BC).		At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, the [[Syro-Hittite states]] were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was [[Aram-Damascus]], which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BC during the reign of King [[Hazael]]. During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. The policy of population displacement and relocation applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected the 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 [[lingua franca]] of public life and administration as [[Imperial Aramaic]], particularly during the periods of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (612–539 BC) and the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–330 BC).

	Before [[Christianity]], Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable [[Hellenization]] and [[Romanization]] in the [[Near East]].{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=443}} Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=444}} Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the [[Greeks]].{{sfn\|Witakowski\|1987\|p=76\|ps=: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.}} The [[early Muslim conquests]] in the 7th century were followed by the [[Islamization]] and the gradual [[Arabization]] (re-[[Semitic people\|Semiticization]] after centuries of [[Hellenization]], [[Persianization]] and [[Romanization]]) of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and [[acculturation]].{{sfn\|Griffith\|1997\|p=11–31}} Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some [[Terms for Syriac Christians\|Syriac-Christian]] or [[Neo-Aramaic languages\|Neo-Aramaic speaking]] groups, such as the [[Maronites]] and the Aramean inhabitants of [[Maaloula]] and [[Jubb’adin]] near Damascus in Syria.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World \|isbn=9781107244566 \|page=17 \|language=English \|quote=As Greek politai became a sub-category for a wider group of Syrians, the Greek peer polity network of Syria and, more broadly, the Roman imperial Syrian ethnos maintained cognitive and performative commonality, even if it did not always enjoy political solidarity or engage in unified mass action. Within it, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Syrians, whether speaking Greek or Aramaic, deemed ancient (As)Syrians/Arameans among their ethnos civic founders (if not ethnic ancestors), but their historical narratives were often informed by Greek influences and categories. In this sense, Syrians of the Roman imperial era, and even Assyrians or Arameans beyond the frontier, posited links to various ancient Greek or Syrian "founders," with or without positing ethnic descent.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Maronites in history \|page=177 \|language=English \|quote=Lammens states that [[al-Baladhuri]] labeled these Maronites al-Anbat to indicate their Aramaic (Syriac) origin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain \|publisher=Victoria Institute. \|page=51 \|language=English \|quote=The only people that remain who might be considered lineal descendants of the Aramean race are the [[Druzes\|Droozes]] and [[Maronites]].}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Asher Kaufman \|title=Reviving Phoenicia \|language=English \|quote=The Syrians today, Zaydan continued, are divided by their origin into two groups: Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are Arabs. As for the Christians, the majority are descendants of the Arameans, the Arabs and the Greeks. The Arameans were the original inhabitants of the land, then came the Greeks from the West, followed by the Arabs, the Ghasanis, who came from the Hauran in the hinterland. In short, Christian Syrians are not genealogically Arabs, even if there is some Arab blood flowing in their veins. Yet they are considered Arabs because they speak Arabic, they procreate in an Arab land and they live according to Arab morals. Thus, Syria became an Arab country after the Islamic occupation.}}</ref>		Before [[Christianity]], Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable [[Hellenization]] and [[Romanization (cultural)\|Romanization]] in the [[Near East]].{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=443}} Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=444}} Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the [[Greeks]].{{sfn\|Witakowski\|1987\|p=76\|ps=: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.}} The [[early Muslim conquests]] in the 7th century were followed by the [[Islamization]] and the gradual [[Arabization]] (re-[[Semitic people\|Semiticization]] after centuries of [[Hellenization]], [[Persianization]] and [[Romanization]]) of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and [[acculturation]].{{sfn\|Griffith\|1997\|p=11–31}} Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some [[Terms for Syriac Christians\|Syriac-Christian]] or [[Neo-Aramaic languages\|Neo-Aramaic speaking]] groups, such as the [[Maronites]] and the Aramean inhabitants of [[Maaloula]] and [[Jubb’adin]] near Damascus in Syria.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World \|isbn=9781107244566 \|page=17 \|language=English \|quote=As Greek politai became a sub-category for a wider group of Syrians, the Greek peer polity network of Syria and, more broadly, the Roman imperial Syrian ethnos maintained cognitive and performative commonality, even if it did not always enjoy political solidarity or engage in unified mass action. Within it, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Syrians, whether speaking Greek or Aramaic, deemed ancient (As)Syrians/Arameans among their ethnos civic founders (if not ethnic ancestors), but their historical narratives were often informed by Greek influences and categories. In this sense, Syrians of the Roman imperial era, and even Assyrians or Arameans beyond the frontier, posited links to various ancient Greek or Syrian "founders," with or without positing ethnic descent.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Maronites in history \|page=177 \|language=English \|quote=Lammens states that [[al-Baladhuri]] labeled these Maronites al-Anbat to indicate their Aramaic (Syriac) origin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain \|publisher=Victoria Institute. \|page=51 \|language=English \|quote=The only people that remain who might be considered lineal descendants of the Aramean race are the [[Druzes\|Droozes]] and [[Maronites]].}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Asher Kaufman \|title=Reviving Phoenicia \|language=English \|quote=The Syrians today, Zaydan continued, are divided by their origin into two groups: Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are Arabs. As for the Christians, the majority are descendants of the Arameans, the Arabs and the Greeks. The Arameans were the original inhabitants of the land, then came the Greeks from the West, followed by the Arabs, the Ghasanis, who came from the Hauran in the hinterland. In short, Christian Syrians are not genealogically Arabs, even if there is some Arab blood flowing in their veins. Yet they are considered Arabs because they speak Arabic, they procreate in an Arab land and they live according to Arab morals. Thus, Syria became an Arab country after the Islamic occupation.}}</ref>

	== Etymology ==		== Etymology ==

Wimmel: Undid revision 1306547024 by 777network (talk) This article is about the ancient Arameans. As such, the past sense is more appropriate. See earlier discussions on the talk page and its archives, in particular Talk:Arameans/Archive_2#RFC_on_purpose_of_this_article

2025-08-19T16:28:44Z

Undid revision 1306547024 by 777network (talk) This article is about the ancient Arameans. As such, the past sense is more appropriate. See earlier discussions on the talk page and its archives, in particular Talk:Arameans/Archive_2#RFC_on_purpose_of_this_article

← Previous revision		Revision as of 16:28, 19 August 2025
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	The '''Arameans''', or '''Aramaeans''' ({{langx\|he\|אֲרַמִּים\|arammim}}; {{langx\|grc\|Ἀραμαῖοι\|Aramaíoi}}; {{langx\|syc\|ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ\|ārāmāyē}},<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity \|isbn=9780192562463 \|page=234 \|language=English}}</ref> {{small\|[[Syriac language#Phonology\|Syriac pronunciation]]:}} {{IPA\|syc\|ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje\|}}), ~~are~~ a [[Tribe\|tribal]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=Sargon II, King of Assyria \|isbn=9780884142232 \|page=179 \|language=English \|quote=The origin of the Aramean tribal groups in this area still remains unclear, in spite of the several hypotheses proposed.? Aramean tribal groups are attested at least from the eleventh century as new occupants of strategic areas in the Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia, and the Syrian steppe.}}</ref> [[Semitic people]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Ancient Assyrians \|isbn=9781472848079 \|page=13 \|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Egypt and the Near East \|isbn=9780761499572 \|page=140 \|language=English}}</ref> in the [[ancient Near East]], first documented in historical sources from the late [[12th century BCE]]. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of [[Aram (region)\|Aram]], originally covered central regions of what is now [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine \|isbn=9789004294233 \|language=English \|quote=The spread of the Aramaic language from its Syrian homeland resulted in large part from Aramean migration and expansion, and was abetted by the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation operative during the gth to the 7th cen turies. These factors led to the so-called Aramaization of Assyria and Babylonia, a process that gained momentum in the latter days of the Assyrian Empire.}}</ref>		The '''Arameans''', or '''Aramaeans''' ({{langx\|he\|אֲרַמִּים\|arammim}}; {{langx\|grc\|Ἀραμαῖοι\|Aramaíoi}}; {{langx\|syc\|ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ\|ārāmāyē}},<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity \|isbn=9780192562463 \|page=234 \|language=English}}</ref> {{small\|[[Syriac language#Phonology\|Syriac pronunciation]]:}} {{IPA\|syc\|ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje\|}}), were a [[Tribe\|tribal]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=Sargon II, King of Assyria \|isbn=9780884142232 \|page=179 \|language=English \|quote=The origin of the Aramean tribal groups in this area still remains unclear, in spite of the several hypotheses proposed.? Aramean tribal groups are attested at least from the eleventh century as new occupants of strategic areas in the Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia, and the Syrian steppe.}}</ref> [[Semitic people]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Ancient Assyrians \|isbn=9781472848079 \|page=13 \|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Egypt and the Near East \|isbn=9780761499572 \|page=140 \|language=English}}</ref> in the [[ancient Near East]], first documented in historical sources from the late [[12th century BCE]]. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of [[Aram (region)\|Aram]], originally covered central regions of what is now [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine \|isbn=9789004294233 \|language=English \|quote=The spread of the Aramaic language from its Syrian homeland resulted in large part from Aramean migration and expansion, and was abetted by the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation operative during the gth to the 7th cen turies. These factors led to the so-called Aramaization of Assyria and Babylonia, a process that gained momentum in the latter days of the Assyrian Empire.}}</ref>

	The Arameans were not a single nation or group; 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 extralinguistic identity markers, such as material culture, lifestyle, or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The people of Aram were called "Arameans" in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> but the terms "Aramean" and “Aram” were never used by later [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] to refer to themselves or their country, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]], since his kingdom was also called Aram.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} "Arameans" is an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to [[1st millennium BCE]] inhabitants of Syria.{{sfn\|Berlejung\|2014\|p=339}}{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}}		The Arameans were not a single nation or group; 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 extralinguistic identity markers, such as material culture, lifestyle, or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The people of Aram were called "Arameans" in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> but the terms "Aramean" and “Aram” were never used by later [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] to refer to themselves or their country, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]], since his kingdom was also called Aram.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} "Arameans" is an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to [[1st millennium BCE]] inhabitants of Syria.{{sfn\|Berlejung\|2014\|p=339}}{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}}

777network: Arameans still exist. The source (5) does not state them as "were" or people that once existed. If so, then please state the page from that book where this claim is presented.

2025-08-18T10:07:03Z

Arameans still exist. The source (5) does not state them as "were" or people that once existed. If so, then please state the page from that book where this claim is presented.

← Previous revision		Revision as of 10:07, 18 August 2025
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	{{Arameans}}{{Protection padlock\|small=yes}}		{{Arameans}}{{Protection padlock\|small=yes}}

	The '''Arameans''', or '''Aramaeans''' ({{langx\|he\|אֲרַמִּים\|arammim}}; {{langx\|grc\|Ἀραμαῖοι\|Aramaíoi}}; {{langx\|syc\|ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ\|ārāmāyē}},<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity \|isbn=9780192562463 \|page=234 \|language=English}}</ref> {{small\|[[Syriac language#Phonology\|Syriac pronunciation]]:}} {{IPA\|syc\|ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje\|}}), ~~were~~ a [[Tribe\|tribal]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=Sargon II, King of Assyria \|isbn=9780884142232 \|page=179 \|language=English \|quote=The origin of the Aramean tribal groups in this area still remains unclear, in spite of the several hypotheses proposed.? Aramean tribal groups are attested at least from the eleventh century as new occupants of strategic areas in the Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia, and the Syrian steppe.}}</ref> [[Semitic people]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Ancient Assyrians \|isbn=9781472848079 \|page=13 \|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Egypt and the Near East \|isbn=9780761499572 \|page=140 \|language=English}}</ref> in the [[ancient Near East]], first documented in historical sources from the late [[12th century BCE]]. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of [[Aram (region)\|Aram]], originally covered central regions of what is now [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine \|isbn=9789004294233 \|language=English \|quote=The spread of the Aramaic language from its Syrian homeland resulted in large part from Aramean migration and expansion, and was abetted by the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation operative during the gth to the 7th cen turies. These factors led to the so-called Aramaization of Assyria and Babylonia, a process that gained momentum in the latter days of the Assyrian Empire.}}</ref>		The '''Arameans''', or '''Aramaeans''' ({{langx\|he\|אֲרַמִּים\|arammim}}; {{langx\|grc\|Ἀραμαῖοι\|Aramaíoi}}; {{langx\|syc\|ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ\|ārāmāyē}},<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity \|isbn=9780192562463 \|page=234 \|language=English}}</ref> {{small\|[[Syriac language#Phonology\|Syriac pronunciation]]:}} {{IPA\|syc\|ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje\|}}), are a [[Tribe\|tribal]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=Sargon II, King of Assyria \|isbn=9780884142232 \|page=179 \|language=English \|quote=The origin of the Aramean tribal groups in this area still remains unclear, in spite of the several hypotheses proposed.? Aramean tribal groups are attested at least from the eleventh century as new occupants of strategic areas in the Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia, and the Syrian steppe.}}</ref> [[Semitic people]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Ancient Assyrians \|isbn=9781472848079 \|page=13 \|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Egypt and the Near East \|isbn=9780761499572 \|page=140 \|language=English}}</ref> in the [[ancient Near East]], first documented in historical sources from the late [[12th century BCE]]. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of [[Aram (region)\|Aram]], originally covered central regions of what is now [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine \|isbn=9789004294233 \|language=English \|quote=The spread of the Aramaic language from its Syrian homeland resulted in large part from Aramean migration and expansion, and was abetted by the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation operative during the gth to the 7th cen turies. These factors led to the so-called Aramaization of Assyria and Babylonia, a process that gained momentum in the latter days of the Assyrian Empire.}}</ref>

	The Arameans were not a single nation or group; 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 extralinguistic identity markers, such as material culture, lifestyle, or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The people of Aram were called "Arameans" in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> but the terms "Aramean" and “Aram” were never used by later [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] to refer to themselves or their country, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]], since his kingdom was also called Aram.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} "Arameans" is an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to [[1st millennium BCE]] inhabitants of Syria.{{sfn\|Berlejung\|2014\|p=339}}{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}}		The Arameans were not a single nation or group; 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 extralinguistic identity markers, such as material culture, lifestyle, or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The people of Aram were called "Arameans" in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> but the terms "Aramean" and “Aram” were never used by later [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] to refer to themselves or their country, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]], since his kingdom was also called Aram.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} "Arameans" is an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to [[1st millennium BCE]] inhabitants of Syria.{{sfn\|Berlejung\|2014\|p=339}}{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}}

Prosnu at 10:24, 15 August 2025

2025-08-15T10:24:17Z

← Previous revision		Revision as of 10:24, 15 August 2025
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	At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, the [[Syro-Hittite states]] were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was [[Aram-Damascus]], which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BC during the reign of King [[Hazael]]. During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. The policy of population displacement and relocation applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected the 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 [[lingua franca]] of public life and administration as [[Imperial Aramaic]], particularly during the periods of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (612–539 BC) and the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–330 BC).		At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, the [[Syro-Hittite states]] were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was [[Aram-Damascus]], which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BC during the reign of King [[Hazael]]. During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. The policy of population displacement and relocation applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected the 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 [[lingua franca]] of public life and administration as [[Imperial Aramaic]], particularly during the periods of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (612–539 BC) and the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–330 BC).

	Before [[Christianity]], Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable [[Hellenization]] and [[Romanization]] in the [[Near East]].{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=443}} Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=444}} Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the [[Greeks]].{{sfn\|Witakowski\|1987\|p=76\|ps=: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.}} The [[early Muslim conquests]] in the 7th century were followed by the [[Islamization]] and the gradual [[Arabization]] (re-[[Semitic people\|~~Semitization~~]] after centuries of [[Hellenization]], [[Persianization]] and [[Romanization]]) of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and [[acculturation]].{{sfn\|Griffith\|1997\|p=11–31}} Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some [[Terms for Syriac Christians\|Syriac-Christian]] or [[Neo-Aramaic languages\|Neo-Aramaic speaking]] groups, such as the [[Maronites]] and the Aramean inhabitants of [[Maaloula]] and [[Jubb’adin]] near Damascus in Syria.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World \|isbn=9781107244566 \|page=17 \|language=English \|quote=As Greek politai became a sub-category for a wider group of Syrians, the Greek peer polity network of Syria and, more broadly, the Roman imperial Syrian ethnos maintained cognitive and performative commonality, even if it did not always enjoy political solidarity or engage in unified mass action. Within it, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Syrians, whether speaking Greek or Aramaic, deemed ancient (As)Syrians/Arameans among their ethnos civic founders (if not ethnic ancestors), but their historical narratives were often informed by Greek influences and categories. In this sense, Syrians of the Roman imperial era, and even Assyrians or Arameans beyond the frontier, posited links to various ancient Greek or Syrian "founders," with or without positing ethnic descent.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Maronites in history \|page=177 \|language=English \|quote=Lammens states that [[al-Baladhuri]] labeled these Maronites al-Anbat to indicate their Aramaic (Syriac) origin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain \|publisher=Victoria Institute. \|page=51 \|language=English \|quote=The only people that remain who might be considered lineal descendants of the Aramean race are the [[Druzes\|Droozes]] and [[Maronites]].}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Asher Kaufman \|title=Reviving Phoenicia \|language=English \|quote=The Syrians today, Zaydan continued, are divided by their origin into two groups: Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are Arabs. As for the Christians, the majority are descendants of the Arameans, the Arabs and the Greeks. The Arameans were the original inhabitants of the land, then came the Greeks from the West, followed by the Arabs, the Ghasanis, who came from the Hauran in the hinterland. In short, Christian Syrians are not genealogically Arabs, even if there is some Arab blood flowing in their veins. Yet they are considered Arabs because they speak Arabic, they procreate in an Arab land and they live according to Arab morals. Thus, Syria became an Arab country after the Islamic occupation.}}</ref>		Before [[Christianity]], Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable [[Hellenization]] and [[Romanization]] in the [[Near East]].{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=443}} Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=444}} Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the [[Greeks]].{{sfn\|Witakowski\|1987\|p=76\|ps=: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.}} The [[early Muslim conquests]] in the 7th century were followed by the [[Islamization]] and the gradual [[Arabization]] (re-[[Semitic people\|Semiticization]] after centuries of [[Hellenization]], [[Persianization]] and [[Romanization]]) of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and [[acculturation]].{{sfn\|Griffith\|1997\|p=11–31}} Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some [[Terms for Syriac Christians\|Syriac-Christian]] or [[Neo-Aramaic languages\|Neo-Aramaic speaking]] groups, such as the [[Maronites]] and the Aramean inhabitants of [[Maaloula]] and [[Jubb’adin]] near Damascus in Syria.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World \|isbn=9781107244566 \|page=17 \|language=English \|quote=As Greek politai became a sub-category for a wider group of Syrians, the Greek peer polity network of Syria and, more broadly, the Roman imperial Syrian ethnos maintained cognitive and performative commonality, even if it did not always enjoy political solidarity or engage in unified mass action. Within it, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Syrians, whether speaking Greek or Aramaic, deemed ancient (As)Syrians/Arameans among their ethnos civic founders (if not ethnic ancestors), but their historical narratives were often informed by Greek influences and categories. In this sense, Syrians of the Roman imperial era, and even Assyrians or Arameans beyond the frontier, posited links to various ancient Greek or Syrian "founders," with or without positing ethnic descent.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Maronites in history \|page=177 \|language=English \|quote=Lammens states that [[al-Baladhuri]] labeled these Maronites al-Anbat to indicate their Aramaic (Syriac) origin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain \|publisher=Victoria Institute. \|page=51 \|language=English \|quote=The only people that remain who might be considered lineal descendants of the Aramean race are the [[Druzes\|Droozes]] and [[Maronites]].}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Asher Kaufman \|title=Reviving Phoenicia \|language=English \|quote=The Syrians today, Zaydan continued, are divided by their origin into two groups: Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are Arabs. As for the Christians, the majority are descendants of the Arameans, the Arabs and the Greeks. The Arameans were the original inhabitants of the land, then came the Greeks from the West, followed by the Arabs, the Ghasanis, who came from the Hauran in the hinterland. In short, Christian Syrians are not genealogically Arabs, even if there is some Arab blood flowing in their veins. Yet they are considered Arabs because they speak Arabic, they procreate in an Arab land and they live according to Arab morals. Thus, Syria became an Arab country after the Islamic occupation.}}</ref>

	== Etymology ==		== Etymology ==

Prosnu at 10:22, 15 August 2025

2025-08-15T10:22:52Z

← Previous revision		Revision as of 10:22, 15 August 2025
Line 10:		Line 10:
	At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, the [[Syro-Hittite states]] were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was [[Aram-Damascus]], which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BC during the reign of King [[Hazael]]. During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. The policy of population displacement and relocation applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected the 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 [[lingua franca]] of public life and administration as [[Imperial Aramaic]], particularly during the periods of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (612–539 BC) and the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–330 BC).		At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, the [[Syro-Hittite states]] were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was [[Aram-Damascus]], which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BC during the reign of King [[Hazael]]. During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. The policy of population displacement and relocation applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected the 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 [[lingua franca]] of public life and administration as [[Imperial Aramaic]], particularly during the periods of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (612–539 BC) and the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–330 BC).

	Before [[Christianity]], Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable [[Hellenization]] and [[Romanization]] in the [[Near East]].{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=443}} Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=444}} Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the [[Greeks]].{{sfn\|Witakowski\|1987\|p=76\|ps=: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.}} The [[early Muslim conquests]] in the 7th century were followed by the [[Islamization]] and the gradual [[Arabization]] (re-[[Semitic people\|Semitization]] after centuries [[Hellenization]], [[Persianization]] and [[Romanization]]) of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and [[acculturation]].{{sfn\|Griffith\|1997\|p=11–31}} Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some [[Terms for Syriac Christians\|Syriac-Christian]] or [[Neo-Aramaic languages\|Neo-Aramaic speaking]] groups, such as the [[Maronites]] and the Aramean inhabitants of [[Maaloula]] and [[Jubb’adin]] near Damascus in Syria.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World \|isbn=9781107244566 \|page=17 \|language=English \|quote=As Greek politai became a sub-category for a wider group of Syrians, the Greek peer polity network of Syria and, more broadly, the Roman imperial Syrian ethnos maintained cognitive and performative commonality, even if it did not always enjoy political solidarity or engage in unified mass action. Within it, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Syrians, whether speaking Greek or Aramaic, deemed ancient (As)Syrians/Arameans among their ethnos civic founders (if not ethnic ancestors), but their historical narratives were often informed by Greek influences and categories. In this sense, Syrians of the Roman imperial era, and even Assyrians or Arameans beyond the frontier, posited links to various ancient Greek or Syrian "founders," with or without positing ethnic descent.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Maronites in history \|page=177 \|language=English \|quote=Lammens states that [[al-Baladhuri]] labeled these Maronites al-Anbat to indicate their Aramaic (Syriac) origin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain \|publisher=Victoria Institute. \|page=51 \|language=English \|quote=The only people that remain who might be considered lineal descendants of the Aramean race are the [[Druzes\|Droozes]] and [[Maronites]].}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Asher Kaufman \|title=Reviving Phoenicia \|language=English \|quote=The Syrians today, Zaydan continued, are divided by their origin into two groups: Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are Arabs. As for the Christians, the majority are descendants of the Arameans, the Arabs and the Greeks. The Arameans were the original inhabitants of the land, then came the Greeks from the West, followed by the Arabs, the Ghasanis, who came from the Hauran in the hinterland. In short, Christian Syrians are not genealogically Arabs, even if there is some Arab blood flowing in their veins. Yet they are considered Arabs because they speak Arabic, they procreate in an Arab land and they live according to Arab morals. Thus, Syria became an Arab country after the Islamic occupation.}}</ref>		Before [[Christianity]], Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable [[Hellenization]] and [[Romanization]] in the [[Near East]].{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=443}} Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=444}} Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the [[Greeks]].{{sfn\|Witakowski\|1987\|p=76\|ps=: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.}} The [[early Muslim conquests]] in the 7th century were followed by the [[Islamization]] and the gradual [[Arabization]] (re-[[Semitic people\|Semitization]] after centuries of [[Hellenization]], [[Persianization]] and [[Romanization]]) of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and [[acculturation]].{{sfn\|Griffith\|1997\|p=11–31}} Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some [[Terms for Syriac Christians\|Syriac-Christian]] or [[Neo-Aramaic languages\|Neo-Aramaic speaking]] groups, such as the [[Maronites]] and the Aramean inhabitants of [[Maaloula]] and [[Jubb’adin]] near Damascus in Syria.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World \|isbn=9781107244566 \|page=17 \|language=English \|quote=As Greek politai became a sub-category for a wider group of Syrians, the Greek peer polity network of Syria and, more broadly, the Roman imperial Syrian ethnos maintained cognitive and performative commonality, even if it did not always enjoy political solidarity or engage in unified mass action. Within it, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Syrians, whether speaking Greek or Aramaic, deemed ancient (As)Syrians/Arameans among their ethnos civic founders (if not ethnic ancestors), but their historical narratives were often informed by Greek influences and categories. In this sense, Syrians of the Roman imperial era, and even Assyrians or Arameans beyond the frontier, posited links to various ancient Greek or Syrian "founders," with or without positing ethnic descent.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Maronites in history \|page=177 \|language=English \|quote=Lammens states that [[al-Baladhuri]] labeled these Maronites al-Anbat to indicate their Aramaic (Syriac) origin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain \|publisher=Victoria Institute. \|page=51 \|language=English \|quote=The only people that remain who might be considered lineal descendants of the Aramean race are the [[Druzes\|Droozes]] and [[Maronites]].}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Asher Kaufman \|title=Reviving Phoenicia \|language=English \|quote=The Syrians today, Zaydan continued, are divided by their origin into two groups: Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are Arabs. As for the Christians, the majority are descendants of the Arameans, the Arabs and the Greeks. The Arameans were the original inhabitants of the land, then came the Greeks from the West, followed by the Arabs, the Ghasanis, who came from the Hauran in the hinterland. In short, Christian Syrians are not genealogically Arabs, even if there is some Arab blood flowing in their veins. Yet they are considered Arabs because they speak Arabic, they procreate in an Arab land and they live according to Arab morals. Thus, Syria became an Arab country after the Islamic occupation.}}</ref>

	== Etymology ==		== Etymology ==

Prosnu at 10:22, 15 August 2025

2025-08-15T10:22:07Z

← Previous revision		Revision as of 10:22, 15 August 2025
Line 10:		Line 10:
	At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, the [[Syro-Hittite states]] were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was [[Aram-Damascus]], which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BC during the reign of King [[Hazael]]. During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. The policy of population displacement and relocation applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected the 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 [[lingua franca]] of public life and administration as [[Imperial Aramaic]], particularly during the periods of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (612–539 BC) and the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–330 BC).		At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, the [[Syro-Hittite states]] were established throughout the ancient Near East. The most notable was [[Aram-Damascus]], which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BC during the reign of King [[Hazael]]. During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. The policy of population displacement and relocation applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected the 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 [[lingua franca]] of public life and administration as [[Imperial Aramaic]], particularly during the periods of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (612–539 BC) and the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–330 BC).

	Before [[Christianity]], Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable [[Hellenization]] and [[Romanization]] in the [[Near East]].{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=443}} Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=444}} Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the [[Greeks]].{{sfn\|Witakowski\|1987\|p=76\|ps=: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.}} The [[early Muslim conquests]] in the 7th century were followed by the [[Islamization]] and the gradual [[Arabization]] of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and [[acculturation]].{{sfn\|Griffith\|1997\|p=11–31}} Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some [[Terms for Syriac Christians\|Syriac-Christian]] or [[Neo-Aramaic languages\|Neo-Aramaic speaking]] groups, such as the [[Maronites]] and the Aramean inhabitants of [[Maaloula]] and [[Jubb’adin]] near Damascus in Syria.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World \|isbn=9781107244566 \|page=17 \|language=English \|quote=As Greek politai became a sub-category for a wider group of Syrians, the Greek peer polity network of Syria and, more broadly, the Roman imperial Syrian ethnos maintained cognitive and performative commonality, even if it did not always enjoy political solidarity or engage in unified mass action. Within it, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Syrians, whether speaking Greek or Aramaic, deemed ancient (As)Syrians/Arameans among their ethnos civic founders (if not ethnic ancestors), but their historical narratives were often informed by Greek influences and categories. In this sense, Syrians of the Roman imperial era, and even Assyrians or Arameans beyond the frontier, posited links to various ancient Greek or Syrian "founders," with or without positing ethnic descent.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Maronites in history \|page=177 \|language=English \|quote=Lammens states that [[al-Baladhuri]] labeled these Maronites al-Anbat to indicate their Aramaic (Syriac) origin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain \|publisher=Victoria Institute. \|page=51 \|language=English \|quote=The only people that remain who might be considered lineal descendants of the Aramean race are the [[Druzes\|Droozes]] and [[Maronites]].}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Asher Kaufman \|title=Reviving Phoenicia \|language=English \|quote=The Syrians today, Zaydan continued, are divided by their origin into two groups: Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are Arabs. As for the Christians, the majority are descendants of the Arameans, the Arabs and the Greeks. The Arameans were the original inhabitants of the land, then came the Greeks from the West, followed by the Arabs, the Ghasanis, who came from the Hauran in the hinterland. In short, Christian Syrians are not genealogically Arabs, even if there is some Arab blood flowing in their veins. Yet they are considered Arabs because they speak Arabic, they procreate in an Arab land and they live according to Arab morals. Thus, Syria became an Arab country after the Islamic occupation.}}</ref>		Before [[Christianity]], Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable [[Hellenization]] and [[Romanization]] in the [[Near East]].{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=443}} Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established.{{sfn\|Healey\|2019\|p=444}} Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the [[Greeks]].{{sfn\|Witakowski\|1987\|p=76\|ps=: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.}} The [[early Muslim conquests]] in the 7th century were followed by the [[Islamization]] and the gradual [[Arabization]] (re-[[Semitic people\|Semitization]] after centuries [[Hellenization]], [[Persianization]] and [[Romanization]]) of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and [[acculturation]].{{sfn\|Griffith\|1997\|p=11–31}} Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some [[Terms for Syriac Christians\|Syriac-Christian]] or [[Neo-Aramaic languages\|Neo-Aramaic speaking]] groups, such as the [[Maronites]] and the Aramean inhabitants of [[Maaloula]] and [[Jubb’adin]] near Damascus in Syria.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World \|isbn=9781107244566 \|page=17 \|language=English \|quote=As Greek politai became a sub-category for a wider group of Syrians, the Greek peer polity network of Syria and, more broadly, the Roman imperial Syrian ethnos maintained cognitive and performative commonality, even if it did not always enjoy political solidarity or engage in unified mass action. Within it, both ethnic Greeks and ethnic Syrians, whether speaking Greek or Aramaic, deemed ancient (As)Syrians/Arameans among their ethnos civic founders (if not ethnic ancestors), but their historical narratives were often informed by Greek influences and categories. In this sense, Syrians of the Roman imperial era, and even Assyrians or Arameans beyond the frontier, posited links to various ancient Greek or Syrian "founders," with or without positing ethnic descent.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Maronites in history \|page=177 \|language=English \|quote=Lammens states that [[al-Baladhuri]] labeled these Maronites al-Anbat to indicate their Aramaic (Syriac) origin.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain \|publisher=Victoria Institute. \|page=51 \|language=English \|quote=The only people that remain who might be considered lineal descendants of the Aramean race are the [[Druzes\|Droozes]] and [[Maronites]].}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Asher Kaufman \|title=Reviving Phoenicia \|language=English \|quote=The Syrians today, Zaydan continued, are divided by their origin into two groups: Muslims and Christians. Most of the Muslims are Arabs. As for the Christians, the majority are descendants of the Arameans, the Arabs and the Greeks. The Arameans were the original inhabitants of the land, then came the Greeks from the West, followed by the Arabs, the Ghasanis, who came from the Hauran in the hinterland. In short, Christian Syrians are not genealogically Arabs, even if there is some Arab blood flowing in their veins. Yet they are considered Arabs because they speak Arabic, they procreate in an Arab land and they live according to Arab morals. Thus, Syria became an Arab country after the Islamic occupation.}}</ref>

	== Etymology ==		== Etymology ==

Shmayo: Partial revert, see talk page. Some resorting.

2025-06-30T12:56:45Z

Partial revert, see talk page. Some resorting.

Show changes

PersonJanuary2024: /* Aramean states */

2025-06-30T11:34:17Z

Aramean states

← Previous revision		Revision as of 11:34, 30 June 2025
Line 37:		Line 37:
	Some of the major Aramean-speaking city states included [[Aram-Damascus]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=347}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=549-654}} [[Hamath]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=249}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=425-500}} [[Bet-Adini]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=163}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=307-372}} [[Bet-Bagyan]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=119}} [[Bit-Hadipe]], [[Aram Rehob\|Aram-Bet Rehob]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=319}} [[Aram-Zobah]], [[Bet-Zamani]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=135}} [[Bet-Halupe]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=78}} and [[Maacah\|Aram-Ma'akah]], as well as the Aramean tribal polities of the [[Gambulu]], [[Litau]] and [[Puqudu]].{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=}} [[Peter Akkermans\|Akkermans]] and Schwartz note that in assessing [[Luwians\|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.{{sfn\|Akkerman & Schwartz\|2003\|p=367}}		Some of the major Aramean-speaking city states included [[Aram-Damascus]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=347}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=549-654}} [[Hamath]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=249}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=425-500}} [[Bet-Adini]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=163}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=307-372}} [[Bet-Bagyan]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=119}} [[Bit-Hadipe]], [[Aram Rehob\|Aram-Bet Rehob]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=319}} [[Aram-Zobah]], [[Bet-Zamani]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=135}} [[Bet-Halupe]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=78}} and [[Maacah\|Aram-Ma'akah]], as well as the Aramean tribal polities of the [[Gambulu]], [[Litau]] and [[Puqudu]].{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=}} [[Peter Akkermans\|Akkermans]] and Schwartz note that in assessing [[Luwians\|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.{{sfn\|Akkerman & Schwartz\|2003\|p=367}}

	The Arameans were not a single unified nation but a collection of local groups spread across the [[Levant]] in the [[1st millennium BCE]] particularly in regions collectively referred to as [[Aram (region)\|Aram]] a geographic term that during the [[Iron Age]] referred to various parts of what is now [[Syria]].{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}} This makes it difficult to define a coherent ethnic category of "Aramean" based on material culture, lifestyle or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The designation "Arameans" appears in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> yet it was never used by [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] themselves, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]].{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} In earlier Assyrian sources from the late [[2nd millennium BCE]] references are made to "the land of the Arameans", suggesting a people-group with territory.<ref>{{cite book \|title=At the Dawn of History \|isbn=9781575064741 \|page=135-137 \|language=English \|quote= The geographical sector described here for the Ahlamû of the "land of the Arameans" stretches further westward, reaching Palmyra ("Tadmar"), and southward, attaining Anat of Suhu and Rapiqu, on the northwestern border of Babylonia.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Karel van der Toorn]] \|title=Becoming Diaspora Jews \|publisher=Yale University Press \|isbn=9780300249491 \|pages=44-45 \|language=English \|quote=Confusion about the meaning of the term "Aramean" arises from the fact that "Aram" was also the name of a territory. Whereas Assyrian sources from the late second millennium BCE speak about "the land of the Arameans," in the first millennium "Aram" became a topographical reference. "Aram" was the name of various territories in north-western Syria, distinguished from one another by the addition of a tribal name or the name of a city.}}</ref> Over time, especially in the 1st millennium BCE, Aram functioned more as a [[Topography\|topographical]] term than a political one, applied to multiple regions often defined by tribal names or major cities. As a result, "Aramean" may refer to [[Ethnicity\|ethnic]], [[Linguistics\|linguistic]] and/or [[Territory\|territorial]] meanings. In some contexts, it referred specifically to the Aramaic-speaking groups, while in others it described the broader inhabitants of ancient Syria without any specific ethnic connotation.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Angelika Berlejung \|title=The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria \|date=2014 \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=978-90-04-22845-0 \|page=339 \|language=English \|quote=The inhabitants of the territories called ‘Aram’ (‘Aram’ being originally a toponym without ethnic connotations) have been called ‘Aramaeans’ in the Assyrian texts and in the Old Testament, but the term ‘Aramaean’ was never a self-designation.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Hualong MEI \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|date=2023 \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|language=English \|quote=We cannot assert that all Aramaic-speakers identified themselves as Arameans,40 or considered other Aramaic-speakers as fellow Arameans. At the same time, certainly not all residents in a given Aramean polity spoke Aramaic (e.g. the Luwian speakers in polities that experienced a Luwian-to-Aramean dynastic change).}}</ref> For instance, [[Herodotus]] called the people of [[Judea]] "Syrians of Palestine". In [[Aramaic]], such populations were called "Arameans" a designation that may have served primarily as an administrative designation. However, in certain cases, such as the [[Jews\|Jewish]] community at [[Elephantine]], cultural and linguistic ties with the Arameans extended beyond purely administrative usage. The term thus reflected a fluid identity shaped by geography, language and cultural affiliation, and has been interpreted in various ways by modern scholarship due to its complex historical usage.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=K. Lawson Younger, Jr. \|title=A Political History of the Arameans \|isbn=9781628370843 \|page=106 \|language=English \|quote=If the [[Book of Genesis\|patriarchal narratives]] come from the Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian periods, their portrayal of a specific region "Aram" in upper Mesopotamia at a time when all independent states had been absorbed into provinces of the Assyrian, Babylonian, or Persian Empires reflects knowledge of either the older political situation, or an ethnic or geographic rather than political terminology, '''otherwise unknown to us'''.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=K. Lawson Younger Jr. \|title=A Political History of the Arameans \|isbn=9781628370843 \|page=105 \|language=English \|quote=Thus the use of "Aram" as a prefix to other toponyms and the use of "Aramean" as an ethnicon may be attributable to later scribal glossing of geographic names or to a proleptic usage, a functional anachronistic usage. This would be similar to using the term China or Chinese to designate the various ancient dynastic empires of that region prior to the Chin dynasty.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Karel van der Toorn]] \|title=Becoming Diaspora Jews \|publisher=Yale University Press \|isbn=9780300249491 \|pages=30-60 \|language=English \|quote=Though Aramean was and remained a term of ethnicity, then, it could also refer to inhabitants of the territory known as Aram, that is Syria-Palestine. In that sense, even inhabitants of Judah might be referred to as "Syrians". Herodotus calls them "the Syrians of Palestine". In the Aramaic vernacular, they were "Arameans". It was, one might argue, a purely administrative identity. As the previous chapter has demonstrated, however, the Elephantine Jews were Arameans in more than a purely administrative sense. Much of their literary and religious culture was Aramean too. This raises the issue of the nature of their relation to the other Arameans who dwelt in Egypt, especially their neighbors who lived in Syene.}}</ref>		The Arameans were not a single unified nation but a collection of local groups spread across the [[Levant]] in the [[1st millennium BCE]] particularly in regions collectively referred to as [[Aram (region)\|Aram]] a geographic term that during the [[Iron Age]] referred to various parts of what is now [[Syria]].{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}} This makes it difficult to define a coherent ethnic category of "Aramean" based on material culture, lifestyle or religion, apart from language, since many supposed markers of Aramean identity are more regional than ethnic, and are shared with neighboring cultures like the [[Syro-Hittite states\|Neo-Hittites]]/[[Luwians]] and other Northwest-Semitic peoples.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Hualong MEI \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|pages=195-196 \|language=English \|quote=Without delving into the details, suffice it to say that many characteristics of "Aramean" pottery, art (reliefs and statues, etc.), architecture, settlement patterns, funerary customs and funerary objects are more regional than ethnic, as they are demonstrated also by the material culture of surrounding peoples and polities in ancient Syria and beyond, particularly that of the Neo-Hittites/Luwians (Bonatz 1993; 2019; Nabulsi 2017: 163- 222). In particular, the banquet motif of Aramaic funerary inscriptions and the style of the accompanying visual presentation have a long tradition in the Neo-Hittite world (Bonatz 2000: 60-64). It is thus no wonder that some scholars would deny the existence of an Aramean culture (Bonatz 2019), on the account of the blur, fluid and manifold nature of the cultural boundary between the Arameans and the Luwians as well as that between the Arameans and the other Northwest Semitic peoples (Simon 2019; Amadasi 2019).}}</ref>{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The designation "Arameans" appears in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> yet it was never used by [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] themselves, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]].{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} In earlier Assyrian sources from the late [[2nd millennium BCE]] references are made to "the land of the Arameans", suggesting a people-group with territory.<ref>{{cite book \|title=At the Dawn of History \|isbn=9781575064741 \|page=135-137 \|language=English \|quote= The geographical sector described here for the Ahlamû of the "land of the Arameans" stretches further westward, reaching Palmyra ("Tadmar"), and southward, attaining Anat of Suhu and Rapiqu, on the northwestern border of Babylonia.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Karel van der Toorn]] \|title=Becoming Diaspora Jews \|publisher=Yale University Press \|isbn=9780300249491 \|pages=44-45 \|language=English \|quote=Confusion about the meaning of the term "Aramean" arises from the fact that "Aram" was also the name of a territory. Whereas Assyrian sources from the late second millennium BCE speak about "the land of the Arameans," in the first millennium "Aram" became a topographical reference. "Aram" was the name of various territories in north-western Syria, distinguished from one another by the addition of a tribal name or the name of a city.}}</ref> Over time, especially in the 1st millennium BCE, Aram functioned more as a [[Topography\|topographical]] term than a political one, applied to multiple regions often defined by tribal names or major cities. As a result, "Aramean" may refer to [[Ethnicity\|ethnic]], [[Linguistics\|linguistic]] and/or [[Territory\|territorial]] meanings. In some contexts, it referred specifically to the Aramaic-speaking groups, while in others it described the broader inhabitants of ancient Syria without any specific ethnic connotation.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Angelika Berlejung \|title=The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria \|date=2014 \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=978-90-04-22845-0 \|page=339 \|language=English \|quote=The inhabitants of the territories called ‘Aram’ (‘Aram’ being originally a toponym without ethnic connotations) have been called ‘Aramaeans’ in the Assyrian texts and in the Old Testament, but the term ‘Aramaean’ was never a self-designation.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Hualong MEI \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|date=2023 \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|language=English \|quote=We cannot assert that all Aramaic-speakers identified themselves as Arameans,40 or considered other Aramaic-speakers as fellow Arameans. At the same time, certainly not all residents in a given Aramean polity spoke Aramaic (e.g. the Luwian speakers in polities that experienced a Luwian-to-Aramean dynastic change).}}</ref> For instance, [[Herodotus]] called the people of [[Judea]] "Syrians of Palestine". In [[Aramaic]], such populations were called "Arameans" a designation that may have served primarily as an administrative designation. However, in certain cases, such as the [[Jews\|Jewish]] community at [[Elephantine]], cultural and linguistic ties with the Arameans extended beyond purely administrative usage. The term thus reflected a fluid identity shaped by geography, language and cultural affiliation, and has been interpreted in various ways by modern scholarship due to its complex historical usage.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=K. Lawson Younger, Jr. \|title=A Political History of the Arameans \|isbn=9781628370843 \|page=106 \|language=English \|quote=If the [[Book of Genesis\|patriarchal narratives]] come from the Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian periods, their portrayal of a specific region "Aram" in upper Mesopotamia at a time when all independent states had been absorbed into provinces of the Assyrian, Babylonian, or Persian Empires reflects knowledge of either the older political situation, or an ethnic or geographic rather than political terminology, '''otherwise unknown to us'''.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=K. Lawson Younger Jr. \|title=A Political History of the Arameans \|isbn=9781628370843 \|page=105 \|language=English \|quote=Thus the use of "Aram" as a prefix to other toponyms and the use of "Aramean" as an ethnicon may be attributable to later scribal glossing of geographic names or to a proleptic usage, a functional anachronistic usage. This would be similar to using the term China or Chinese to designate the various ancient dynastic empires of that region prior to the Chin dynasty.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Karel van der Toorn]] \|title=Becoming Diaspora Jews \|publisher=Yale University Press \|isbn=9780300249491 \|pages=30-60 \|language=English \|quote=Though Aramean was and remained a term of ethnicity, then, it could also refer to inhabitants of the territory known as Aram, that is Syria-Palestine. In that sense, even inhabitants of Judah might be referred to as "Syrians". Herodotus calls them "the Syrians of Palestine". In the Aramaic vernacular, they were "Arameans". It was, one might argue, a purely administrative identity. As the previous chapter has demonstrated, however, the Elephantine Jews were Arameans in more than a purely administrative sense. Much of their literary and religious culture was Aramean too. This raises the issue of the nature of their relation to the other Arameans who dwelt in Egypt, especially their neighbors who lived in Syene.}}</ref>

	Aramean tribal groups were identified by family names that often began with the [[Semitic languages\|Semitic]] prefix ''Bit'', meaning "house of", such as "Bit Adini". This naming convention was influenced by the writing system used by the coastal [[Phoenicia]]ns. Each tribe's name signified the house or ancestral lineage to which it belonged.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Israel's Neighbors \|isbn=9780190690618 \|pages=54–55 \|language=English \|quote=Groups of family members lived near one another, and the social structure was probably focused on the identity of a primarymale figure in the family ("patriarchal") and possibly even traced its roots to some local tribal ancestor, after which the group was named (e.g., Bit Adini, Bit-Agusi, Bit-Gabbari, Bit-Hazaili; the Semitic word "Bit" means "House of," followed by the name of a founding figure). Most scholars who study the Arameans speak of their origins in terms of "tribes" and tribal leaders who took advantage of political instability in the region during certain time periods to expand their territory.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=A History of Syria in One Hundred Sites \|isbn=9781784913823 \|page=5 \|language=English \|quote=Each Aramean tribal group was called by the family name, 'Bit' (house), following a coastal Phoenician writing system. The most important Aramaic kingdoms were established at Halaf (Kingdom of Guzana - the Kingdom of Bit-Bahiani), Ahmar (the Kingdom of Bit-Adini), Damascus (the Kingdom of Aram Damascus) and North of Aleppo (the Kingdom of Bit-Agushi).}}</ref> The expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” in [[Sefire treaty inscriptions]] have been variously interpreted, but can suggest a degree of political and cultural unity among some of the polities in the area.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15-16\|ps=In the 8th century B.C. Aramaic inscriptions of Sefire (KAI 222–224) expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” were variously interpreted, but it can be safely argued that “All Aram” refers to a geographical area that included the territories of the Aramaean and non-Aramaean kingdoms united in the coalition against Matiʾel of Arpad, and that roughly covers the boundaries of modern Syria, while “Upper and Lower Aram” may refer to North and South Syria, respectively.}}<ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Steven Grosby]] \|title=Biblical Ideas of Nationality \|isbn=9781575060651 \|pages=150–165 \|language=English \|quote=The qualifier "all" in "all Aram" is clearly of some sociological significance; it implies a certain kind of collective unity. One is immediately re-minded of the Deuteronomistic use of "all" in "all Israel (kol yisra'el) from Dan to Beersheba."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Brian Peckham\|J. Brian Peckham]] \|title=Phoenicia \|isbn=9781646021222 \|language=English \|quote=By mid-century, the Syrian chiefdoms, through a system of alliances, affirmed their Aramean identity as "All Aram", consisting of the states in "Upper and Lower Aram", and together defied the Assyrian Empire.70}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|page=117 \|language=English \|quote=What is certain is that no united, pan-Aramean national state ever existed, yet clearly "Aram" served as a common identity marker and (self-)designation, although possibly with different meanings (e.g. as a region, as a collective noun for the people; or another appellation of the Damascus-centered polity). The brief analysis of the lists of treaty partners as well as the geographical description in the Sefire Treaties, furthermore, appears to suggest that "all Aram" may indicate the highest level of identity among different Aramean polities, above the tribe, the city-state and the individual ruling families, even if not all Aramean speakers, all Aramean tribes or states were included in this "all Aram". 119 The phrase more likely refers to a group of polities that shared common Aramean cultural and social features, perhaps all with Aramean tribal structures internally in addition to the use of varieties of the Aramean language, who chose to pick Aram as a common denominator in this context. 120 How inclusive or exclusive this phrase is in reality cannot be judged. Finally, while the nature of the Aramean identity is largely cultural and perhaps ethnic, the presence of political elements is also likely. Although a united Aramean polity, as the one suggested by B. Mazar (1962), might not be fully tenable, the fact that "all Aram", with Arpad as its representative, can serve as a party in international treaties indicates that the Arameans as an cultural community may have engaged in joint political acts, at least conceptually.}}</ref>		Aramean tribal groups were identified by family names that often began with the [[Semitic languages\|Semitic]] prefix ''Bit'', meaning "house of", such as "Bit Adini". This naming convention was influenced by the writing system used by the coastal [[Phoenicia]]ns. Each tribe's name signified the house or ancestral lineage to which it belonged.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Israel's Neighbors \|isbn=9780190690618 \|pages=54–55 \|language=English \|quote=Groups of family members lived near one another, and the social structure was probably focused on the identity of a primarymale figure in the family ("patriarchal") and possibly even traced its roots to some local tribal ancestor, after which the group was named (e.g., Bit Adini, Bit-Agusi, Bit-Gabbari, Bit-Hazaili; the Semitic word "Bit" means "House of," followed by the name of a founding figure). Most scholars who study the Arameans speak of their origins in terms of "tribes" and tribal leaders who took advantage of political instability in the region during certain time periods to expand their territory.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=A History of Syria in One Hundred Sites \|isbn=9781784913823 \|page=5 \|language=English \|quote=Each Aramean tribal group was called by the family name, 'Bit' (house), following a coastal Phoenician writing system. The most important Aramaic kingdoms were established at Halaf (Kingdom of Guzana - the Kingdom of Bit-Bahiani), Ahmar (the Kingdom of Bit-Adini), Damascus (the Kingdom of Aram Damascus) and North of Aleppo (the Kingdom of Bit-Agushi).}}</ref> The expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” in [[Sefire treaty inscriptions]] have been variously interpreted, but can suggest a degree of political and cultural unity among some of the polities in the area.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15-16\|ps=In the 8th century B.C. Aramaic inscriptions of Sefire (KAI 222–224) expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” were variously interpreted, but it can be safely argued that “All Aram” refers to a geographical area that included the territories of the Aramaean and non-Aramaean kingdoms united in the coalition against Matiʾel of Arpad, and that roughly covers the boundaries of modern Syria, while “Upper and Lower Aram” may refer to North and South Syria, respectively.}}<ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Steven Grosby]] \|title=Biblical Ideas of Nationality \|isbn=9781575060651 \|pages=150–165 \|language=English \|quote=The qualifier "all" in "all Aram" is clearly of some sociological significance; it implies a certain kind of collective unity. One is immediately re-minded of the Deuteronomistic use of "all" in "all Israel (kol yisra'el) from Dan to Beersheba."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Brian Peckham\|J. Brian Peckham]] \|title=Phoenicia \|isbn=9781646021222 \|language=English \|quote=By mid-century, the Syrian chiefdoms, through a system of alliances, affirmed their Aramean identity as "All Aram", consisting of the states in "Upper and Lower Aram", and together defied the Assyrian Empire.70}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|page=117 \|language=English \|quote=What is certain is that no united, pan-Aramean national state ever existed, yet clearly "Aram" served as a common identity marker and (self-)designation, although possibly with different meanings (e.g. as a region, as a collective noun for the people; or another appellation of the Damascus-centered polity). The brief analysis of the lists of treaty partners as well as the geographical description in the Sefire Treaties, furthermore, appears to suggest that "all Aram" may indicate the highest level of identity among different Aramean polities, above the tribe, the city-state and the individual ruling families, even if not all Aramean speakers, all Aramean tribes or states were included in this "all Aram". 119 The phrase more likely refers to a group of polities that shared common Aramean cultural and social features, perhaps all with Aramean tribal structures internally in addition to the use of varieties of the Aramean language, who chose to pick Aram as a common denominator in this context. 120 How inclusive or exclusive this phrase is in reality cannot be judged. Finally, while the nature of the Aramean identity is largely cultural and perhaps ethnic, the presence of political elements is also likely. Although a united Aramean polity, as the one suggested by B. Mazar (1962), might not be fully tenable, the fact that "all Aram", with Arpad as its representative, can serve as a party in international treaties indicates that the Arameans as an cultural community may have engaged in joint political acts, at least conceptually.}}</ref>

PersonJanuary2024: Add further source and reintroduce Berlejung with proper quotation in contrast to the previous version, refer to the talk page

2025-06-29T12:56:55Z

Add further source and reintroduce Berlejung with proper quotation in contrast to the previous version, refer to the talk page

Show changes

Remsense: Restored revision 1296090720 by Natg 19 (talk): Apologies, but you can't just remove material with conclusions you don't like, it's tendentious to smuggle in with other edits. please explain why you deleted the Berlejung 2014 passage on the talk page before making more changes, which still appear to have undue focus on linguistic minutiae in a generalist encyclopedia article.

2025-06-28T14:43:06Z

Restored revision 1296090720 by Natg 19 (talk): Apologies, but you can't just remove material with conclusions you don't like, it's tendentious to smuggle in with other edits. please explain why you deleted the Berlejung 2014 passage on the talk page before making more changes, which still appear to have undue focus on linguistic minutiae in a generalist encyclopedia article.

Show changes

← Previous revision		Revision as of 16:28, 19 August 2025
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	The '''Arameans''', or '''Aramaeans''' ({{langx\|he\|אֲרַמִּים\|arammim}}; {{langx\|grc\|Ἀραμαῖοι\|Aramaíoi}}; {{langx\|syc\|ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ\|ārāmāyē}},<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity \|isbn=9780192562463 \|page=234 \|language=English}}</ref> {{small\|[[Syriac language#Phonology\|Syriac pronunciation]]:}} {{IPA\|syc\|ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje\|}}), ~~are~~ a [[Tribe\|tribal]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=Sargon II, King of Assyria \|isbn=9780884142232 \|page=179 \|language=English \|quote=The origin of the Aramean tribal groups in this area still remains unclear, in spite of the several hypotheses proposed.? Aramean tribal groups are attested at least from the eleventh century as new occupants of strategic areas in the Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia, and the Syrian steppe.}}</ref> [[Semitic people]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Ancient Assyrians \|isbn=9781472848079 \|page=13 \|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Egypt and the Near East \|isbn=9780761499572 \|page=140 \|language=English}}</ref> in the [[ancient Near East]], first documented in historical sources from the late [[12th century BCE]]. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of [[Aram (region)\|Aram]], originally covered central regions of what is now [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine \|isbn=9789004294233 \|language=English \|quote=The spread of the Aramaic language from its Syrian homeland resulted in large part from Aramean migration and expansion, and was abetted by the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation operative during the gth to the 7th cen turies. These factors led to the so-called Aramaization of Assyria and Babylonia, a process that gained momentum in the latter days of the Assyrian Empire.}}</ref>		The '''Arameans''', or '''Aramaeans''' ({{langx\|he\|אֲרַמִּים\|arammim}}; {{langx\|grc\|Ἀραμαῖοι\|Aramaíoi}}; {{langx\|syc\|ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ\|ārāmāyē}},<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity \|isbn=9780192562463 \|page=234 \|language=English}}</ref> {{small\|[[Syriac language#Phonology\|Syriac pronunciation]]:}} {{IPA\|syc\|ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje\|}}), were a [[Tribe\|tribal]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=Sargon II, King of Assyria \|isbn=9780884142232 \|page=179 \|language=English \|quote=The origin of the Aramean tribal groups in this area still remains unclear, in spite of the several hypotheses proposed.? Aramean tribal groups are attested at least from the eleventh century as new occupants of strategic areas in the Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia, and the Syrian steppe.}}</ref> [[Semitic people]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Ancient Assyrians \|isbn=9781472848079 \|page=13 \|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Egypt and the Near East \|isbn=9780761499572 \|page=140 \|language=English}}</ref> in the [[ancient Near East]], first documented in historical sources from the late [[12th century BCE]]. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of [[Aram (region)\|Aram]], originally covered central regions of what is now [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine \|isbn=9789004294233 \|language=English \|quote=The spread of the Aramaic language from its Syrian homeland resulted in large part from Aramean migration and expansion, and was abetted by the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation operative during the gth to the 7th cen turies. These factors led to the so-called Aramaization of Assyria and Babylonia, a process that gained momentum in the latter days of the Assyrian Empire.}}</ref>

	The Arameans were not a single nation or group; 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 extralinguistic identity markers, such as material culture, lifestyle, or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The people of Aram were called "Arameans" in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> but the terms "Aramean" and “Aram” were never used by later [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] to refer to themselves or their country, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]], since his kingdom was also called Aram.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} "Arameans" is an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to [[1st millennium BCE]] inhabitants of Syria.{{sfn\|Berlejung\|2014\|p=339}}{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}}		The Arameans were not a single nation or group; 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 extralinguistic identity markers, such as material culture, lifestyle, or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The people of Aram were called "Arameans" in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> but the terms "Aramean" and “Aram” were never used by later [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] to refer to themselves or their country, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]], since his kingdom was also called Aram.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} "Arameans" is an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to [[1st millennium BCE]] inhabitants of Syria.{{sfn\|Berlejung\|2014\|p=339}}{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}}

← Previous revision		Revision as of 10:07, 18 August 2025
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	{{Arameans}}{{Protection padlock\|small=yes}}		{{Arameans}}{{Protection padlock\|small=yes}}

	The '''Arameans''', or '''Aramaeans''' ({{langx\|he\|אֲרַמִּים\|arammim}}; {{langx\|grc\|Ἀραμαῖοι\|Aramaíoi}}; {{langx\|syc\|ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ\|ārāmāyē}},<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity \|isbn=9780192562463 \|page=234 \|language=English}}</ref> {{small\|[[Syriac language#Phonology\|Syriac pronunciation]]:}} {{IPA\|syc\|ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje\|}}), ~~were~~ a [[Tribe\|tribal]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=Sargon II, King of Assyria \|isbn=9780884142232 \|page=179 \|language=English \|quote=The origin of the Aramean tribal groups in this area still remains unclear, in spite of the several hypotheses proposed.? Aramean tribal groups are attested at least from the eleventh century as new occupants of strategic areas in the Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia, and the Syrian steppe.}}</ref> [[Semitic people]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Ancient Assyrians \|isbn=9781472848079 \|page=13 \|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Egypt and the Near East \|isbn=9780761499572 \|page=140 \|language=English}}</ref> in the [[ancient Near East]], first documented in historical sources from the late [[12th century BCE]]. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of [[Aram (region)\|Aram]], originally covered central regions of what is now [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine \|isbn=9789004294233 \|language=English \|quote=The spread of the Aramaic language from its Syrian homeland resulted in large part from Aramean migration and expansion, and was abetted by the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation operative during the gth to the 7th cen turies. These factors led to the so-called Aramaization of Assyria and Babylonia, a process that gained momentum in the latter days of the Assyrian Empire.}}</ref>		The '''Arameans''', or '''Aramaeans''' ({{langx\|he\|אֲרַמִּים\|arammim}}; {{langx\|grc\|Ἀραμαῖοι\|Aramaíoi}}; {{langx\|syc\|ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ\|ārāmāyē}},<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity \|isbn=9780192562463 \|page=234 \|language=English}}</ref> {{small\|[[Syriac language#Phonology\|Syriac pronunciation]]:}} {{IPA\|syc\|ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje\|}}), are a [[Tribe\|tribal]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=Sargon II, King of Assyria \|isbn=9780884142232 \|page=179 \|language=English \|quote=The origin of the Aramean tribal groups in this area still remains unclear, in spite of the several hypotheses proposed.? Aramean tribal groups are attested at least from the eleventh century as new occupants of strategic areas in the Jezirah, northern Mesopotamia, and the Syrian steppe.}}</ref> [[Semitic people]]<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Ancient Assyrians \|isbn=9781472848079 \|page=13 \|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Egypt and the Near East \|isbn=9780761499572 \|page=140 \|language=English}}</ref> in the [[ancient Near East]], first documented in historical sources from the late [[12th century BCE]]. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of [[Aram (region)\|Aram]], originally covered central regions of what is now [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine \|isbn=9789004294233 \|language=English \|quote=The spread of the Aramaic language from its Syrian homeland resulted in large part from Aramean migration and expansion, and was abetted by the Neo-Assyrian policy of deportation operative during the gth to the 7th cen turies. These factors led to the so-called Aramaization of Assyria and Babylonia, a process that gained momentum in the latter days of the Assyrian Empire.}}</ref>

	The Arameans were not a single nation or group; 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 extralinguistic identity markers, such as material culture, lifestyle, or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The people of Aram were called "Arameans" in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> but the terms "Aramean" and “Aram” were never used by later [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] to refer to themselves or their country, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]], since his kingdom was also called Aram.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} "Arameans" is an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to [[1st millennium BCE]] inhabitants of Syria.{{sfn\|Berlejung\|2014\|p=339}}{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}}		The Arameans were not a single nation or group; 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 extralinguistic identity markers, such as material culture, lifestyle, or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The people of Aram were called "Arameans" in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> but the terms "Aramean" and “Aram” were never used by later [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] to refer to themselves or their country, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]], since his kingdom was also called Aram.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} "Arameans" is an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to [[1st millennium BCE]] inhabitants of Syria.{{sfn\|Berlejung\|2014\|p=339}}{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}}

← Previous revision		Revision as of 11:34, 30 June 2025
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	Some of the major Aramean-speaking city states included [[Aram-Damascus]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=347}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=549-654}} [[Hamath]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=249}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=425-500}} [[Bet-Adini]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=163}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=307-372}} [[Bet-Bagyan]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=119}} [[Bit-Hadipe]], [[Aram Rehob\|Aram-Bet Rehob]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=319}} [[Aram-Zobah]], [[Bet-Zamani]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=135}} [[Bet-Halupe]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=78}} and [[Maacah\|Aram-Ma'akah]], as well as the Aramean tribal polities of the [[Gambulu]], [[Litau]] and [[Puqudu]].{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=}} [[Peter Akkermans\|Akkermans]] and Schwartz note that in assessing [[Luwians\|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.{{sfn\|Akkerman & Schwartz\|2003\|p=367}}		Some of the major Aramean-speaking city states included [[Aram-Damascus]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=347}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=549-654}} [[Hamath]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=249}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=425-500}} [[Bet-Adini]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=163}}{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=307-372}} [[Bet-Bagyan]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=119}} [[Bit-Hadipe]], [[Aram Rehob\|Aram-Bet Rehob]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=319}} [[Aram-Zobah]], [[Bet-Zamani]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=135}} [[Bet-Halupe]],{{sfn\|Lipiński\|2000\|p=78}} and [[Maacah\|Aram-Ma'akah]], as well as the Aramean tribal polities of the [[Gambulu]], [[Litau]] and [[Puqudu]].{{sfn\|Younger\|2016\|p=}} [[Peter Akkermans\|Akkermans]] and Schwartz note that in assessing [[Luwians\|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.{{sfn\|Akkerman & Schwartz\|2003\|p=367}}

	The Arameans were not a single unified nation but a collection of local groups spread across the [[Levant]] in the [[1st millennium BCE]] particularly in regions collectively referred to as [[Aram (region)\|Aram]] a geographic term that during the [[Iron Age]] referred to various parts of what is now [[Syria]].{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}} This makes it difficult to define a coherent ethnic category of "Aramean" based on material culture, lifestyle or religion.{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The designation "Arameans" appears in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> yet it was never used by [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] themselves, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]].{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} In earlier Assyrian sources from the late [[2nd millennium BCE]] references are made to "the land of the Arameans", suggesting a people-group with territory.<ref>{{cite book \|title=At the Dawn of History \|isbn=9781575064741 \|page=135-137 \|language=English \|quote= The geographical sector described here for the Ahlamû of the "land of the Arameans" stretches further westward, reaching Palmyra ("Tadmar"), and southward, attaining Anat of Suhu and Rapiqu, on the northwestern border of Babylonia.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Karel van der Toorn]] \|title=Becoming Diaspora Jews \|publisher=Yale University Press \|isbn=9780300249491 \|pages=44-45 \|language=English \|quote=Confusion about the meaning of the term "Aramean" arises from the fact that "Aram" was also the name of a territory. Whereas Assyrian sources from the late second millennium BCE speak about "the land of the Arameans," in the first millennium "Aram" became a topographical reference. "Aram" was the name of various territories in north-western Syria, distinguished from one another by the addition of a tribal name or the name of a city.}}</ref> Over time, especially in the 1st millennium BCE, Aram functioned more as a [[Topography\|topographical]] term than a political one, applied to multiple regions often defined by tribal names or major cities. As a result, "Aramean" may refer to [[Ethnicity\|ethnic]], [[Linguistics\|linguistic]] and/or [[Territory\|territorial]] meanings. In some contexts, it referred specifically to the Aramaic-speaking groups, while in others it described the broader inhabitants of ancient Syria without any specific ethnic connotation.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Angelika Berlejung \|title=The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria \|date=2014 \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=978-90-04-22845-0 \|page=339 \|language=English \|quote=The inhabitants of the territories called ‘Aram’ (‘Aram’ being originally a toponym without ethnic connotations) have been called ‘Aramaeans’ in the Assyrian texts and in the Old Testament, but the term ‘Aramaean’ was never a self-designation.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Hualong MEI \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|date=2023 \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|language=English \|quote=We cannot assert that all Aramaic-speakers identified themselves as Arameans,40 or considered other Aramaic-speakers as fellow Arameans. At the same time, certainly not all residents in a given Aramean polity spoke Aramaic (e.g. the Luwian speakers in polities that experienced a Luwian-to-Aramean dynastic change).}}</ref> For instance, [[Herodotus]] called the people of [[Judea]] "Syrians of Palestine". In [[Aramaic]], such populations were called "Arameans" a designation that may have served primarily as an administrative designation. However, in certain cases, such as the [[Jews\|Jewish]] community at [[Elephantine]], cultural and linguistic ties with the Arameans extended beyond purely administrative usage. The term thus reflected a fluid identity shaped by geography, language and cultural affiliation, and has been interpreted in various ways by modern scholarship due to its complex historical usage.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=K. Lawson Younger, Jr. \|title=A Political History of the Arameans \|isbn=9781628370843 \|page=106 \|language=English \|quote=If the [[Book of Genesis\|patriarchal narratives]] come from the Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian periods, their portrayal of a specific region "Aram" in upper Mesopotamia at a time when all independent states had been absorbed into provinces of the Assyrian, Babylonian, or Persian Empires reflects knowledge of either the older political situation, or an ethnic or geographic rather than political terminology, '''otherwise unknown to us'''.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=K. Lawson Younger Jr. \|title=A Political History of the Arameans \|isbn=9781628370843 \|page=105 \|language=English \|quote=Thus the use of "Aram" as a prefix to other toponyms and the use of "Aramean" as an ethnicon may be attributable to later scribal glossing of geographic names or to a proleptic usage, a functional anachronistic usage. This would be similar to using the term China or Chinese to designate the various ancient dynastic empires of that region prior to the Chin dynasty.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Karel van der Toorn]] \|title=Becoming Diaspora Jews \|publisher=Yale University Press \|isbn=9780300249491 \|pages=30-60 \|language=English \|quote=Though Aramean was and remained a term of ethnicity, then, it could also refer to inhabitants of the territory known as Aram, that is Syria-Palestine. In that sense, even inhabitants of Judah might be referred to as "Syrians". Herodotus calls them "the Syrians of Palestine". In the Aramaic vernacular, they were "Arameans". It was, one might argue, a purely administrative identity. As the previous chapter has demonstrated, however, the Elephantine Jews were Arameans in more than a purely administrative sense. Much of their literary and religious culture was Aramean too. This raises the issue of the nature of their relation to the other Arameans who dwelt in Egypt, especially their neighbors who lived in Syene.}}</ref>		The Arameans were not a single unified nation but a collection of local groups spread across the [[Levant]] in the [[1st millennium BCE]] particularly in regions collectively referred to as [[Aram (region)\|Aram]] a geographic term that during the [[Iron Age]] referred to various parts of what is now [[Syria]].{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=16\|ps= "So Aram is a geographical term that refers at times to part and at others to all of the Syrian territory in the Iron Age, hence the appellation "Aramaeans" given to the 1st - millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria"}} This makes it difficult to define a coherent ethnic category of "Aramean" based on material culture, lifestyle or religion, apart from language, since many supposed markers of Aramean identity are more regional than ethnic, and are shared with neighboring cultures like the [[Syro-Hittite states\|Neo-Hittites]]/[[Luwians]] and other Northwest-Semitic peoples.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Hualong MEI \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|pages=195-196 \|language=English \|quote=Without delving into the details, suffice it to say that many characteristics of "Aramean" pottery, art (reliefs and statues, etc.), architecture, settlement patterns, funerary customs and funerary objects are more regional than ethnic, as they are demonstrated also by the material culture of surrounding peoples and polities in ancient Syria and beyond, particularly that of the Neo-Hittites/Luwians (Bonatz 1993; 2019; Nabulsi 2017: 163- 222). In particular, the banquet motif of Aramaic funerary inscriptions and the style of the accompanying visual presentation have a long tradition in the Neo-Hittite world (Bonatz 2000: 60-64). It is thus no wonder that some scholars would deny the existence of an Aramean culture (Bonatz 2019), on the account of the blur, fluid and manifold nature of the cultural boundary between the Arameans and the Luwians as well as that between the Arameans and the other Northwest Semitic peoples (Simon 2019; Amadasi 2019).}}</ref>{{sfn\|Doak\|2020\|p=51\|ps=: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.}}{{sfn\|Gzella\|2017\|p=23\|ps=: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.}} The designation "Arameans" appears in [[Ancient Assyrian language\|Assyrian]] texts<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Jan Dušek \|author2=Jana Mynářová \|title=Aramaean Borders \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004398535 \|page=82 \|language=English \|quote=Tiglath-pileser III stated: 13 [From] those [Ara]means whom I deported, [I distribut]ed (and) settled [...thousand to the province of] the turtanu, 10,000 (to) the province of the palace herald, [...] thousand (to) the province of the chief cupbearer, ...thousand (to) the province of the land] Barha(l)zi, (and) 5,000 (to) the province of the land Mazamua.}}</ref> and the [[Hebrew Bible]],<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Thomas V Brisco \|title=Holman Bible Atlas \|isbn=9781433670312 \|language=English \|quote=The cultural identity of Syria varied historically; but from at least the beginning of the Iron Age (ca. 1200 B.C.), the Arameans increasingly dominated the region. Aramean kingdoms like Aram-Damascus, Aram-zobah, and Hamath appear repeatedly in the biblical record.}}</ref> yet it was never used by [[List of Aramean kings\|Aramean dynasts]] themselves, except the [[Aram-Damascus#Kings\|king of Aram-Damascus]].{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15\|ps= "It is interesting to note in this context that later Aramaean dynasts never refer to themselves as Aramaeans or to their country as Aram, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram."}} In earlier Assyrian sources from the late [[2nd millennium BCE]] references are made to "the land of the Arameans", suggesting a people-group with territory.<ref>{{cite book \|title=At the Dawn of History \|isbn=9781575064741 \|page=135-137 \|language=English \|quote= The geographical sector described here for the Ahlamû of the "land of the Arameans" stretches further westward, reaching Palmyra ("Tadmar"), and southward, attaining Anat of Suhu and Rapiqu, on the northwestern border of Babylonia.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Karel van der Toorn]] \|title=Becoming Diaspora Jews \|publisher=Yale University Press \|isbn=9780300249491 \|pages=44-45 \|language=English \|quote=Confusion about the meaning of the term "Aramean" arises from the fact that "Aram" was also the name of a territory. Whereas Assyrian sources from the late second millennium BCE speak about "the land of the Arameans," in the first millennium "Aram" became a topographical reference. "Aram" was the name of various territories in north-western Syria, distinguished from one another by the addition of a tribal name or the name of a city.}}</ref> Over time, especially in the 1st millennium BCE, Aram functioned more as a [[Topography\|topographical]] term than a political one, applied to multiple regions often defined by tribal names or major cities. As a result, "Aramean" may refer to [[Ethnicity\|ethnic]], [[Linguistics\|linguistic]] and/or [[Territory\|territorial]] meanings. In some contexts, it referred specifically to the Aramaic-speaking groups, while in others it described the broader inhabitants of ancient Syria without any specific ethnic connotation.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=Angelika Berlejung \|title=The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria \|date=2014 \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=978-90-04-22845-0 \|page=339 \|language=English \|quote=The inhabitants of the territories called ‘Aram’ (‘Aram’ being originally a toponym without ethnic connotations) have been called ‘Aramaeans’ in the Assyrian texts and in the Old Testament, but the term ‘Aramaean’ was never a self-designation.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=Hualong MEI \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|date=2023 \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|language=English \|quote=We cannot assert that all Aramaic-speakers identified themselves as Arameans,40 or considered other Aramaic-speakers as fellow Arameans. At the same time, certainly not all residents in a given Aramean polity spoke Aramaic (e.g. the Luwian speakers in polities that experienced a Luwian-to-Aramean dynastic change).}}</ref> For instance, [[Herodotus]] called the people of [[Judea]] "Syrians of Palestine". In [[Aramaic]], such populations were called "Arameans" a designation that may have served primarily as an administrative designation. However, in certain cases, such as the [[Jews\|Jewish]] community at [[Elephantine]], cultural and linguistic ties with the Arameans extended beyond purely administrative usage. The term thus reflected a fluid identity shaped by geography, language and cultural affiliation, and has been interpreted in various ways by modern scholarship due to its complex historical usage.<ref>{{cite book \|author1=K. Lawson Younger, Jr. \|title=A Political History of the Arameans \|isbn=9781628370843 \|page=106 \|language=English \|quote=If the [[Book of Genesis\|patriarchal narratives]] come from the Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian periods, their portrayal of a specific region "Aram" in upper Mesopotamia at a time when all independent states had been absorbed into provinces of the Assyrian, Babylonian, or Persian Empires reflects knowledge of either the older political situation, or an ethnic or geographic rather than political terminology, '''otherwise unknown to us'''.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=K. Lawson Younger Jr. \|title=A Political History of the Arameans \|isbn=9781628370843 \|page=105 \|language=English \|quote=Thus the use of "Aram" as a prefix to other toponyms and the use of "Aramean" as an ethnicon may be attributable to later scribal glossing of geographic names or to a proleptic usage, a functional anachronistic usage. This would be similar to using the term China or Chinese to designate the various ancient dynastic empires of that region prior to the Chin dynasty.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Karel van der Toorn]] \|title=Becoming Diaspora Jews \|publisher=Yale University Press \|isbn=9780300249491 \|pages=30-60 \|language=English \|quote=Though Aramean was and remained a term of ethnicity, then, it could also refer to inhabitants of the territory known as Aram, that is Syria-Palestine. In that sense, even inhabitants of Judah might be referred to as "Syrians". Herodotus calls them "the Syrians of Palestine". In the Aramaic vernacular, they were "Arameans". It was, one might argue, a purely administrative identity. As the previous chapter has demonstrated, however, the Elephantine Jews were Arameans in more than a purely administrative sense. Much of their literary and religious culture was Aramean too. This raises the issue of the nature of their relation to the other Arameans who dwelt in Egypt, especially their neighbors who lived in Syene.}}</ref>

	Aramean tribal groups were identified by family names that often began with the [[Semitic languages\|Semitic]] prefix ''Bit'', meaning "house of", such as "Bit Adini". This naming convention was influenced by the writing system used by the coastal [[Phoenicia]]ns. Each tribe's name signified the house or ancestral lineage to which it belonged.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Israel's Neighbors \|isbn=9780190690618 \|pages=54–55 \|language=English \|quote=Groups of family members lived near one another, and the social structure was probably focused on the identity of a primarymale figure in the family ("patriarchal") and possibly even traced its roots to some local tribal ancestor, after which the group was named (e.g., Bit Adini, Bit-Agusi, Bit-Gabbari, Bit-Hazaili; the Semitic word "Bit" means "House of," followed by the name of a founding figure). Most scholars who study the Arameans speak of their origins in terms of "tribes" and tribal leaders who took advantage of political instability in the region during certain time periods to expand their territory.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=A History of Syria in One Hundred Sites \|isbn=9781784913823 \|page=5 \|language=English \|quote=Each Aramean tribal group was called by the family name, 'Bit' (house), following a coastal Phoenician writing system. The most important Aramaic kingdoms were established at Halaf (Kingdom of Guzana - the Kingdom of Bit-Bahiani), Ahmar (the Kingdom of Bit-Adini), Damascus (the Kingdom of Aram Damascus) and North of Aleppo (the Kingdom of Bit-Agushi).}}</ref> The expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” in [[Sefire treaty inscriptions]] have been variously interpreted, but can suggest a degree of political and cultural unity among some of the polities in the area.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15-16\|ps=In the 8th century B.C. Aramaic inscriptions of Sefire (KAI 222–224) expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” were variously interpreted, but it can be safely argued that “All Aram” refers to a geographical area that included the territories of the Aramaean and non-Aramaean kingdoms united in the coalition against Matiʾel of Arpad, and that roughly covers the boundaries of modern Syria, while “Upper and Lower Aram” may refer to North and South Syria, respectively.}}<ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Steven Grosby]] \|title=Biblical Ideas of Nationality \|isbn=9781575060651 \|pages=150–165 \|language=English \|quote=The qualifier "all" in "all Aram" is clearly of some sociological significance; it implies a certain kind of collective unity. One is immediately re-minded of the Deuteronomistic use of "all" in "all Israel (kol yisra'el) from Dan to Beersheba."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Brian Peckham\|J. Brian Peckham]] \|title=Phoenicia \|isbn=9781646021222 \|language=English \|quote=By mid-century, the Syrian chiefdoms, through a system of alliances, affirmed their Aramean identity as "All Aram", consisting of the states in "Upper and Lower Aram", and together defied the Assyrian Empire.70}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|page=117 \|language=English \|quote=What is certain is that no united, pan-Aramean national state ever existed, yet clearly "Aram" served as a common identity marker and (self-)designation, although possibly with different meanings (e.g. as a region, as a collective noun for the people; or another appellation of the Damascus-centered polity). The brief analysis of the lists of treaty partners as well as the geographical description in the Sefire Treaties, furthermore, appears to suggest that "all Aram" may indicate the highest level of identity among different Aramean polities, above the tribe, the city-state and the individual ruling families, even if not all Aramean speakers, all Aramean tribes or states were included in this "all Aram". 119 The phrase more likely refers to a group of polities that shared common Aramean cultural and social features, perhaps all with Aramean tribal structures internally in addition to the use of varieties of the Aramean language, who chose to pick Aram as a common denominator in this context. 120 How inclusive or exclusive this phrase is in reality cannot be judged. Finally, while the nature of the Aramean identity is largely cultural and perhaps ethnic, the presence of political elements is also likely. Although a united Aramean polity, as the one suggested by B. Mazar (1962), might not be fully tenable, the fact that "all Aram", with Arpad as its representative, can serve as a party in international treaties indicates that the Arameans as an cultural community may have engaged in joint political acts, at least conceptually.}}</ref>		Aramean tribal groups were identified by family names that often began with the [[Semitic languages\|Semitic]] prefix ''Bit'', meaning "house of", such as "Bit Adini". This naming convention was influenced by the writing system used by the coastal [[Phoenicia]]ns. Each tribe's name signified the house or ancestral lineage to which it belonged.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Ancient Israel's Neighbors \|isbn=9780190690618 \|pages=54–55 \|language=English \|quote=Groups of family members lived near one another, and the social structure was probably focused on the identity of a primarymale figure in the family ("patriarchal") and possibly even traced its roots to some local tribal ancestor, after which the group was named (e.g., Bit Adini, Bit-Agusi, Bit-Gabbari, Bit-Hazaili; the Semitic word "Bit" means "House of," followed by the name of a founding figure). Most scholars who study the Arameans speak of their origins in terms of "tribes" and tribal leaders who took advantage of political instability in the region during certain time periods to expand their territory.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=A History of Syria in One Hundred Sites \|isbn=9781784913823 \|page=5 \|language=English \|quote=Each Aramean tribal group was called by the family name, 'Bit' (house), following a coastal Phoenician writing system. The most important Aramaic kingdoms were established at Halaf (Kingdom of Guzana - the Kingdom of Bit-Bahiani), Ahmar (the Kingdom of Bit-Adini), Damascus (the Kingdom of Aram Damascus) and North of Aleppo (the Kingdom of Bit-Agushi).}}</ref> The expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” in [[Sefire treaty inscriptions]] have been variously interpreted, but can suggest a degree of political and cultural unity among some of the polities in the area.{{sfn\|Sader\|2014\|p=15-16\|ps=In the 8th century B.C. Aramaic inscriptions of Sefire (KAI 222–224) expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” were variously interpreted, but it can be safely argued that “All Aram” refers to a geographical area that included the territories of the Aramaean and non-Aramaean kingdoms united in the coalition against Matiʾel of Arpad, and that roughly covers the boundaries of modern Syria, while “Upper and Lower Aram” may refer to North and South Syria, respectively.}}<ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Steven Grosby]] \|title=Biblical Ideas of Nationality \|isbn=9781575060651 \|pages=150–165 \|language=English \|quote=The qualifier "all" in "all Aram" is clearly of some sociological significance; it implies a certain kind of collective unity. One is immediately re-minded of the Deuteronomistic use of "all" in "all Israel (kol yisra'el) from Dan to Beersheba."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|author1=[[Brian Peckham\|J. Brian Peckham]] \|title=Phoenicia \|isbn=9781646021222 \|language=English \|quote=By mid-century, the Syrian chiefdoms, through a system of alliances, affirmed their Aramean identity as "All Aram", consisting of the states in "Upper and Lower Aram", and together defied the Assyrian Empire.70}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=9789004685581 \|page=117 \|language=English \|quote=What is certain is that no united, pan-Aramean national state ever existed, yet clearly "Aram" served as a common identity marker and (self-)designation, although possibly with different meanings (e.g. as a region, as a collective noun for the people; or another appellation of the Damascus-centered polity). The brief analysis of the lists of treaty partners as well as the geographical description in the Sefire Treaties, furthermore, appears to suggest that "all Aram" may indicate the highest level of identity among different Aramean polities, above the tribe, the city-state and the individual ruling families, even if not all Aramean speakers, all Aramean tribes or states were included in this "all Aram". 119 The phrase more likely refers to a group of polities that shared common Aramean cultural and social features, perhaps all with Aramean tribal structures internally in addition to the use of varieties of the Aramean language, who chose to pick Aram as a common denominator in this context. 120 How inclusive or exclusive this phrase is in reality cannot be judged. Finally, while the nature of the Aramean identity is largely cultural and perhaps ethnic, the presence of political elements is also likely. Although a united Aramean polity, as the one suggested by B. Mazar (1962), might not be fully tenable, the fact that "all Aram", with Arpad as its representative, can serve as a party in international treaties indicates that the Arameans as an cultural community may have engaged in joint political acts, at least conceptually.}}</ref>