The Arameans , or Aramaeans ( Old Aramaic : 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀 , Aramayya ; Hebrew : אֲרַמִּים ; Ancient Greek : Ἀραμαῖοι ; Classical Syriac : ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ , Aramaye , Syriac pronunciation : [ʔɑːrɑːˈmɑːje] ), were a tribal Semitic people in the ancient Near East , first documented in historical sources from the late 12th century BC. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of Aram , originally covered central regions of modern Syria .
85-520: The Gambulu , Gambulai , or Gambuli were a tribe of Arameans in ancient Babylonia . They were the most powerful tribe along the eastern border of Babylonia, or in the south toward the border with Elam . It is difficult to pinpoint their exact location. H. W. F. Saggs places them "south of the Diyala river toward the Elamite border." When Assyrian king Sargon II (722-705) waged war against them in
170-458: A conventional genitive case. That is, Modern English indicates a genitive construction with either the possessive clitic suffix " - 's ", or a prepositional genitive construction such as "x of y". However, some irregular English pronouns do have possessive forms which may more commonly be described as genitive (see English possessive ). The names of the astronomical constellations have genitive forms which are used in star names, for example
255-457: A grammatical case, although they are sometimes referred to as genitives or as belonging to a possessive case . One of the reasons that the status of ' s as a case ending is often rejected is that it does not behave as such, but rather as a clitic marking that indicates that a dependency relationship exists between phrases. One can say the King's war , but also the King of France's war , where
340-519: A mixture of Mesopotamian , Hittite and Hurrian influences. The legacy of ancient Arameans became of particular interest for scholars during the early modern period and resulted in the emergence of Aramaic studies as a distinctive field, dedicated to the study of the Aramaic language. By the 19th century, the Aramean question was formulated, and several scholarly theses were proposed regarding
425-567: A part and other times to the whole of the Syrian region during the Iron Age . 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. Biblical sources tell that Saul , David and Solomon (late 11th to 10th centuries BC) fought against
510-521: A short-lived Chaldean dynasty. The Aramean regions became a battleground between the Babylonians and the 26th Dynasty of Egypt , which had been installed by the Assyrians as vassals after they had defeated and ejected the previous Nubian -ruled 25th Dynasty . The Egyptians, having entered the region in a belated attempt to aid their former Assyrian masters, fought the Babylonians, initially with
595-803: A synchronic mutation of a final m into n in Finnish, e.g. genitive sydämen vs. nominative sydän .) This homophony has exceptions in Finnish , where a separate accusative -(e)t is found in pronouns, e.g. kenet "who (telic object)", vs. kenen "whose". A difference is also observed in some of the related Sámi languages , where the pronouns and the plural of nouns in the genitive and accusative are easily distinguishable from each other, e.g., kuä'cǩǩmi "eagles' (genitive plural)" and kuä'cǩǩmid "eagles (accusative plural)" in Skolt Sami . The genitive singular definite article for masculine and neuter nouns
680-664: A wider dispersion of Aramean communities throughout various regions of the Near East, and the range of Aramaic also widened. It gained significance and eventually became the common language of public life and administration, particularly during the periods of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (612–539 BCE) and the Achaemenid Empire (539–330 BCE). Before Christianity , Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable Hellenization and Romanization in
765-439: Is des , while the feminine and plural definite article is der . The indefinite articles are eines for masculine and neuter nouns, and einer for feminine and plural nouns (although the bare form cannot be used in the plural, it manifests in keiner , meiner , etc.) Singular masculine and neuter nouns of the strong declension in the genitive case are marked with -(e)s . Generally, one-syllable nouns favour
850-552: Is a topic of interest among scholars but is never referred to simply as "Aramean". Scholars have difficulty in identifying and isolating characteristic Aramean elements in the culture. Even in North Syria, where more substantial evidence is available, scholars still find it difficult to identify what is genuinely Aramean from what is borrowed from other cultures. Widespread scholarly opinion still maintains that since several ethnic groups, such as Luwians and Aramaeans, interacted in
935-416: Is as follows: The genitive personal pronouns are quite rare and either very formal, literary or outdated. They are as follows (with comparison to the nominative pronouns): Some examples: Unlike the personal ones, the genitive relative pronouns are in regular use and are as follows (with comparison to the nominative relative pronouns): Some examples: The genitive case is often used to show possession or
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#17327799965861020-402: Is homophonic to the genitive case. This case does not indicate possession, but is a syntactic marker for the object, additionally indicating that the action is telic (completed). In Estonian , it is often said that only a "genitive" exists. However, the cases have completely different functions, and the form of the accusative has developed from * -(e)m . (The same sound change has developed into
1105-431: Is left in the nominative case. For example: If the possessor is not the predicate of the sentence, the genitive is not used. Instead, the possessive suffixes ( -(j)e or -(j)a in the third person singular, depending on vowel harmony ) mark the possessed object. The possessor is left in the nominative if it directly precedes the possessed object (otherwise it takes a dative -nak/-nek suffix). For example: In addition,
1190-562: Is recorded as having defeated Shattuara , King of the Mitanni and his Hittite and Ahlamû mercenaries. In the next century, the Ahlamû cut the road from Babylon to Hattusas . Also, Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244–1208 BCE) conquered Mari , Hanigalbat and Rapiqum on the Euphrates and "the mountain of the Ahlamû", apparently the region of Jebel Bishri in northern Syria. The emergence of
1275-399: The -es ending, and it is obligatory with nouns ending with a sibilant such as s or z . Otherwise, a simple -s ending is usual. Feminine and plural nouns remain uninflected: Singular masculine nouns (and one neuter noun) of the weak declension are marked with an -(e)n (or rarely -(e)ns ) ending in the genitive case: The declension of adjectives in the genitive case
1360-998: The Byzantine and Sasanid Empires. Several minor states also existed in frontier regions, most notably the Kingdom of Osroene , centred in the city of Edessa , known in Aramaic as Urhay. However, it is not easy in either pre-Christian or Christian periods to trace purely-Aramean elements in Edessan culture. During the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages , the Ancient Greek custom of using Syrian labels for Arameans and their language started to gain acceptance among an Aramaic-speaking literary and ecclesiastical elites. The practice of using Syrian labels as designations for Aramaic-speakers and their language
1445-518: The Hebrew Bible , but the terms “Aramean” and “Aram” were never used by later Aramean dynasts to refer to themselves or their country, with the exception of the king of Aram-Damascus since his kingdom was also called Aram. "Arameans" is merely an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to 1st-millennium BC inhabitants of Syria. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, several Aramean-ruled city-states were established throughout
1530-726: The Indo-European -speaking post-Hittite states . The Arameans, together with the Edomites and the Ammonites , attacked Israel in the early 11th century BCE but were defeated. Meanwhile, Arameans moved to the east of the Euphrates and into Babylonia, where an Aramean usurper was crowned king of Babylon under the name Adad-apal-iddin. During the 11th and the 10th centuries BCE, the Arameans conquered Sam'al and renamed it Bît-Agushi ,. They also conquered Til Barsip , which became
1615-552: The Kansai dialect of Japanese will in rare cases allow accusative case to convert to genitive, if specific conditions are met in the clause in which the conversion appears. This is referred to as "Accusative-Genitive conversion." The genitive is one of the cases of nouns and pronouns in Latin . Latin genitives still have certain modern scientific uses: The Irish language also uses a genitive case ( tuiseal ginideach ). For example, in
1700-782: The Middle Assyrian Empire . Assyrian annals from the end of the Middle Assyrian Empire c. 1050 BCE and the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 911 BCE contain numerous descriptions of battles between Arameans and the Assyrian army. The Assyrians launched repeated raids into Aramean lands, Babylonia, Ancient Iran, Elam, Asia Minor, and even as far as the Mediterranean to keep its trade routes open. The Aramean city-states, like much of
1785-600: The Near East and Asia Minor since the first half of the 14th century BCE, began to shrink rapidly after the death of Ashur-bel-kala , its last great ruler in 1056 BCE. The Assyrian withdrawal allowed the Arameans and others to gain independence and take firm control of Eber-Nari in the late 11th century BCE. Some of the major Aramean-speaking city states included Aram-Damascus , Hamath , Bet-Adini , Bet-Bagyan , Bit-Hadipe , Aram-Bet Rehob , Aram-Zobah , Bet-Zamani , Bet-Halupe , and Aram-Ma'akah , as well as
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#17327799965861870-676: The Near East in various dialects. By around 800 BCE, Aramaic had become the lingua franca of the Neo-Assyrian Empire , which continued during the Achaemenid period as Imperial Aramaic . Although it was marginalized by Greek during the Hellenistic period , Aramaic in its varying dialects remained unchallenged as the common language of all Semitic peoples of the region until the Arabs ' Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia in
1955-575: The Near East . Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world had begun a long time before Christianity became established. Some scholars suggest that Arameans who accepted Christianity were referred to as Syrians by the Greeks . The early Muslim conquests in the 7th century were followed by the Islamization and the gradual Arabization of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout
2040-851: The Palestine region , Transjordan and Sinai . Descendant Neo-Aramaic languages of the Eastern Aramaic branch continue to serve as the spoken and written languages of the Assyrians , Mandeans and Mizrahi Jews . These languages are primarily found in Iraq , northwestern Iran , southeastern Turkey and northeastern Syria , and to a lesser extent, in migrant communities in Armenia , Georgia, Russia , Lebanon , Israel , Jordan and Azerbaijan , as well as in Assyrian diaspora communities in
2125-630: The Turkic languages . Depending on the language, specific varieties of genitive-noun–main-noun relationships may include: Depending on the language, some of the relationships mentioned above have their own distinct cases different from the genitive. Possessive pronouns are distinct pronouns, found in Indo-European languages such as English, that function like pronouns inflected in the genitive. They are considered separate pronouns if contrasting to languages where pronouns are regularly inflected in
2210-492: The genitive case ( abbreviated gen ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun , as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can also serve purposes indicating other relationships. For example, some verbs may feature arguments in the genitive case; and the genitive case may also have adverbial uses (see adverbial genitive ). The genitive construction includes
2295-546: The "Ahlamû-Arameans" ( Ahlame Armaia ). Shortly afterward, the Ahlamû disappear from Assyrian annals and are replaced by the Arameans ( Aramu, Arimi ). That indicates that the Arameans had risen to dominance amongst the nomads. Among scholars, the relationship between the Akhlame and the Arameans is a matter of conjecture. By the late 12th century BCE, the Arameans had been firmly established in Syria; however, they were conquered by
2380-647: The 13th century BCE across the ancient Near East , the Arabian Peninsula , Asia Minor , and Egypt . The Arameans would appear to be one part of the larger generic Ahlamû group rather than synonymous with the Ahlamu. The presence of the Ahlamû is attested during the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1020 BCE), which already ruled many of the lands in which the Ahlamû arose in the Babylonian city of Nippur and even at Dilmun . Shalmaneser I (1274–1245 BCE)
2465-488: The 7th century AD, when the language became gradually superseded by Arabic . The vernacular dialects of Eastern Old Aramaic, spoken during the Neo-Assyrian , Neo-Babylonian , and Achaemenid Persian empires, developed into various Eastern Middle Aramaic dialects. Among these were the Aramaic dialects of the ancient region of Osrhoene , one of which later became the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity . In
2550-548: The Aramean groups is derived from excavated objects and temples and by Aramaic literary sources, as well as the names they had. Their religion did not feature any particular deity that could be called an Aramean god or goddess. It appears from their inscriptions and their names that the Arameans worshipped Canaanite and Mesopotamian gods such as Hadad , Sin , Ishtar (whom they called Astarte ), Shamash , Tammuz , Bel and Nergal , and Canaaite - Phoenecian deities such as
2635-461: The Aramean tribal polities of the Gambulu , Litau and Puqudu . Akkermans and Schwartz note that in assessing Luwian and Aramean states in ancient Syria, the existing information on the ethnic composition of the regional states in ancient Syria primarily concerns the rulers and so the ethnolingustic situation of the majority of the population of the states is unclear. Furthermore, they mean that
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2720-708: The Arameans occurred during the Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE), which saw great upheavals and mass movements of peoples across the Middle East , Asia Minor , the Caucasus , the East Mediterranean , North Africa , Ancient Iran , Ancient Greece and the Balkans and led to the genesis of new peoples and polities across those regions. The Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BCE), which had dominated
2805-714: The Byzantine authorities and thus secured religious tolerance. The Byzantines extended their rule up to Edessa (1031) but were forced into a general retreat from Syria during the course of the 11th century and were pushed back by the newly-arrived Seljuk Turks , who took Antioch (1084). The later establishment of Crusader states (1098), the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa , created new challenges for local Aramaic-speaking Christians, both Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox. The Iron Age culture of Syria
2890-704: The Israelite royal dynasty, the House of David . In the early 11th century BCE, much of Israel came under foreign rule for eight years according to the Book of Judges until Othniel defeated the forces led by Cushan-Rishathaim , who was titled in the Bible as ruler of Aram-Naharaim . Further north, the Arameans gained possession of post-Hittite Hamath on the Orontes River and became strong enough to dissociate with
2975-514: The Near East and Asia Minor, were subjugated by the Neo Assyrian Empire from the reign of Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE, who cleared Arameans and other tribal peoples from the borders of Assyria and began to expand in all directions. The process was continued by Ashurnasirpal II and his son Shalmaneser III , who destroyed many of the small Aramean tribes and conquered Aramean lands for the Assyrians. In 732 BCE, Aram-Damascus fell and
3060-577: The Near East. That ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and acculturation . Today, their cultural and linguistic heritage continues to be recognized by some Syriac-Christian or Neo-Aramaic speaking groups, such as the Maronites and the Aramean inhabitants of Maaloula and Jubb’adin near Damascus in Syria. The toponym A-ra-mu appears in an inscription at the East Semitic -speaking kingdom of Ebla listing geographical names, and
3145-399: The Neo-Assyrian Empire and followed by the gradual linguistic Aramization of non-Aramean populations, created a specific situation in the regions of Assyria proper among ancient Assyrians , who originally spoke the ancient Assyrian language , a dialect of Akkadian, but later accepted Aramaic. Eber-Nari was then ruled by the succeeding Neo-Babylonian Empire, which was initially headed by
3230-597: The Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 8th century BCE, and the native Assyrians and Babylonians began to make a gradual language shift towards Aramaic as the most common language of public life and administration. The Neo Assyrian Empire descended into a series of brutal internal wars from 626 BCE that weakened it greatly. That allowed a coalition of many its former subject peoples ( Babylonians , Chaldeans , Medes , Persians , Parthians , Scythians , Sagartians and Cimmerians ) to attack Assyria in 616 BCE, sack Nineveh in 612 BCE and finally defeat it between 605 and 599 BCE. During
3315-575: The Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian times, as the Persians, seeing themselves as successors of previous empires, maintained Imperial Aramaic as the main language of public life and administration. Provincial administrative structures also remained the same, and the name Eber Nari still applied to the region. The conquests of Alexander the Great marked the beginning of a new era in the history of
3400-695: The West, particularly in the United States , Canada , Great Britain , Sweden , Australia and Germany . Western Neo-Aramaic , the only surviving modern variety of the Western branch, is now spoken by Muslims and Christians solely in Maaloula and Jubb'adin in the Qalamoun mountains of southwestern Syria. During the early modern period , the study of the Aramaic language, both ancient and modern,
3485-459: The ancient Near East . The most notable was Aram-Damascus which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BCE during the reign of King Hazael . During the 8th century BC, local Aramaean city-states were gradually conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . The policy of population displacement and relocation that was applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected Arameans, many of whom were resettled by Assyrian authorities. That caused
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3570-434: The archives of Mari (c. 1900 BCE) and at Ugarit (c. 1300 BCE). There is no consensus on the origin and meaning of the word "Aram", one of the most accepted suggestions being that it is derived from a Semitic root rwm , "to be high". Newer suggestions interprets it as a broken plural meaning "white antelopes" or "white bulls". However, there are no historical, archaeological or linguistic evidences that those early uses of
3655-540: The chief town of Bît-Adini , also known as Beth Eden. North of Sam'al was the Aramean state of Bit Gabbari, which was sandwiched between the post-Hittite states of Carchemish , Gurgum , Khattina , Unqi and the Georgian state of Tabal . One of their earliest semi-independent kingdoms in northern Mesopotamia was Bît-Bahiâni ( Tell Halaf ). The first certain reference to the Arameans appears in an Assyrian inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I, which refers to subjugating
3740-662: The city of Dur-Athara , 18,430 were deported. The Gambulu, along with the Puqudu , continued to be politically important as far as the sixth century. Arameans The Arameans were not a single nation or group; rather, Aram was a region with local centers of power spread throughout the Levant . That makes it almost impossible to establish a coherent ethnic category of "Aramean" based on extra-linguistic identity markers such as material culture, lifestyle or religion. The people of Aram were called “Arameans” in Assyrian texts and in
3825-554: The development of the language and the history of the Arameans. In modern times, Aramean identity is held mainly by a number of Syriac Christians , from southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria , in the diaspora , especially in Germany and Sweden . In 2014, Israel officially recognised Arameans as a distinctive minority. Questions related to the minority rights of Arameans in some other countries were also brought to international attention. Genitive In grammar ,
3910-414: The diverse influences on their culture. For example, the earliest Syriac legal documents contain legal formulae that could be considered Aramean, but they could also be interpreted as Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian . After the establishment of Roman Syria in the 1st century BCE, Aramean lands became the frontier region between two empires, Roman and Parthian , and later between their successor states,
3995-605: The dominant language of Islamic prayer and worship but also as a common language of public and domestic life. The acceptance of Arabic language became the main vessel of the gradual Arabization of Aramean communities throughout the Near East and ultimately resulted in their fragmentation and acculturation . Those processes affected not only Islamized Aramaic-speakers but also some of those who remained Christians, which created local communities of Arabic-speaking Christians of Syriac Christian origin who spoke Arabic in their public and domestic life but continued to belong to churches that used
4080-627: The entire Near East, including the regions inhabited by Arameans. By the late 4th century BCE, two newly created Hellenistic states emerged as main pretenders for regional supremacy: the Seleucid Empire (305–64 BCE) and the Ptolemaic Empire (305–30 BCE). Since earlier times, ancient Greeks commonly used "Syrian" labels as designations for Arameans and heir lands, but it was during the Hellenistic (Seleucid-Ptolemaic) period that
4165-520: The first centuries AD, the Christian Bible was translated into Aramaic and by the 4th century, the local Aramaic dialect of Edessa ( Syriac : Urhay ) had evolved into a literary language known as Edessan Aramaic (Syriac: Urhaya ). Since Edessan Aramaic ( Urhaya ) was the primary liturgical language of Aramaic Christianity, it also became known as Edessan Syriac and was later defined by Western scholars as Classical Syriac . This laid
4250-466: The force of neighbouring states inducing permanent settlement. The Late Bronze Age seems to coincide with increasing aridity, which weakened neighbouring states and induced transhumance pastoralists to spend longer and longer periods with their flocks. Urban settlements (hitherto largely inhabited by Amorite , Canaaite , Hittite , and Ugarite peoples) in the Levant diminished in size until fully-nomadic pastoralist lifestyles came to dominate much of
4335-520: The foundation for the term Syriac Christianity . The Eastern Orthodox patriarchates were dominated by Greek episcopate and Greek linguistic and cultural traditions. The use of the Aramaic language in liturgical and literary life among Melkites of Jewish descent persisted throughout the Middle Ages until the 14th century, as exemplified in the use of a specific regional dialect known as Christian Palestinian Aramaic or Palestinian Syriac in
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#17327799965864420-591: The genitive case may be found in inclusio – that is, between the main noun's article and the noun itself. Old English had a genitive case, which has left its mark in modern English in the form of the possessive ending ' s (now sometimes referred to as the "Saxon genitive"), as well as possessive adjective forms such as his , their , etc., and in certain words derived from adverbial genitives such as once and afterwards . (Other Old English case markers have generally disappeared completely.) The modern English possessive forms are not normally considered to represent
4505-422: The genitive case, but is a broader category. Placing a modifying noun in the genitive case is one way of indicating that it is related to a head noun , in a genitive construction. However, there are other ways to indicate a genitive construction. For example, many Afroasiatic languages place the head noun (rather than the modifying noun) in the construct state . Possessive grammatical constructions, including
4590-421: The genitive is marked with -n , e.g. maa – maan "country – of the country". The stem may change, however, with consonant gradation and other reasons. For example, in certain words ending in consonants, -e- is added, e.g. mies – miehen "man – of the man", and in some, but not all words ending in -i , the -i is changed to an -e- , to give -en , e.g. lumi – lumen "snow – of
4675-458: The genitive marker is attached to the full noun phrase the King of France , whereas case markers are normally attached to the head of a phrase. In languages having a true genitive case, such as Old English, this example may be expressed as þes cynges wyrre of France , literally "the King's war of France", with the ' s attaching to the King . Finnic languages ( Finnish , Estonian , etc.) have genitive cases. In Finnish, prototypically
4760-430: The genitive. For example, English my is either a separate possessive adjective or an irregular genitive of I , while in Finnish, for example, minun is regularly agglutinated from minu- "I" and -n (genitive). In some languages, nouns in the genitive case also agree in case with the nouns they modify (that is, it is marked for two cases). This phenomenon is called suffixaufnahme . In some languages, nouns in
4845-646: The help of remnants of the Assyrian army, in the region for decades before they were finally vanquished. The Babylonians remained masters of the Aramean lands only until 539 BCE, when the Persian Achaemenid Empire overthrew Nabonidus , the Assyrian-born last king of Babylon, who had himself overthrown the Chaldean dynasty in 556 BCE. The Arameans were later conquered by the Achaemenid Empire (539–332 BCE). However, little changed from
4930-542: The hitherto dominant state of Ebla, founded the powerful state of Mari in the Levant and during the 19th century BCE also Babylonia , in southern Mesopotamia . However, they seem to have been displaced or wholly absorbed by the appearance of a people called the Ahlamu by the 13th century BCE and disappear from history. Ahlamû appears to be a generic term for Semitic wanderers and nomads of varying origins who appeared during
5015-446: The liturgical Aramaic/Syriac language. In the 10th century, the Byzantine Empire gradually reconquered much of northern Syria and upper Mesopotamia, including the cities of Melitene (934) and Antioch (969) and thus liberated local Aramaic-speaking Christian communities from the Muslim rule. Byzantines favoured Eastern Orthodoxy, but the leadership of the Antiochian Oriental Orthodox Patriarchate succeeded in reaching agreement with
5100-468: The material culture shows no distinctions between states dominated by the Luwians or the Arameans. Aramean tribal groups were identified by family names that often began with the Semitic prefix Bit , meaning "house of", such as "Bit Adini". This naming convention was influenced by the writing system used by the coastal Phoenicians . Each tribe's name signified the house or ancestral lineage to which it belonged. The term "Aram" sometimes referred only to
5185-406: The one hand, and Canaanite , which comprises languages further south in the speech area such as Hebrew , Phoenician , and Moabite , on the other hand. All three branches can be subsumed under the more general rubric Northwest Semitic and thus share a common origin. The earliest direct witnesses of Aramaic, which were composed between the 10th and 8th centuries BC, are unanimously subsumed under
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#17327799965865270-424: The opening centuries of the Iron Age , when several newly-emerging chiefdoms decided to use it as a written language . The process coincided with a change from syllabic cuneiform to alphabetic scribal culture and the rise of a novel style of public epigraphy , which was formerly unattested in Syria-Palestine. The language is considered a sister branch of the idiom used in the Bronze-Age city-state of Ugarit , on
5355-402: The possessive case, may be regarded as subsets of the genitive construction. For example, the genitive construction "pack of dogs” is similar, but not identical in meaning to the possessive case "dogs' pack" (and neither of these is entirely interchangeable with "dog pack", which is neither genitive nor possessive). Modern English is an example of a language that has a possessive case rather than
5440-567: The region of Aram was commonly labelled as "Syria", and the Arameans were labelled as "Syrians". When reflecting on traditional influences of Greek terminology on English translations of the Septuagint, American orientalist Robert W. Rogers noted in 1921 that it was unfortunate that the change also affected later English versions. In Greek sources, two writers spoke particularly clearly on the Arameans. Posidonius , born in Apamea , as quoted by Strabo , writes: "Those people whom we Greeks call Syrioi, call themselves Aramaioi". Further, Josephus , who
5525-469: The region, one material culture with "mixed" elements resulted. The material culture appears to be so homogeneous that it "shows no clear distinctions between states dominated by Luwians or Aramaeans". Arameans were mostly defined by their use of the West Semitic Old Aramaic language (1100 BCE – 200 CE), which was first written using the Phoenician alphabet but over time modified to a specifically- Aramaic alphabet . Aramaic first appeared in history during
5610-421: The region. The highly mobile competitive tribesmen, with their sudden raids, continually threatened long-distance trade and interfered with the collection of taxes and tribute. The people who had long been the prominent population in what is now Syria (called the Land of the Amurru during their tenure) were the Amorites, a Northwest Semitic -speaking people who had appeared during the 25th century BCE, destroyed
5695-442: The relation between nouns: A simple s is added to the end of a name: The genitive case is also commonly found after certain prepositions: The genitive case can sometimes be found in connection with certain adjectives: The genitive case is occasionally found in connection with certain verbs (some of which require an accusative before the genitive); they are mostly either formal or legal: The ablative case of Indo-European
5780-420: The singular genitive is sometimes (in a subset of words ending with a vocal in nominative) identical in form to nominative. In Finnish, in addition to the uses mentioned above, there is a construct where the genitive is used to mark a surname. For example, Juhani Virtanen can be also expressed Virtasen Juhani ("Juhani of the Virtanens"). A complication in Finnic languages is that the accusative case -(e)n
5865-430: The small Aramean states ranged across the northern frontier of Israel: Aram-Sôvah in the Beqaa , Aram-Bêt-Rehob ( Rehov ) and Aram-Ma'akah around Mount Hermon , Geshur in the Hauran , and Aram-Damascus. An Aramean king's account dating at least two centuries later, the Tel Dan stele , was discovered in northern Israel and is famous for being perhaps the earliest non-Israelite extra-biblical historical reference to
5950-402: The snow". The genitive is used extensively, with animate and inanimate possessors. In addition to the genitive, there is also a partitive case (marked -ta/-tä or -a/-ä ) used for expressing that something is a part of a larger mass, e.g. joukko miehiä "a group of men". In Estonian, the genitive marker -n has elided with respect to Finnish. Thus, the genitive always ends with a vowel, and
6035-520: The star Mintaka in the constellation Orion (genitive Orionis) is also known as Delta Orionis or 34 Orionis. Many languages have a genitive case, including Albanian , Arabic , Armenian , Basque , Danish , Dutch , Estonian , Finnish , Georgian , German , Greek , Gothic , Hungarian , Icelandic , Irish , Kannada , Latin , Latvian , Lithuanian , Malayalam , Nepali , Romanian , Sanskrit , Scottish Gaelic , Swedish , Tamil , Telugu , all Slavic languages except Macedonian , and most of
6120-445: The storm-god, El , the supreme deity of Canaan, in addition to Anat (‘Atta) and others. The Arameans who lived outside their homelands apparently followed the traditions of the countries in which they settled. The King of Damascus , for instance, employed Phoenician sculptors and ivory-carvers. In Tell Halaf-Guzana, the palace of Kapara , an Aramean ruler (9th century BCE) was decorated with orthostates and with statues that display
6205-600: The suffix -i ('of') is also used. For example: Japanese construes the genitive by using the grammatical particle no の. It can be used to show a number of relationships to the head noun. For example: The archaic genitive case particle -ga ～が is still retained in certain expressions, place names, and dialects. Possessive ga can also be written as a small ke ( ヶ ), for example in Kasumigaoka ( 霞ヶ丘 ) . Typically, languages have nominative case nouns converting into genitive case. It has been found, however, that
6290-477: The surrounding areas. Bilingual texts in Aramaic and the Assyrian dialect of Akkadian are among the earliest examples of Aramaic writing. In the western regions, Aramean states had close contact with Israel, Phoenicia , and northern Arabia . The Phoenician god Baʿalšamem was even incorporated into the Aramean tradition. Identifying distinct elements of the Aramean heritage in later times is challenging because of
6375-517: The term Armi , the Eblaite term for nearby Idlib , occurs frequently in the Ebla tablets (c. 2300 BCE). One of the annals of Naram-Sin of Akkad (c. 2250 BCE) mentions that he captured "Dubul, the ensí of A-ra-me " ( Arame is seemingly a genitive form), in the course of a campaign against Simurrum in the northern mountains. Other early references to a place or people of "Aram" have appeared at
6460-530: The term " Old Aramaic ". The early writings exhibit variation and anticipate the enormous linguistic diversity within the Aramaic language group. Despite the variation, they are connected by common literary forms and formulaic expressions. As early as the 8th century BCE, Aramaic competed with the East Semitic Akkadian language and script in Assyria and Babylonia and then spread throughout
6545-459: The term "Syria" was finally defined to designate the regions west of the Euphrates , as opposed to the term " Assyria ", which designated the regions further east. In the 3rd century BCE, various narratives related to the history of earlier Aramean states became accessible to wider audiences after the translation of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek language . Known as Septuagint , the translation
6630-485: The terms Aramu , Armi or Arame were actually referring to the Arameans; thus, it is believed to originally be a toponym without any ethnic connotations. The earliest undisputed historical attestation of Arameans as a people appears much later, in the inscriptions of Tiglath Pileser I (c. 1100 BCE). Nomadic pastoralists have long played a prominent role in the history and economy of the Middle East , but their numbers seem to vary according to climatic conditions and
6715-430: The war against Assyria, hordes of horse-borne Scythian and Cimmerian marauders ravaged through the Levant and all the way into Egypt. As a result of migratory processes, various Aramean groups were settled throughout the ancient Near East, and their presence is recorded in the regions of Assyria , Babylonia , Anatolia , Phoenicia , Palestine , Egypt and Northern Arabia . Population transfers, conducted during
6800-513: Was absorbed into the genitive in Classical Greek. This added to the usages of the "genitive proper", the usages of the "ablatival genitive". The genitive occurs with verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions. See also Genitive absolute . The Hungarian genitive is constructed using the suffix -é . The genitive -é suffix is only used with the predicate of a sentence: it serves the role of mine, yours, hers, etc. The possessed object
6885-569: Was born in Jerusalem , defines the regions of "Aram's sons" as the Tranchonitis, Damascus "midway between Palestine and Coelo-Syria", Armenia, Bactria, and the Mesene around Spasini Charax. The ancient Arameans lived in a close relationship with other distinct societies in the region. Throughout much of their history, they were heavily influenced by the cuneiform culture of Mesopotamia and
6970-401: Was conquered by Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III . The Assyrians named their Aramean colonies Eber Nari but still used the term "Aramean" to describe many of its peoples. The Assyrians conducted forced deportations of hundreds of thousands of Arameans to both Assyria and Babylonia, where a migrant population already existed. Conversely, the Aramaic language was adopted as the lingua franca of
7055-547: Was created in Alexandria , the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt that was the most important city of the Hellenistic world and was one of the main centres of Hellenization . Influenced by Greek terminology, translators decided to adopt ancient Greek custom of using "Syrian" labels as designations for Arameans and their lands and thus abandon the endonymic (native) terms that were used in the Hebrew Bible. In Septuagint,
7140-414: Was initiated among Western scholars. This led to the formation of Aramaic studies as a broader multidisciplinary field, encompassing the study of the cultural and historical heritage of Aramaic. The linguistic and historical aspects of Aramaic studies have been further expanded since the 19th century through archaeological excavations of ancient sites in the Near East . What is known of the religion of
7225-637: Was very common among ancient Greeks, and under their influence, the practice also became common among the Romans and Byzantines. An Arabization process was initiated after the Arab conquest in the 7th century. In the religious sphere of life, Aramaic-speaking Christians (such as Melkites in Palestine) were exposed to Islamization , which created a base for gradual acceptance of the Arabic language not only as
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