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116-534: Prior to the division of the United Kingdom of Israel , the city was the hometown of Ahinoam , second wife of King David , Michal , Saul 's daughter, being the first, Ahinoam being his second, and Abigail , widow of Nabal , being his third ( 1 Samuel 25:43 ). According to the First Book of Kings , the royal palace of King Ahab , "one of the most famous of the royal residences of the kings of Israel",

232-452: A "particularly impressive installation...carved into the limestone bedrock at the foot of the hill of Jezreel", such indicators including rock-cut treading floors; two adjacent rock-cut vats, each more than one meter in depth; another treading floor connected to a vat by a rock-cut channel; a deep circular basin that possibly functioned as additional vat; and a sump for collecting liquids. United Kingdom of Israel According to

348-425: A Low Chronology for the stratigraphy of Iron Age Israel. Finkelstein's model would push stratigraphic dates assigned by the conventional chronology by up to a century later, so Finkelstein concluded that much of the monumental architecture characterizing Israel in the 10th century BCE that biblical United Monarchy has been traditionally associated with instead belongs to the 9th century. Finkelstein wrote that "Accepting

464-504: A central base for Arab forces" and was therefore conquered and the site cleared. Archaeologists David Ussishkin and John Woodhead led a dig at Jezreel. In 1987, a bulldozer working near the site accidentally uncovered ancient structures, and a salvage dig was conducted, leading to the major dig under the direction of Ussishkin and Woodhead over seven seasons from 1990 to 1996. Staff and volunteers from about 25 countries (the largest groups were from United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark) joined

580-580: A clay bulla , or inscribed seal, of Jehucal , son of Shelemiah, son of Shevi, an official mentioned at least twice in the Book of Jeremiah . In July 2008, she also found a second bulla, belonging to Gedaliah ben Pashhur, who is mentioned together with Jehucal in Jeremiah 38:1. Amihai Mazar called the find "something of a miracle." He has said that he believes the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David

696-468: A country under centralized governance but rather as tribal chiefdom over a small polity in Judah, disconnected from the north's Israelite tribes. The rival chronology of Israeli archaeologist Amihai Mazar places the relevant period beginning in the early 10th century BCE and ending in the mid-9th century BCE, addressing the problems of the traditional chronology while still aligning pertinent findings with

812-458: A difference of one year at most. Arameans 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

928-569: A future event, "I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel." ( Hosea 2:21–22 ). Hosea also mentions, "In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel." ( Hosea 1:5 ). The "breathtaking views" that

1044-519: 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

1160-567: 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

1276-458: A political union between them existed, it might have had no practical effect on their relationship. In the biblical account, David embarks on successful military campaigns against the enemies of Judah and Israel and defeats such regional entities as the Philistines to secure his borders. Israel grows from kingdom to empire, its military and political sphere of influence expanding to control

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1392-475: A polity extending as far north as Jezreel and as far south as Hebron and reaching a border with Gath, with a capital located in Gibeon rather than Jerusalem. According to Dever, such a polity is a united monarchy in its own right, ironically confirming the biblical tradition. In addition, he rejected the notion that Gibeon was the capital of such polity since there is "no clear archaeological evidence of occupation in

1508-521: 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

1624-664: 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

1740-552: 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

1856-505: Is also hotly debated. While the current consensus allows for a historical Solomon, it regards his reign as king over the United Monarchy in the tenth century BCE as uncertain and the biblical description of his apparent empire's lavishness as most probably a massive anachronistic exaggeration. According to the biblical account, on the succession of Solomon's son Rehoboam , the United Monarchy split into two separate kingdoms:

1972-464: Is around 50 km from Mount Carmel. As recounted in 2 Kings 9:1–37 , after Jehu kills King Jehoram , son of Ahab, he confronts Jezebel in Jezreel and urges her eunuchs to kill her by throwing her out of a window . They comply, throwing her out the window. They left her in the street where she was eaten by dogs. Only Jezebel's skull, feet, and hands remained. In 2 Kings 10:8 Jehu orders

2088-522: Is consistent with the former existence of a unified state on its terrain." On August 4, 2005, archaeologist Eilat Mazar announced that she had discovered in Jerusalem what may have been the palace of King David . Now referred to as the Large Stone structure , Mazar's discovery consists of a public building she dated from the 10th century BCE, a copper scroll, pottery from the same period, and

2204-451: Is no ultimate consensus between the different factions and scholarly disciplines concerned with the period as to when it is depicted as having begun or when it ended. Most biblical scholars follow either of the older chronologies established by American archaeologists William F. Albright and Edwin R. Thiele or the newer one by Israeli historian Gershon Galil . Thiele's chronology generally corresponds with Galil's chronology below, with

2320-562: 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

2436-433: Is said to have captured. Other scholars are skeptical that the foundation walls are from David's palace. Garfinkel also claimed to have discovered David's palace in 2013, 25 kilometres away, at Khirbet Qeiyafa . Excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, an Iron Age site in Judah, found an urbanized settlement radiocarbon dated well before scholars such as Finkelstein suggest that urbanization had begun in Judah, which supports

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2552-549: The Itinerarium Burdigalense , who visited the site in 333 CE, calls it by its Latinized name, Stradela , a word derived from the Greek form Esdráēla ( Greek : Έσδράηλα ). The fourth-century Christian nun and pilgrim Egeria visited Jezreel and reported that "the tomb of Jezebel is stoned by everyone to this very day." Jezreel was the site of a Byzantine -era village, a Crusader-period village belonging to

2668-998: 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

2784-555: The Deuteronomistic history in the Hebrew Bible , a United Monarchy or United Kingdom of Israel existed under the reigns of Saul , Ish-bosheth , David , and Solomon , encompassing the territories of both the later kingdoms of Judah and Israel . Whether the United Monarchy existed—and, if so, to what extent—is a matter of ongoing academic debate. During the 1980s, some biblical scholars began to argue that

2900-458: 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

3016-726: 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

3132-543: The Kingdom of Israel in the north, containing the cities of Shechem and Samaria ; and the Kingdom of Judah in the south, containing Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple . In the 1980s, a few biblical scholars began to assert that the archaeological evidence for an extensive kingdom before the late 8th century BCE is too weak, and that the methodology used to obtain the evidence is flawed. In 1995 and 1996, Israel Finkelstein published two papers where he proposed

3248-475: The Knights Templar , and a later Islamic period village named Zir'in (derived from the ancient name Jezreel). A "beautiful Crusader church still stands largely intact. Benjamin of Tudela visited Jezreel in 1165 CE and reports that a Jewish man "a dyer by profession" lived there. It was the site of a large Ottoman -era fortified tower. During the 1947–1949 Palestine war , the village of Ze'rin "became

3364-782: 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

3480-600: 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

3596-676: 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

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3712-575: 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

3828-851: 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

3944-517: The vineyard's alleged owner—a man named Naboth —made in the Biblical Book of 1 Kings . While vineyards do not leave direct archaeological remains, an independently conducted soil analysis found a plot of land in Jezreel properly suited for growing grapes, while the soils in the fields further west from the location were found to be the right quality for growing olives. Furthermore, numerous indicators of an ancient winery were discovered at

4060-546: 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

4176-553: The 10th century BCE, but they cite the fact that the earliest independent reference to the Kingdom of Israel dates to about 890 BCE and that to the Kingdom of Judah dates to about 750 BCE. Some see the united monarchy as fabricated during the Babylonian Exile transforming David and Solomon from local folk heroes into rulers of international status. Finkelstein has posited a potential United Monarchy under Jeroboam II in

4292-647: 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)

4408-488: 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

4524-551: The 8th century BCE, whereas the former one was potentially invented during the reign of Josiah to justify his territorial expansion. Finkelstein's views have been strongly criticized by Amihai Mazar; in response, Mazar proposed the Modified Conventional Chronology, which places the beginning of the Iron IIA period in the early 10th century and its end in the mid-9th century, solving the problems of

4640-548: 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

4756-461: 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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4872-708: 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

4988-820: The Bible. In his book, The Forgotten Kingdom (2016), Israel Finkelstein considered that Saul, originally from the Benjamin territory, had gained power in his natal Gibeon region around the 10th century BCE and that he conquered Jerusalem in the south and Shechem to the north, creating a polity dangerous to Egypt's geopolitical intentions. So, Shoshenq I , from Egypt, invaded the territory and destroyed this new polity, and installed David of Bethlehem in Jerusalem (Judah) and Jeroboam I in Shechem (Israel) as small local rulers who were vassals of Egypt. Finkelstein concludes that

5104-714: 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

5220-467: The High Chronology while still dating the archeological discoveries to the 10th century BCE. Finkelstein's Low Chronology and views about the monarchy have received strong criticism from other scholars, including Amnon Ben-Tor , William G. Dever , Kenneth Kitchen , Doron Ben-Ami , Raz Kletter and Lawrence Stager . Though Amélie Kuhrt acknowledges that "there are no royal inscriptions from

5336-602: 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

5452-548: The Low Chronology means stripping the United Monarchy of monumental buildings, including ashlar masonry and proto-Ionic capitals" According to Finkelstein and Neil Silberman , the authors of The Bible Unearthed , ideas of a united monarchy is not accurate history but "creative expressions of a powerful religious reform movement" that are possibly "based on certain historical kernels." Finkelstein and Silberman accept that David and Solomon were real kings of Judah around

5568-514: 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

5684-577: 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

5800-399: 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

5916-597: 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

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6032-575: 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

6148-695: 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,

6264-459: 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

6380-425: The archaeological evidence for an extensive kingdom before the late 8th century BCE is too weak, and that the methodology used to obtain the evidence is flawed. Scholars remain divided among those who support the historicity of the biblical narrative, those who doubt or dismiss it, and those who support the kingdom's theoretical existence while maintaining that the biblical narrative is exaggerated. Proponents of

6496-434: 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

6612-455: The biblical Eglon ) had uncovered an elite house (which he referred to as "the governor's residency"), whose foundations were dated by carbon-14 analysis in the late 11th–10th century BCE, the time usually ascribed to Saul, David and Solomon. Such dating would strengthen the thesis that a centralized state existed at the time of David. According to mainstream source criticism , several contrasting source texts were spliced together to produce

6728-409: The building programme. However, Israel Finkelstein's Low Chronology would propose to date them to the 9th century BCE. Yigael Yadin later concluded that the stables that had been believed to have served Solomon's vast collection of horses were built by King Ahab in the 9th century BCE. Following Solomon's death in c.  926 BCE , tensions between the northern part of Israel, containing

6844-485: 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

6960-473: The cities of Shechem and Samaria , and the southern Kingdom of Judah , which contained Jerusalem. The Kingdom of Israel (or the Northern Kingdom or Samaria) existed as an independent state until 722 BCE when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . The Kingdom of Judah (or the Southern Kingdom) existed as an independent state until 586 BCE when it was conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire . Many alternative chronologies have been suggested, and there

7076-468: The current Books of Samuel. The most prominent sections in the early parts of the first book come from a pro-monarchical source and from an anti-monarchical source. By identifying both sources, two separate accounts can be reconstructed. The anti-monarchical source describes Samuel , having thoroughly routed the Philistines , as begrudgingly accepting the people's demand for a ruler and appointing Saul by cleromancy . The pro-monarchical source describes

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7192-406: The death of 70 descendants of Ahab, and has their heads sent to the new king in Jezreel and piled up in "two heaps at the gate entrance." Jezreel is also mentioned in the book of Hosea where God commands Hosea to name his son "Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel" ( Hosea 1:4 ). God also tells Hosea as to

7308-498: The dig. Renewed excavations began in the summer of 2012 under the new directorship of Dr. Norma Franklin of the University of Haifa Zinman Institute of Archaeology, and Dr. Jennie Ebeling of the University of Evansville. The excavations uncovered a casemate wall and four projecting towers surrounding the fortress, built with a combination of well-cut ashlars, boulders and smaller stones, and an upper level of mud-brick. The fortress enclosed an area of almost 11 acres (45,000 m). It

7424-409: The discovery of part of the ancient city walls around the City of David, which she believes dates to the tenth century BCE. According to Mazar, "It's the most significant construction we have from First Temple days in Israel," and "It means that at that time, the 10th century, in Jerusalem, there was a regime capable of carrying out such construction." The 10th century is the period the Bible describes as

7540-414: 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,

7656-418: The divinely-appointed birth of Saul (a single word being changed by a later editor so that it referred to Samuel) and his leading of an army to victory over the Ammonites , which resulted in the people clamouring for him to lead them against the Philistines when he is appointed king. Many scholars believe that the Books of Samuel exhibit too many anachronisms to have been a contemporary account. For example,

7772-605: 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

7888-437: 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

8004-506: The establishment of a monarchy by anointing Saul. In the Second Book of Samuel , Saul's disobedience prompts Yahweh to curtail his reign and to hand his kingdom over to another dynasty, leading to Saul's death in battle against the Philistines. His heir Ish-bosheth rules for only two years before being assassinated. Though David was only the King of Judah, he ends the conspiracy and is appointed King of Israel in Ish-bosheth's place. Some textual critics and biblical scholars suggest that David

8120-581: The existence of an urbanized kingdom in the 10th century BCE. The Israel Antiquities Authority stated, "The excavations at Khirbat Qeiyafa reveal an urban society that existed in Judah already in the late eleventh century BCE. It can no longer be argued that the Kingdom of Judah developed only in the late eighth century BCE or at some other later date." The techniques and interpretations to reach some conclusions related to Khirbet Qeiyafa have been criticized by some scholars, such as Finkelstein and Alexander Fantalkin. In 2010, archaeologist Eilat Mazar announced

8236-456: 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

8352-518: 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

8468-520: 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

8584-509: The gap in Israelite history after the events described in Deuteronomy . Canaan State of Israel (1948–present) According to the biblical account, the united monarchy was formed when the elders of Israel expressed the desire for a king. God and Samuel seem to have a distaste for the monarchy, with God telling Samuel that "[Israel has] rejected me, that I should not be king over them." However, Samuel still proceeds with

8700-646: 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

8816-542: 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

8932-404: The kingdom's existence traditionally date it to between c.  1047 BCE and c.  930 BCE . In the 1990s, Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein contended that existing archaeological evidence for the United Monarchy in the 10th century BCE should be dated to the 9th century BCE. This model placed the biblical kingdom in Iron Age I , suggesting that it was not functioning as

9048-459: The land of Aram , originally covered central regions of modern Syria . 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

9164-665: 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

9280-577: 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

9396-592: The memory of a united monarchy was inspired by Saul's conquered territory serving first the ideal of a great united monarchy ruled by a northern king in the times of Jeroboam II and next to the idea of a united monarchy ruled from Jerusalem. In an article on the Biblical Archaeology Review , William G. Dever strongly criticized Finkelstein's theory, calling it full of "numerous errors, misrepresentations, over-simplifications and contradictions." Dever noted that Finkelstein proposes that Saul ruled

9512-583: The monarchy of Saul, the capital is in Gibeah . After Saul's death, Ish-bosheth rules over the Kingdom of Israel from Mahanaim , and David establishes the capital of the Kingdom of Judah in Hebron . After the civil war with Saul, David forges a powerful and unified Israelite monarchy and rules from c. 1000 to 961 BCE. Some modern archaeologists, however, believe that the two distinct cultures and geographic entities of Judah and Israel continued uninterrupted, and if

9628-406: 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

9744-547: 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

9860-678: 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

9976-604: 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

10092-580: 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

10208-504: The reign of King Solomon . Not all archaeologists agree with Mazar, and archaeologist Aren Maeir is dubious about such claims and Mazar's dating. In the Jewish Study Bible (2014), Oded Lipschits states the concept of United Monarchy should be abandoned, while Aren Maeir believes there is insufficient evidence in support of the United Monarchy. In August 2015, Israeli archaeologists discovered massive fortifications in

10324-763: The role of David in the development of ancient Israel. In his books, Beyond the Texts (2018) and Has Archeology Buried the Bible? (2020), William G. Dever has defended the historicity of the United Monarchy, maintaining that the reigns of Saul, David and Solomon are "reasonably well attested." Similar arguments were advanced by Amihai Mazar in two essays written in 2010 and 2013, which point toward archaeological evidence emerged from excavation sites in Jerusalem by Eilat Mazar and in Khirbet Qeiyafa by Yosef Garfinkel . In 2018, archaeologist Avraham Faust announced that his excavations at Tel 'Eton (believed to be

10440-468: The ruins of the ancient city of Gath , supposed birthplace of Goliath . The size of the fortifications shows that Gath was a large city in the 10th century BCE, perhaps the largest in Canaan at the time. The professor leading the dig, Aren Maeir , estimated that Gath was as much as four times the size of contemporary Jerusalem, which cast doubt that David's kingdom could have been as powerful as described in

10556-537: The site commands to the north and east are considered to have been of strategic importance during the Bronze and Iron Ages because the commercial and military highway from Egypt to Syria and Mesopotamia passed through Megiddo , the Jezreel Valley, and Beth Shean . During the excavations, archaeologists collected pottery and other findings scattered all over the site. The earliest archaeological findings at

10672-521: The site date to the Wadi Raba culture of the 5th millennium BCE . Based on the findings, the site was inhabited as an unfortified settlement throughout the entire Bronze Age period. Water was supplied by cisterns inside the walls and by the spring of 'En Jezreel northeast of the fortress. Because of the strategic location, ample water supply, and excellent grazing in the Jezreel Valley, archaeologists David Ussishkin and John Woodhead believe that Jezreel

10788-587: 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

10904-445: 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

11020-477: 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

11136-413: The ten northern tribes, and the southern section, dominated by Jerusalem and the southern tribes, reached a boiling point. When Solomon's son and successor Rehoboam dealt tactlessly with economic complaints of the northern tribes, in about 930 BCE (there are differences of opinion as to the actual year), the Kingdom of Israel and Judah splits into two kingdoms: the northern Kingdom of Israel , which included

11252-540: The tenth century, much less monumental architecture." Dever went as far as to dismiss Finkelstein's theory as "a product of his fantasy, stemmed by his obsession to prove that Saul, David and Solomon were not real kings and that the United Monarchy is an invention of a Judahite-biased biblical writer." Dever concluded by stating that "Finkelstein has not discovered a forgotten kingdom. He had invented it. The careful reader will nevertheless gain some insights into Israel—Israel Finkelstein, that is." Another more moderate review

11368-517: 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

11484-530: 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

11600-459: 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

11716-485: 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

11832-554: The text mentions later armour (1 Samuel 17:4–7, 38–39; 25:13), the use of camels (1 Samuel 30:17), cavalry (as distinct from chariotry ) (1 Samuel 13:5, 2 Samuel 1:6), and iron picks and axes (as if they were prevalent) (2 Samuel 12:31). Most scholars believe that the text of the Books of Samuel was compiled in the 8th century BCE - rather than in the 10th century when most of the events described took place - based on historical and legendary sources. The narrative served primarily to fill

11948-474: The time of Saul, David, and Solomon. Mazar's chronology and the traditional one have been fairly widely accepted, though there is no current consensus on the topic. Recent archaeological discoveries by Israeli archaeologists Eilat Mazar and Yosef Garfinkel in Jerusalem and Khirbet Qeiyafa , respectively, seem to support the existence of the United Monarchy, but the dating and identifications are not universally accepted. The historicity of Solomon and his rule

12064-451: The time of the united monarchy (indeed very little written material altogether) and not a single contemporary reference to either David or Solomon," she concludes, "Against this must be set the evidence for substantial development and growth at several sites, which is plausibly related to the tenth century." Kenneth Kitchen ( University of Liverpool ) reaches a similar conclusion, arguing that "the physical archaeology of tenth-century Canaan

12180-430: 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

12296-761: The weaker client states of Philistia , Moab , Edom and Ammon , with Aramaean city-states Aram-Zobah and Aram-Damascus becoming vassal states. David is succeeded by his son Solomon, who obtains the throne in a somewhat-disreputable manner from the rival claimant Adonijah , his elder brother. Like David's Palace , Solomon's temple is designed and built with the assistance of Tyrian architects, skilled labourers, money, jewels, cedar and other goods obtained in exchange for land ceded to Tyre . Solomon goes on to rebuild numerous significant cities, including Megiddo , Hazor and Gezer . Some scholars have attributed aspects of archaeological remains excavated from these sites, including six-chambered gates and ashlar palaces, to

12412-411: Was 860' long and 470' wide, and defended by a steep slope to the north and a moat 20' deep and rampart on the other three sides. Pursuant to evidence from this most recent excavation, Dr. Franklin further asserts that Jezreel likely contained both a vineyard and a winery near an installation made to house any visiting Israelite king, which is all consistent with several claims regarding the story of

12528-513: 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

12644-401: 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

12760-547: 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,

12876-509: Was in Jezreel, adjacent to the vineyard of Naboth ( 1 Kings 21:1 ). Ahab's capital remained in Samaria . According to 1 Kings 18:45–46 , following the prophet Elijah 's victory over the prophets of Ba'al at Mount Carmel , Elijah instructs Ahab to return home to Jezreel, where he would be reporting on events to Jezebel , his wife, but "the hand of the Lord was upon Elijah" and he reached Jezreel ahead of Ahab ( 1 Kings 18:45–46 ). Jezreel

12992-414: 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

13108-536: Was responsible for the assassination and that his innocence was a later invention to legitimize his actions. Israel rebels against David and crowns David's son Absalom . David is forced into exile east of the Jordan River but eventually launches a successful counterattack, which results in the death of Absalom. Having retaken Judah and asserted control over Israel, David returns west of the Jordan. Throughout

13224-504: Was the base for King Ahab's chariot corps and cavalry . Jezreel was a 9th-century BCE fortress possibly built during the reign of King Omri but certainly active in the reigns of King Ahab and his consort Queen Jezebel and their son King Jehoram . It was destroyed soon afterward, possibly by the Arameans in the late 9th-century. The pottery found in the fortress during the dig all dates to this brief period. The anonymous author of

13340-637: 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

13456-534: Was written in the same magazine by Aaron Burke: Burke described Finkelstein's book as "ambitious" and praised its literary style but did not accept his conclusions: according to Burke, Finkelstein's thesis is mainly based on his proposed Low Chronology, ignoring the criticism that it has received from scholars like Amihai Mazar , Christopher Bronk Ramsey and others, and engages in several speculations that archeology, biblical and extrabiblical sources cannot prove. He also criticized him for persistently trying to downgrade

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