Other Archaeological Sites / The Neolithic of the Levant (500 Page Book Online) Ancient Arameans (Aramaeans) Aram: the son of Shem in Genesis 10:22
The children of Shem; Elam and Ashur
Although there is evidence of the Aramaic language in records of the second millennium B.C. the historic texts begin in the eighth century in the city-states of Aram or inland Syria when it displaced Phoenician as the lingua franca in Syria and nearby coastal Asia Minor. By the end of the century Aramaic had already won for itself the role of international language in official circles from at least Assyria to Judah (2 Kings 18:17-26 -- the date is 701 BC). The achievement is the more remarkable since the Arameans never forged a great empire but spread the language through relatively peaceful means -- notably tribal migrations and trade. The Achaemenians used Aramaic as their interprovincial tongue -- at least for the areas west of Iran. Indeed parts of the Bible are written in Aramaic. So great was this language that it was destined to replace the native languages of all Semitic Asia outside of Arabia and it remained unchallenged until the Islamic Conquest in the seventh century AD ... The Ancient Near East (1965) Cyrus Gordon |