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Aramaic

Ancient History

The Syrians are one people Semitic whose history is marked with an inscription of King Naram-Sin of Akkad ( -2255 / -2 218). It provides the earliest reference to the " Aram "(Defining the place), but researchers disagree about the actual location and meaning of the word" Aram ". We found other ancient references to a place where people of "Aram" have appeared in the archives of Mari (c. -1900 ), those of Amarna ( Tell el-Amarna , circa -1350 ), then those of Ugarit (c. -1300 ). In the Hebrew Bible is mentioned five times, "Aram-Naharaim" (or "Aram of the two rivers"). This area is generally identified with Nahrima mentioned in three tablets of Amarna. It was the land or the city of Haran. According to rabbinic tradition Jewish , would be the birthplace of Abraham. Other entities with the name "Aram" is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible : Aram Damascus, who was an Aramean state centered around Damascus in Syria , the late twelfth century until 734, Aram Rehob who was one First Aramaic kingdom, whose capital city was Rehob (or Beth-Rehob) and Aram Zobah which was the capital of an Aramean state in the south of Syria probably located between Hamath and Damascus , near the town of Berothah ( Berothai).

The Arameans settled after the destruction of the empire Hittite , to -1200 in Mesopotamia North in Palestine , in Syria ( Aram ) and Lebanon. They appear as tribes semi-nomadic and pastoral , strolling on the margins of the world and cultivated steppes , where they can find pasture for their flocks of sheep. They can not penetrate far into the desert, because they have the donkey as pack animals. Their geographical origin, like their ancestors Amorites , can be well defined because of the limited enrollment for their mention in Mesopotamia. The old assumptions, which assumed for all Semites , a reservoir in Armenia or in the Pamir , were dropped. This makes the Saudi their original home can not be accepted at a time when the tribes had neither the horse nor camel. It takes less than a search for a geographic origin common way of life based on nomadism (pastoralism and trade). The tribes would be formed quite naturally within the economic system unique to the Syro-Mesopotamian basin.

Identity

The question of ethnic identification is discussed within the / community (ies) Aramaic (s) (Syriac, Assyrian, Chaldean). A party asserting Syrians prefer another Assyrians. Others prefer more religious affiliation.

current religious affiliations

The Syrians are mostly affiliated to one of the following churches:

A broad definition but a minority of modern Aramaic identity can sometimes add these other churches Aramaic tradition:

Note

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Bibliography and filmography

Sebastien de Courtois, Christians of the East on the Silk Road in the footsteps of the Nestorians, The Round Table, October 2007.
Sebastien de Courtois, Forgotten Genocide. Eastern Christians, the last Arameans, Ellipses, Paris , 2002 ( ISBN 272981230X )
Sebastien de Courtois / Dusan Novakovic (photographer), The Last Arameans, the forgotten people of Jesus, La Table Ronde, Paris , 2005 and 2007 (reprint). Photo Album on the reduced Syriac Tur Abdin located in eastern Turkey (Mardin region, Mydiat, Nisibis and Jezireh): villages, heritage and characters. ( ISBN 2710327171 )
Robert Alaux, Latest Assyrians , a history of Aramaic Christians, Paris , 2003, documentary film 52 minutes.