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Aram

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Location.

—Biblical Data:

The name of a group of kindred tribes scattered over portions of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Arabia. It is not the name of a country or of a politically independent people; for the Aramaic peoples were never all independent at the same period; neither did they form a large independent state. They are mentioned by Tiglath-pileser I., about 1110 B.C. (Schrader "K. B." 1:33), as dwelling east of the Euphrates; also by Shalmaneser II.(ib. 1:165). Tiglath-pileser III. describes them as extending from the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Surappi to the River Ukni at the shore of the Persian Gulf (ib. 2:11). Sargon and Sennacherib attest this in part by stating that on their return from Babylon to Assyria they conquered various Aramaic tribes (compare Schrader, "K. G. F." pp. 109 et seq.); and the presence of Aramaic inscriptions in Assyria and Babylonia from the eighth to the third century B.C. confirms these statements (compare "C. I. S." ). The inscriptions found at Zenjirli and Nerab prove that Aramaic was spoken in the northern part of Syria as early as the seventh century B.C., though this region was largely occupied by Hittites. Aramaic tribes appear to have extended as far as the Taurus valleys, including Armenia and Cilicia (compare Dillmann, on Genesis 10:22). Aramaic inscriptions have been found in Arabia as far south as Teima, which date from about 500 B.C. These tribes had therefore penetrated Arabia at that date.

The part of this territory known in the Old Testament as Aram is the portion west of the Euphrates, to various parts of which were given different names, as described below (Aram-Zobah, Aram-Maachah, etc.). Greek writers applied to the people of this region the term "Syrians"—perhaps a corruption of Assyrians; hence the name "Syria."

Aramaic and Hebrew.

In Genesis 10:22 Aram is described as a son of Shem. Genesis 22:21 makes him a grandson of Nahor, Abraham's brother. The Aramaic dialects form a well-defined group of the languages classed as Semitic, and thus attest the fact, for which these traditions stand, that the Arameans were akin to the Hebrews. From 2 Kings 18:26 and Isaiah 36:11 it would seem that by the end of the eighth century B.C. Aramaic had become the language of international communication between the nations of western Asia. Its influence on Hebrew diction may be detected in some of the books composed before the Exile, while in Esther, Ecclesiastes, and some of the Psalms the form of expression is largely Aramaic. Parts of Daniel and Ezra are extant only in this tongue, which before the beginning of the common era had quite displaced Hebrew in popular usage. The Aramaic peoples of northern Arabia introduced writing into that country some centuries before the Arabs of the region had their own system of writing; and the Aramaic inscriptions found by Euting in the Sinaitic peninsula, and shown to have been the work of Arabs, prove that for a time it was the language used for written communication in north Arabia. The Nabatæans, who were in reality Arabians, have also left in the neighborhood of Palmyra many Aramaic inscriptions dating back to about the beginning of the common era.

Aram in the Pentateuch.

Josephus calls Aram the grandson of Nahor, Abraham's brother (Genesis 22:21), and afterward defines his locality as Aram Naharaim (Genesis 24:10). Genesis 28:10 says that Jacob fled to Haran, where he went to his mother's kindred, thus making Aram Naharaim a region beyond the Euphrates. In the Pentateuch the country about Haran is no doubt the region designated. That Abraham resided in Haran is definitely stated in the Pentateuch (Genesis 12:4,5). The place to which Jacob fled is called Padan-Aram (Genesis 28:6, R. V.). "Padana" in Aramaic signifies "yoke," or "plow," and may also have meant, as in some other tongues, "cultivated land." Some find in this meaning the origin of the name "Padan" in Genesis, and have supposed that "the field of Aram" (Hosea 12:13 [A.V. 12]) is a Hebrew translation. It is tempting to identify it with the Aramaic "Paddānā" (Wright, "Catalogue Syriac Manuscripts," 1127a), called in Greek ψαδανᾶ (Sozomen, 6:33), and in Arabic "Faddain" (Yaḳut); but this town was situated in the Hauran, and can not have been the Padan of the Bible, unless it was there intended to say that Laban, like Abraham, had migrated far from Haran. It may be, as Nöldeke suggests, that this name arose from a localization of the patriarchal tradition by the early Christians. That a place in the neighborhood of Haran, or in that region, was intended, there can be little doubt. All the sources place the Aram of the patriarchs in the direction of Haran. Deuteronomy mentions Aram only when Jaeob is called an Aramean (Deuteronomy 26:5).

Damascus.

By far the most important part of Aram, so far as the Hebrews were concerned, was Damascus. Amos (1:5) and Isaiah (7:8) indicate this; the one by equating Aram with Damascus, the other by declaring that Damascus is the head of Aram. The name occurs in a list of cities conquered by Thothmes III. (W. Max Müller, "Asien und Europa," p. 227), and in two of the El-Amarna letters (139, 63 and 142, 21) of the fifteenth century B.C. David, some centuries later, made it tributary to himself (2 Samuel 8:6), and its kings, Rezin, Ben-hadad I., Ben-hadad II., Hazael, and Ben-hadad III., were at various times in conflict with the kings of Israel and Judah. See Compare Damascus, David, Ben-hadad, Hazael, and REZIN. also Aram-Geshur, ARAM-MAACHAH ARAM-NAHARAIM ARAM-REHOB and Aram-Zobah.