Aramean Continuity

"With the support of the god Aššur, my lord, I took my chariots and warriors (and) set off for the desert. I marched against the Arameans, the enemies of the god Aššur, my lord." As seen in Prism Q005926 by Tiglath-pileser I, the Arameans constituted a threat to the Assyrian kings. In this prism, Tiglath-pileser I called upon the Assyrian pagan deity Aššur.

"Karkar, his royal city, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire. 1,200 chariots, 1,000 cavalry, 20,000 soldiers, of Hadad-ezer, of Aram; 700 chariots, 700 cavalry, 10,000 soldiers of Irhulêni of Hamath; 2,000 chariots, 10,000 soldiers of Ahab, the Israelite." The Stele of Shalmaneser III describes his military campaigns in western Mesopotamia and Syria. It describes Shalmaneser’s victory at the battle of Karkar, situated in northern Syria, where he overthrew an alliance of 12 local kings. Shalmaneser had inscribed on the monolith:

"I am Zakkur, king of Hamath and Luash... Bar-Hadad, son of Hazael, king of Aram, united against me seventeen kings... all these kings laid siege to Hazrach... Baalshamayn said to me, 'Do not be afraid! ...I will save you from all [these kings who] have besieged you.'"

"The treaty of Bar-Ga'yah, king of KTK, with Mati'el, the son of 'Attarsamak, the king [of Arpad; and the treaty] of the sons of Bar-Ga'yah with the sons of Mati'el; and the treaty of the grandsons of Bar-Ga'[yah and] his [offspring] with the offspring of Mati'el, the son of 'Attarsamak, the king of Arpad; and the treaty of KTK with [the treaty of] Arpad; and the treaty of the lords of KTK with the treaty of the lords of Arpad; and the treaty of Ha[bur]u with all Aram and with Misr and with his sons who will come after [him], and [with the kings of] all Upper-Aram and Lower-Aram and with all who enter the royal palace." The Sefire Steles document the treaties between Mati'el of Arpad and the king of KTK, mentioning "all Aram" and "Upper and Lower Aram," directly referencing the geographical and political expanse of Aramean influence.

"(As for) the rest of the dangerous Arameans who dwell in their district (and) who had paid attention (lit.: “inclined their cheek”) to Marduk-apla-iddina (II) (Merodach-Baladan) and Šutur-Naḫūndi and taken (themselves) to the Uqnû River, a far-off place to live (lit.: “a distant dwelling”)," "... I received substantial ... from ...] the land Aram, the land Bīt-Amukkāni, [the land Bīt-Dakkūri, ...]." "While I was br[inging about] the defeat of the Chaldeans (and) Arameans of the Eastern Sea" These inscriptions show that, in Sargon II’s own annals, the Arameans were regarded as a dangerous enemy, with the land of Aram and its subprovinces Bīt-Amukkāni and Bīt-Dakkūri explicitly named as hostile regions.

In December 402 B.C.E., Ananiah, son of Haggai, borrowed two monthly rations of grain from Pakhnum, son of Besa, an Aramean with an Egyptian name. This receipt would have been kept by Pakhnum and returned to Ananiah upon repayment of the loan. No interest was charged on the loan, but a penalty was imposed for failing to repay it by the appointed date.

"Poseidonius conjectures that the names of these nations also are akin; for, says he, the people whom we call Syriacs are by the Syriacs themselves called Arameans."

"He was an active man, and had the good-will of the Syrians, and of the people of Damascus, to a great degree; by whom both Benhadad himself and Hazael, who ruled after him, are honoured to this day as gods, by reason of their benefactions, and their building them temples, by which they adorned the city of the Damascens." Josephus tried to euhemerize the genesis of the gods of Damascus and their cults. The god Hadad is easily recognized in the name Adados, while Azaelos is none other than King Hazael. This mention of a common cult of the pantheon's chief deity and a deceased king is reminiscent of the royal funerary cult of Sam'al in the Aramean religion of Syria during the second half of the 8th century B.C. Josephus' source is the historian Nicholas of Damascus. He was born 64 B.C. in Damascus and penned a history of the Ancient Near East and Greece. He was also well-versed in the religious traditions of his hometown. Thus, there is evidence of rituals from the 1st century B.C. This means that in Damascus the cult of the deified King Hazael persisted into the 1st century B.C. and perhaps even up to the Christianization of the city.

"Aram had the Arameans, which the Greeks called Syriacs."

"The origin of the Jews was from Damascus, a most famous city of Syria, whence also the Assyrian kings and queen Semiramis sprung. The name of the city was given it from King Damascus, in honour of whom the Syrians consecrated the sepulchre of his wife Arathis as a temple, and regard her as a goddess worthy of the most sacred worship." The Syrians consecrated Arathis' sepulchre as a temple and "regard her as a goddess worthy of the most sacred worship". furthermore, The temple built from his wife's sepulchre was dedicated "in honour of whom" (in his honor), giving King Hazael divine association.

The Barhadad Mosaic depicts five people alongside early Syriac inscriptions. Within these inscriptions, a man named "Barhadad, the son of 'Abdnu" is identified. He is shown as a bearded figure wearing a blue, long-sleeved tunic and blue trousers, standing behind the left arm of a senior bearded figure. While certain visual cues, such as the senior figure's forward arm placement and a specific commemorative blessing, suggest that another individual might visually dominate the scene, academic documentation traditionally styles the piece as the Barhadad Mosaic. His name, Barhadad, certainly derives from the memory of the ancient Aramean king Barhadad, king of Aram. Arman Akopian suggests that despite the pagan origins of such names, Syriac Christians preserved the names of ancient Aramean kings, specifically Barhadad, well after they adopted Christianity. This depiction of Barhadad of Urhoy/Edessa suggests an awareness of Aramean origins among the Syriac Christians of Urhoy/Edessa. What is striking in this inscription is that Barhadad is spelled as a single word, ܒܪܗܕܕ, instead of two separate words. This formatting indicates that his actual given name is Barhadad, rather than "Bar" serving as a patronymic prefix meaning "son of Hadad." This distinction is further supported by the inscription itself, which explicitly names his father as 'Abdnu. Consequently, the use of Barhadad as a single, unified name reflects a direct linguistic and cultural connection to the ancient Aramean king Barhadad. The Syriac inscription reads: ܡܣܐ ܒܪܗܕܕ ܒܪ ܥܒܕܢܘ ܘܐܠ ܪܘܡܐ ܒܪ ܒܪܫܡܐ ܕܟܝܪ ܚܬܐ ܒܪܬ ܪܘܡܐ This translates to: "Masa. Barhadad, son of 'Abdnu. Wa'el. Ruma, son of Barsama, may he be remembered. Hata, daughter of Ruma." It's preserved in the Şanlıurfa Museum, dates to the early 3rd century AD and measures 245 cm by 235 cm. It was discovered in 1991 in a former cave-tomb in Yakup Mahallesi in Urfa.

"...against Jewish demons (dēvs), and against Aramaean demons, and against Persian angels..." This line comes from a Late Sasanian Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowl (ROM 931.4.2), published in Aramaic Bowl Spells from the Schøyen Collection (2013) by Shaked, Ford, and Bhayro. The original Aramaic reads ‘al dēwē yehudā’ē w-‘al dēwē armā’ē u-mal'akē pārsā'ē. The text is significant because it proves that "Aramaean" was a distinct, recognized ethnic identity in 3rd–4th century Babylonia, separate from both the Jewish community and the ruling Persians. It reveals a tripartite social worldview where the magician categorized spiritual threats by ethnicity, acknowledging that the local Aramaeans, the imperial Persians, and the Jews each possessed their own unique supernatural forces.

Saint Ephrem the Syrian sang the praises of Aram. He prized her even above ‘her companion’ land, as Ephrem calls the historical ‘Holy Land’, and he addressed Aram directly as he spoke of the glories of her saints whose festivals were resounding within her as he wrote. He said, "May myriads of tongues give thanks for our country, in which Abraham and his son Jacob walked, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel too, even the eleven chiefs of the tribes. It was out of your treasury Zion grew rich in the sons of Jacob. Our country’s name is greater than her companion’s name, for in her Levi, the chief of the priests, was born, Judah too, the chief of the royals, and Joseph, the child who went on to become the lord of Egypt; in light from you the whole world is alight. For the new sun which has arisen in creation, from Judah, who was born in our country, has also risen and been reflected within our country, albeit he made his light shine from Bethlehem. Since from you the beginning shone forth, in you too is the end enriched." We know that this land corresponds to the land of Aram in the Bible, which is the land Saint Ephrem claimed.

"Sheol is filled with Sodomites and Assyrians."

"Then, suddenly, a third edict sent by King Shapur [II; 309-379 AD] from Khuzestan came to the rulers of Beth Oromoye (land of Arameans)."

"And from Khuzestan [ancient Elam], he [King Shapur II] wrote an edict to the rulers of Beth Oromoye (land of Arameans)." "These things were written by King Shapur II [309–379 AD] from Khuzestan to the rulers of Beth Oromoye (land of Arameans)."

"But that deceiver also came to [the city of] Mahuze, which belongs to Beth Oromoye (land of the Arameans), and he deceived myriads of Jews."

"and there ended the construction of the Aramaean Philosopher"

"For because 'light' in the Aramaic language is called as masculine, and 'eye' feminine in the same" "he, Bardaisan, calls the moon feminine in the Aramaic language"

"But the Philosopher of the Arameans (i.e. Bardaisan) made himself a laughing-stock among Arameans and Greeks"

"The Arameans praised him with their branches."

"From Hebrews and Arameans, and also from the Watchers: to You be praise and through You to Your Father, be also glory!"

"Acac (in) Beth Oromoye (land of the Arameans) and Bar-Sawmo the abominable in Nisibin."

"In the days of Babai the Catholicos, this Mari emerged as the teacher of the heresies of the followers of Paul of Samosata and Diodorus [of Tarsus] in Beth Oromoye (land of the Arameans). And Babai the Catholicos, the son of Hormizd, who was the secretary of Zabercan, the Marzban of Beth Aramaye, received the doctrine from him. Anyone who does not confess that Mary is Theotokos, let him be anathema!"