Contemporary Arameans
"Therefore, the name Arimi in place of Syrians seems to have been in use only among the most ancient Greek writers, and to have fallen out of use after the Assyrian empire began to grow greater and gradually passed into the name of the Syrians and Assyrians. Hence it came about that Arimi or Aramaei later became so unknown even to the most learned men that Pliny makes a shameful blunder when he confuses the Aramaeans with the Scythians (Marginal note: Pliny, Book 6, Chapter 17): "The Persians," he says, "called the Sacae in general by that name from the nearest nation, the ancient Aramaeans." But Pliny had written Arimaspi, not Aramaei.
Be that as it may, the Syrians even today call themselves Aramaeans. Although this name also became cheapened among them, as is evident from the fact that in the Syriac version of the New Testament, Aramaean is everywhere taken to mean a Gentile (pagan). (Marginal letter E) Thus in Galatians 2:14: ארמאית חיא אנת ("You live in the Aramaic manner"), where Paul has ἐθνικῶς ζῇς ("You live in the manner of the Gentiles"). And in Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Aramaean" (ולא ארמיא), where Paul has "nor Greek," that is, Gentile. This phrase was taken from the Chaldeans, among whom an Aramaean is the same as an idolater. Hence it is that in the Babylonian Talmud, the tractate on idolatry..."
