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Arameans
Karl Eduard Sachau

Karl Eduard Sachau

Karl Eduard Sachau (born 20 July 1845, died 1930) was a German orientalist. He became a professor at the University of Vienna in 1872 and, in 1876, was appointed professor at the University of Berlin, where he became the director
Encyclopedia
Sachau Verzeichniss der Syrischen Handschriften

Sachau Verzeichniss der Syrischen Handschriften

"Around the time of Christ’s birth, all the inhabitants of the Semitic cultural lands — from Palestine in a wide arc northward through Syria and northern Mesopotamia to Assyria and Babylonia — spoke one and the same language: Aramaic. Thus, insofar as language is a criterion of national unity, they formed a national entity, the nation of the Arameans. Later on, mainly as a result of Jewish-Christian literary influences, the Greek designation Syriacs came to be used for this unified name." "The Arameans were the bearers of Christianity in the East. When the first Christians, having been driven out of Jerusalem, found a new homeland in Antioch on the Orontes (Acts XI, 19 ff.), and from there undertook their missionary journeys, it appears that the Aramaic-speaking East was no less prepared for the acceptance of the new religion than the West."