Aramean states

The Aramean states or Aramean kingdoms were an Iron Age group of Aramaic-speaking polities that arose in the northern Levant and northern Mesopotamia during the early first millennium BCE, following the collapse of major Late Bronze Age powers such as the Hittite Empire and Mitanni.

Centered in modern-day Syria, these states included kingdoms such as Aram-Damascus, Hamath, Bit Agusi, and Bit-Adini, among others. Several of the northwestern Aramean states were also Neo-Hittite states, as successors of the Hittite Empire maintaining the latter's traditions (alongside Luwian-speaking successors).

The Aramean states played a key role in the political landscape of the early Iron Age Levant until their conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Origins and early history

Quoting William Schniedewind, “the rise of the Aramean states is shrouded in darkness”.^[1] The Arameans are thought to have expanded from the Syrian steppe northward and eastward into Mesopotamia during the Late Bronze to early Iron Age, in the context of the collapse of the Hittite, Mitanni, and Egyptian spheres.

According to K. Lawson Younger Jr.,

The very designation “Arameans” masks the fact they were not a unified group, except in general terms of language; and in this, the very diversity of the Aramean tribes is reflected in the diversity of the Aramaic dialects that are encountered in the earliest Old Aramaic inscriptions. It is clear that there were numerous dynamics at work in the creation of the different Aramean polities.^[2]

"Most scholars who study the Arameans speak of their origins in terms of "tribes" and tribal leaders who took advantage of political instability in the region during certain time periods to expand their territory."^[3] "Groups of family members lived near one another, and the social structure was probably focused on the identity of a primary male figure in the family ("patriarchal") and possibly even traced its roots to some local tribal ancestor, after which the group was named (e.g., Bit Adini, Bit-Agusi, Bit-Gabbari, Bit-Hazaili; the Semitic word "Bit" means "House of," followed by the name of a founding figure)."^[3]

List of Aramean states

Southwestern Aramean states (modern central to southern Syria):
- Aram-Zobah (location uncertain), an important political power in the 10th century BCE^[4]
- Aram-Damascus (capital: Damascus), the best-documented Aramean kingdom, frequently mentioned in both Biblical and Assyrian sources; an important political power in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE^[4]

Northwestern Aramean states (modern northwestern Syria) – several of them also Neo-Hittite states:

Eastern Aramean states (northern Mesopotamia and the Middle Euphrates valley):
- Bit-Zamani
- Bit Bahiani (capital: Tell Halaf)
- Bit-Halupe
- Laqe^[a]

Relations with neighbors

The expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” in Sefire treaty inscriptions have been variously interpreted, but can suggest a degree of political and cultural unity among some of the polities in the area.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] In earlier Assyrian sources from the late 2nd millennium BCE, references are made to "the land of the Arameans", while in 1st millennium BCE references, "Aram" became a topographical term.^[10]

Biblical texts mention Aramean kingdoms, particularly Aram-Damascus, Aram-Zobah and Aram-Rehob, often in the context of their conflicts with the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In the early 11th century BCE, much of Israel came under foreign rule for eight years according to the Book of Judges until Othniel defeated the forces led by Cushan-Rishathaim, who was titled in the Bible as ruler of Aram-Naharaim.^[11]

Further north, the Arameans gained possession of Neo-Hittite Hamath on the Orontes River and became strong enough to dissociate with the Indo-European-speaking Neo-Hittite states. The Arameans, together with the Edomites and the Ammonites, attacked Israel in the early 11th century BCE, but were defeated.

During the 11th and the 10th centuries BCE, the Arameans conquered Sam'al and renamed it Bit Agusi.^[12] They also conquered Til Barsip, which became the chief town of Bit Adini, also known as Beth Eden. North of Sam'al was the Aramean state of Bit Gabbari, which was sandwiched between the Luwian states of Carchemish, Gurgum, Khattina, Unqi and Tabal (region). One of their earliest semi-independent kingdoms in northern Mesopotamia was Bit-Bahiani (Tell Halaf).

Decline and Assyrian annexation

In the words of Mario Liverani,

the situation of the Aramean states east of the Euphrates was very different. These states had suffered from the pressure of the Assyrian expansion, aimed at controlling the entire Mesopotamian territory, well before the mid-ninth century BC.^[13]

In 732 BCE, Tiglath-Pileser III annexed Aram-Damascus.

Legacy

After the collapse of the Aramean states, Aramaic continued to be used in the region and spread as a lingua franca of the Achaemenid Empire.^[14]

In the 3rd century CE, the Aramean city Palmyra became the capital of the short-lived Palmyrene Empire.

Notes

[a]
“Aramean tribe and a region on the Middle Euphrates”.^[5]

References

[1]
Schniedewind 2003, p. 276.
[2]
Lawson Younger Jr. 2016, p. 109.
[3]
Ancient Israel's Neighbors. pp. 54–55. ISBN 9780190690618.
[4]
Eerdmans 2000, p. 86.
[5]
Liverani 2013, p. 610.
[6]
Sader 2014, pp. 15–16. In the 8th century B.C. Aramaic inscriptions of Sefire (KAI 222–224) expressions “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram” were variously interpreted, but it can be safely argued that “All Aram” refers to a geographical area that included the territories of the Aramaean and non-Aramaean kingdoms united in the coalition against Matiʾel of Arpad, and that roughly covers the boundaries of modern Syria, while “Upper and Lower Aram” may refer to North and South Syria, respectively.
[7]
Steven Grosby. Biblical Ideas of Nationality. pp. 150–165. ISBN 9781575060651. The qualifier "all" in "all Aram" is clearly of some sociological significance; it implies a certain kind of collective unity. One is immediately re-minded of the Deuteronomistic use of "all" in "all Israel (kol yisra'el) from Dan to Beersheba."
[8]
J. Brian Peckham. Phoenicia. ISBN 9781646021222. By mid-century, the Syrian chiefdoms, through a system of alliances, affirmed their Aramean identity as "All Aram", consisting of the states in "Upper and Lower Aram", and together defied the Assyrian Empire.70
[9]
Nation and Empire as Two Trends of Political Organization in the Iron Age Levant. Brill. p. 117. ISBN 9789004685581. What is certain is that no united, pan-Aramean national state ever existed, yet clearly "Aram" served as a common identity marker and (self-)designation, although possibly with different meanings (e.g. as a region, as a collective noun for the people; or another appellation of the Damascus-centered polity). The brief analysis of the lists of treaty partners as well as the geographical description in the Sefire Treaties, furthermore, appears to suggest that "all Aram" may indicate the highest level of identity among different Aramean polities, above the tribe, the city-state and the individual ruling families, even if not all Aramean speakers, all Aramean tribes or states were included in this "all Aram". 119 The phrase more likely refers to a group of polities that shared common Aramean cultural and social features, perhaps all with Aramean tribal structures internally in addition to the use of varieties of the Aramean language, who chose to pick Aram as a common denominator in this context. 120 How inclusive or exclusive this phrase is in reality cannot be judged. Finally, while the nature of the Aramean identity is largely cultural and perhaps ethnic, the presence of political elements is also likely. Although a united Aramean polity, as the one suggested by B. Mazar (1962), might not be fully tenable, the fact that "all Aram", with Arpad as its representative, can serve as a party in international treaties indicates that the Arameans as an cultural community may have engaged in joint political acts, at least conceptually.
[10]
Karel van der Toorn. Becoming Diaspora Jews. Yale University Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 9780300249491. Confusion about the meaning of the term "Aramean" arises from the fact that "Aram" was also the name of a territory. Whereas Assyrian sources from the late second millennium BCE speak about "the land of the Arameans," in the first millennium "Aram" became a topographical reference. "Aram" was the name of various territories in north-western Syria, distinguished from one another by the addition of a tribal name or the name of a city.
[11]
Billington 2005, p. 117–132.
[12]
Lawson Younger Jr. 2016, p. 501–548.
[13]
Liverani 2013, p. 438.
[14]
Metzger & Coogan 2004, p. 17: "Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Persian empire [...]"