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August 22, 2005
Aram of Many Names
The Yahoo Ugaritic News Group is, unfortunately, mostly a spam collection point but back in June someone asked what term was used in the Hebrew Bible for the region we now call Syria. I was reminded of this the other day when I was digging through some back issues of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies and happened to see an article by Richard N. Frye on the subject of Syria, Assyria and Aram.1
The correct answer to the question of what the Hebrew Bible calls the region we call Syria is of course, Aram (ארם). At least this is true if you don't want to be too picky about the details. For example, as was pointed out by one responder, Stephen S. Rives, "Aram of the Two Rivers" (Aram-Naharaim) seems to means Mesopotamia (Genesis 24:10 and the title to Psalm 60 for example). Aram is the political homeland, but likely not the place of origin, of the Arameans and the Aramaic language.
Someone else raised the question about the possibility of Ugarit being Syria. Rives correctly noted,
Something to keep in mind about going to the Ugaritic to see if Aram is Syria: The Ugaritic is before the Hebrew. And, national identities come and go. For example, in the Ugaritic period, UGRT itself is in the region we call Syria (even as Amr = Amurru). UGRT is not found in the Hebrew Bible, but chtty is (Eng: Hittite) -- see the Hebrew and Ugaritic cht which can include the region of Syria. In Ugaritic and Hebrew Hittite-land can designate regions that fall within Palestine and Syria.
Anyway, the problems do not stop with Aram as a designation for Syria. What about Assyria and the name "Syria" itself? Frye offers an interesting chart that helps sort it all out. I have made a couple of changes in format to accommodate web publishing but I have not changed the content.
Pre Christian
| Area of Assyria | Area of Syria | Aramaeans | Language | Area of Mesopotamia | |
| Akkadian | Aššur | Arame | Aramu | ? | No general term |
| Old Persian | Athura | Babiruš | |||
| Hebrew | Aššur | Aram | 'r'myts | Aram Naharaim | |
| Aramaic | Ar‛ura (Asura) | 'abr hhr' (Aram) |
'rmy |
Early Christian
| Area of Assyria | Area of Syria | Aramaeans | Language | Area of Mesopotamia | |
| Syriac | At‛ur/ Hadeyah |
Suriya | Aramiya | Swryy' | Bet Aramaye |
| Armenian | Norshirakan | Asorik‛ | Asorestanik‛ | Asori | Babiruš |
| Middle Persian | Nodšaharakan/ Natardašiarakan |
Suriya | Suristan/ Asuristan |
||
| Arabic | Al-Jazira | Al-Shām | Nabataeans | suryāni | Al-Sawad |
For the uninitiated, Syriac stands for a group of several dialects of late Aramaic.
Frye discusses the often confusing use of "Assyria" and "Syria" by the Greeks and argues that Herodotus is correct when he says in VII, 63, "These (the Assyrians) are called by the Greeks Syrians but the foreigners call them Assyrians."
That is a very interesting discussion but, as usual, I would like to go in the opposite direction - backwards in time. What was the region called in earlier times and where did the Arameans come from?
The earliest unambiguous evidence of Aram as a unified political and geographical entity comes from the 9th century BCE or there about. Examples of such evidence are the Stele of Bar Hadad,2 a pedestal inscribed Tell Halaf,3 the second inscription of Kilamu (but some consider it Phoenician)4 and the inscriptions of Deir 'Alla'5 and Panammu.6 Unfortunately, one piece of evidence from this period, the Dan inscription, is sometimes thought to be a forgery despite the fact it was found in situ.7 And there are a few more.8
Earlier than this there is mostly confusion about Aramaic and the Arameans, even if the various earlier occupants of the area are known fairly well.
There are numerous older names from Ur, Mari, Alalakh, Ugarit and elsewhere that have from time to time been associated with Aram and the Arameans. Each of them presents its own difficulties in interpretation. There is also the issue of how the people who came to be Arameans should be associated with other groups like those nomadic(?)peoples mentioned in Egyptian texts or with the Amorites. From a different prospective, it is clear that the region was in the hands of various peoples before the rise of the Arameans as a political force in the 9th century BCE. And what, if anything, does the Hebrew Bible have to say about all this? I may try to dig into these issues in the future. However, don't hold your breath. Trying to say something coherent on the origin of the Ugaritic short alphabet (is it the origin of the Ugaritic long alphabet?) has priority and that may take a long time.
Notes:
1) Frye, Richard N., "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms," JNES 51, 4, 1992, 281-285
2) KAI #201
3) KAI #231
4) KAI #25
5) See Hoftijzer, J. & Van Der Kooij G., Aramaic Texts from Deir’Alla, Leiden 1976. Caquot, A. & Lemaire, A., "Les textes araméennes de Deir’Alla", in Syria 54 (1977) 189-208. 40 Weipert, M., The Balaam Texts from Deir ‘Alla and the Study of the Old Testament, (ed. Hoftijzer, J. – Van Der Kooij, G.), Leiden 1991, pp. 153-158.
6) KAI #215;
7) Edward Cook has a useful discussion of the Tel Dan inscription on Ralph the Sacred River.
8) See Yildiz , Efrem, "The Aramaic Language and Its Classification" Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, XIV, 1, 2000 from which most of the material in this paragraph was creped.
Posted by DuaneSmith at August 22, 2005 11:16 AM | Read more on Archaeology |
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