The Aramean Identity of Tur ‘Abdin and its Native Population
Tur ‘Abdin, which basically denotes “the mountain of the servants [sc. of God]” in Aramaic, is the local name of an erstwhile densely populated Christian region in Southeast-Turkey.
The vast majority of its indigenous citizens have, for obvious reasons, migrated to Western countries in recent decades and the emerging demographic vacuum was swiftly filled by myriads of infiltrating Kurdish tribes from the periphery and beyond.
The Indigenous Origins of the Arameans of Upper Mesopotamia
The ancient Arameans have traditionally been viewed as “camel nomads”1 who “spread out from the fringes of the Syro-Arabian desert,”2 whence a segment of “the Aramean tribes invaded northern Mesopotamia, and founded there a series of little states.”3
This view, though, emerged from a broader context about the origins of the ‘Semites’.4 Within this group, the Arameans are generally classified as belonging to the (North)western branch; the Akkadians, Babylonians and Assyrians, for instance, are regarded as East-Semites.
The Arameans of Aram-naharaim or The Ancient Syrians of Mesopotamia
The Arameans trace their genealogical lines back to the eponymous ancestor Aram, the son of Shem, the son of Noah (Genesis 10:1, 22)1. In pre-Christian times, notably between 1150-700 B.C., they played a crucial and decisive role in Mesopotamia and ancient Syria2.
Aramaic Language and Culture
ARAMAIC & SYRIAC
The introduction of the name ‘Syriac’ has, admittedly, created a certain amount of ambiguity. Not only as regards the Aramaic language and culture, but also with respect to the Aramean people.
