Arameans

Who were the Arameans (or Aramaeans; southern and eastern groups of Syro-Hittites, or Syro-Anatolians) in the first millennium BCE?

• Jona Lendering, livius.org (2009), “Aramaeans”
• Encyclopaedia Britannica editors (2008), “Aramaean (People)”
• [VIDEO lecture] James Osborne, “The Syro-Anatolian City States: A Neglected Iron Age Culture” (51:37)
• Herbert Niehr (ed.), edited volume (2014), The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria
• Margaretha Folmer, in Languages from the World of the Bible, ed. H. Gzella (2011), “Old and Imperial Aramaic [language]”

Neo-Hittite (including Aramean) polities, ca. 800 BCE  (H. van Deukeren via Wikimedia Commons)

Aramean Religion

• Javier Teixidor, Encyclopedia of Religion (1987; updated 2005), “Aramean Religion”
• Some sources on the religion of the city-state of Samal / Zincirli:
  • Eti Bonn-Muller, Archaeology (2008), “Insight into the Soul: An Inscribed Stele from Zincirli, Turkey, Illuminates Iron Age Beliefs about the Afterlife”
  • John Noble Wilford, New York Times (2008), “Found: An Ancient Monument to the Soul”
  • Stone relief of an unnamed storm god (Pergamonmuseum, Berlin)
  • Funerary stele of an unnamed woman (Pergamonmuseum, Berlin)
• Known members of the divine pantheon: Hadad (also Adda; M), Shahar (also Sahr, Sin; M), Baalshamin (also Baalshamayin, Baalshamain; M); Iluwer (M)

Aramean Archaeology and Inscriptions

• Andrew Lawler, Archaeology (2009), “Temple of the Storm God: A 5,000-year-old Sanctuary Emerges from Beneath Aleppo’s Medieval Citadel”
• Marc Grellert and Jochen Schmid, Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies (2014), “Oriental Adventures: The Excavations at Tell Halaf, Syria. A Virtual Reconstruction”
• Image from Tell Halaf of a divine being with six wings (Walters Art Museum)
• BAS Staff, Biblical History Daily (2011), “The Tel Dan Inscription”
• The Zakkur Inscription (aramaic-dem.org)
• The Tell Fekheriye Inscription (Wikipedia)
• Funerary Stele of a Priest of Shahar (The Louvre Museum)
• Hadad Stele from Bethsaida / et-Tell (Israel Museum)
• Inscribed silver ingot with the name of Bar-Rakib, son of Panammu (British Museum)
• Selected Archaeological Sites: Guzana / Gozan / Tell Halaf, Til Barsip / Til Barsib / Tell Barsip / Tell Ahmad, Hazrak / Hazrach / Tell Afis, Arpad / Tell Erfad / Tel Rifaat / Tell er-Rif’at, Halab / Aleppo, Hamath / Hamat / Hama, et-Tell / Bethsaida, Aram-Damascus / Damascus, Sam’al / Zincirli / Zinjirli, Kunulua / Kinalua / Tell Tayinat