Aram, also known as Aramea, is the homeland and region mentioned in the Bible in present-day Syria, including where the city of Aleppo now stands. At its height, Aram stretched from the Mount Lebanon range eastward across the Euphrates, including parts of the Khabur valley in northwestern Mesopotamia on the border of Iraq. The region was known as The Land of the Amurru during the Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC), Neo-Sumerian Empire (2112–2004 BC) and Old Assyrian Empire (2025–1750 BC) in reference to its largely Amorite inhabitants. During the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC), the Neo-Babylonian Empire (612–539 BC) and the Achaemenid Empire(539–332 BC), Aram was known as Eber-Nari.
Early Jewish tradition claims the name is derived from the biblical Aram, son of Shem, a grandson of Noah in the Bible.
There is little agreement concerning what, if any, relationship there was between the places or proof that the Aramu were actually Arameans. The earliest undisputed mention of Arameans as a people is in the inscriptions of the Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser (1114–1076 BC) during the latter part of the Middle Assyrian Empire. Several of the Aramean territories located within Aram are also referenced in the Hebrew Bible. The Arameans appear to have displaced the earlier Semitic Amorite populations of ancient Syria during the period from 1100 BC to 900 BC, which was a dark age for the entire Near East, North Africa, Caucasus, Mediterranean regions, with great upheavals and mass movements of people.
However, Assyria fell into a temporary decline from the second half of the 11th century BC until the latter part of the 10th century BC, allowing the Arameans to establish a string of states across the Levant. During the period 1050 – 900 BC Arameans came to dominate most of what is now Syria but was then called Eber-Mari and Aramea.
With the advent of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC) however, the region once more fell fully under the control of Assyria. Large numbers of people living there were deported into Assyria, Babylonia and elsewhere. The Assyrians and Babylonians themselves adopted a Mesopotamian form of Aramaic, known as Imperial Aramaic. The Neo-Aramaic dialects still spoken by the indigenous Aramaics and Mandeans of northern Iraq, south east Turkey, north east Syria and north west Iran, descend from this language.
The Neo Assyrian Empire was driven by unremitting civil war from 626 BC onwards, weakening it severely, and allowing it to be attacked and destroyed by a coalition of its former vassals between 616 and 605 BC, although remnants of the Assyrian military and administration may have clung on in some northern regions until 599 BC.
The region was subsequently fought over by the Babylonians and Egyptians, the latter of whom had belatedly come to the aid of their former Assyrian overlords. The Babylonians prevailed and Aram became a part of the short lived Neo-Babylonian Empire (612-539 BC) where it remained named Eber-Nari.
The Persian Achaemenid Empire (539-332 BC) overthrew the Babylonians and conquered the region. They retained the Imperial Aramaic introduced by the Assyrians, and the name of Eber-Nari.
In 332 BC the region was conquered by the Greek ruler, Alexander The Great. Upon his death in 323 BC this area became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire, at which point Greek replaced the Assyrian introduced Imperial Aramaic as the official language of Empire, as were the names Eber-Nari and Aramea. This area and other parts of the former Assyrian Empire to the east were renamed Syria, which had for centuries until this point referred specifically to the land of Assyria and the Assyrians, which in modern terms actually covered the northern half of Iraq, north east Syria, south east Turkey and the north western fringes of Iran, and not the bulk of modern Syria and Lebanon and its largely Aramean and Phoenician inhabitants. It is from this period that the later Syria versus Assyria naming controversy arises, the Seleucids confusingly applied the name not only to the Mesopotamian land of Assyria itself, but also to the lands west of Euphrates which had never been part of Assyria itself, but merely Aramean, Phoenician, Neo-Hittite and Sutean inhabited colonies. When they lost control of Assyria itself to the Parthians, the name Syria survived but was dislocated from its original source, and was applied only to the land west of Euphrates that had once been part of the Assyrian empire, while Assyria-proper went back to being called Assyria. However, this situation led to both Assyrians and Arameans being dubbed Syrians and later Syriacs in Greco-Roman culture.
This area, by now called Syria, was fought over by Seleucids and Parthians during the 2nd century BC, and later still by the Romans and Sassanid Persians. Palmyra, a powerful Aramean kingdom arose during this period, and for a time it dominated the area and successfully resisted Roman and Persian attempts at conquest. The region eventually came under the control of the Byzantine Empire. Christianity began to take hold from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, and the Aramaic language gradually supplanted Canaanite in Phoenecia and Hebrew in Israel (the Roman Palestine).
In the mid-7th century AD the region fell to the Arab Islamic conquest. The Aramaic language survived among a sizable portion of the population of Syria, who resisted Arabization. However, the native Western Aramaic of the Aramean Christian population of Syria is spoken today by only a few thousand people, the majority having now adopted the Arabic language. Mesopotamian Eastern Aramaic, which still contains a number of loan words from the Akkadian language, as well as structural similarities, still survives among the majority of ethnically distinct Assyrian, who are mainly based in northern Iraq, north east Syria, south east Turkey and north west Iran.
Syria today is home to diverse and ethnic religious groups, including Syrian Arabs, Kurds, Turkemens, Assyrians, Armenians, Circassians, Mandeans and Greeks. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Ismailis, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Yazidis, and Jews. Arabs are the largest ethnic group, and Sunnis the largest religious group.
FAST FORWARD: IT’S A STORY ABOUT A COUNTRY CALLED SYRIA!
Damascus metro runs through 35 areas of the city and serves around 700 passengers everyday. The Damascus International Airport receives about more than 13 million tourists every year apart from internal tourism. Industrial cities that covers the local need of all sectors and exports to more than 40 countries. Five years have passed since a complete literacy was finished everywhere after illiteracy was only 5% in 2010. Unemployment has become 3%, Aleppo province is considered the strongest in the workforce at 94%.
It might surprise you that this what it would’ve become. Nonetheless, the year 2010 was the turning point for becoming this modern state of which Dr. Bashar al-Assad has been seeking to establish since taking office in 2000. the country witnessed back then an openness to markets as President Assad wanted an evolution which multiplies the investments 12 times. this evolution has also included the military sector where the Syrian Arab Army has become one of the strongest Arab armies and Syria was ranked as one of the safest countries in the world. In Presidents Assad own words, “You cannot be secure by bodyguards but only be secure by a secure society.”
Here is Damascus before getting stormed by the wind of ruin. Five-year plans were created for the sectors of economy, health, tourism, education and services. Tourists were over 8.5 million versus 6.9 million in 2009 at a growth rate of 40%. Syrian health sector covers 90% of the local need and exports to 54 countries around the world. The illiteracy rate was only 5% within 21,000 schools. The Syrian oil sector was the 27th globally in terms of production exceeding 400,000 barrels per day. Syrian electrical production reached 46 billion kwh which wasn’t only enough for the local need in 2010, but also to export the surplus to the neighboring countries. In 2010, domestic product in Syria exceeded $64 billion with zero debts.
Ten years have passed while these numbers have multiplied dozens of times but as losses. Losses of the Syrian economy estimated at 254 billion dollars. More than 113,000 industrial facilities were destroyed by terrorism. In light of the economic sanctions impressed by the U.S. and E.U. countries the economy has shrank by 35% while a million jobs were lost. Inflation rate increased to nearly 80%. The exchange rate of the Syrian pound was depreciated by great proportions with the capital cities migration since the first months of the war.
Ten years of unprecedented crisis led to the decline of the GDP. In addition to the decline of the general budget of the state from $18 billion in 2010 to $8 billion in 2020. More than $50 billion are the losses of the tourism sector, while the losses of the agriculture sector have reached $68 billion and the service sector losses are estimated at $29 billion. In electricity, losses reached $28 billion. These statistics were not actually far from the Syrian family’s life which was highly affected with unemployment, increasing to 80% and prices multiplied 15 times. the picture today may look very dark, but these challenges have actually put the Syrian state in front of new tasks.
At the top is rebuilding the human spirit which is the cornerstone of development and reconstruction. In addition to healing the wounds of war through programs and initiatives sponsored by the Republic Presidency and under the supervision of the First Lady Asma al-Assad, which aims at supporting martyr’s families and the wounded and empowering the young societal groups, guide them towards better community and achieve sustainable development. Despite all the losses that the country is facing Syria doesn’t have any indebtedness that strains its economy in light of making plans to meet new challenges of the sanctions in attempt to take steps towards economic recovery.
Syria will rise once again like the Phoenix from the ashes. Inshallah
Credit: Ibrahim Mohammed for his 2020 PSA Video on Syria.