THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
tinier in Arabia und Africa, Munich, 1889; H. Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, 2il series, i. 2, Leipsie, 1898. For inscriptions and the language: Oseander, in ZDMil, xix. (1805), 159-293, xx. (1 Still) 205-287; F Hommel. SiidarabischeChrestomathie, Munich, 1893; idem, ZDMG, liii. (1899), pt. 1; J. HaleVy, in J A, series 6, xix. For the people: J. L. Burckhardt Notes on the Bedouins and Hahabies. 2 vols., London. 1831; S. M. Zwemer, Arabia the Cradle of Islam, New York. 1900 (deals also with missionary work). For the religion: Ahmed Khan Bahadur, u.s.; Smith, Rel. of Sem.; idem, Kinship; J. Wellhausen, Fteste arabischen Heidentums, Berlin, 1897; G. A. Barton, .4 Sketch of Semitic Origins, New York, 1902; D. Nielsen, Die altarabische Mondreligion, Strasburg, 1904.
ARABIANS (Lat. Arabici): A name given by- Augustine (Hair., lxxxiii.) to sectaries in Arabia, mentioned by Eusebius (Hist, eccl., vi 37), who says that they held that the human soul dies with the body and will rise with it on the Day of Resurrection . Origen combated this opinion at an Arabian synod about 246. Consult Walch, Historie der Ketzereien, ii 167-171; E. R. Redepenning, Origines, ii. (Bonn, 1S46) 105 sqq G. Kruger.
ARABIC GOSPEL OF THE INFANCY. Apocrypha, B, I., 6.
ARAK1N. See Talmud.
See
ARAM, e'ram, ARAMEANS, ar"a-mi'anz, AND THE ARAMAIC LANGUAGE.
The Name. Old Testament Usage (§ 1).
Origin of the Arameans (§ 2).
Religion (§ 3).
Language (§ 4).
Extent of Aramean Settlements (§ 5).
Activity and Enterprise of the Arameans (§ 6).
The Arameans of Mesopotamia (§ 7).
Their Place in Biblical History (§ 8).
Cities and States in Southern Syria (§ 9).
The Arameans of Damascus and Israel (§ 10).
Spread of Aramean Influence in Later Times (§ 11).
Aram is the Old Testament designation for the Semitic Arameans or Syrians settled in Syria and Mesopotamia, north to the Taurus and east to the Tigris; but, as these peoples never formed a political unit, the name is used only with reference to some particular tribe region, or state. Thus the Old Testament distinguishes. (1 ) Aram Naharaim, 'Aram of the two rivers," i.e., the Euphrates and Tigris (or Khabur; Gen. xxiv 10; Deut. xxiii. 4, Judges iii 8; Ps. lx. title); in the Amarna Tablets (qv.) it is called Na'rima (ZA, vi., 1891, p. 258); in Egyptian inscriptions, Nahrina (W Max Muller, Asien und Euro-pa, Leipsie, 1893, pp. 249 sqq.). The Pentateuch priest-code reads Padan (Paddan)- Aram (Gen. xxv 20; xxviii. 2, 5-7; i. The xxxi 18; xxxiii. 18; xxxv 9, 26; Name. Old xlvi. 15), " fields of Aram,"— a name Testament which may be preserved in the Tell Fed- Usage, dan of Arabic geographers (see below, § 7). (2) AramDammesek, named from its chief city, Damascus, often called simply Aram because it was the people best known, and of most importance to Israel (II Sam. viii. 5-6; Isa. vii. 8; xvri. 3; Amos i. 5) (3) Aram Zobah, at the time of Saul and David the most powerful realm in Syria (I Sam xiv. 47; II Sam. viii. 3; x 6, 8; Ps. lx title; I Chron. xviii. 3; II Chron. viii. 3). Schrader (KAT, 135) identifies Zobah with the Subit of the inscriptions, which he puts south of Damascus; Halevy identifies it with the later Chal-
cis on the slopes of Lebanon. (4) Aram Beth-Rehob (II Sam. x. 6), a city not far from Dan (Judges xviii. 28) in the upper part of the lowlands of Lake Huleh, watered by the Leddan, the middle source of the Jordan. (5) Aram Maachah (I Chron. xix. 6), and (6) Geshur in Aram (II Sam. xv. 8), independent kingdoms in the time of David. (See below, § 9.)
In the list of nations in Gen. x., four descendants of Aram are mentioned: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash (verse 23). The first name is also found in Gen. xxii. 21 among the descendants of Nahor, and in xxxvi. 28 and I Chron. i. 42 among the Horites. In Jer. xxv. 20 " the kings of the land of Uz " are mentioned among those to whom Yahweh gives the wine-cup of his wrath; they are followed by the Philistines and the latter by Edom. Finally in Lam. iv. 21 the daughter of Edom is mentioned as dwelling in the land of Uz, i.e., having possession of the same. A comparison of these passages, including Job i. 1-3, shows that the Uzites as an Aramaic tribe must be looked for in the Hauran. Hul without doubt is the inhabitants of the Huleh low-country, mentioned above. Gether can not be identified. Mash, for which the Chronicler (i. 17) reads Meshech (cf. Ps. cxx. 5), has been connected since Bochart with Mt. Masius (cf. Strabo, xi., p. 541), now Tur Abdin, north of Nisibis. When Aram is made a descendant of Kemuel (Gen. xxii. 21 ) and a grandson of Nahor, a younger branch of the Aramaic people is probably meant.
As to the original home of the Arameans, the prophecy of Amos (ix 7) states that they were
brought from Kir and should go back
2. Origin thither in captivity (i. 5). The loca-
of the tion of Kir is uncertain; some identify
Arameans. it with Cyrrhestica, between the Oron-
tes and Euphrates; others think it means South Babylonia. The name has not as yet been found in inscriptions. Moses of Chorene (Hist, armen., i., p. 12)mentions Aram among the ancestors of the Armenian people ; but Aram has as little to do with Armenia as with Homer's Eremboi or Arimoi. The name may signify " elevation," " highland." In the cuneiform inscriptions it appears as Arumu and Arxmi , the " land of the Khatti " also comprises the Arameans. Schrader thinks that the Khatti were the Western and Southern Arameans, the Arumu the Eastern and Northern. The Greeks called the Arameans Syrians, which is an abbreviation of Assyrians. Those Greeks who were settled along the southern coast of the Black Sea first applied the name to their Cappadocian neighbors, who were Assyrian subjects. Thence it was extended to the whole population of the Assyrian Empire, and thus it became synonymous with Aramea. Afterward the Christian Arameans adopted the name Syrian, because among the Jews Aramean meant heathen.
The religion of the Arameans was polytheistic (Judges x.6; II Chron. xxviii. 23) and like all cults
of Nearer Asia was symbolic nature- 3. Religion, worship. Owing to the dispersion of
the Arameans, an Aramean pantheon is not known, but only individual gods. Furthermore, at a very early period, Babylonian, Arabian,