A New View of the Aramaeans.

• Author: Guzzo, Maria Giulia Amadasi
• Position: Report

In recent years a number of works have been devoted to the Aramaeans, in particular, most recently, to their language (Gzella and Folmer 2008; Gzella 2015) and to their relations with neighboring states (Sergi et al. 2016; Berlejung et al. 2017). ' However, the present book differs from those as, for the first time, it examines in detail Aramaic historical developments from a specifically political point of view. It reconstructs the attested Aramaean entities (groups, tribes, polities), their origins, and social and political developments, along with their relations with neighboring countries/states, utilizing all the existing written sources--mainly Assyrian texts, local inscriptions, and biblical passages. Available archaeological data are also adduced. As noted by the author, important new documentation has come to light since the once comprehensive studies by Dion (1997) and Lipinski (2000). Although the new data are included in recent comprehensive works, in particular in the volume edited by H. Niehr (2014), duly cited by Lawson Younger, their aim is different, being devoted both to the history of the Aramaean groups and polities and to specific aspects of "Aramaean culture" in its Near Eastern setting.

The structure of Younger's work, on the contrary, does not differ considerably from Lipihski's synthesis, whose publication, however, preceded the recent discoveries that have shed new light on particular issues (for example, the Middle Assyrian expansion in the Jezirah and its decline; specific new discoveries regarding certain Aramaean polities; and archaeological and epigraphic documentation, such as the Katumuwa (2) inscription). Moreover, leaving aside the differing order of presentation of the history of the various Aramaic entities, the solution of many questions still subject to debate also frequently diverges between them.

As already noted, Aramaic society, economy, law, and religion, treated by Lipinski in individual chapters (as was the case in Dion's work, and again in Niehr's handbook), are not examined by Younger, even though they are often touched upon within the context of the Aramaeans' historical development--the social questions in particular.

Aramaean history, as is well known, can be reconstructed mainly from external sources, the local documents, although important, being few and not easy to interpret. Consequently, Younger's task has been particularly hard, especially since examining the documents requires more than one kind of specialized knowledge. One of the major issues is the intricate links between Aramaean and Assyrian history, which oblige the author to analyze in detail questions concerning the development and itineraries of Assyrian wars and campaigns. Furthermore, the use of the biblical sources referring to "Aram" and its kings calls for an evaluation of the different trends concerning the composition of the biblical text, and consequently, the historical value to be attributed to each passage examined. In this regard Younger's position is sufficiently critical, although not hypercritical.

Despite the difficulties encountered, the author has achieved the aims put forward in his introduction and has produced an extremely useful, detailed, and solid historical reconstruction. In each case, he has presented clearly and analyzed in depth every question anew, and has consistently proposed well-balanced solutions--often convincing and in some cases new. The rigorous order he has imposed on his work, divided into paragraphs and sub-paragraphs leading strictly from the general to the more specific, although responding well to demand for clarity has led to some repetition, with questions already alluded to discussed again in more detail. Moreover, the detailed excursus on every specific problem occasionally interferes with a clear understanding of the overall historical process. However, the author presents helpful summary tables for every tricky question.

The historical reconstruction of the processes of the Aramaeans' rise and decline is organized into well-structured chapters that follow an approximately chronological and geographical order from north to south, each divided, as noted, into paragraphs and sub-paragraphs. The first chapter, "Preliminary Issues" (pp. 1-34), presents the geographical setting of the Aramaeans' spread, the other languages spoken in the regions of their diffusion (Luwian, Phoenician, Akkadian), and the main classification of the Aramaic scripts and phases of the language. Chapter 2 (pp. 35-107) deals with "The Origins of the Aramaeans," an issue that the author had already addressed in two important articles (Younger 2007 and 2014). Here the subject is examined in greater depth with special attention to general problems. In particular, he considers the use and meaning of the so-called socially constructed groups--the expression adopted to identify Aramean groups, or tribes, or social organizations. Further, he addresses the question of the appropriate model of nomadism to be assigned to the Aramaeans, from their beginnings through subsequent developments. The question of "mobile pastoralism"--the symbiosis/interaction between nomads and sedentary organizations and the role of climatic and economic factors--had not been dealt with within the same overall theoretical frame in the...