View source for Imperial Aramaic

{{short description|Ancient language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Imperial Aramaic
| altname          = Official/Standard Aramaic
| nativename       = 
| image            = File:Letoon stele.jpg
| imagecaption     = [[Letoon trilingual|Letoon Trilingual]] with [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Lycian language|Lycian]] and [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]. [[Fethiye|Fethiye Museum]], 4th century BC.
| region           = Ancient [[Near East]]
| era              = {{circa|700}}–300 BC,<br /> evolved into [[Biblical Aramaic]] then split into [[Middle Aramaic]] ({{circa|200}}–1200), or [[Syriac language|Old Syriac then Classical Syriac]]
| familycolor      = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2             = [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]
| fam3             = [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]]
| fam4             = [[Central Semitic languages|Central Semitic]]
| fam5             = [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic]]
| fam6             = [[Aramaic]]
| ancestor         = [[Old Aramaic]]
| script           = [[Aramaic alphabet]]
| iso2             = arc
| iso3             = arc
| glotto           = impe1235
}}

'''Imperial Aramaic''' is a [[linguistic]] term, coined by modern [[Aramaic studies|scholars]] in order to designate a specific historical [[Variety (linguistics)|variety]] of [[Aramaic language]]. The term is [[polysemic]], with two distinctive meanings, wider ([[sociolinguistic]]) and narrower ([[dialectological]]). Since most surviving examples of the language have been found in Egypt, the language is also referred to as '''Egyptian Aramaic'''.<ref name=Cook>{{cite book | last=Cook | first=Edward | title=Biblical Aramaic and Related Dialects: An Introduction | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2022 | isbn=978-1-108-78788-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kdCIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 | ref=none | page=3-7|quote=Imperial Aramaic (IA) [Footnote: Other names: Official Aramaic, Reichsaramäisch. Because many of the surviving texts come from Egypt, some scholars speak of "Egyptian Aramaic.”]… As noted, the documentation of IA is significantly greater than that of Old Aramaic; the hot and dry climate of Egypt has been particularly favorable to the preservation of antiquities, including Aramaic texts written on soft media such as papyrus or leather. The primary, although not exclusive, source of our knowledge of Persian-period Aramaic is a large number of papyri discovered on the island of Elephantine… All of the Egyptian Aramaic texts have been collected and reedited in the Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt… This is now the standard text edition… Outside of Egypt, Aramaic texts written primarily on hard media such as stone or pottery have been discovered, including texts from Palestine, Arabia, Asia Minor, Iraq (Babylon), and Iran (Persepolis). A recent discovery, of uncertain provenance, is a relatively large collection of documents, now in a private collection, consisting mainly of the correspondence of the official Akhvamazda of Bactria dating from 354 to 324 BCE (Nave & Shaked 2012). They are similar in some ways to the Arshama archive published by Driver; the find-spot was no doubt Afghanistan.}}</ref>

Some scholars use the term as a designation for a distinctive, socially prominent phase in the history of Aramaic language, that lasted from the middle of the 8th century BCE to the end of the 4th century BCE and was marked by the use of Aramaic as a language of public life and administration in the late [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] and its successor states, the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] and the [[Achaemenid Empire]], also adding to that some later (Post-Imperial) uses that persisted throughout the early [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] period. Other scholars use the term ''Imperial Aramaic'' in a narrower sense, reduced only to the Achaemenid period, basing that reduction on several strictly linguistic distinctions between the previous (Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian) phase and later (more prominent) Achaemenid phase.

Since all of those phases can be [[semantically]] labelled as "imperial", some scholars opt for the use of more specific and unambiguous terms, like ''Neo-Assyrian Aramaic'' and ''Neo-Babylonian Aramaic'' (for the older phases), and ''Achaemenid Aramaic'' (for the later phase), thus avoiding the use of the polysemic "imperial" label, and its primarily sociolinguistic implications. Similar issues have arisen in relation to the uses of some alternative terms, like ''Official Aramaic'' or ''Standard Aramaic'', that were also criticized as unspecific. All of those terms continue to be used differently by scholars.{{sfn|Beyer|1986|p=10-11}}{{sfn|Fitzmyer|1997|p=59}}{{sfn|Folmer|1995|p=8-13}}{{sfn|Gzella|2012a|p=574}}{{sfn|Folmer|2012|p=587-588}}{{sfn|Gzella|2015|p=54, 105, 155, 158}}

The [[Elephantine papyri and ostraca]], as well as other Egyptian texts, are the largest group of extant records in the language, collected in the standard ''[[Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt]]''.<ref name=Cook/> Outside of Egypt, most texts are known from [[Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions|stone or pottery inscriptions]] spread across a wide geographic area.<ref name=Cook/> More recently a group of leather and wooden documents were found in [[Bactria]], known as the [[Khalili Collection of Aramaic Documents|Bactria Aramaic documents]].<ref name=Cook/>

==Name and classification==

The term "Imperial Aramaic" was first coined by [[Josef Markwart]] in 1927, calling the language by the German name ''{{Lang|de|Reichsaramäisch|italic=unset}}''.{{sfn|Folmer|1995|p=10}}{{sfn|Gzella|2015|p=158}}<ref>[[Josef Markwart]], “Np. āđīna ‘Freitag’,” Ungarische Jahrbücher 7, 1927, pp. 91: "In der Bedeutung 'bestimmte (kommende, zukünftige) Zeit’ ist das Wort zaman schon ins Reichsaramäische und von da ins aramaisierende Hebräisch und ins Nabatäische und aus diesem später ins Arabische übergegangen. [Footnote: So nenne ich die aramäische Kanzleisprache der Achaimeniden, in welcher die Mehrzahl, wenn nicht alle, aramäischen Inschriften und sämtliche Papyri der Achaimenidenzeit, sowie die aramäischen Stücke in den Büchern 'Ezra und Daniel abgefaßt sind. Daß Kautzsch und noch der Schweizer Karl Marti (Kurzgefaßte Grammatik der biblisch-aramäischen Sprache. Berlin 1896 S. 4) diese Sprache W est aramäisch nennen konnten, war ein grober Salto mortale, der nur dadurch verständlich wird, daß die Verfasser vom aramäischen Sprachgute des uzvärisn, d. h. von den aramäischen Ideogrammen des Mitteliranischen keine Kunde hatten.]"</ref> In 1955, [[Richard N. Frye]] noted that no extant edict expressly or ambiguously accorded the status of "[[official language]]" to any particular language, causing him to question the classification of Imperial Aramaic. Frye went on to reclassify Imperial Aramaic as the ''[[lingua franca]]'' used in the territories of the Achaemenid Empire, further suggesting that the language's use was more prevalent in these areas than initially thought.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Frye|first1=Richard N.|title=Review of G. R. Driver's "Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B. C."|journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies|volume=18|issue=3/4|year=1955|pages=456–461|doi=10.2307/2718444|last2=Driver|first2=G. R.|jstor=2718444}} p. 457.</ref>

==History==
The native speakers of Aramaic, the [[Arameans]], settled in great numbers in [[Babylonia]] and [[Upper Mesopotamia]] during the ages of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] and [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]]s. The massive influx of settlers led to the adoption of Aramaic as the ''lingua franca'' of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader |first1=Suzanne |last1=Richard |publisher=EISENBRAUNS |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-57506-083-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khR0apPid8gC&q=aramaic+spread+North+Africa&pg=PA69}}</ref>
After the [[Achaemenid Assyria|Achaemenid conquest of Mesopotamia]] in 539 BC, the Achaemenids continued the use of Aramaic as the language of the region, further extending its prevalence by making it the imperial standard (thus "Imperial" Aramaic) so it may be the "vehicle for written communication between the different regions of the vast empire with its different peoples and languages." The adoption of a single official language for the various regions of the empire has been cited as a reason for the at the time unprecedented success of the Achaemenids in maintaining the expanse of their empire for a period of centuries.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |volume=2 |year=1987 |title=Aramaic |pages=251–252 |last=Shaked |first=Saul |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |location=New York |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aramaic- |access-date=10 October 2018}}</ref>

==Sources==

One of the most extensive collections of texts written in Imperial Aramaic is the [[Persepolis Administrative Archives|Fortification Tablets of Persepolis]], of which there are about five hundred. Other extant examples of Imperial Aramaic come from [[Egypt]], such as the [[Elephantine papyri]]. Egyptian examples also include the ''[[Story of Ahikar|Words of Ahikar]]'', a piece of [[wisdom literature]] reminiscent of the [[Book of Proverbs]]. Scholarly consensus regards the portions of the [[Book of Daniel]] (i.e., 2:4b-7:28) written in Aramaic as an example of Imperial Aramaic.{{sfn|Collins|1993|p=710-712}} In November 2006, an analysis was published of thirty newly discovered Aramaic documents from [[Bactria]] which now constitute the [[Khalili Collection of Aramaic Documents]]. The leather parchment contains texts written in Imperial Aramaic, reflecting the use of the language for Achaemenid administrative purposes during the fourth century in regions such as Bactria and [[Sogdia]].<ref>{{Cite book |title= Ancient Aramaic Documents from Bactria |series= Studies in the Khalili Collection |last1=Naveh |first1=Joseph |last2=Shaked |first2=Shaul |isbn=  978-1874780748 |publisher= Khalili Collections |location= Oxford |year=2006 |editor=Joseph Naveh}}</ref>

==Legacy and influence==

[[File:Illustrerad Verldshistoria band I karta 4.jpg|thumb|Expanse of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], showing the regions heavily influenced by Imperial Aramaic.]]

The evolution of alphabets from the Mediterranean region is commonly split into two major divisions: the [[Phoenician_alphabet#Derived_alphabets|Phoenician-derived]] alphabets of the West, including the Mediterranean region ([[Anatolia]], [[Greece]], and the [[Italian peninsula]]), and the Aramaic-derived alphabets of the East, including the [[Levant]], [[Persia]], [[Central Asia]], and the [[Indian subcontinent]]. The former Phoenician-derived alphabets arose around the 8th century BC, and the latter Aramaic-derived alphabets evolved from the Imperial Aramaic script around the 6th century BC. After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the unity of the Imperial Aramaic script was lost, diversifying into a number of descendant cursives. Aramaic script and, as ideograms, Aramaic vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics of the [[Pahlavi scripts]], itself developing from the [[Manichaean alphabet]].<ref>{{Cite journal|author1-link=Wilhelm Geiger|first1=Wilhelm|last1=Geiger|first2=Ernst|last2=Kuhn|year=2002|title=Grundriss der iranischen Philologie: Band I. Abteilung 1|location=Boston|publisher=Adamant|pages=249ff}}</ref>

The orthography of Imperial Aramaic was based more on its own historical roots than on any spoken dialect, leading to a high standardization of the language across the expanse of the Achaemenid Empire. Of the Imperial Aramaic glyphs extant from its era, there are two main styles: the ''lapidary'' form, often inscribed on hard surfaces like stone monuments, and the ''cursive'' form. The Achaemenid Empire used both of these styles, but the cursive became much more prominent than the lapidary, causing the latter to eventually disappear by the 3rd century BC.{{sfn|Greenfield|1985|p=709–710}} In remote regions, the cursive versions of Aramaic evolved into the creation of the [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]], [[Palmyrene alphabet|Palmyrene]] and [[Mandaic alphabet]]s, which themselves formed the basis of many historical Central Asian scripts, such as the [[Sogdian alphabet|Sogdian]] and [[Mongolian script|Mongolian]] alphabets.<ref name="Kara1996">{{cite book|first=György|last=Kara|chapter=Aramaic Scripts for Altaic Languages|editor=Daniels, Peter T. |editor2=Bright, William|title=The World's Writing Systems|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937/page/535 535–558]|year=1996|isbn=978-0-19-507993-7|title-link=The World's Writing Systems}}</ref> The [[Brahmi script]], of which the entire [[Brahmic family of scripts]] derives (including [[Devanagari]]), most likely descends from Imperial Aramaic, as the empire of [[Cyrus the Great]] brought the borders of the Persian Empire all the way to the edge of the Indian subcontinent, with [[Alexander the Great]] and his successors further linking the lands through trade.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Brāhmī {{!}} writing system|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brahmi|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-05-29}}</ref>

===Hebrew===

The [[Babylonian captivity]] ended after [[Cyrus the Great]] conquered [[Babylon]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-05-06|title=Cyrus the Great: History's most merciful conqueror?|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/people/reference/cyrus-the-great/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513020650/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/people/reference/cyrus-the-great/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 13, 2019|access-date=2020-09-07|website=Culture|language=en}}</ref> The mass-prevalence of Imperial Aramaic in the region resulted in the eventual use of the Aramaic alphabet for writing [[Hebrew]].<ref name="Schniedewind 2006. P.137-147">{{cite conference|author=William M. Schniedewind|author-link=William Schniedewind|url=https://www.academia.edu/download/8369723/ois2.pdf#page=149|title=Aramaic, the Death of Written Hebrew, and Language Shift in the Persian Period|editor=Seth L. Sanders|conference=Margins of Writing, Origins of Cultures|publisher=University of Chicago|year=2006|pages=137–147|conference-url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/ois/ois-2-margins-writing-origins-cultures|isbn=1-885923-39-2}}{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Before the adoption of Imperial Aramaic, Hebrew was written in the [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet]], which, along with Aramaic, directly descended from [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]]. Hebrew and Aramaic heavily influenced one another, with mostly religious Hebrew words (such as {{Transliteration|sem|‘ēṣ}} "wood") transferring into Aramaic and more general Aramaic vocabulary (such as ''māmmôn'' "wealth") entering the local Hebrew lexicon.

Late Old Western Aramaic, also known as Jewish Old Palestinian, is a well-attested language used by the communities of [[Judea]], probably originating in the area of [[Caesarea Philippi]]. By the 1st century CE, the people of [[Judaea (Roman province)|Roman Judaea]] still used Aramaic as their primary language, along with [[Koine Greek]] for commerce and administration. The oldest manuscript of the [[Book of Enoch]] (c. 170 BC) is written in the Late Old Western Aramaic dialect.<ref>[http://ocp.acadiau.ca/1Enoch.html The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231132153/http://ocp.acadiau.ca/1Enoch.html |date=2007-12-31 }}</ref>

The [[New Testament]] has several non-Greek terms of Aramaic origin,<ref>Huehnergard, John and [[Jo Ann Hackett]]. The Hebrew and Aramaic languages. In The Biblical World (2002), Volume 2 (John Barton, ed.). P.19</ref> such as:
* ''Talitha'' (ταλιθα) that can represent the noun ''{{Transliteration|sem|ṭalyĕṯā}}'' (Mark 5:41).
* ''Rabbounei'' (Ραββουνει), which stands for "[[Rabbi|my master/great one/teacher]]" in both Hebrew and Aramaic (John 20:16).

===Nabataean Aramaic===
{{further|Nabataean Aramaic}}
Instead of using their native [[Arabic language|Arabic]], the Nabataeans would use Imperial Aramaic for their written communications, causing the development of [[Nabataean Aramaic]] out of Imperial Aramaic.{{sfn|Gzella|2015|p=213}} The standardized cursive and Aramaic-derived [[Nabataean alphabet]] became the standardized form of writing [[Arabic language|Arabic]] for the [[Arabian Peninsula]], evolving on its own into the [[Arabic alphabet|alphabet of Arabic]] by the time of [[Early Muslim conquests|spread of Islam]] centuries later. Influences from Arabic were present in the Nabataean Aramaic, such as a few Arabic loanwords and how "l" is often turned into "n". After Nabataea was annexed by the [[Roman Empire]] in 106 AD, the influence of Aramaic declined in favor of [[Koine Greek]] for written communication.

===Manichaean===
{{further|Manichaean script}}
The Manichaean [[abjad]] writing system spread from the [[Near East]] over into [[Central Asia]], travelling as far as the [[Tarim Basin]] in what is now the [[People's Republic of China]]. Its presence in Central Asia lead to influence from the [[Sogdian script]], which itself descends from the [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] branch of Aramaic. The traditions of [[Manichaeism]] allege that its founding prophet, [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]], [[Constructed language|invented the Manichaean script]], as well as writing the major Manichaean texts himself. The writing system evolved from the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, which was still in use during the age of Mani, i.e. the early years of the [[Sassanian Empire]]. Along with other writing systems, the Manichaean alphabet evolved into the [[Pahlavi script]] and was used to write [[Middle Persian]], and other languages which were influenced by Manichaean include: [[Parthian language|Parthian]], [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]], [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]], and [[Old Uyghur]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|article=Manichean script|last=Durkin-Meisterernst|first=Desmond|date=October 14, 2005|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/manichean-script}}</ref>

==Unicode==
{{Infobox Unicode block
|blockname  = Imperial Aramaic
|rangestart = 10840
|rangeend   = 1085F
|script1    = [[Aramaic alphabet|Imperial Aramaic]]
|alphabets  = Aramaic
|5_2        = 31
|note = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/ucd/|title=Unicode character database|work=The Unicode Standard|access-date=2023-07-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/enumeratedversions.html|title=Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard|work=The Unicode Standard|access-date=2023-07-26}}</ref>
}}

'''Imperial Aramaic''' is a [[Unicode block]] containing characters for writing Aramaic during the [[Achaemenid Persian Empire]]s.

{{Unicode chart Imperial Aramaic}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Bae|first=Chul-hyun|title=Aramaic as a Lingua Franca During the Persian Empire (538-333 B.C.E.)|journal=Journal of Universal Language|year=2004|volume=5|pages=1–20|doi=10.22425/jul.2004.5.1.1|url=http://www.sejongjul.org/archive/view_article?pid=jul-5-1-1|doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book|last=Beyer|first=Klaus|title=The Aramaic Language: Its Distribution and Subdivisions|year=1986|location=Göttingen|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|isbn=9783525535738|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pZ53zpMQNLEC}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Brock|first=Sebastian P.|author-link=Sebastian P. Brock|title=Three Thousand Years of Aramaic Literature|journal=ARAM Periodical|year=1989|volume=1|number=1|pages=11–23|url=https://www.aramsociety.org/periodical/published-papers}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Collins|first=John J.|author-link=John J. Collins|title=The Aramaic of Daniel in the Light of Old Aramaic, by Zdravko Stefanovic|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|year=1993|volume=112|number=4|pages=710–712|doi=10.2307/3267414|jstor=3267414|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3267414|url-access=subscription}}
* {{Cite book|last=Fitzmyer|first=Joseph A.|author-link=Joseph A. Fitzmyer|title=A Wandering Aramean: Collected Aramaic Essays|year=1997|orig-year=1979|location=Grand Rapids|publisher=Eerdmans|isbn=9780802848468|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wLWRz22vzUC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Folmer|first=Margaretha|title=The Aramaic Language in the Achaemenid Period: A Study in Linguistic Variation|year=1995|location=Leuven|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=9789068317404|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7-m1R072Ks0C}}
* {{Cite book|last=Folmer|first=Margaretha|chapter=Imperial Aramaic as an Administrative Language of the Achaemenid Period|title=The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook|year=2012|location=Berlin-Boston|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|pages=587–598|isbn=9783110251586|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMzgBLT87MkC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Jastrow|first=Otto|chapter=Old Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic: Some Reflections on Language History|title=Aramaic in its Historical and Linguistic Setting|year=2008|location=Wiesbaden|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|pages=1–10|isbn=9783447057875|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfVZnCV6ABcC}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Greenfield|first1=Jonas C.|author-link=Jonas C. Greenfield|chapter=Aramaic in the Achaemenian Empire|title=The Cambridge History of Iran|year=1985|volume=2|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=698–713|isbn=9780521200912|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBbyr932QdYC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Gzella|first=Holger|chapter=Aramaic in the Parthian Period: The Arsacid Inscriptions|title=Aramaic in its Historical and Linguistic Setting|year=2008|location=Wiesbaden|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|pages=107–130|isbn=9783447057875|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfVZnCV6ABcC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Gzella|first=Holger|chapter=Imperial Aramaic|title=The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook|year=2012a|location=Berlin-Boston|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|pages=574–586|isbn=9783110251586|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMzgBLT87MkC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Gzella|first=Holger|chapter=Late Imperial Aramaic|title=The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook|year=2012b|location=Berlin-Boston|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|pages=598–609|isbn=9783110251586|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMzgBLT87MkC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Gzella|first=Holger|title=A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam|year=2015|location=Leiden-Boston|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004285101|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y9UuBgAAQBAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Lipiński|first=Edward|author-link=Edward Lipiński (orientalist)|title=The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion|year=2000|location=Leuven|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=9789042908598|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrMKKtiBBI4C}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Nöldeke|first=Theodor|author-link=Theodor Nöldeke|title=Die Namen der aramäischen Nation und Sprache|journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft|year=1871|volume=25|number=1–2|pages=113–131|jstor=43366019|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43366019}}
* {{Cite book|last=Stefanovic|first=Zdravko|title=The Aramaic of Daniel in the Light of Old Aramaic|year=1992|location=Sheffield|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|isbn=9780567132543|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kfr5lrsXCIC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Younger|first=Kenneth Lawson|title=A Political History of the Arameans: From Their Origins to the End of Their Polities|year=2016|location=Atlanta|publisher=SBL Press|isbn=9781628370843|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vpgsDQAAQBAJ}}
{{refend}}

[[Category:Aramaic languages]]
[[Category:Aramaic alphabet]]
[[Category:Persian scripts]]
[[Category:Neo-Assyrian Empire]]
[[Category:Neo-Babylonian Empire]]
[[Category:Achaemenid Empire]]
[[Category:Ancient languages]]
[[Category:Languages attested from the 8th century BC]]
[[Category:Languages of Egypt]]