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Title
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Seizing the Land of the Children of Aram
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Date
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769-770 AD
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Description
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"At this time the people of Mosul, who lived in this region of the Jazira, were exceedingly rich, in such a manner that they were devouring all the output of the people of the Jazira through forfeit and usury. Though the Lord said: Do not lend money to your brother on interest, and do not give your money with usury, they did the opposite. They lent on interest and gave their money at forfeit and with usury. They became owners of slaves and maidens, and possessed properties, vineyards, and lands, in such a manner that soon they were close to owning the entire land which spoke the language of the children of Aram, and the whole Jazira was near to becoming the property of the Narsabadians."
Wealthy outsiders from Mosul, the Narsabadians, used debt and usury to seize land in the Jazira, coming close to owning the entire “land which spoke the language of the children of Aram” — the native Syriac-speaking Christian population whose land was being taken.
ܐܪܥܐ ܕܠܫܢܐ ܕܒܢܝ ܐܪܡ: Northern Syria, the Jazira of the Arab sources, had been the homeland of the Aramaeans since the late second millennium B.C. Syriacspeaking people were the descendants of these Aramaeans, as the expression above indicates.*
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Language
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Syriac-Aramaic
Chronicle of Zuqnin
