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Title
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Die Namen der aramäischen Nation und Sprache
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Date
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1871
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Description
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The Greeks were largely unfamiliar with the name 'Aramaeans.' Apart from Posidonius, whom Strabo follows, only another Oriental writer, Josephus, mentions it (Antiquities 1, 6, 4). It is highly improbable that Homer was referring to them with the terms Ἔρεμβοι (Eremboi - 'Erembians') or εἰν ᾿Αρίμοις (ein Arimois - 'in Arimi'). Instead, the Greeks referred to these people as 'Syriacs.'
Seelen (de Dis Syris, prol. cap. 1) explained that Σύριοι (Syriacs) or Σύροι (Syriacs) was a shortened form of ᾿Ασσύριοι (Assyrians). Initially, the Greeks used 'Syriacs' to describe the subjects of the Assyrian Empire without distinction of nationality. However, over time, they applied this name specifically to the northwestern Semitic regions, eventually associating it with the predominant nationality in these areas. Thus, Σύροι (Syriacs) became synonymous with ᾿Αραμαῖοι (Aramaeans).
I have explored this argument in greater detail in an article recently published in Hermes, to which I must refer the reader. Over time, the Aramaeans themselves gradually adopted the Greek name 'Syriacs.' While the dominance of Greek rule and education played a significant role in this shift, an even more powerful factor contributed to it: the change of religion.
Quatremère (Jour. As., Feb. 1835, p. 122 f.) suggested that newly converted Aramaic Christians, feeling ashamed of their pagan compatriots, believed that adopting a new religion also required adopting a new name. As a result, they embraced the term Σύροι (Syriacs), which appears in the New Testament.
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Language
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German
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Publisher
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https://www.jstor.org/stable/43366019?seq=3
