Arameans

Aramean Talent Adrian Lahdo Signs with Club Como

New Midyat Project Seeks to Draw Syriac-Arameans Back to Tur Abdin

The Story of Hanne Safar and His Family

The Enduring Roots: Aramean Clan and Family Structures in Tur Abdin

The Society of the Arameans in the Ancient Era

The Murder of Ibrahim Shabo, the Last Aramean Mayor of Midyat

Aboud Zazi – Izla Shafirto

Rozune—Coin in the Bread

King Abgar V of Edessa and the Letter to Christ

Tlawhe—Aramean Lentil Soup

Cuisine

Music

Dances

Traditional garments and embroidery motifs that show the region, celebration, and community pride.

Clothing

Arts and Crafts

Traditions

Religion

Identity

Ancient history

Modern history

Syriac history

History

Language

Biographies

Sayfo

Gabola—Aramean Wheat Porridge Dish

Basle am Behe—Chives with Eggs

Labaniye—Aramean Yoghurt Soup

Audio

Ninib Lahdo – Gerke Shamo

Ninib Lahdo – Bi Hubo Nafilina

Jan Karat – Durina lu Athro

Video

Telkari: Aramean Art Form of Making Delicate Jewelry

Faith and Tradition

Hano Qritho: A Little Spring of Joy Before the Great Fast

Syriac Orthodoxy or Assyrian Orthodoxy in North America and the USA?

Native Aramean Population of Tur Abdin

Modern Assyrian Identity Revival

Arameans in Germany

Ancient DNA from the Halzi Gate (612 BC) Confirms Aramean Continuity in Mesopotamia and What It Means for Modern Arameans

Ancient Aramean Laws

Syriac-Aramean Battle for Azakh During Sayfo

Syriac-Aramean Village of Arnes During Sayfo

Syriac-Aramean Village of Armun During Sayfo

Syriac-Aramean Village of Arkah During Sayfo

“Heaven (shmayo), and all that we call ‘heaven’ (shmayo), is not of our speech, of us Arameans, that is, of the language of the Mesopotamians. And it is not from our language and speech, but is borrowed and taken for us from the language of the Hebrews.”

Saint Jacob of Edessa identifies himself as an Aramean. He believed that Aramaic was the world’s oldest language, yet that the word “heaven” (shmayo) itself is a loanword.

We Arameans and Borrowed Language

"The year eight hundred and fifteen (AD 503–504): When the Roman emperor
learned what had happened, he sent Celer his magistros with a large army. When Kawad heard this, he moved along the River Euphrates so as to go and stay in his region called Bēt-Arāmāyē (land/house of the Arameans)."

About the Year 503–504 AD

"The year six hundred and seventy-four (AD 362/3): Julian the emperor marched down to the Persian territories and ruined the whole land from Nisibis and up to Ctesiphon of Bēt Ārāmāyē (land/house of the Arameans)."

Emperor Julian in the Land of the Arameans

"We the Syriacs [Suryoye]—while we are of one race, which is the Aramean race [genso ʾOromoyo] and from one land, which is Mesopotamia [Beth Nahrin] and of one language, which is the Syriac language [leshono Suryoyo]—have fought, hated, killed, and excommunicated each other over the “persons,” “qnume,” and “natures” in Christ…"

"O beloved brothers, let us awaken from the slumber of negligence… and rise to make a Syriac union [ḥuyodo Suryoyo] in the midst of this Great War… and build a tower of Syriac union, not in the manner in which our forefathers built the tower of Babylon with vain pride, but a tower of love."

An editorial in Beth Nahrin, written in Syriac during World War I, calls for unity among Aramean/Syriac Christian denominations, especially in times of crisis. The author reflects on early Christological controversies that divided churches such as the Syriac Orthodox and the Church of the East, and urges a ḥuyodo (union) to overcome these historical divisions among the Aramean people. Notably, although the publication usually used the Serto script, this editorial appears in Classical Syriac in the East Syriac script with vowel markings, likely to make it accessible to Eastern Syriac readers.

An Urge for Aramean Unity During the Sayfo (and WW1)

"And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean, because he told him not that he was going." Greek: Jacob, however, hid his heart from Laban the Syriac."

Bar Hebraeus records “Laban the Aramean” in the Syriac Peshitta and gives the Greek equivalent “the Syriac,” expressed in Aramaic as “Suryoyo,” treating the two as synonymous.

Laban the Aramean Rendered Suryoyo

"My father was led away to Aram, and he went down to Egypt. Greek: My father left Syria and went down to Egypt."

Bar Hebraeus records the Syriac Peshitta reading “My father was led away to Aram and went down to Egypt,” and gives the Greek equivalent, which renders Aram as “Syria,” in his work on the Old Testament.

Aram That Is Greek Syria

"Behold, Melko also hath borne children to Nahor thy brother: Uz, his first-born, and Buz, his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram. Greek: the father of the Syriacs (Suryoye)."

Bar Hebraeus presents the genealogy of Nahor, noting Kemuel as “the father of Aram,” and adds the Greek equivalent, which interprets this as “the father of the Syriacs,” written in Aramaic as “Suryoye,” in his work on the Old Testament.

Father of Aram and the Suryoye

Aramean men and clergymen from Azekh, near the “Valley of Hell,” photographed in the 1960s, a place known in Aramaic as Shalwo dGihano, in Arabic as Wadi Juhannam, and in Turkish as Cehennem Deresi

The Valley of Hell

In 1956, Syriac Orthodox Church Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum met and conversed with the President of Lebanon Bechara El Khoury

Patriarch Mor Ignatius Afram I Barsoum and the President of Lebanon

Syriac-Aramean Organization Diaspora in the Netherlands, 1984

Aramean Diaspora in the Netherlands

Syriac-Aramean Scouts in the Netherlands (Holland), 1980

Aramean Scouts in the Netherlands

"The Aramean from Paddan of Aram. Greek: the Syriac (Suryoyo) from Mesopotamia of Syria (Suriya)."

Bar Hebraeus notes the Syriac reading “the Aramean from Paddan-Aram” and gives the Greek equivalent “the Syriac from Mesopotamia of Syria,” writing “Syriac” in its Aramaic form “Suryoyo,” as found in his work on the Old Testament.

Suryoyo from Paddan-Aram

Mor Jacob of Edessa (c. 684–9, 708) was one of the greatest Syriac Orthodox scholars, bishops, and biblical commentators. Born in ʿEn Deba, Antioch, he studied at the Monastery of Qenneshre and in Alexandria, mastering Greek and Syriac. Appointed Bishop of Edessa around 684, he resigned after a few years due to disagreements over canon law, famously burning a copy of the canons in protest.

Mor Jacob of Edessa