The dialect, which became the key for interethnic communication in Babylon, Assyria and Egypt in the 10th century BC, was the ancient Aramaic language. Such popularity can be explained, first of all, by the long military campaigns of the Aramaeans, which took place for at least 400 years. The demand for this dialect is closely related to the ease of its study.
The predecessor of the Aramaic dialect is the ancient Khanate language. Confirmation of this are the inscriptions that are depicted on Mount Sinai.
Regarding Aramaic, it is important to note the fact that for a long time it had a significant influence on the languages and scripts of many peoples, who lived almost throughout Europe and Asia. The ancient dialect even influenced the Greek language and the Slavic Cyrillic alphabet. Aramaic served as the basis for the classical Hebrew alphabet, which was formed from elements of the Hebrew dialects.
The main differences of this ancient language, which provided it such a distribution, were clarity, simplicity and accuracy. At the same time, he was less harmonious and poetic in comparison with the Jewish one, this disadvantage was compensated by the accuracy in the method of transmitting information.
Also, it should be noted that during the existence of the Medo-Persian Empire, the Aramaic language acted as one of the few official dialects of the Achaemenid state created by King Cyrus. It was during this period that the Jewish people began to actively speak Aramaic.
Many books in the
Old Testament are written in this language. Among them, it is worth highlighting the works of Daniel and Ezra, which have been preserved in their most complete form. During events related to the life of Jesus Christ, the Aramaic alphabet acted as the most common and used way of transmitting information in all of ancient Palestine. According to legend, all the sermons of Jesus Christ sounded in this ancient dialect.
The heroes of the gospel spoke a mixture of Aramaic and Hebrew dialects, which is associated with the later writing of this religious work. It is important to note that many names in the New Testament are an exact copy of Aramaic names. An example would be the popular Barabbas and Bartholomew in those days.
The peculiarity of the Aramaic language is the use of several varieties of the active alphabet. The most common were: Extrangelo, Chaldean (East Aramaic), as well as West Aramaic.
The first eight centuries of our era is the golden age of this dialect: the Aramaic language held a leading position as a dialect for interethnic communication of the entire Eastern region. The beginning of its decline was the emergence and spread of Arab influence with their traditions and writing. Although you should not forget that at present, individual Syrian settlements use this language in everyday life.
Today, the Aramaic language is one of the oldest dialects that was used in the old days and continues to be used for more than 3,500 years.