Aramaeans: Ancient History, Culture (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta)

In order to present the Aramean history during some six hundred years, down to the seventh century B.C., it was necessary to analyze a wide range of sources, mainly cuneiform, epigraphic, and biblical. Chapter I deals with Aramean pre-history and proto-history, while chapter II examines the question of the alleged relationship between the Hebrew forefathers and the ancient Arameans. Chapters III to XIV give a relatively accurate description of the territory of each historically attested Aramean group or state and present a detailed narrative of political events. Chapter XIV, the most extensive, consideres the situation of the Arameans in Babylonia, also in relation to the Chaldeans and to the North-Arabian tribes. Chapters XV to XVIII deal with Aramean institutions, economy, legal practices, and religion. Special attention is paid to linguistic features of the available evidence, when they can help resolving historical questions. The book concludes with an extensive general index and with an index of biblical sources. The author has taught Semitic epigraphy and comparative grammar, as well as history of ancient Near Eastern institutions and religions, for more than twenty-five years. His research in historical field is focused on the Aramean and Phoenician world of the first millennium B.C., to which he dedicated several books and a large number of articles.E. Lipinski is the author of 'Aramaeans: Ancient History, Culture (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta)', published 2001 under ISBN 9789042908598 and ISBN 9042908599.