Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples orProto-Semitic people were speakers ofSemitic languages who lived throughout theancient Near East andNorth Africa, including theLevant,Mesopotamia,Anatolia, theArabian Peninsula andCarthage from the 3rd millennium BC until the end of antiquity, with some, such asArabs,Arameans,Assyrians,Jews,Mandaeans, andSamaritans having a historical continuum into the present day.
Their languages are usually divided into three branches:East,Central andSouth Semitic languages.the oldest attested forms of Semitic date to the early to mid-3rd millennium BC (theEarly Bronze Age) inMesopotamia, the northwestLevant and southeastAnatolia.
Speakers of East Semitic include the people of theAkkadian Empire,Ebla,Assyria,Babylonia, the latter two of which eventually gradually switched to still spoken (byAssyrians andMandeans) dialects of Akkadian influencedEast Aramaic and perhapsDilmun. Central Semitic combines theNorthwest Semitic languages andArabic. Speakers ofNorthwest Semitic were theCanaanites (including thePhoenicians,Punics,Amorites,Edomites,Moabites and theHebrews),Arameans and theUgarites. South Semitic peoples include the speakers ofModern South Arabian languages andEthiopian Semitic languages.
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There are several locations proposed as possible sites for prehistoricorigins of Semitic-speaking peoples:Mesopotamia, theLevant,Eastern Mediterranean, Eritrea andEthiopia[1] theArabian Peninsula, andNorth Africa. A popular view claims that the Semitic languages originated in theLevant circa 3800 BC, and were later also introduced to theHorn of Africa in approximately 800 BC from the southern Arabian peninsula, and toNorth Africa and southernSpain with the founding ofPhoenician colonies such asancient Carthage in the ninth century BC andCádiz in the tenth century BC.[2][3][4] Some assign the arrival of Semitic speakers in the Horn of Africa to a much earlier date, circa 1300 to 1000 BC[5] and many scholars believe thatSemitic originated from an offshoot of a still earlier language in North Africa perhaps in the southeasternSahara and it might have been the process ofdesertization that made its inhabitants migrate in the fourth millennium BC some southeast into what is now Eritrea andEthiopia, others northwest out of North Africa intoCanaan,Syria and the Mesopotamian valley[6]
The Semitic family is a member of the largerAfroasiatic family, all of whose other five or more branches have their origin inNorth Africa or theMaghreb. Largely for this reason, the ancestors of Proto-Semitic speakers were originally believed by some to have first arrived in the Middle East from North Africa, possibly as part of the operation of theSaharan pump, around the lateNeolithic.[7][8] Diakonoff sees Semitic originating between the Nile Delta and Canaan as the northernmost branch of Afroasiatic. Blench even wonders whether the highly divergentGurage languages indicate an origin in Eritrea/Ethiopia (with the rest of Ethiopic/Eritreran Semitic a later back migration). Identification of the hypothetical proto-Semitic region of origin is therefore dependent on the larger geographic distributions of the other language families within Afroasiatic, whose origins are also hotly debated. According toChristy G. Turner II, there is an archaeological and physical anthropological reason for a relation between the modern Semitic-speaking populations of theLevant and theNatufian culture.[9]
In one interpretation, Proto-Semitic itself is assumed to have reached theArabian Peninsula by approximately the 4th millennium BC, from which Semitic daughter languages continued to spread outwards. When written records began in the late fourth millennium BC, the Semitic-speaking Akkadians (Assyrians and Babylonians) were enteringMesopotamia from the deserts to the west, and were probably already present in places such asEbla in Syria.Akkadian personal names began appearing in written records in Mesopotamia from the late 29th century BC.[10]
The earliest positively proven historical attestation of any Semitic people comes from 30th century BC Mesopotamia entering the region originally dominated by the people ofSumer, who spoke thelanguage isolateSumerian.[11]
Between the 30th and 20th centuries BC, Semitic languages were spoken and recorded throughout much of theAncient Near East, including theLevant,Mesopotamia,Anatolia,Arabia, and theSinai Peninsula.The earliest written evidence of them is found in theFertile Crescent (Mesopotamia) c. the 30th century BC, an area encompassingSumer, theAkkadian Empire and other civilizations ofAssyria andBabylonia along theTigris andEuphrates (modernIraq, northeastSyria, southeastTurkey and the fringe of northwestIran), followed by historical written evidence from the Levant (known also asCanaan; nowIsrael,Palestine, westernJordan,Lebanon, and southernSyria ),Sinai Peninsula, southern and eastern Anatolia (modernTurkey) and the northeast Arabian Peninsula. No written or archaeological evidence for Semitic languages exists inNorth Africa, theHorn of Africa,Malta, or theCaucasus during this period.
The earliest known Akkadian inscription was found on a bowl atUr, addressed to the very early pre-Sargonic kingMeskiang-nunna ofUr by his queenGan-saman, who is thought to have been from Akkad. However, some of the names appearing on theSumerian King List as prehistoric rulers ofKish have been held to indicate a Semitic presence even before this, as early as the 30th or 29th century BC.[10] By the mid-third millennium BC,[12] many states and cities in Mesopotamia had come to be ruled or dominated by Akkadian-speaking Semites, includingAssyria,Eshnunna, theAkkadian Empire,Kish,Isin,Ur,Uruk,Adab,Nippur,Ekallatum,Nuzi,Akshak,Eridu andLarsa, and alsoDilmun to the south of Mesopotamia. During this period (c. 27th to 26th century BC), another East Semitic-speaking people, theEblaites, appear in the historical record from northern Syria. They founded the state of Ebla, whoseEblaite language was closely related to the Akkadian of Mesopotamia. The Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Eblaites were the first Semitic-speaking people to usewriting, using thecuneiform script originally developed by the Sumerians c. 3500 BC, with the first writings in Akkadian dating from c. 2800 BC. The last Akkadian inscriptions date from the late first century AD, and cuneiform script in the second century AD, both in Mesopotamia, and Akkadian grammatical features and words endure in the East Aramaic dialects of the still extantAssyrians.[13]
By the late third millennium BC, East Semitic languages such as Akkadian and Eblaite, were dominant in Mesopotamia and north east Syria, whileWest Semitic languages, such asAmorite,Canaanite andUgaritic, were probably spoken from Syria to the Arabian Peninsula. HoweverAncient South Arabian is considered by most people to be aSouth Semitic language despite the sparsity of data. The Akkadian language of Akkad,Assyria andBabylonia had become the dominant literary language of theFertile Crescent, using the cuneiform script that was adapted from the Sumerians. TheOld Assyrian period,Babylonian Empire, and in particular theMiddle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC) facilitated the use of Akkadian as alingua franca in many regions outside its homeland. The related, but more sparsely attested, Eblaite disappeared with the city, andAmorite is attested only from proper names in Mesopotamian records.
For the 2nd millennium, more data are available, thanks to theEgyptian hieroglyphics-derivedProto-Sinaitic script. Texts in theProto-Canaanite alphabet from around 1500 BCE yield the first undisputed attestations ofWest Semitic languages, although earlier testimonies are possibly preserved inMiddle Bronze Age alphabets. This was followed by the much more extensiveUgaritic tablets of northern Syria from around 1300 BC. Incursions of nomadic and West Semitic-speakingArameans andSuteans began around this time, followed byChaldeans in the late 10th century BC. Akkadian continued to flourish, splitting into Babylonian and Assyrian dialects.
Of the West Semitic-speaking peoples who occupied what is today Syria (excluding theEast Semitic-speaking Upper Mesopotamia), Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and theSinai peninsula, the earliest references concern the Canaanite-speaking Amorites (known as "Martu" or "Amurru" by the Mesopotamians) of northern and eastern Syria, and date from the 24th century BC in Mesopotamian annals.[14] The technologically advanced Sumerians, Akkadians and Assyrians of Mesopotamia mention the West Semitic-speaking peoples disparagingly: "The MAR.TU who know no grain... The MAR.TU who know no house nor town, the boors of the mountains... The MAR.TU who digs uptruffles... who does not bend his knees (to cultivate the land), who eats raw meat, who has no house during his lifetime, who is not buried after death."[15] However, after initially being prevented from doing so by powerful Assyrian kings of theOld Assyrian Empire intervening from northern Mesopotamia, these Amorites would eventually overrun southern Mesopotamia, and found the state ofBabylon in 1894 BC, where they becameAkkadianized, adopted Mesopotamian culture and language, and blended into the indigenous population. Babylon became the centre of a short lived but influential Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC, and after this,Lower Mesopotamia came to be known asBabylonia, with Babylon superseding the far more ancient city ofNippur as the primary religious center of southern Mesopotamia.Upper Mesopotamia had long before already coalesced intoAssyria.
After the fall of the first Babylonian Empire, the far south of Mesopotamia broke away for about 300 years, becoming the independent Akkadian-speakingSealand Dynasty.Proto-Canaanite texts from northern Canaan and the Levant (modern Lebanon and Syria) around 1500 BC yield the first undisputed attestations of awritten West Semitic language (although earlier testimonies are found in Mesopotamian annals concerning Amorite, and possibly preserved inMiddle Bronze Age alphabets, such as theProto-Sinaitic script from the late 19th century BC), followed by the much more extensiveUgaritic tablets of northern Syria from the late 14th century BC in the city-state of Ugarit in northwest Syria.Ugaritic was a West Semitic language, fairly closely related to, and part of the same general language family as the tongues of theAmorites,Canaanites,Phoenicians,Moabites,Edomites,Ammonites,Amalekites andIsraelites. The appearance of nomadic Semitic-speakingAhlamu,Arameans andSuteans in historical record also dates from the late 14th century BC, the Arameans coming to dominate an area roughly corresponding with modern Syria (which became known asAram orAramea), subsuming the earlier Amorites, and founding states such asAram-Damascus,Luhuti,Bit Agusi,Hamath,Aram-Naharaim,Paddan-Aram,Aram-Rehob,Idlib andZobah. The Suteans occupied the deserts of southeastern Syria and northeastern Jordan in the same period.
Between the 13th and 11th centuries BC, small Canaanite-speaking states arose in southern Canaan, an area approximately corresponding to modern Israel, Jordan, Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula. These were the lands of theEdomites,Moabites,Hebrews (Israelites/Judaeans/Samaritans),Ammonites,(Ekronites,Suteans andAmalekites, all of whom spoke closely related west SemiticCanaanite languages. ThePhilistines are conjectured to have been one of theSea Peoples,[16][17] who arrived in southern Canaan sometime in the 12th century BC. In this theory, the Philistines would have spoken anIndo-European language, as there are possiblyancient Greek,Lydian, andLuwian traces in the limited information available about their tongue. However, there is no detailed information.[18][failed verification] An Indo-EuropeanAnatolian origin is also supported by Philistine pottery, which appears to have been the same asMycenaean Greek pottery.[19]
In the 19th century BCE, a similar wave of Canaanite speakers entered theMiddle Kingdom of Egypt. By the early 17th century BCE, these Canaanites, whom the Egyptians called theHyksos, had conquered the country, forming theFifteenth Dynasty, introducingWest Asian military technology new to Egypt such as thewar chariot.[20]
Egyptians spoke a language related to the Semitic family, theEgyptian language, which is likely equidistant between Semitic andBerber within the largerAfroasiatic language family. Other early Afroasiatic-speaking populations dwelt nearby in theMaghreb, theancient Libyans (Putrians) of the northernSahara, and the coasts of theMaghreb, as well as possibly to the southeast in theLand of Punt and in northernSudan, which was previously inhabited by theA-Group,C-Group, andKerma cultures.
In the first millennium BC, the alphabet spread much further, giving us a picture not just ofCanaanite, but also ofAramaic, Old South Arabian, and early Ge'ez. During this period, the case system, once vigorous in Ugaritic, seems to have started decaying in Northwest Semitic.Phoenician colonies (such asCarthage) spread their Canaanite language throughout much of the Mediterranean, while its close relative,Hebrew, became the vehicle of a religious literature, theTorah andTanakh, which would have global ramifications. However, as an ironic result of theAssyrian Empire's vast conquests,Aramaic became thelingua franca of theFertile Crescent and much of theNear East and parts ofAnatolia, gradually pushing Akkadian, Hebrew, Phoenician-Canaanite, and several other languages to extinction, although Hebrew and Akkadian remained in use assacred languages, Hebrew in particular developing a substantial literature.Ethiopian Semitic languages are first attested by the ninth century BC, with the earliest proto-Ge'ez inscriptions of the kingdom ofDʿmt using theSouth Arabian alphabet.[21]
During theMiddle Assyrian Empire (1366–1020 BC) and in particular theNeo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) much of theNear East,Asia Minor,Caucasus,Eastern Mediterranean,Egypt,Ancient Iran andNorth Africa fell under Assyrian domination. During the eighth century BC, the Assyrian emperorTiglath-Pileser III introduced Aramaic as thelingua franca of their empire and this language was to remain dominant among Near Eastern Semites until the earlyMiddle Ages, and is in use as the mother tongue of the modernAssyrians andMandaeans to the present day. In addition, theSyriac language andSyriac script emerged inAchaemenid Assyria during the 5th century BC, and this dialect of Eastern Aramaic was to have a major influence on the spread ofChristianity andGnosticism throughout the Near East from the 1st century AD onwards.
A Canaanite group known as the Phoenicians came to dominate the coasts of Syria, Lebanon and south west Turkey from the 13th century BC, founding city states such asTyre,Sidon,Byblos,Simyra,Arwad,Berytus (Beirut),Antioch andAradus, eventually spreading their influence throughout theMediterranean, including building colonies inMalta,Sicily,Sardinia, theIberian Peninsula and the coasts ofNorth Africa, founding the major city state ofCarthage (in modernTunisia) in the 9th century BC. The Phoenicians created thePhoenician alphabet in the 12th century BC, which would eventually supersede cuneiform.
The first mentions ofChaldeans andArabs appear in Assyrian records of the mid 9th century BC.
Phoenician became one of the most widely used writing systems, spread by Phoenician merchants across theMediterranean world and beyond, where it evolved and was assimilated by many other cultures. The still extantAramaic alphabet, a modified form of Phoenician script, was the ancestor of modern Hebrew, Syriac/Assyrian and Arab scripts, stylistic variants and descendants of the Aramaic script. TheGreek alphabet (and by extension, its descendants such as theLatin,Cyrillic andCoptic alphabets), was a direct successor of Phoenician, though certain letter values were changed to represent vowels.Old Italic,Anatolian, Armenian,Georgian andPaleohispanic scripts are also descendant of Phoenician script.
A number of Semitic-speaking states are mentioned as existing in what was much later to become known as the Arabian Peninsula in Akkadian and Assyrian records as colonies of these Mesopotamian powers, such asMeluhha andDilmun (in modernBahrain). A number of other South Semitic states existed in the far south of the peninsula, such asSheba/Saba (in modernYemen),Magan andUbar (both in modernOman), although the histories of these states is sketchy (mainly coming from Mesopotamian and Egyptian records), as there was no written script in the region at this time.[22] Later still, written evidence ofOld South Arabian andGe'ez (both related to but in reality separate languages from Arabic) offer the first written attestations of South Semitic languages in the 8th century BC in Sheba, Ubar and Magan (modern Oman and Yemen). These idioms, along with theGe'ez script, were later imported toEthiopia andEritrea by migrating South Semites from South Arabia during the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Subsequent interaction with other Afroasiatic-speaking populations,Cushitic speakers who had settled in the area some centuries prior, gave rise to the present-dayEthiopian Semitic languages.
After the fall of theNeo-Assyrian Empire (between 615 and 599 BC) and the succeeding short livedNeo-Babylonian Empire (615–539 BC) the Semitic speaking peoples lost control of theNear East to thePersianAchaemenid Empire (539–332 BC). However, the Persians had spent centuries under Assyrian domination and influence, and despite beingIndo-European speakers, they retained theImperial Aramaic of the Assyrian empire as the lingua franca of their own empire, and many of the Semitic nations of the region (such as Assyria, Babylonia, Israel, Judah, Aramea, Canaan and Phoenicia) continued to exist as geo-political entities, albeit as occupied satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire. In the satrapy of Assyria (Athura) theImperial Aramaic language emerged during the 5th century BC.
The dominant position of Aramaic as the language of empire ended with theGreekMacedonian Empire (332–312 BC) and its succeedingSeleucid Empire (311–150 BC). AfterAlexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire his successors introducedGreek as the official language. However, this did not impact on thespoken tongues of the Semitic peoples, who continued to be largely Aramaic speaking.
Both theAkkadian of theAssyrian andBabylonianMesopotamians, and theCanaanite languages of theIsraelites,Judeans,Samaritans,Edomites,Moabites,Ammonites andPhoenicians decreased steadily in the face of the adoption ofAramaic from the 8th century BC onwards, and by the early 1st millennium AD they had largely disappeared, although distinct forms of Hebrew remained in continuous literary and religious use among Jews and Samaritans, isolated use of Akkadian remained in Assyria and Babylonia between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, Phoenician names are still attested until the 3rd century AD. and Coins from Phoenician cities still use Phoenician letters for short Phoenician city designations and names and Ulpian of Tyre and Jerome mention the use of the Phoenician language, the Punic dialect ofPhoenician remained in use in theCarthaginian ruled parts of the Mediterranean at least until the 4th century AD. as indicated by Latino-Punic inscriptions from Tripolitania.
Aramaic, in the form ofLate Eastern Aramaic, was the lingua franca ofAssuristan (Persian-ruled Assyria and Babylonia), and theNeo-Assyrian states ofAdiabene,Assur,Osroene,Beth Nuhadra,Beth Garmai andHatra, extant between the 2nd century BC and 3rd century AD, and was to become the vehicle for the spread ofSyriac Christianity throughout the entireNear East. Aramaic was also the language of theAramean state ofPalmyra and the short livedPalmyrene Empire.
Aramaic dialects continued to be dominant among the peoples of what are todayIraq,Syria,Israel,Lebanon,Jordan,Palestinian territories,Kuwait,Sinai, south easternTurkey, and parts of northwesternIran and some areas the northernArabian peninsula, until theArabIslamic conquest of the 7th century AD. After this,Arabic gradually replaced Aramaic as a part of a steady process ofArabization andIslamification, accompanied by the influx of a large number ofMuslimArabs from theArabian Peninsula, although the Syriac language, script and literature continued to exert influence upon Arabic into theMiddle Ages.Nevertheless, a number ofEastern Aramaic languages survive as the spoken languages of theAssyrians of northern Iraq, southeast Turkey, northeast Syria and northwest Iran, and of theMandeans of Iraq and Iran, with somewhere between 575,000 and 1,000,000 fluent speakers in total. TheWestern Aramaic languages are now almost extinct, with only a few thousand speakers extant in and aroundMaaloula in western Syria.
Hebrew survived as the liturgical language ofJudaism, before it wasrevived as a commonly spoken tongue in the 19th century.
The former belief that this arrival of South-Semitic-speakers took place in about the second quarter of the first millennium BC can no longer be accepted in view of linguistic indications that these languages were spoken in the northern Horn at a much earlier date.
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