| Imperial Aramaic | |
|---|---|
| Official/Standard Aramaic | |
 | |
| Region | AncientNear East |
| Era | c. 700–300 BC, evolved intoBiblical Aramaic then split intoMiddle Aramaic (c. 200–1200), orOld Syriac then Classical Syriac |
Early form | |
| Aramaic alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | arc |
| ISO 639-3 | arc |
| Glottolog | impe1235 |
Imperial Aramaic is alinguistic term, coined by modernscholars in order to designate a specific historicalvariety ofAramaic language. The term ispolysemic, with two distinctive meanings, wider (sociolinguistic) and narrower (dialectological). Since most surviving examples of the language have been found in Egypt, the language is also referred to asEgyptian Aramaic.[1]
Some scholars use the term as a designation for a distinctive, socially prominent phase in the history of Aramaic language, that lasted from the middle of the 8th century BCE to the end of the 4th century BCE and was marked by the use of Aramaic as a language of public life and administration in the lateNeo-Assyrian Empire and its successor states, theNeo-Babylonian Empire and theAchaemenid Empire, also adding to that some later (Post-Imperial) uses that persisted throughout the earlyHellenistic period. Other scholars use the termImperial Aramaic in a narrower sense, reduced only to the Achaemenid period, basing that reduction on several strictly linguistic distinctions between the previous (Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian) phase and later (more prominent) Achaemenid phase.
Since all of those phases can besemantically labelled as "imperial", some scholars opt for the use of more specific and unambiguous terms, likeNeo-Assyrian Aramaic andNeo-Babylonian Aramaic (for the older phases), andAchaemenid Aramaic (for the later phase), thus avoiding the use of the polysemic "imperial" label, and its primarily sociolinguistic implications. Similar issues have arisen in relation to the uses of some alternative terms, likeOfficial Aramaic orStandard Aramaic, that were also criticized as unspecific. All of those terms continue to be used differently by scholars.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
TheElephantine papyri and ostraca, as well as other Egyptian texts, are the largest group of extant records in the language, collected in the standardTextbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt.[1] Outside of Egypt, most texts are known fromstone or pottery inscriptions spread across a wide geographic area.[1] More recently a group of leather and wooden documents were found inBactria, known as theBactria Aramaic documents.[1]
The term "Imperial Aramaic" was first coined byJosef Markwart in 1927, calling the language by the German nameReichsaramäisch.[8][9][10] In 1955,Richard N. Frye noted that no extant edict expressly or ambiguously accorded the status of "official language" to any particular language, causing him to question the classification of Imperial Aramaic. Frye went on to reclassify Imperial Aramaic as thelingua franca used in the territories of the Achaemenid Empire, further suggesting that the language's use was more prevalent in these areas than initially thought.[11]
The native speakers of Aramaic, theArameans, settled in great numbers inBabylonia andUpper Mesopotamia during the ages of theNeo-Assyrian andNeo-Babylonian Empires. The massive influx of settlers led to the adoption of Aramaic as thelingua franca of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.[12]After theAchaemenid conquest of Mesopotamia in 539 BC, the Achaemenids continued the use of Aramaic as the language of the region, further extending its prevalence by making it the imperial standard (thus "Imperial" Aramaic) so it may be the "vehicle for written communication between the different regions of the vast empire with its different peoples and languages." The adoption of a single official language for the various regions of the empire has been cited as a reason for the at the time unprecedented success of the Achaemenids in maintaining the expanse of their empire for a period of centuries.[13]
One of the most extensive collections of texts written in Imperial Aramaic is theFortification Tablets of Persepolis, of which there are about five hundred. Other extant examples of Imperial Aramaic come fromEgypt, such as theElephantine papyri. Egyptian examples also include theWords of Ahikar, a piece ofwisdom literature reminiscent of theBook of Proverbs. Scholarly consensus regards the portions of theBook of Daniel (i.e., 2:4b-7:28) written in Aramaic as an example of Imperial Aramaic.[14] In November 2006, an analysis was published of thirty newly discovered Aramaic documents fromBactria which now constitute theKhalili Collection of Aramaic Documents. The leather parchment contains texts written in Imperial Aramaic, reflecting the use of the language for Achaemenid administrative purposes during the fourth century in regions such as Bactria andSogdia.[15]
The evolution of alphabets from the Mediterranean region is commonly split into two major divisions: thePhoenician-derived alphabets of the West, including the Mediterranean region (Anatolia,Greece, and theItalian peninsula), and the Aramaic-derived alphabets of the East, including theLevant,Persia,Central Asia, and theIndian subcontinent. The former Phoenician-derived alphabets arose around the 8th century BC, and the latter Aramaic-derived alphabets evolved from the Imperial Aramaic script around the 6th century BC. After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the unity of the Imperial Aramaic script was lost, diversifying into a number of descendant cursives. Aramaic script and, as ideograms, Aramaic vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics of thePahlavi scripts, itself developing from theManichaean alphabet.[16]
The orthography of Imperial Aramaic was based more on its own historical roots than on any spoken dialect, leading to a high standardization of the language across the expanse of the Achaemenid Empire. Of the Imperial Aramaic glyphs extant from its era, there are two main styles: thelapidary form, often inscribed on hard surfaces like stone monuments, and thecursive form. The Achaemenid Empire used both of these styles, but the cursive became much more prominent than the lapidary, causing the latter to eventually disappear by the 3rd century BC.[17] In remote regions, the cursive versions of Aramaic evolved into the creation of theSyriac,Palmyrene andMandaic alphabets, which themselves formed the basis of many historical Central Asian scripts, such as theSogdian andMongolian alphabets.[18] TheBrahmi script, of which the entireBrahmic family of scripts derives (includingDevanagari), most likely descends from Imperial Aramaic, as the empire ofCyrus the Great brought the borders of the Persian Empire all the way to the edge of the Indian subcontinent, withAlexander the Great and his successors further linking the lands through trade.[19]
TheBabylonian captivity ended afterCyrus the Great conqueredBabylon.[20] The mass-prevalence of Imperial Aramaic in the region resulted in the eventual use of theAramaic alphabet for writingHebrew.[21] Before the adoption of Imperial Aramaic, Hebrew was written in thePaleo-Hebrew alphabet, which, along with Aramaic, directly descended fromPhoenician. Hebrew and Aramaic heavily influenced one another, with mostly religious Hebrew words (such as‘ēṣ "wood") transferring into Aramaic and more general Aramaic vocabulary (such asmāmmôn "wealth") entering the local Hebrew lexicon.
Late Old Western Aramaic, also known as Jewish Old Palestinian[citation needed], is a well-attested language used by the communities ofJudea, probably originating in the area ofCaesarea Philippi. By the 1st century CE, the people ofRoman Judaea still used Aramaic as their primary language, along withKoine Greek for commerce and administration. The oldest manuscript of theBook of Enoch (c. 170 BC) is written in the Late Old Western Aramaic dialect.[22]
TheNew Testament has several non-Greek terms of Aramaic origin,[23] such as:
Instead of using their nativeArabic, the Nabataeans would use Imperial Aramaic for their written communications, causing the development ofNabataean Aramaic out of Imperial Aramaic.[24] The standardized cursive and Aramaic-derivedNabataean alphabet became the standardized form of writingArabic for theArabian Peninsula, evolving on its own into thealphabet of Arabic by the time ofspread of Islam centuries later. Influences from Arabic were present in the Nabataean Aramaic, such as a few Arabic loanwords and how "l" is often turned into "n". After Nabataea was annexed by theRoman Empire in 106 AD, the influence of Aramaic declined in favor ofKoine Greek for written communication.
The Manichaeanabjad writing system spread from theNear East over intoCentral Asia, travelling as far as theTarim Basin in what is now thePeople's Republic of China. Its presence in Central Asia lead to influence from theSogdian script, which itself descends from theSyriac branch of Aramaic. The traditions ofManichaeism allege that its founding prophet,Mani,invented the Manichaean script, as well as writing the major Manichaean texts himself. The writing system evolved from the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, which was still in use during the age of Mani, i.e. the early years of theSassanian Empire. Along with other writing systems, the Manichaean alphabet evolved into thePahlavi script and was used to writeMiddle Persian, and other languages which were influenced by Manichaean include:Parthian,Sogdian,Bactrian, andOld Uyghur.[25]
| Imperial Aramaic | |
|---|---|
| Range | U+10840..U+1085F (32 code points) |
| Plane | SMP |
| Scripts | Imperial Aramaic |
| Major alphabets | Aramaic |
| Assigned | 31 code points |
| Unused | 1 reserved code points |
| Unicode version history | |
| 5.2(2009) | 31 (+31) |
| Unicode documentation | |
| Code chart ∣ Web page | |
| Note:[26][27] | |
Imperial Aramaic is aUnicode block containing characters for writing Aramaic during theAchaemenid Persian Empires.
| Imperial Aramaic[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+1084x | 𐡀 | 𐡁 | 𐡂 | 𐡃 | 𐡄 | 𐡅 | 𐡆 | 𐡇 | 𐡈 | 𐡉 | 𐡊 | 𐡋 | 𐡌 | 𐡍 | 𐡎 | 𐡏 |
| U+1085x | 𐡐 | 𐡑 | 𐡒 | 𐡓 | 𐡔 | 𐡕 | 𐡗 | 𐡘 | 𐡙 | 𐡚 | 𐡛 | 𐡜 | 𐡝 | 𐡞 | 𐡟 | |
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
Imperial Aramaic (IA) [Footnote: Other names: Official Aramaic, Reichsaramäisch. Because many of the surviving texts come from Egypt, some scholars speak of "Egyptian Aramaic."]… As noted, the documentation of IA is significantly greater than that of Old Aramaic; the hot and dry climate of Egypt has been particularly favorable to the preservation of antiquities, including Aramaic texts written on soft media such as papyrus or leather. The primary, although not exclusive, source of our knowledge of Persian-period Aramaic is a large number of papyri discovered on the island of Elephantine… All of the Egyptian Aramaic texts have been collected and reedited in the Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt… This is now the standard text edition… Outside of Egypt, Aramaic texts written primarily on hard media such as stone or pottery have been discovered, including texts from Palestine, Arabia, Asia Minor, Iraq (Babylon), and Iran (Persepolis). A recent discovery, of uncertain provenance, is a relatively large collection of documents, now in a private collection, consisting mainly of the correspondence of the official Akhvamazda of Bactria dating from 354 to 324 BCE (Nave & Shaked 2012). They are similar in some ways to the Arshama archive published by Driver; the find-spot was no doubt Afghanistan.
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