Aramaic alphabet

The Aramaic script was developed by the Syrians to 900 BC from the Phoenician script, and laid the foundation for most other Semitic writings. She was widespread in the area from Asia Minor to India. Actually for you today uses descendants of writing ( Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Mandaean, etc.).

History

The script developed slowly from the Phoenician consonant alphabet. The oldest finds of Aramaic goes back to the 9th century BC. This is an inscription King Shalmaneser III. ( 858-824 ).

For a long time are unlikely to notice any changes to the existing Phoenician characters. This will not change until the 5th century BC The first evidence of the corresponding transformation of the old characters to the typical Aramaic forms in Egypt during the period of 5th - 3rd Century BC used. Place, especially in Upper Egypt in the 5th century BC the Aramaic script and their use continues, where they can be found on numerous stone tablets and papyrus scrolls.

The Aramaic script reserves until around the turn of the 3rd and 2nd century BC, in the greater part of Asia Minor a very uniform shape. From there, it splits, favored by the political fragmentation that led to the formation of various political and cultural special communities into several branches, which took their completely own, sometimes very significant development. These are the Hebrew, Syriac and Nabatean script ( from the has also formed the Arabic script ).

Also from Aramaic was the world Mandaean Scriptures and the ancient Indian Kharoshthi font. The origins of the Brahmi script, from the derived today's Indian scriptures are unclear, but it is likely that they are either derived directly from the Aramaic script or was created after which it was modeled.

Only since the 7th century AD, most the Aramaic language and writing slowly back from the Arabic. In language islands it has longer receive only in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran (see: Syrian language ).

Dissemination

The Aramaic script found among the Northwest Semitic writings, the most widely used. Since 900 BC, it was used in the course of the use of the Aramaic language as a lingua franca in Babylonia, Assyria ( Akkadian ), Syria and Palestine. She has split into various branches, many of which have survived to the present day. Among the Arabic script as well as the Hebrew. In late antiquity was the Aramaic important language of Eastern Christianity and was worn as a lingua franca to China.

The Old Testament was originally written mainly in Hebrew, but to a lesser extent also in Aramaic. These are Ezra 4.8 to 6.18 EU; 7.12 to 26 EU; Jer 10,11 EU and Dan 2:4 b -7, 28 EU.