SEMITES
708
SEMITES
stantly appear in Babj-lonia the names of gods, rulers,
and other persons of a distinctly Chanaanitic char-
acter. To these belongs the so-called first Babylo-
nian dynasty, the most celebrated representative of
which is Hammurabi. Its rule probably denotes the
high tide of that new invasion of Babylonia, which also
strongly influenced AssjTia. In time the new stratum
was absorbed by the existing population, and thereby
became a part of Babylonian Semitism. Through
the same invasion the civilized territory of the West
received a new population, and even Egypt was af-
fected. For the Hyksos (shepherd kings) are in the
main only the last offshoot of that Chanaanitic inva-
sion, and in their rulers we see a similar phenomenon
as that of the Chanaanitic dynasty of Babylonia. As
regards the Semites in Chanaan itself, the earliest
wave of the invasion, which in consequence of subse-
quent pressure was ultimately pushed forward to the
coast, is known to us under the name of the Pha?ni-
cians. A picture of the conditions of the races and
principalities of Palestine in the fifteenth century b. c.
is given in the Tel-el-Amarna letters. In them we
find a scries of Chanaanitic glosses, which show that
even at that time the most important of those char-
acteristic peculiarities had been developed, which
gave their distinctive character to the best known
Chanaanitic dialects, the Phoenician and the Hebrew.
Further examples of Chanaanitic language of the sec-
ond millennium, especially as regards the vocabulary,
are the Semitic glosses in the Egyptian.
To the Chanaanitic races settled in Palestine belong also the Hebrew immigrants under Abraham, from whom again the Moabites and Ammonites sepa- rated. A people closely related to the Hebrews were also the Edomites in the Seir mountains, who later appear under the name of Idumseans in Southern Judea. These mountains had before them been set- tled by the Horites who were partly expelled, partly ab.sorbed by the Edomites. A last wave of the immi- gration into Chanaan are the Israelites, descendants of the Hebrews, who after centuries of residence in Egypt, and after forty years of nomadic life in the desert, returned to the land of their fathers, of which they took possession after long and weary struggles. That the influence of Chanaanitic Semitism extended far into the North is proved by the two Zendsirli in- scriptions: the so-called Hadad inscription of the ninth century, and the Panammu inscription of the eighth century, the language of which shows a Cha- naanitic character with Aramaic intermixture. On the other hand, the so-called building inscription of Bir-Iiokcb, dating from the last third of the eighth century, Ls purely Aramaic — a proof that the Ara- maization of Northern Syria was in full progress.
Aramaic Semites. — These represent a third wave of Semitic immigration. In cuneiform inscriptions dat- ing from the beginning of the fourteenth century B. c. they are mentioned as Ahlami. Their expansion probably took place within the fifteenth and four- teenth centuries b. c. from the plain between the mouth of the Euphrates and the mountains of Edom. As early as the reign of Salmanasar I (1300) they had pressed far into Mesopotamia and become a public scourge, in consequence of which the stream of immi- gration could not longer be restrained. During the ii(-w expansion of Assyrian power under Tiglath-Pi- leser I (1118-1003 B.C.) his reports enumerate victories over the Aramaans. Their further advance into the territory of the Euphrates and towards Syria took place about 1 1(K>-10()0 b. c. liy the ninth century all SjTia was Aramaicized; many small states were formed, prinr;ij)ally successors of the Hittitc King- dom. The most important Arama-an principality was that of Damascus, which was destroyed by Tig- lath-Pileser III in 732. In like manner the remain- ing Aramaic statf^s succumbed. A new rebellion was Buppressed by Sargon, and with this the rule of the
Aramaeans in S>Tia ended. In the meanwhile, the
Aramaean element in Mesopotamia was constantly
growing stronger. At the beginning of the ninth cen-
tury we hear of a number of small Aramaic states or
Bedouin territories there. They were subdued under
Assurnasirpal (Asshur-nasir-pal) III (884-860), and
the independence of their princes was destroyed by
his successor Salmanasar (Shalmaneser) II. Never-
theless, the immigration continued. In the struggles
of Assyria the Aramaeans of Mesopotamia always
made common cause with its enemies, and even under
Assurbanipal they were allied with his opponents.
From this time we hear nothing more of them. They
were probably absorbed by the remaining population.
Their language alone, which the Aramaeans in con- sequence of their numerical superiority forced upon these countries, survived in the sphere of the North Semitic civilization, and was not obliterated until the Islam's conquest. The potent Arabic displaced the Aramaic dialects with the exception of a few remnants. Since the second half of the eighth century the use of Aramaic as a language of inter- course can be proved in Assj^ia. and about the same time it certainly prevailed in Babylonia among the commercial classes of the population. In the West also their language extended in a southerly di- rection as far as Northern Arabia. For Aramaic had become the general language of commerce, which the Semitic peoples of Western Asia found themselves compelled to adopt in their commercial, cultural, and political relations. The Aramaic elements of the population were absorbed by the other peoples of the existing civilized lands. They developed a distinct nationality in Damascus. In Mesopotamia itself, in the neighbourhood of Edessa, Mardin, and Nisibis, Aramaic individuality was long preserved. But the culture of this country was afterwards strongly per- meated by Hellenism. One of the last political for- mations of the Aramaeans is found in Palmyra, which in the first century b. c. became the centre of a flour- ishing state under Arabian princes. It flourished un- til the ambitious design of Odenathus and Zenobia to play the leading part in the East caused its destruction by the Romans. A small fragment of Aramaic-speak- ing population may be still found in Ma'lula and two other villages of the Anti-Lebanon. So-called New Syrian dialects, descendants of the East Aramaic, are spoken in Tur ' Abdin in Mesopotamia, to the east and north of Mosul, and in the neighbouring mountains of Kurdistan, as well as on the west shore of Lake Urmia. Of these Aramaic-speaking Christians a part lives on what was clearly ancient Aramaic territory; but for those on Lake Urmia we must assume a later immi- gration. Nestorian bishops of Urmia are mentioned as early as a. d. 1111.
Arabic-Abyssinian Seinilcs. — (a) Arabs, the most powerful branch of the Semitic group of peoples, are indigenous to Central and Northern Arabia, where even to-day the original character is most purely pre- served. At an early period they pressed forward into the neighbouring territories, partly to the North and partly to the South. In accordance with linguistic differences they are divided into North and South Arabians. Northern Arabia is comiinscd partly of plains and deserts, and is, therefore, generally speak- ing, the home of wandering tribes of Bedouins. The South, on the other hand, is fertih; and suitable for a settled population. For this reason we find here at an early date political organizations, and the sites of ruins and inscriptions l)ear witness to the liigli cul- ture which once pnn'ailcd. The natural richness of the country and its favourable situation on the sea- coast made the South Arabians at an early period an important commercial people. In the fertile low- lands of the South Arabian Djof the Kingdom of Ma'in (Mina^ans) flourished. It is generally dated as early as the middle of the second millennium before
