Aram-Naharaim

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Coordinates: 36 ° 32 '0 ″  N , 42 ° 26 ′ 0 ″  O Aram-Naharaim ( Aram between the rivers ), ( Syr. ܒܝܬܢܗܪܝܢ), was the name of aregion in Asia Minor between the Balich and the Chabur , which is above the Euphrates was in the realm of the Kingdom of Mitanni . The region is sometimes referred to with the Greek translation "Mesopotamia", but must not beequatedwith the historical expansion of the cultural landscape of Mesopotamia .

Biblical mentions

Aram-Naharaim is considered to be the home of the progenitor Abraham . According to the biblical account, he comes from the area on the Euphrates and emigrates to Palestine with his wife Sara and his nephew Lot at the command of God (Genesis 12: 1-5).

The area is mentioned by name five times in the Bible (Gen 24.10; Dtn 23.5; Judge 3.8; 1Chr 19.6; Ps 60.2).

Historical mentions

Singara (Iraq)
Singara
Singara
Location of the city of Singara in Iraq

In three Amarna letters , Nahrima is mentioned in connection with Naharina . Strabo originally only used the term "Mesopotamia" for the northern part of the lowlands between the rivers, while he called the southern part " Babylonia ". The name "Mesopotamia" comes from the time of Hellenism , when the ancient Greek geographers translated the settlement area between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, the land of Aram-Naharaim, into Greek .

This southeastern part of the country up to the Chabur and Singara was snatched from the Parthians by L. Verus in 156 and made a Roman province and remained in its main part (even after the cession of Nisibis and Singara to the Persians in 364 ) until the Arab conquest half a millennium. This gave the name Mesopotamia a political and administrative meaning within narrower geographical boundaries than those mentioned above. This was restricted by the division of the larger province under Diocletian to the Armenian areas as far as the upper Tigris.

The Masch Aramaeans lived on the mountain Masch or Masios, which was named after them. This place has been called Tur Abdin since post-Christian times . In this narrow cultural zone, the area of Masch- or was Masios fluxes, the Hirmas (by the Greeks Mygdonios called), which represented the link between the East and the dominant in the West Nisibis, of great importance.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Morris Jastrow, Jr., George A. Barton:  Aram-Naharaim (translated as "Mesopotamia" in AV). In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): Jewish Encyclopedia . Volume 2, Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-1906, p.  66 .
  2. ↑ a b See the Atlas of World Cultures. Mesopotamia. Munich 1991, p. 18
  3. ↑ See Encyclopedia of Antiquity . Frankfurt undated, p. 281