Welcome to the Unraveling the Scriptures channel. In the United States, it is estimated that there are millions of descendants of Syrians who arrived as refugees due to the war. Now, let's explore the rich history and origin of the Syrian people.
Syria is an ancient country located in the Middle East, with a population that dates back to biblical times. Syrians are descendants of the Semitic peoples and in this video, I will discuss the origin of the Syrian people based on the Bible, history and also genetics. In addition, I will share curiosities about the language and other interesting aspects, as I always do in our series. I invite you all to discover the fascinating origin of the Syrian people, in another video from our series, The Origin of Peoples According to the Bible. Syria is a country with a long history, being officially known as the Syrian Arab Republic, and in Arabic, Al-Jumhuriyah Al-Arabiyah Al-Suriya.
Located in the eastern Mediterranean and the Levant, which is part of the Middle East, Syria is a unitary republic made up of 14 provinces. Its borders stretch across the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south. and Israel and Lebanon to the southeast. The Syrian landscape is diverse, featuring fertile plains, high mountains, and vast deserts.
Furthermore, Syria is home to a variety of ethnic and religious groups. The majority of the population is of Arab origin, representing former Arab Syria, along with other ethnic groups such as Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Circassians, Armenians, Albanians. Greeks and Chechens.
On the religious front, there is a diversity of groups including Muslims, Alawite Christians, Druze and Yazidis. The capital of Syria is the ancient and millennial city of Damascus, which is a great historical metropolis. Arabs make up the largest ethnic group, while Sunni Muslims are the largest religious group. Syria stands out as the only country governed by leaders who advocate Arab socialism and Arab nationalism.
the Arab Socialist Ba'idiyyat Party of Syria. Syria is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and is historically considered to be home to the oldest civilization to inhabit the region. According to historians and researchers, the civilization of Ebla, known as the Eblaite people, was the first to settle in the region that is now Syria. In the Bible, this region is referred to as the land of Aram of the Arameans. The Eblaite people were of Semitic origin, as were the Arameans, and had a close relationship with the Akkadians.
Their language, Eblite, had great similarities with Akkadian, being considered by some linguists as a sister language of that ancient language. In other words, Eblite and Akkadian were very similar languages and were part of the East Semitic group. Regarding the origin and etymology of the term Syria, several sources indicate that the name is derived from the Luwian term Surah Slashai, from the 8th century BC. In addition, the name also has an ancient Greek origin, with, Syrioi, or, Syroi, which were probably originally derived from the Semitic term, Asherah, referring to the region of Syria, north of Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq. However, from the Seleucid Empire, 323 BC, 150 BC, this term was also applied to the Levant.
From that point on, The Greeks used the term without distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and the Arameans of the Levant, who inhabited what is now Syria. Syria is considered the cradle of the Aramaic civilization, of the ancient Aramaic tribes that inhabited the entire Syrian region. These tribes were an ancient people of Semitic origin, descendants of a biblical character called Aram, son of Shem and grandson of Noah.
Leading scholars and historians point out that the most ancient and indigenous civilization of the Syrian region, in addition to the Arameans themselves, possibly included the kingdom of Ebla and the Eblaite people, who inhabited initially or together with the Arameans in northern Syria. It is possible to identify traces of the founding of Ebla around 3500 BC. It is believed that, around the 14th or 15th century BC, Several Semitic tribes, including the Seminomads, emerged in the area of Syria.
These tribes, of Semitic origin, came into conflict with the Seminomads. conflict unsuccessfully with Babylon, located to the east, as well as the Arameans, who spoke a West Semitic language and subjugated the earlier Amorites. However, both the Arameans and the ancient inhabitants of Ebla, who were already present in the region, ended up being subjugated by a larger and more powerful kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Asherah or the Kingdom of Syria. This kingdom was also of Semitic origin. The Egyptians fought the Hittites for control of Western Syria, and this struggle reached its climax in 1274 BC, with the famous Battle of Kadesh.
Western Syria remained under the rule of the Hittite Empire until its destruction in 1200 BC, while Eastern Syria largely became part of the Middle Assyrian Empire. It is important to point out that there is a confusion commonly made between Assyria and Syria, and I will now try to explain the difference. Pay attention to clearly understand the distinction between the Syrian people and the Assyrian people. The Syrians are the Arameans, and the land of Syria was named after the Assyrian people throughout time.
However, Syrians are not Assyrians. The Syrians are descended from the Arameans. While the Assyrians are descended from Ashur, it is important to understand that these are different peoples, with different roots. The Syrians are descendants of Aram, from the Aramean people.
I hope everyone has understood the important contribution that the Syrian people, the Aramean people, have made to the world, especially through their language. When the Assyrian people dominated Syria, the Arameans, in fact, strongly influenced the language spoken in the region. This Semitic language, which already had similarities with Akkadian, was widely adopted by the Assyrians, who appreciated the Aramean language so much that they adopted it as an official language in their country, to be spoken by all.
An interesting curiosity of this story is that the Aramaic language was so powerful, so influential in antiquity that it was considered as the English of today. At that time, Aramaic was so dominant and influential in the Middle East region that it became the main language of most peoples in the region, or at least it was known and spoken by them in many ways. Through Aramaic, people could communicate with other peoples in the Middle East. A curious fact is that the next empire after Assyrian rule in the region was the Babylonian Empire, which also adopted the Aramaic language of the Assyrians as its main language. And so, Over the centuries, the Aramaic language became the lingua franca of the Middle East.
Even after the Persian Empire took over and established the Medo-Persian Empire, the Aramaic language continued to be widely spoken and accepted. Until the 6th century AD, Aramaic was still a living language in use in the region. And to this day, in some cities in Syria and Iraq, Aramaic, the Aramaic language, is still spoken. The Arabic spoken in the region of Iraq also has a strong influence of the Aramaic language.
A fact unknown to most people is that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and even Joshua, the Israelites in their beginnings and formation, originally spoke the ancient Aramaic dialect, that is, the archaic Aramaic. Abraham knew Aramaic, as he came from Aram Naharim, where Aramaic was spoken. Jacob, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, Bilhah and the tribes of Israel initially all spoke the Aramaic language, as evidenced in the biblical texts of Deuteronomy, chapter 26, where it mentions that the ancestral father of Israel was a genetically Aramean. And, of course, he also spoke Aramaic. As for the population of Syria, the Syrians are descended from the various Aramaic tribes and this is their main genetic origin.
They also have Semitic and Eblite ancestry. In addition, there is significant ethnic mixing with the ancient Assyrians, due to successive empires such as the Persian one. It is also common to find people in Syria with European appearance and light eyes due to Persian, Turkmen, Armenian, Albanian and Greek heritage.
However, the majority of the Syrian population is of Syrian Arab origin, that is, Semitic. An additional curiosity is that the two matriarchs of the ancient Israelite tribes were women of Aramaic origin. Beginning with Rebekah, wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau, she was an Aramean woman.
Her brother Laban is also mentioned in the Bible as Laban the Aramean. These are interesting facts found in the Holy Scriptures. I hope you all enjoyed this video about the origin of the Syrian people.
Please share with others. Leave in the comments suggestions of next origins that you want in our series The Origin of Peoples According to the Bible. See you soon.