POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ARAMEANS IN ANATOLIA DURING IRON AGE
DEMİR ÇAĞINDA ANADOLUDAKİ ARAMİLERİN POLİTİK COĞRAFYASI

Author : Nurgül Yıldırım
Number of pages : 122-137

Abstract

Iron Age (1200-334 B.C.) is a period in which migrations deeply affecting the Anatolian geography were experienced. Among these migrations, the migration of Arameans to Anatolia over Syria had a dominant structure over the Anatolian culture. Aramean migrations occurred in a period in which the Hittites, the first great empire established in Anatolia, lost its central structure, and the people of Anatolia started to establish large and small kingdoms, especially on the geographies where the Luwians live, by heading towards the southeast and south. It is thought that the Arameans initially started to infiltrate into Anatolia in groups, by following a systematic policy. It is known that the Arameans tried to gain prestige and established kingdoms after they started to settle on the Anatolian land. It was observed that these kingdoms established by the Arameans subsisted from time to time as vassal states of Assyria, however, approximately as of 7th century B.C., they became part of Assyria. While written sources of local people or the Arameans are inadequate in clarifying this period, the annals of Assyrian kings provide detailed information with regards to this period in Anatolia in terms of written sources. In this study, it is aimed at clarifying the origins of the Arameans and the geography they lived on, and afterwards, in accordance with the annals of the Assyrian kings, at investigating the migration process of the Arameans to Anatolia, the regions they subsisted, and, in view of the obtained data, the kings/governors they were ruled by.

Keywords

Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Hettite Kingdoms, Amorites, Arameans, Sam’al

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