نقوش آرامية من "دور كتليمو" في سوريا

الملخص EN

The ancient inscriptions are so important for studying the ancient languages and considered one of the primary sources of ancient history.

The Levant region is rich in archaeological linds that are of different languages and topics.

These same finds help to form a clear view of this region.

During the ninth and eight centuries B.C., the Arameans established several kingdoms spread across Syria.

This was contemporary to the prosperity of the Kingdom ot Assyria including their military superiority and their expansionist ambitions in northern Mesopotamia.

The Aramaic kingdoms could not stop the repeated military campaigns of the Assyrians.

For this reason, they were finally occupied one by one by the Assyrians in the late eighth century B.C.

Aramaic was the language used at the time in various parts of Levant and Mesopotamia regions, and stayed thereafter, but at the grassroots level; the Akkadian language (Neo Assyrian language) became the official language for recording official documents.

So the inscriptions in this paper are not independent ones, they are brief Aramaic summaries accompanied to Akkadian texts written on (71) clay tablets.

These texts are about commercial and legal contracts of selling houses, agricultural lands, orchards and slaves.

Most of these texts date back to the seventh century B.C., but the dated ones back to 710-602 B.C., in addition to a single inscription from the year 828 B.C.

(Nr.

47).

The Inscriptions were discovered at the site ol Tel Sheikh Hamad at a distance of 70 km north-east of the Syrian city Deir az- Zour.

The excavations at the site started in 1978 by the German Archaeological Mission (managed by Hartmut Kuhne) fiom the Free University of Berlin.

The city was called Dur Katlimmu, then Majdal, Since the late eighth century B.C., it was located within the administrative framework of the Aramaic province Laqi.

Then, it was subjected to the Assyrian sovereignty during the seventh century BC Therefore, these documents were recorded in both Akkadian and Aramaic.

The information in the Akkadian and the Aramaic texts and to the presence of a large castle that contained many soldiers of different ranks, which indicates that it was an important center ot the Assyrian army.

This research aims to shed light on these Aramaic inscriptions and benefit researchers who are interested in the languages and the history of Ancient Orient.