to have destroyed “592 towns … of the sixteen districts of the country of Damascus.”* He put several Aramean kingdoms under direct Assyrian control, including ultimately Damascus itself. The Arameans’ political power thus came to an end; however, their language survived, ironically achieving a far wider presence than the people among whom it had originated. Aramaic is usually divided into several dialects, organized according to chronological and geographic principles. Although several systems have
Page 6