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among them, not only because of their large number but also because of
their language and alphabetic script, which was much more functional
and widely understood throughout the empire than the akkadian lan-
guage, written in cuneiform. the aramaic language rapidly became the
lingua franca of the empire, with an official status, and even the assyrian
ruling class became fully bilingual.
the above survey of the aramaean population in the assyrian heart-
land is based on an onomastic sample of ca. 600 names drawn from
the Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. it does not yield an exact
demography of the aramaeans in assyria, but it sufficiently demonstrates
that aramaeans could be found at all levels of assyrian society, from
slaves to queens, gate guards to governors. On the basis of this sample it is
evident that aramaeans had access to any occupation in assyrian society,
including the highest positions in the state bureaucracy. they did not con-
stitute a separate class of people with special privileges or restrictions.
according to the above sample, quite expectedly, the aramaean popu-
lation reached its peak in the time of the sargonid kings, particularly dur-
ing the reign of assurbanipal, and remained significant even in the last
decades of the assyrian empire. No clear diachronic pattern can be dis-
cerned with regard to the positions of the aramaean people, although it
appears that the number of aramaeans in high military and governmental
positions increased in the sargonid period. this indicates a full assimila-
tion of the aramaeans into the assyrian upper crust.
keeping in mind that the onomastic evidence does not reveal the large
number of aramaeans who had been given akkadian names, one can
safely assume that the representation of ethnic aramaeans in assyria was
much stronger than the sample discussed in this article. Whatever their
exact percentage of the population in assyria may have been, the sources
make it evident that the aramaeans contributed decisively, and more than
any other ethnic group, to the building of the assyrian empire from early
on, having a profound cultural impact on its ideology and practices.
simultaneously identify themselves as americans. another good example could be taken
from former yugoslavia, where the Jews, recognized as a religious and national minority
and maintining their Jewish identity to a varying degree, primarily identified themselves
as yugoslavians. see kerkkänen 2001: 93–99, 187–190.