Great empires were conquered by the Aramaic language

Franz Rosenthal

”In my view, the history of Aramaic represents the purest triumph of the human spirit as embodied in language (which is the mind’s most direct of physical expression ) over the crude display of material power…Great empires were conquered by the Aramaic language, and when they disappeared and were submerged in the flow of history, that language persisted and continued to live a life of its own. Of course, there were many speakers of Aramaic in the heartland [of the Near East], but what they had been before, that they remained – powerless entities, in a world controlled by others for power and domination. Yet the language continued to be powerfully active in the promulgation of religious ideas in the Near East, which then spread in all directions all over the world. Some, such as the gnostic systems,  dominated the spiritual world view for centuries and then they lost their identities; others, the monotheistic groups, continues to live on today with a religious heritage, much of which found first expression in Aramaic.”

And he added with these striking words:

”The total sweep of Aramaic history thus presents a marvelous and unique picture. It teaches us that the underdog may in fact have the opportunity to play a decisive role, that it is possible  for the word pure and simple to dominate empires and survive their dissolution, that it is possible for the true achievements of the human spirit  to live on even after those who attained them are no longer the masters of the material fortunes of themselves and of those around them. In this there seems to be  a comforting lesson for our own time. It is a lesson which is plain and inescapable for everyone who had had a good fortune to become acquainted with any segment of the history of Aramaic”

(Sebastian Brock & David G.K Taylor ”The Hidden Pearl Vol. I The Ancient Aramaic Heritage p. 6 and 7)