Aramaic served as a language of public life and administration of ancient kingdoms and empires, particularly the Neo-Assyrian Empire , Neo-Babylonian Empire and Achaemenid Empire , and also as a language of divine worship and religious study within Judaism , Christianity and Gnosticism.
Aramaic belongs to the Northwest group of the Semitic language family , which also includes the mutually intelligible Canaanite languages such as Hebrew , Edomite , Moabite , Ekronite , Sutean , and Phoenician , as well as Amorite and Ugaritic.
The Aramaic languages are now considered endangered , with several varieties used mainly by the older generations. Early Aramaic inscriptions date from 11th century BC, placing it among the earliest languages to be written down.
Historically and originally, Aramaic was the language of the Arameans , a Semitic-speaking people of the region between the northern Levant and the northern Tigris valley. Aramaic rose to prominence under the Neo-Assyrian Empire β BC , under whose influence Aramaic became a prestige language after being adopted as a lingua franca of the empire by Assyrian kings, and its use was spread throughout Mesopotamia , the Levant and parts of Asia Minor , Arabian Peninsula , and Ancient Iran under Assyrian rule.
At its height, Aramaic was spoken in what is now Iraq , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Jordan , Kuwait , parts of southeast and south central Turkey , northern parts of the Arabian Peninsula and parts of northwest Iran , as well as the southern Caucasus , having gradually replaced several other related Semitic languages.
