Research Center for Aramean Studies Formally Inaugurated

New unit at Heidelberg University devoted to studying and preserving history, language and culture of the Arameans. Building of the Semitic Studies division of the Department of Languages and Cultures of the Near East | © KuM - Press Office A new research unit at Heidelberg University - the Research Center for Aramean Studies - will focus not only on the Semitic language Aramaic but also on the literature, art, history, sociology and migration of Arameans, with special consideration of the recent experience of diaspora. The research unit started work last winter semester at the Semitic Studies division of the Department of Languages and Cultures of the Near East and will be officially opened at a ceremony on 29 July 2022. The guests at the inauguration include Archbishop Mor Philoxenus Mattias Nayis of the Syrian-Orthodox Archdiocese in Germany and Theresia Bauer, Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Science, Research and the Arts. Aramaic, with its different linguistic levels and dialects, has been extant for approx. 3,000 years, making it the oldest recorded Semitic language, says Michael Waltisberg, director of the new research unit. "In pre-Islamic times, about 2,000 years ago, it was the lingua franca of the Middle East. Its most famous speaker was undoubtedly Jesus Christ," the researcher, who represents Semitic Linguistics at the Department of Languages and Cultures of the Near East at Heidelberg University, adds.