Corpus of Aramaic Texts

This page presents a reference corpus of Aramaic texts from the first millennium BCE, assembled as a practical research tool for philological and historical-sociolinguistic analysis. The texts are displayed in continuous Unicode Aramaic script and are intended to be searched directly (e.g., via “Ctrl-F”) in order to identify attestations, distribution, and orthographic variation of lexical items across genres, regions, and periods. As such, breaks in the text–e.g. [כא]מל ‘[the] kin[g]’–are represented simple as מלכא, except when the majority or entirety of the word is reconstructed (e.g. […מלכא]). The only time such a word break is maintained is when the word wraps across multiple lines, as occurs multiple times in the Tel Dan Stela inscription, e.g. יש–ראל ‘Israel’ (ll. 3-4) & ר-כב ‘chariot’ (ll. 6-7). When the text is unclear and admits multiple viable readings, alternative interpretations are represented by slashes (e.g., מלכא/מלכה), without attempting to adjudicate between them. The corpus is non-lemmatized and unparsed, and no attempt has been made to normalize orthography beyond basic Unicode consistency. Rather than serving as a substitute for existing digital corpora, this page is designed as a low-overhead, transparent reference resource to facilitate rapid lexical reconnaissance and comparative analysis in the study of first-millennium Aramaic. It should be emphasized that the transcriptions presented here are not intended to serve as actual editions of the texts; for accurate readings, restorations, and philological discussion, the relevant secondary literature must always be consulted. The basis of the work through 1992 is Fitzmyer and Kaufman’s An Aramaic Bibliography (sigla marked as AB). The organizing principle is primarily chronology, and only occasionally is special reference made to geography or dialect (e.g. Sam’alian). Page perpetually in progress (last updated: 12/16/2025).