Aram
The Arameans were a Semitic people that became farmers and traders. They moved from the Arabian Desert to Syria around the twelfth century B.C. They established many new city-states, in which one important one was Damascus. The controlled trade routes between Phoenicia, Egypt and Mesopotamia after the Hittite empire collapsed. Their system of weights was adopted in the Assyrian empire as well as in the Persians’ empire. Their language also became the universal language of the Middle East. It replaced the Hebrew language and was used in Jesus’ day.
Sources
Howe, Helen and Robert Howe. Ancient and Medieval Worlds. White Plains: Longman, 1992. Chapter 4.