The region, approximately, of northern Mesopotamia, including what are now parts of Iraq, Iran and Syria. The name literally means "high region" (as does Amon). It was used as the general name for Aramaea, Assyria and Mesopotamia, though primarily of the northern parts. Generally we should read Aram as western Assyria (which is not the same as modern Syria though it includes it), and Aram-Naharayim (ארם נהריים) as Mesopotamia.
Genesis 10:22 gives Aram as a son of Shem and the father of Uts, Chul, Geter and Mash. However 1 Chronicles 7:34 disagrees, preferring to make him a son of Shamer.
Genesis 22:21 makes him the grandson of Nachor through Kemu-El; again this is an attempt to create an eponymous ancestry that links him to Av-Raham and the Beney Yisra-El, in order to show that "Av-Raham your forefather was an Aramaean" (Deuteronomy 26:5). The link does however make sense as geography, because Nachor was originally the river-god, known locally as Inachus, to the Greeks as "Nakhos of the Peloponnese"; where the river in question for Biblical Nachor was the Perat (Euphrates), to these latter it became the Inakhos River of Argolis, adopting the name in much the way that there is now a London in Ontario and an Orleans in Louisiana.
Genesis 24:10 says that Nachor's city is named Aram-Naharayim ("The High Place of the Two Rivers"), this being the specific name for the land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
Genesis 25:20 has Yitschak (Isaac) marrying Rivkah (Rebecca), the daughter of Betu-El ha-Arami from Padan Aram.
Genesis 28 tells of Ya'akov (Jacob) being sent to Padan Aram after stealing his brother Esav's blessing.
Deuteronomy 23:5 says that Bil'am (Bala'am) ben Be'or came from Petor in Aram-Naharayim.
Judges 3:8 has Yisra-El sold to Kushan-Rishatayim king of Aram-Naharayim.
Numbers 23:7 calls Aram "the mountains of the east".
1 Kings 20:1 mentions Ben-Hadad, king of Aram at the time of Achav (Ahab).
The Aramaic language was the lingua franca of Kena'an from (not later than) the middle of the 6th century BCE onwards, and fathered modern Arabic. Some parts of Ezra and Job are written in Aramaic, as are a number of important prayers (e.g. the Kaddish) and both Talmuds, the Yeru-Shalmi and Bavli. So far was the language of the Beney Yisra-El gone out of use by the time of the writing down of the Tanach, Nechem-Yah actually recorded his complaint about the matter in his book (Nehemiah 13:24).
Genesis 28 tells of Ya'akov (Jacob) being sent to Padan Aram after stealing his brother Esav's blessing.
Deuteronomy 23:5 says that Bil'am (Bala'am) ben Be'or came from Petor in Aram-Naharayim.
Judges 3:8 has Yisra-El sold to Kushan-Rishatayim king of Aram-Naharayim.
Numbers 23:7 calls Aram "the mountains of the east".
1 Kings 20:1 mentions Ben-Hadad, king of Aram at the time of Achav (Ahab).
The Aramaic language was the lingua franca of Kena'an from (not later than) the middle of the 6th century BCE onwards, and fathered modern Arabic. Some parts of Ezra and Job are written in Aramaic, as are a number of important prayers (e.g. the Kaddish) and both Talmuds, the Yeru-Shalmi and Bavli. So far was the language of the Beney Yisra-El gone out of use by the time of the writing down of the Tanach, Nechem-Yah actually recorded his complaint about the matter in his book (Nehemiah 13:24).
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