The Arameans, or Aramaeans, (Old Aramaic: 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; Ancient Greek: Ἀραμαῖοι; Classical Syriac: ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, romanized: Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean homeland, sometimes known as the land of Aram, encompassed central regions of modern Syria. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE, a number of Aramean-ruling states were established throughout the western regions of the ancient Near East. The most notable was Aram-Damascus, which reached its height in the second half of the 9th century BCE during the reign of king Hazael. The Arameans were never a single nation or group; rather, Aram was a region with local centers of power spread throughout the Levant, making it almost impossible to establish a coherent ethnic category of “Aramean” based on extra-linguistic identity markers, such as material culture, lifestyle or religion. The people of "Aram" were called "Arameans" in Assyrian text and in the Old Testament, but “Aramean” was never a self-designation; "Arameans" is merely an appellation of the geographical term Aram given to 1st-millennium B.C. inhabitants of Syria. A distinctive Aramaic alphabet was developed and used to write the Old Aramaic language.

During the 8th century BCE, local Aramean city states were gradually conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The policy of population displacement and relocation that was applied throughout Assyrian domains also affected Arameans, many of whom were resettled by Assyrian authorities. This caused wider dispersion of Aramean communities throughout various regions of the Near East, and the range of Aramaic language also widened, gradually gaining significance and eventually becoming the common language of public life and administration, particularly during the periods of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (612–539 BCE) and the later Achaemenid Empire (539–330 BCE). As a result of linguistic aramization, a wider Aramaic-speaking area was created throughout the central regions of the Near East, exceeding the boundaries of Aramean ethnic communities. During the later Hellenistic and Roman periods, minor Aramaic-speaking states emerged, the most notable of them being the Kingdom of Osroene, centered in Edessa, the birthplace of Edessan Aramaic, that later came to be known as Classical Syriac language.

Before Christianity came to scene, Aramaic-speaking communities had undergone considerable Hellenization and Romanization in the Near East. Thus, their integration into the Greek-speaking world began a long time before Christianity became established. Some scholars mean that Arameans that accepted Christianity came to be referred to as Syrians by the Greeks. The Arab conquest in the 7th century was followed by Islamization and gradual Arabization of Aramaic-speaking communities throughout the Near East, ultimately resulting in their fragmentation and acculturation.

During the Early Modern period, study of Aramaic languages (both ancient and modern) was initiated among western scholars, leading to the formation of Aramaic studies as a wider multidisciplinary field that also includes the study of cultural and historical heritage of Arameans. Linguistic and historical aspects of Aramean studies have been widened since the 19th century by archaeological excavations of ancient Aramean sites in the Near East.