As a result of persecution in the wake of the First World War, there is now a significant Assyrian diaspora. Major events included the Islamic revolution in Iran,[1] the Simele massacre, and the Assyrian genocide that occurred under Ottoman Turkish rule in the early 1900s. The latest event to hit the Assyrian community is the war in Iraq; of the one million or more Iraqis reported by the United Nations to have fled, forty percent are Assyrian, despite Assyrians comprising only three to five percent of the Iraqi population.[2][3]
History
The Assyrian people are believed to have descended from the ancient Assyrians of Mesopotamia (Aramaic: Bet-Nahrain, "the land of the rivers"), who, in the 7th century BC, controlled a vast empire which stretched from Egypt and Anatolia, across the land between two rivers, to western Iran. Tradition maintains that the history of the Assyrian people stretches back over 6,500 years, to the dawn of Mesopotamian civilization.[14] Culturally and linguistically distinct from, although quite influenced by, their neighbours in the Middle East - the Arabs, Persians, Kurds, Turks, and Armenians - the Assyrians have endured much hardship throughout their recent history as a result of religious and ethnic persecution.[15][16]
Demographics
- Further information: List of Assyrian settlements
)
Assyrians in Iraq account for a slight majority in two Ninewa counties, Tel Kaif and Al-Hamdaniya.
- the "Western" or "Jacobite" group of Syria, Iraq, and eastern Anatolia (Syriac Orthodox Church);
- the "Eastern" or "Nestorian" group of northern Iraq, eastern Anatolia, and Iran (Assyrian Church of the East);
- the "Chaldean" or "Catholic Assyrian" group of northern Iraq, Iran, and eastern Anatolia (Chaldean Catholic Church);
Identity
Assyrian people ) |
| Culture |
| Music |
| Language |
| (Assyrian • Chaldean • Turoyo)''' |
| Cuisine |
| Dance |
| Religion |
| Clothing |
| Villages |
- Further information: Names of Syriac Christians
- Further information: Muslim Assyrians, Arabization, Kurdification
In certain areas of the Assyrian homeland, identity within a community depends on a person's village of origin (see List of Assyrian villages) or Christian denomination, for instance Chaldean Catholic.[18]
Assyrians and other ethnic groups feel pressure to identify as "Arabs",[19][20] and "Kurds".[21] Assyrians in Syria, are disappearing as an ethnic group, due to assimilation.[22]
Neo-Aramaic ("Modern Assyrian")[23][24] exhibits is remarkably conservative features compared with Imperial Aramaic,[25] and the earliest European visitors to northern Mesopotamia in modern times encountered a people called "Assyrians" and men with ancient Assyrian names such as Sargon and Sennacherib.[26][27][28] The Assyrians manifested a remarkable degree of linguistic, religious, and cultural continuity from the time of the ancient Greeks, Persians, and Parthians through periods of medieval Byzantine, Arab, Persian, and Ottoman rule.[29]
Assyrian nationalism emphatically connects Modern Assyrians to the population of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This connection is disputed,[30] but receives support from Assyriologists like H.W.F. Saggs, Robert D. Biggs and Simo Parpola,[31][32][33] and Iranistics like Richard Nelson Frye.[13][34] They believe that the modern Assyrians truly are the descendants of the ancient Assyrians.[35]
The question of ethnic identity and self-designation is sometimes connected to the scholarly debate on the etymology of "Syria". The question has a long history of academic controversy, but mainstream opinion currently favours that Syria is indeed ultimately derived from the Assyrian term Aššūrāyu.[35][36][37]
)
Alqosh, located in the midst of Assyrian contemporary civilization.
More recent archaeological findings have added to the debate, attesting to the synonymy between the terms "Assyria" and "Syria", including the Çineköy Inscription[35].
DNA analysis that has been conducted "shows that [Assyrians] have a distinct genetic profile that distinguishes their population from any other population."[41] Genetic analysis of the Assyrians of Persia demonstrated that they were "closed" with little "intermixture" with the Muslim Persian population.[42]
Culture
)
Assyrian child dressed in traditional clothes.
People often greet and bid relatives farewell with a kiss on each cheek and by saying "Peace be upon you." Others are greeted with a handshake with the right hand only; according to Middle Eastern customs, the left hand is associated with evil. Similarly, shoes may not be left facing up, one may not have their feet facing anyone directly, whistling at night is thought to waken evil spirits, etc.
There are many Assyrian customs that are common in other Middle Eastern cultures. A parent will often place an eye pendant on their baby to prevent "an evil eye being cast upon it". Spitting on anyone or their belongings is seen as a grave insult.
There are Assyrians that are not very religious yet they may be very nationalistic. Assyrians are proud of their heritage, their Christianity, and of speaking the language of Christ. Children are often given Christian or Assyrian names such as Ashur, Sargon, Shamiram, Nineveh, Ninos, Nimrod, etc. Baptism and First Communion are heavily celebrated events similar to how a Bris and a Bar Mitzvah are in Judaism. When an Assyrian person dies, three days after they are buried they gather to celebrate them rising to heaven (as did Jesus), after seven days they again gather to commomerate their passing. A close family member wears only black clothes for forty days or one year as a sign of respect.
Language
| Syriac alphabet | |||||
| ܐ | ܒ | ܓ | ܕ | ||
| ܗ | ܘ | ܙ | ܚ | ܛ | ܝ |
| ܟܟ | ܠ | ܡܡ | ܢܢ | ܣ | ܥ |
| ܦ | ܨ | ܩ | ܪ | ܫ | ܬ |
Most Assyrians speak a modern form of Syriac,[46] an Eastern Aramaic language whose dialects include Chaldean and Turoyo as well as Assyrian. All are classified as Neo-Aramaic languages and are written using Syriac script, a derivative of the ancient Aramaic script. Assyrians also may speak one or more languages of their country of residence.
To the native speaker, "Syriac" is usually called Soureth or Suryoyo. A wide variety of dialects exist, including Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, and Turoyo. Being stateless, Assyrians also learn the language or languages of their adopted country, usually Arabic, Persian or Turkish. In northern Iraq and western Iran, Kurdish is widely spoken.
Recent archaeological evidence includes a statue from Syria with Assyrian and Aramaic inscriptions.[47] It is the oldest known Aramaic text.
Religion
) | ) |
Assyrians became Christians during the first century AD,[31] though not until during the third century had they all become Christians.[11] Some Assyrians also claim that their ancestors became Christians during the lifetime of Jesus.[48] Jesus spoke of "Men of Nineveh", repenting from their old sins; this refers when the prophet Jonah visited the Assyrian capital Nineveh:
The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Many members of the following churches consider themselves Assyrian. Ethnic and national identities are deeply intertwined with religion, a legacy of the Ottoman Millet system.
- Main Churches
- Ancient Church of the East
- Assyrian Church of the East
- Assyrian Evangelical Church
- Chaldean Church of Babylon
- Syriac Orthodox Church
- Syriac Catholic Church
Based on the following Bible passage, many Assyrians hold apocalyptic beliefs regarding the future of their nation:[49]
In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrian shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrian. In that day shall Israel be the third to the Egyptian and the Assyrian: a blessing in the midst of the land, Which the Lord of hosts hath blessed, saying: "Blessed be my people of Egypt, the work of my hands Assyria, and Israel my inheritance."–
Music
Art
Cuisine
Institutions
)
The Assyrian flag.
Political parties
- Assyria Liberation Party
- Assyrian Democratic Movement
- Assyrian General Conference
- Assyrian Patriotic Party
- Assyrian Socialist Party
- Assyrian Universal Alliance
- Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party
- Chaldean Democratic Union
- Mesopotamia Freedom Party
- Shuraya
Other institutions
Religious divisions
- Chaldean Christians (Chaldean Catholic Church)
- Nestorians (Assyrian Church of the East)
- Jacobites (Monophysitism, Syriac Orthodox Church)
See also
|
External links
Notes and References
1. ^ Dr. Eden Naby. Documenting The Crisis In The Assyrian Iranian Community.
2. ^ "Assyrian Christians 'Most Vulnerable Population' in Iraq" (HTML), The Christian Post. Retrieved on 2006-12-05. (English)
3. ^ "Iraq's Christian community, fights for its survival" (HTML), Christian World News. (English)
4. ^ Early History of Assyria, By Sidney Smith, University of Michigan, 1928
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ Parpola, Simo (2004). Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today (PDF) (English). Assyriology. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. “Assyria proper was for centuries subject to a continuous and systematic process of assimilation and integration. Especially the policy of mass deportations introduced by Ashurnasirpal II and continued on a vastly increased scale by Shalmaneser III, TiglathPileser III and the Sargonid dynasty, utterly changed the political, demographic and linguistic map of the Near East. Between 830 and 640 BC, an estimated 4.5 million people from all parts of the Empire were removed from their homes and settled elsewhere, mostly in the Assyrian heartland and the big urban centers there (Oded 1979). These deportations may originally have had purely political and economic goals, but in the long run they ended up having far more extensive linguistic, social and cultural consequences.
7. ^ Parpola, Simo (2004). Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today (PDF) (English). Assyriology. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. “In the first place, they brought hundreds of thousands of foreign, mostly Aramaic-speaking people into the Assyrian heartland and the eastern provinces of the Empire, thus turning the previously largely monolingual society of Assyria into a multilingual one. Within a relatively short period of time-already by the middle of the eighth century-Aramaic became established as a common language (lingua franca) throughout the Empire (Garelli 1982; Tadmor 1975, 1985; Eph'al 1999, 118-119). Concomitantly with this, the Assyrian administration started using the Aramaic alphabet alongside the cuneiform script.
8. ^ see e.g. Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. Aram.
9. ^ Frye, Richard Nelson (1992). Assyria and Syria: Synonyms (PDF) (English). PhD., Harvard University. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. “The reasons for the spread of the Aramaic language were not only the expansion of the Aramaeans themselves into the Fertile Crescent, as early as the second millennium B.C., but also the policies of transfer of populations by the Assyrian state, especially in the 8th century B.C. under Sargon II and Tiglath-Pileser III. Large numbers of people were moved, and inhabitants of ancient Assyria (present-day northern Iraq) were also settled all over the Fertile Crescent. The spread of the use of Aramaic coincided with the political expansion of the Assyrian Empire, with the consequent mixture of the political term "Assyrian" and the linguistic term "Aramaic speaker". The use of the term "Assyrian" for the Aramaic language and alphabet is even found as late as the 6th century of our era when the rabbis of the Talmudic period speak of their Aramaic (modern Hebrew) alphabet as "Ashuri."
10. ^ The History of Ancient Mesopotamia (HTML) (English). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.. “By this time the process of "Aramaicization" had reached even the oldest cities of Babylonia and Assyria.
11. ^ Parpola, Simo (1999). Assyrians after Assyria (HTML) (English). Assyriologist. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol. XIII No. 2,. “Distinctively Assyrians names are also found in later Aramaic and Greek texts from Assur, Hatra, Dura-Europus and Palmyra, and continue to be attested until the beginning of the Sasanian period. These names are recognizable from the Assyrian divine names invoked in them; but whereas earlier the other name elements were predominantly Akkadian, they now are exclusively Aramaic. This coupled with the Aramaic script and language of the texts shows that the Assyrians of these later times no longer spoke Akkadian as their mother tongue. In all other respects, however, they continued the traditions of the imperial period. The gods Ashur, Sherua, Istar, Nanaya, Bel, Nabu and Nergal continued to be worshiped in Assur at least until the early third century AD; the local cultic calendar was that of the imperial period; the temple of Ashur was restored in the second century AD; and the stelae of the local rulers resemble those of Assyrian kings in the imperial period. It is also worth pointing out that many of the Aramaic names occurring in the post-empire inscriptions and graffiti from Assur are already attested in imperial texts from the same site that are 800 years older.
12. ^ Hooker, Richard. Mesopotamia, the Assyrians, 1170-612, The Assyrian Period (HTML) (English). Washington State University. “The Assyrian conquerors invented a new policy towards the conquered: in order to prevent nationalist revolts by the conquered people, the Assyrians would force the people they conquered to migrate in large numbers to other areas of the empire. Besides guaranteeing the security of an empire built off of conquered people of different cultures and languages, these mass deportations of the populations in the Middle East, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, turned the region into a melting pot of diverse cultures, religions, and languages. Whereas there would be little cultural contact between the conquered and the conquerors in early Mesopotamian history, under the Assyrians the entire area became a vast experiment in cultural mixing.
13. ^ Frye, Richard N. (1992). Assyria and Syria: Synonyms (HTML) (English). PhD., Harvard University. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. “The ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote that the Greeks called the Assyrians, by the name Syrian, dropping the A. And that's the first instance we know of, of the distinction in the name, of the same people. Then the Romans, when they conquered the western part of the former Assyrian Empire, they gave the name Syria, to the province, they created, which is today Damascus and Aleppo. So, that is the distinction between Syria, and Assyria. They are the same people, of course. And the ancient Assyrian empire, was the first real, empire in history. What do I mean, it had many different peoples included in the empire, all speaking Aramaic, and becoming what may be called, "Assyrian citizens." That was the first time in history, that we have this. For example, Elamite musicians, were brought to Nineveh, and they were 'made Assyrians' which means, that Assyria, was more than a small country, it was the empire, the whole Fertile Crescent.
14. ^ [2]
15. ^ Parpola, Simo (2004). Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today (PDF) (English). Assyriology. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. “From the third century AD on, the Assyrians embraced Christianity in increasing numbers, even though the Assyrian religion persisted in places like Harran at least until the tenth, in Mardin even until the 18th century AD (Chwolsohn 1856, 151-156). The single-minded adherence to the Christian faith from late antiquity until the present time has made Christianity an indelible part of Assyrian identity, but it has also subjected the Assyrians to endless persecutions and massacres, first in the hands of the Romans, then in the hands of the Sasanian Persians, and last in the hands of Arabs, Kurds and Turks. These persecutions and massacres have reduced the total number of Assyrians from an estimated 20 million or more in antiquity to well under two million today.
16. ^ Assyrians (HTML) (English). World Culture Encyclopedia.
17. ^ Florian Coulmas, The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems 23 (1996)
18. ^ Note on the Modern Assyrians
19. ^ Iraqi Assyrians: A Barometer of Pluralism
20. ^ [3]
21. ^ [4]
22. ^ [5]
23. ^ Assyrians. “Historians and linguists use the term "modern Assyrian" to refer to the language spoken by the modern Assyrians. see: Andrew Dalby, Dictionary of Languages: The definitive reference to more than 400 languages (2004): 32; Dr. J. F. Coakley, "The First Modern Assyrian Printed Book," Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society, vol. 9 (1995)
24. ^ Eden Naby & Michael E. Hopper eds., The Assyrian Experience: Sources for the study of the 19th and 20th centuries: from the holdings of the Harvard University Libraries (with a selected bibliography) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard College Library, 1999)
25. ^ J.G. Browne, ‘‘The Assyrians,’’ Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 85 (1937)
26. ^ George Percy Badger, The Christians of Assyria Commonly Called Nestorians (London: W.H. Bartlett, 1869)
27. ^ J.F. Coakley, The Church of the East and the Church of England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), pp. 5, 89, 99, 149, 366–67, 382, 411
28. ^ Michael D. Coogan, ed., The Oxford History of the Biblical World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 279
29. ^ Fred Aprim, Assyrians: The Continuous Saga (Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2004); ‘‘Parthia,’’ in The Cambridge Ancient History: The Roman Republic, 2nd ed., vol. 3, pt. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 597–98; Patricia Crone and Michael Cook, Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 55–60; ‘‘Ashurbanipal and the Fall of Assyria,’’ in The Cambridge Ancient History: The Assyrian Empire, vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), 130–31; A.T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948), 168; Albert Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World (London: Oxford University Press, 1947), 99; Aubrey Vine, The Nestorian Churches (London: Independent Press, 1937); Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston (1737), bk. 13, ch. 6, [6] Simo Parpola, ‘‘National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in the Post-Empire Times,’’ Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 18, 2 (2004): 16–17; Simo Parpola, ‘‘Assyrians after Assyria,’’ Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 12, 2 (2000): 1–13; R.N. Frye, ‘‘A Postscript to My Article [Assyria and Syria: Synonyms],’? Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 11 (1997): 35–36; R.N. Frye, ‘‘Assyria and Syria: Synonyms,’’ Journal of the Near East Society 51 (1992): 281–85; Michael G. Morony, Iraq after the Muslim Conquest (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 336, 345; J.G. Browne, ‘‘The Assyrians,’’ Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 85 (1937)
30. ^ Smith, Sidney (1925). Assyrians after Assyria (HTML) (English). “The disappearance of the Assyrian people will always remain a unique and striking phenomenon in ancient history. Other, similar kingdoms and empires have indeed passed away but the people have lived on... No other land seems to have been sacked and pillaged so completely as was Assyria.
31. ^ Saggs, H.W.F.. "The Might That Was Assyria", Assyriologist, 1984, p. 290. (English) “The destruction of the Assyrian empire did not wipe out its population. They were predominantly peasant farmers, and since Assyria contains some of the best wheat land in the Near East, descendants of the Assyrian peasants would, as opportunity permitted, build new villages over the old cities and carry on with agricultural life, remembering traditions of the former cities. After seven or eight centuries and various vicissitudes, these people became Christians.Assyriologist&rft.spage=290&rft.date=1984&rft.language=English">
32. ^ Biggs, Robert D. (2005). 'My Career in Assyrialogy and Near Eastern Archaeology' (English). Assyriologist, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, vol. 19 No. 1. “I think there is very likelihood that ancient Assyrians are among the ancestors of the modern Assyrians of the area.
33. ^ Parpola, Simo (2003). Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today (PDF) (English). Assyriologist. University of Helsinki. “Today, the Assyrian nation largely lives in diaspora, split into rivaling churches and political factions. The fortunes of the people that constitute it have gone different ways over the millennia, and their identities have changed accordingly. The Syriacs in the west have absorbed many influences from the Greeks, while the Assyrians in the east have since ancient times been under Iranian cultural influence. Ironically, as members of the Chaldean Catholic Church (established in 1553 but effectively only in 1830), many modern Assyrians originating from central Assyria now identify with "Chaldeans", a term associated with the Syriac language in the 16th century but ultimately derived from the name of the dynasty that destroyed Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire! Disunited, dispersed in exile, and as dwindling minorities without full civil rights in their homelands, the Assyrians of today are in grave danger of total assimilation and extinction (April 2003). In order to survive as a nation, they must now unite under the Assyrian identity of their ancestors. It is the only identity that can help them to transcend the differences between them, speak with one voice again, catch the attention of the world, and regain their place among the nations.
34. ^ [7]
35. ^ Parpola, Simo. Assyrians after Assyria (HTML) (English). Assyriologist. University of Helsinki. Retrieved on 1999-09-04.
36. ^ Richard N. Frye Ph.D., Harvard University, "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1992.
37. ^ Parpola, Simo. "Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today" (PDF), April 2003, p. 11. (English) “In this context it is important to draw attention to the fact that the Aramaic-speaking peoples of the Near East have since ancient times identified themselves as Assyrians and still continue to do so. The self-designations of modern Syriacs and Assyrians, Sūryōyō and Sūrāyā, are both derived from the ancient Assyrian word for "Assyrian", Aššūrāyu, as can be easily established from a closer look at the relevant words.
38. ^ Rudolf Macuch, Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur, New York: de Gruyter, 1976.
39. ^ Tsereteli, Sovremennyj assirijskij jazyk, Moscow: Nauka, 1964.
40. ^ Rollinger, Robert (2006). The terms “Assyria” and “Syria” again (PDF) (English). Assyriology 284-287. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 65(4).
41. ^ Nissman, David. "Assyrians Highlighted by Genetics Study, Radio Free Europe, vol. 3, Dec. 8, 2000" (HTML). (English) “Analysis of the Assyrians shows that they have a distinct genetic profile that distinguishes their population from any other population. It is important to understand that this applies to the population as a whole, not to any one individual. The study thus does two things: it confirms the uniqueness of the Assyrian population as a whole, and it establishes genetics as a major criterion of a population group, potentially overriding elements such as language, religion, and other social and historical components which were formerly considered to be primary determinants.
42. ^ M.T. Akbari, Sunder S. Papiha, D.F. Roberts, and Daryoush D. Farhud, ‘‘Genetic Differentiation among Iranian Christian Communities,’’ American Journal of Human Genetics 38 (1986): 84–98
43. ^ The Assyrian New Year
44. ^ [8]
45. ^ Akkadian Words in Modern Assyrian
46. ^ The British Survey, By British Society for International Understanding, 1968, page 3
47. ^ A Statue from Syria with Assyrian and Aramaic Inscriptions
48. ^ [9]
49. ^ Assyria in Prophecy
50. ^ History of Baklava, Turkish Culture: Baklava, Baklava War Intesifies, Baklava
2. ^ "Assyrian Christians 'Most Vulnerable Population' in Iraq" (HTML), The Christian Post. Retrieved on 2006-12-05. (English)
3. ^ "Iraq's Christian community, fights for its survival" (HTML), Christian World News. (English)
4. ^ Early History of Assyria, By Sidney Smith, University of Michigan, 1928
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ Parpola, Simo (2004). Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today (PDF) (English). Assyriology. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. “Assyria proper was for centuries subject to a continuous and systematic process of assimilation and integration. Especially the policy of mass deportations introduced by Ashurnasirpal II and continued on a vastly increased scale by Shalmaneser III, TiglathPileser III and the Sargonid dynasty, utterly changed the political, demographic and linguistic map of the Near East. Between 830 and 640 BC, an estimated 4.5 million people from all parts of the Empire were removed from their homes and settled elsewhere, mostly in the Assyrian heartland and the big urban centers there (Oded 1979). These deportations may originally have had purely political and economic goals, but in the long run they ended up having far more extensive linguistic, social and cultural consequences.
7. ^ Parpola, Simo (2004). Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today (PDF) (English). Assyriology. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. “In the first place, they brought hundreds of thousands of foreign, mostly Aramaic-speaking people into the Assyrian heartland and the eastern provinces of the Empire, thus turning the previously largely monolingual society of Assyria into a multilingual one. Within a relatively short period of time-already by the middle of the eighth century-Aramaic became established as a common language (lingua franca) throughout the Empire (Garelli 1982; Tadmor 1975, 1985; Eph'al 1999, 118-119). Concomitantly with this, the Assyrian administration started using the Aramaic alphabet alongside the cuneiform script.
8. ^ see e.g. Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. Aram.
9. ^ Frye, Richard Nelson (1992). Assyria and Syria: Synonyms (PDF) (English). PhD., Harvard University. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. “The reasons for the spread of the Aramaic language were not only the expansion of the Aramaeans themselves into the Fertile Crescent, as early as the second millennium B.C., but also the policies of transfer of populations by the Assyrian state, especially in the 8th century B.C. under Sargon II and Tiglath-Pileser III. Large numbers of people were moved, and inhabitants of ancient Assyria (present-day northern Iraq) were also settled all over the Fertile Crescent. The spread of the use of Aramaic coincided with the political expansion of the Assyrian Empire, with the consequent mixture of the political term "Assyrian" and the linguistic term "Aramaic speaker". The use of the term "Assyrian" for the Aramaic language and alphabet is even found as late as the 6th century of our era when the rabbis of the Talmudic period speak of their Aramaic (modern Hebrew) alphabet as "Ashuri."
10. ^ The History of Ancient Mesopotamia (HTML) (English). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.. “By this time the process of "Aramaicization" had reached even the oldest cities of Babylonia and Assyria.
11. ^ Parpola, Simo (1999). Assyrians after Assyria (HTML) (English). Assyriologist. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol. XIII No. 2,. “Distinctively Assyrians names are also found in later Aramaic and Greek texts from Assur, Hatra, Dura-Europus and Palmyra, and continue to be attested until the beginning of the Sasanian period. These names are recognizable from the Assyrian divine names invoked in them; but whereas earlier the other name elements were predominantly Akkadian, they now are exclusively Aramaic. This coupled with the Aramaic script and language of the texts shows that the Assyrians of these later times no longer spoke Akkadian as their mother tongue. In all other respects, however, they continued the traditions of the imperial period. The gods Ashur, Sherua, Istar, Nanaya, Bel, Nabu and Nergal continued to be worshiped in Assur at least until the early third century AD; the local cultic calendar was that of the imperial period; the temple of Ashur was restored in the second century AD; and the stelae of the local rulers resemble those of Assyrian kings in the imperial period. It is also worth pointing out that many of the Aramaic names occurring in the post-empire inscriptions and graffiti from Assur are already attested in imperial texts from the same site that are 800 years older.
12. ^ Hooker, Richard. Mesopotamia, the Assyrians, 1170-612, The Assyrian Period (HTML) (English). Washington State University. “The Assyrian conquerors invented a new policy towards the conquered: in order to prevent nationalist revolts by the conquered people, the Assyrians would force the people they conquered to migrate in large numbers to other areas of the empire. Besides guaranteeing the security of an empire built off of conquered people of different cultures and languages, these mass deportations of the populations in the Middle East, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, turned the region into a melting pot of diverse cultures, religions, and languages. Whereas there would be little cultural contact between the conquered and the conquerors in early Mesopotamian history, under the Assyrians the entire area became a vast experiment in cultural mixing.
13. ^ Frye, Richard N. (1992). Assyria and Syria: Synonyms (HTML) (English). PhD., Harvard University. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. “The ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote that the Greeks called the Assyrians, by the name Syrian, dropping the A. And that's the first instance we know of, of the distinction in the name, of the same people. Then the Romans, when they conquered the western part of the former Assyrian Empire, they gave the name Syria, to the province, they created, which is today Damascus and Aleppo. So, that is the distinction between Syria, and Assyria. They are the same people, of course. And the ancient Assyrian empire, was the first real, empire in history. What do I mean, it had many different peoples included in the empire, all speaking Aramaic, and becoming what may be called, "Assyrian citizens." That was the first time in history, that we have this. For example, Elamite musicians, were brought to Nineveh, and they were 'made Assyrians' which means, that Assyria, was more than a small country, it was the empire, the whole Fertile Crescent.
14. ^ [2]
15. ^ Parpola, Simo (2004). Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today (PDF) (English). Assyriology. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. “From the third century AD on, the Assyrians embraced Christianity in increasing numbers, even though the Assyrian religion persisted in places like Harran at least until the tenth, in Mardin even until the 18th century AD (Chwolsohn 1856, 151-156). The single-minded adherence to the Christian faith from late antiquity until the present time has made Christianity an indelible part of Assyrian identity, but it has also subjected the Assyrians to endless persecutions and massacres, first in the hands of the Romans, then in the hands of the Sasanian Persians, and last in the hands of Arabs, Kurds and Turks. These persecutions and massacres have reduced the total number of Assyrians from an estimated 20 million or more in antiquity to well under two million today.
16. ^ Assyrians (HTML) (English). World Culture Encyclopedia.
17. ^ Florian Coulmas, The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems 23 (1996)
18. ^ Note on the Modern Assyrians
19. ^ Iraqi Assyrians: A Barometer of Pluralism
20. ^ [3]
21. ^ [4]
22. ^ [5]
23. ^ Assyrians. “Historians and linguists use the term "modern Assyrian" to refer to the language spoken by the modern Assyrians. see: Andrew Dalby, Dictionary of Languages: The definitive reference to more than 400 languages (2004): 32; Dr. J. F. Coakley, "The First Modern Assyrian Printed Book," Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society, vol. 9 (1995)
24. ^ Eden Naby & Michael E. Hopper eds., The Assyrian Experience: Sources for the study of the 19th and 20th centuries: from the holdings of the Harvard University Libraries (with a selected bibliography) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard College Library, 1999)
25. ^ J.G. Browne, ‘‘The Assyrians,’’ Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 85 (1937)
26. ^ George Percy Badger, The Christians of Assyria Commonly Called Nestorians (London: W.H. Bartlett, 1869)
27. ^ J.F. Coakley, The Church of the East and the Church of England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), pp. 5, 89, 99, 149, 366–67, 382, 411
28. ^ Michael D. Coogan, ed., The Oxford History of the Biblical World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 279
29. ^ Fred Aprim, Assyrians: The Continuous Saga (Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2004); ‘‘Parthia,’’ in The Cambridge Ancient History: The Roman Republic, 2nd ed., vol. 3, pt. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 597–98; Patricia Crone and Michael Cook, Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 55–60; ‘‘Ashurbanipal and the Fall of Assyria,’’ in The Cambridge Ancient History: The Assyrian Empire, vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), 130–31; A.T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948), 168; Albert Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World (London: Oxford University Press, 1947), 99; Aubrey Vine, The Nestorian Churches (London: Independent Press, 1937); Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston (1737), bk. 13, ch. 6, [6] Simo Parpola, ‘‘National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in the Post-Empire Times,’’ Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 18, 2 (2004): 16–17; Simo Parpola, ‘‘Assyrians after Assyria,’’ Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 12, 2 (2000): 1–13; R.N. Frye, ‘‘A Postscript to My Article [Assyria and Syria: Synonyms],’? Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 11 (1997): 35–36; R.N. Frye, ‘‘Assyria and Syria: Synonyms,’’ Journal of the Near East Society 51 (1992): 281–85; Michael G. Morony, Iraq after the Muslim Conquest (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 336, 345; J.G. Browne, ‘‘The Assyrians,’’ Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 85 (1937)
30. ^ Smith, Sidney (1925). Assyrians after Assyria (HTML) (English). “The disappearance of the Assyrian people will always remain a unique and striking phenomenon in ancient history. Other, similar kingdoms and empires have indeed passed away but the people have lived on... No other land seems to have been sacked and pillaged so completely as was Assyria.
31. ^ Saggs, H.W.F.. "The Might That Was Assyria", Assyriologist, 1984, p. 290. (English) “The destruction of the Assyrian empire did not wipe out its population. They were predominantly peasant farmers, and since Assyria contains some of the best wheat land in the Near East, descendants of the Assyrian peasants would, as opportunity permitted, build new villages over the old cities and carry on with agricultural life, remembering traditions of the former cities. After seven or eight centuries and various vicissitudes, these people became Christians.Assyriologist&rft.spage=290&rft.date=1984&rft.language=English">
32. ^ Biggs, Robert D. (2005). 'My Career in Assyrialogy and Near Eastern Archaeology' (English). Assyriologist, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, vol. 19 No. 1. “I think there is very likelihood that ancient Assyrians are among the ancestors of the modern Assyrians of the area.
33. ^ Parpola, Simo (2003). Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today (PDF) (English). Assyriologist. University of Helsinki. “Today, the Assyrian nation largely lives in diaspora, split into rivaling churches and political factions. The fortunes of the people that constitute it have gone different ways over the millennia, and their identities have changed accordingly. The Syriacs in the west have absorbed many influences from the Greeks, while the Assyrians in the east have since ancient times been under Iranian cultural influence. Ironically, as members of the Chaldean Catholic Church (established in 1553 but effectively only in 1830), many modern Assyrians originating from central Assyria now identify with "Chaldeans", a term associated with the Syriac language in the 16th century but ultimately derived from the name of the dynasty that destroyed Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire! Disunited, dispersed in exile, and as dwindling minorities without full civil rights in their homelands, the Assyrians of today are in grave danger of total assimilation and extinction (April 2003). In order to survive as a nation, they must now unite under the Assyrian identity of their ancestors. It is the only identity that can help them to transcend the differences between them, speak with one voice again, catch the attention of the world, and regain their place among the nations.
34. ^ [7]
35. ^ Parpola, Simo. Assyrians after Assyria (HTML) (English). Assyriologist. University of Helsinki. Retrieved on 1999-09-04.
36. ^ Richard N. Frye Ph.D., Harvard University, "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1992.
37. ^ Parpola, Simo. "Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today" (PDF), April 2003, p. 11. (English) “In this context it is important to draw attention to the fact that the Aramaic-speaking peoples of the Near East have since ancient times identified themselves as Assyrians and still continue to do so. The self-designations of modern Syriacs and Assyrians, Sūryōyō and Sūrāyā, are both derived from the ancient Assyrian word for "Assyrian", Aššūrāyu, as can be easily established from a closer look at the relevant words.
38. ^ Rudolf Macuch, Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur, New York: de Gruyter, 1976.
39. ^ Tsereteli, Sovremennyj assirijskij jazyk, Moscow: Nauka, 1964.
40. ^ Rollinger, Robert (2006). The terms “Assyria” and “Syria” again (PDF) (English). Assyriology 284-287. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 65(4).
41. ^ Nissman, David. "Assyrians Highlighted by Genetics Study, Radio Free Europe, vol. 3, Dec. 8, 2000" (HTML). (English) “Analysis of the Assyrians shows that they have a distinct genetic profile that distinguishes their population from any other population. It is important to understand that this applies to the population as a whole, not to any one individual. The study thus does two things: it confirms the uniqueness of the Assyrian population as a whole, and it establishes genetics as a major criterion of a population group, potentially overriding elements such as language, religion, and other social and historical components which were formerly considered to be primary determinants.
42. ^ M.T. Akbari, Sunder S. Papiha, D.F. Roberts, and Daryoush D. Farhud, ‘‘Genetic Differentiation among Iranian Christian Communities,’’ American Journal of Human Genetics 38 (1986): 84–98
43. ^ The Assyrian New Year
44. ^ [8]
45. ^ Akkadian Words in Modern Assyrian
46. ^ The British Survey, By British Society for International Understanding, 1968, page 3
47. ^ A Statue from Syria with Assyrian and Aramaic Inscriptions
48. ^ [9]
49. ^ Assyria in Prophecy
50. ^ History of Baklava, Turkish Culture: Baklava, Baklava War Intesifies, Baklava
Assyrian communities around the world |
|---|
Homeland (ca. 2.5 million):
Iraq Iran Syria Turkey list of settlements
Diaspora United States (ca. 300,000) Europe (ca. 93,000) (FinlandGermany Netherlands Russia Sweden United Kingdom) Jordan (80,000) Armenia (64,000) Australia (24,000) Canada (7,000) Georgia (3,000) Israel (1,000) |
Ethnic groups in Iran | |
|---|---|
Major:
Persians (51%) •
Azeris (24%) •
Guilaki and Mazandarani (8%) •
Kurds (7%) •
Arabs (3%) •
Baloch (2%) •
Lurs (2%) •
Turkmens (2%) Minor (1%): Qashqai • Armenians • Persian Jews • Georgians • Assyrians • Circassians • Tats • Pashtuns | ){kind=small} |
)
The various communities of adherents of Syriac Christianity and speakers of Neo-Aramaic languages advocate different terms for ethnic self-designation:
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- "Assyrians", after the ancient Assyrian Empire, advocated by the Assyrian Church of the East ("Eastern Assyrians"),[1]
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ethnic group or ethnicity is a population of human beings whose members identify with each other, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry.[1] Ethnicity is also defined from the recognition by others as a distinct group[2]
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Motto
الله أكبر (Arabic)
"Allahu Akbar" (transliteration)
"God is the Greatest"
Anthem
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الله أكبر (Arabic)
"Allahu Akbar" (transliteration)
"God is the Greatest"
Anthem
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Anthem
Sorūd-e Mellī-e Īrān ²
Capital
(and largest city) Tehran
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Sorūd-e Mellī-e Īrān ²
Capital
(and largest city) Tehran
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Motto
Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda Sulh
Peace at Home, Peace in the World
Anthem
İstiklâl Marşı
The Anthem of Independence
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Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda Sulh
Peace at Home, Peace in the World
Anthem
İstiklâl Marşı
The Anthem of Independence
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Anthem
Homat el Diyar
Guardians of the Land
Capital
(and largest city) Damascus
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Homat el Diyar
Guardians of the Land
Capital
(and largest city) Damascus
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Caucasus or Caucasia is a region in Eurasia bordered on the north by Russia, on the southwest by Turkey, on the west by the Black Sea, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. The Caucasus includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands.
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North America is a continent [1] in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west
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Western Europe is mainly a socio-political concept forged during the Cold War, which largely defined its borders. Its boundaries were effectively forged during the final stages of World War II and came to encompass all European countries which did not come under Soviet control and
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Since World War I, the Assyrian diaspora has steadily increased so that there are now more Assyrians living in western and eastern Europe, North America and Australia, than in the Middle East.
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Operation Enduring Freedom (October 2001 – current) War in Afghanistan (Oct 2001 – current)
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Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea,
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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (abbreviated USSR, Russian: (help info ) ; tr.
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Anthem
Advance Australia Fair [1]
Capital Canberra
Largest city Sydney
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Advance Australia Fair [1]
Capital Canberra
Largest city Sydney
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Anthem
"God Defend New Zealand"
"God Save the Queen" 1
Capital Wellington
Largest city Auckland
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"God Defend New Zealand"
"God Save the Queen" 1
Capital Wellington
Largest city Auckland
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Anthem
Homat el Diyar
Guardians of the Land
Capital
(and largest city) Damascus
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Homat el Diyar
Guardians of the Land
Capital
(and largest city) Damascus
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Anthem
عاش المليك
The Royal Anthem of Jordan
("As-salam al-malaki al-urdoni") 1
Long live the King
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عاش المليك
The Royal Anthem of Jordan
("As-salam al-malaki al-urdoni") 1
Long live the King
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Motto
Kūllūnā li-l-waṭan, li-l-'ula wa-l-'alam (Arabic)
"Nous sommes tous pour le pays, la sublimation et le drapeau!"
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Kūllūnā li-l-waṭan, li-l-'ula wa-l-'alam (Arabic)
"Nous sommes tous pour le pays, la sublimation et le drapeau!"
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Assyrian Genocide (Assyrian: ܩܛܠܐ ܕܥܡܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ or ܣܝܦܐ, Turkish: Süryani Soykırımı
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Since World War I, the Assyrian diaspora has steadily increased so that there are now more Assyrians living in western and eastern Europe, North America and Australia, than in the Middle East.
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White Revolution.
History of Greater Iran Empires of Persia Kings of Persia Pre-modern
Before Islam
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Simele massacre (Assyrian: ܦܪܡܬܐ ܕܣܡܠܐ: Premta d-Simele
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Assyrian Genocide (Assyrian: ܩܛܠܐ ܕܥܡܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ or ܣܝܦܐ, Turkish: Süryani Soykırımı
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Iraqi (under Saddam Hussein):
375,000+ regular forces.
Post-Baathist government, multi-sided conflict:
Sunni Insurgents
Unknown
Mahdi Army
~60,000[6][7]
al Qaeda/others
1,300+[8] Coalition
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375,000+ regular forces.
Post-Baathist government, multi-sided conflict:
Sunni Insurgents
Unknown
Mahdi Army
~60,000[6][7]
al Qaeda/others
1,300+[8] Coalition
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Headquarters
(and largest city)
Official languages Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish
Membership 192 member states
Leaders
- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Establishment
-
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(and largest city)
Official languages Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish
Membership 192 member states
Leaders
- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Establishment
-
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History of the
Assyrian people
Antiquity
Ancient Assyria (20th - 16th c. BC)
Aramaeans (14th - 9th c. BC)
Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-612 BC)
Achaemenid Assyria (612-330 BC)
Late Antiquity and Middle Ages
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Assyrian people
Antiquity
Ancient Assyria (20th - 16th c. BC)
Aramaeans (14th - 9th c. BC)
Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-612 BC)
Achaemenid Assyria (612-330 BC)
Late Antiquity and Middle Ages
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Assyrian Genocide (Assyrian: ܩܛܠܐ ܕܥܡܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ or ܣܝܦܐ, Turkish: Süryani Soykırımı
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Ancient Mesopotamia
Euphrates Tigris
Cities / Empires
Sumer: Uruk ' Ur ' Eridu
Kish ' Lagash ' Nippur
Akkadian Empire: Akkad
Babylon ' Isin ' Susa
Assyria: Assur Nineveh
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Euphrates Tigris
Cities / Empires
Sumer: Uruk ' Ur ' Eridu
Kish ' Lagash ' Nippur
Akkadian Empire: Akkad
Babylon ' Isin ' Susa
Assyria: Assur Nineveh
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Ancient Mesopotamia
Euphrates Tigris
Cities / Empires
Sumer: Uruk ' Ur ' Eridu
Kish ' Lagash ' Nippur
Akkadian Empire: Akkad
Babylon ' Isin ' Susa
Assyria: Assur Nineveh
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Euphrates Tigris
Cities / Empires
Sumer: Uruk ' Ur ' Eridu
Kish ' Lagash ' Nippur
Akkadian Empire: Akkad
Babylon ' Isin ' Susa
Assyria: Assur Nineveh
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