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This is one of the reason why many of the Western Syriacs ('''''Sūryāyē''''') consider themselves as Western Assyrians ('''''Āṯūrāyē''''') or Assyrians-Syriacs ('''''Āṯūrāyē-Sūryāyē''''') other consider themselves as [[Aramean-Syriac]] ('''''Ārāmayē-Sūryāyē''''')
This is one of the reason why many of the Western Syriacs ('''''Sūryāyē''''') consider themselves as Western Assyrians ('''''Āṯūrāyē''''') or Assyrians-Syriacs ('''''Āṯūrāyē-Sūryāyē''''') other consider themselves as Syriacs ('''''Sūryāyē''''') or [[Aramean-Syriac]] ('''''Ārāmayē-Sūryāyē''''')


Other studies also support the notion that Assyrians did not completely assimilated; Louise Sweet's study revealed that the [[Armenian]] and Assyrian communities remain unassimilated, throughout the centuries. <Ref>Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East. Vol. I: Cultural Depth and Diversity." New York: The Natural History Press, 1970. page 77</ref> The continuous usage of old Assyrian names such as [[Sargon]], [[Ashur]], [[Ramsen]], [[Ninos]], [[Sanharib]] in family names still to this day illustrates Assyrian identity continuity over time.<Ref>"Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-expression" By Mordechai Nisan. Page 181.</ref>
Other studies also support the notion that Assyrians did not completely assimilated; Louise Sweet's study revealed that the [[Armenian]] and Assyrian communities remain unassimilated, throughout the centuries. <Ref>Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East. Vol. I: Cultural Depth and Diversity." New York: The Natural History Press, 1970. page 77</ref> The continuous usage of old Assyrian names such as [[Sargon]], [[Ashur]], [[Ramsen]], [[Ninos]], [[Sanharib]] in family names still to this day illustrates Assyrian identity continuity over time.<Ref>"Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-expression" By Mordechai Nisan. Page 181.</ref>

Revision as of 14:09, 22 May 2008

Template:Infobox Assyrians The Assyrians are an ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria,[1] but many of whom have migrated to the Caucasus, North America and Western Europe during the past century.

Hundreds of thousands more live in Assyrian diaspora and Iraqi refugee communities in Europe, the former Soviet Union, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. As a result of persecution in the wake of the First World War, there is now a significant diaspora. Major events included the Islamic revolution in Iran,[2] the Simele massacre in Iraq, and the Assyrian genocide in what is today Turkey.

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, nearly forty percent (40%) are Assyrian, despite Assyrians comprising only three to five percent of the Iraqi population.[3][4][5]

History

Main article: History of the Assyrian people

The Assyrian people are descended from the population of the ancient Assyrian Empire, which itself emerged from the Akkadian Empire founded by Sargon of Akkad.[6][7][8] Eventually, Assyrian kings conquered Aramaean tribes and assimilated them into the Assyrian empire,[9][10][11] and their language, Aramaic, accordingly supplanted the native Akkadian language,[8][12][13] due in part to the mass relocations enforced by Assyrian kings of the Neo-Assyrian period.[14] However, the modern neo-Aramaic language spoken by modern Assyrians, is quite heavily infused with ancient Akkadian language. The modern Assyrian identity is therefore believed to be a miscegenation, or ethnogenesis, of the major ethnic groups which inhabited Assyria-proper, which were, for the most part, Assyrian, and to some extent, Aramaean.[15] By the 5th century BC, "Imperial Aramaic" had become lingua franca in the Achaemenid Empire.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18][19]

The most significant recent persecution against the Assyrian population was the Assyrian genocide, which occurred at the onset of the First World War. This led to a large-scale resettlement of the Assyrian people in countries such as Syria, Iran and Iraq, as well as other neighbouring countries in and around the Middle East.[20]

Demographics

Further information: List of Assyrian settlements
File:Assyrianadministartedareasuggestion2005.jpg
Assyrians in Iraq account for a slight majority in two Ninewa counties, Tel Kaif and Al-Hamdaniya.

Assyrian populations are distributed between the Assyrian homeland and the Assyrian diaspora. There are no official statistics, and estimates of the total number of Syriac Christians vary greatly, between less than one and more than three million, mostly due to the uncertainty of the number of Assyrians in Iraq (since the 2003 Iraq war in significant but unknown numbers dislocated to Syria). The diaspora population accounts for roughly 300,000 people,[citation needed] the largest diaspora community in the Near East being in Jordan, and the largest oversea communities found in the United States and in Sweden. The main demographic subdivision is along geographic as well as linguistic and denominational lines, the three main groups being:

In northern Iraq, Assyrians are concentrated in the Ninewa and Dahuk governorates. Assyrian settlements in northwestern Iran are located in the West Azarbaijan Province, those of northeastern Syria in the Al-Hasakah province. Assyrians of Turkey's Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia have mostly moved to the diaspora.

Iraq War

Main article: Assyrians in Post-Saddam Iraq

Since the Iraq War starting in 2003, there has been a massive persecution of Assyrians in Iraq, mostly by Islamic extremists. In places like Dora, an estimated 90% of Iraq's Assyrian population has either fled or been murdered.[21] Incidents such as the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons and the Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy have hit the Assyrian communities directly. Since the start of the Iraq war, there have been at least 46 Churches and Monasteries bombed. [22]

Identity

Further information: East Assyrians, West Assyrians, Chaldean Christians, and Assyrianism
Further information: Muslim Assyrians, Arabization, Turkification, and Kurdification
Assyrian flag (since 1968)[23]

Assyrians are divided among several churches (see below). They speak and many can read and write modern Assyrian, a dialect of Neo-Aramaic.[24]

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.[25]

Today, Assyrians and other minority ethnic groups in the Middle East, feel pressure to identify as "Arabs",[26][27] and "Kurds".[28] Assyrians in Syria, are disappearing as an ethnic group, due to assimilation.[29]

Neo-Aramaic (sometimes also called "Modern Assyrian"[30]) exhibits remarkably conservative features compared with Imperial Aramaic,[31] 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.[32][33][34] 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.[35]

Assyrian nationalism emphatically connects Modern Assyrians to the population of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. A historical basis of this sentiment has been disputed by a few early historians,[36] but receives support from modern Assyriologists like H.W.F. Saggs, Robert D. Biggs and Simo Parpola,[37][38][39] and Iranologists like Richard Nelson Frye.[15][11]

Self-designation

Main article: Names of Syriac Christians

The Syriac Christian communities adhere to various self-designations and national myths. Assyrianists identify with the Neo-Assyrian Empire (10th to 7th century BC), while the adherents of the Chaldean Church identify with the Neo-Babylonian Empire (7th to 6th century BC). An "Aramaeanist" faction identifies with the Neo-Hittite Aramaean kingdoms (14th to 8th centuries BC). All of these identities are indebted to the discovery of ancient Babylonia and Assyria and the decipherment of cuneiform that took place during 19th century , and the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire that occurred during the same period.

Alqosh, located in the midst of Assyrian contemporary civilization.

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.[40][11][41]

Rudolf Macuch points out that the Eastern Neo-Aramaic press initially used the term "Syrian" (suryêta) and only much later, with the rise of nationalism, switched to "Assyrian" (atorêta).[42] According to Tsereteli, however, a Georgian equivalent of "Assyrians" appears in ancient Georgian and Armenian documents.[43] This correlates with the theory of the nations to the East of Mesopotamia knew the group as Assyrians, while to the West, beginning with Greek influence, the group was known as Syrians.

Here are three well-known Greek historians, geographers and philosophers who tell us that the Assyrians (Aššūrāye) were afterwards called Syrians (Sūrāyē) and later on also for (Sūryāyē) by the Greeks and the Western World:

  • Herodotus, 484 BC– 425 BC: “The Assyrians went to war with helmets upon their heads made of brass, and plaited in a strange fashion which is not easy to describe. They carried shields, lances, and daggers very like the Egyptian; but in addition they had wooden clubs knotted with iron, and linen corselets. This people, whom the Hellenes call Syrians, are called Assyrians by the barbarians. The Chaldeans served in their ranks, and they had for commander Otaspes, the son of Artachaeus.”
  • Strabo, 1st century AD: “When those who have written histories of the Syrian empire say that the Medes were overthrown by the Persians and the Syrians by the Medes, they mean by the Syrians no other people than those who built the royal palaces in Babylon and Ninus; and, of these Syrians, Ninus was the man who founded Ninus in Aturia, and his wife, Semiramis, was the woman who succeeded her husband and founded Babylon.”
  • Justinus, 3rd century AD: “His successors too, following his example, gave answers to their people through their ministers. The Assyrians, who were afterwards called Syrians, held their empire thirteen hundred years. The last king that reigned over them was Sardanapalus, a man more effeminate than a woman.”

More recent archaeological findings have added to the debate, attesting to the synonymy between the terms "Assyria" and "Syria", including the Çineköy Inscription.[40]

This is one of the reason why many of the Western Syriacs (Sūryāyē) consider themselves as Western Assyrians (Āṯūrāyē) or Assyrians-Syriacs (Āṯūrāyē-Sūryāyē) other consider themselves as Syriacs (Sūryāyē) or Aramean-Syriac (Ārāmayē-Sūryāyē)

Other studies also support the notion that Assyrians did not completely assimilated; Louise Sweet's study revealed that the Armenian and Assyrian communities remain unassimilated, throughout the centuries. [44] The continuous usage of old Assyrian names such as Sargon, Ashur, Ramsen, Ninos, Sanharib in family names still to this day illustrates Assyrian identity continuity over time.[45]

Genetics

DNA analysis that has been conducted by Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi and Alberto Piazza, "shows that [Assyrians] have a distinct genetic profile that distinguishes their population from any other population."[46] Genetic analysis of the Assyrians of Persia demonstrated that they were "closed" with little "intermixture" with the Muslim Persian population.[47] Cavalli-Sforza et al. state in addition, "the Assyrians are a fairly homogeneous group of people, believed to originate from the land of old Assyria in northern Iraq," and "they are Christians and are possibly bona fide descendants of their namesakes.[46] Regarding the homogeneity of the Assyrian people, according to a recent study by Kevin MacDonald, the Assyrians tend to encourage endogamy.[1]

Culture

Assyrian child dressed in traditional clothes.
Main article: Assyrian culture

Assyrian culture is dictated by religion.[citation needed] The language is tied to the church as well for it uses the Syriac language in liturgy.[clarification needed] Festivals occur during religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas. There are also secular holidays such as Akitu (the Assyrian New Year).[48]

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.[citation needed]

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".[citation needed] 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 commemorate their passing. A close family member wears only black clothes for forty days and forty nights, or sometimes one year, as a sign of respect.[citation needed]

Language

Main article: Neo-Aramaic languages
Syriac alphabet
(200 BCE–present)
ܐ    ܒ    ܓ    ܕ    ܗ    ܘ
ܙ    ܚ    ܛ    ܝ    ܟܟ    ܠ
ܡܡ    ܢܢ    ܣ    ܥ    ܦ
ܨ    ܩ    ܪ    ܫ    ܬ

The ancient Assyrian tongue was referred to as the Akkadian language (also called Assyro-Babylonian),[8] an East Semitic language written in cuneiform script. After the Assyrian empire expanded westward, Aramaic gradually became the dominant tongue.[8] Aramaic was declared an auxiliary language by King Ashur-nirari V in 752 BC[citation needed] and became a lingua franca under Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia.[16] By the first century AD, Akkadian was extinct. Modern Syriac, however, shares some of its vocabulary, as both are Semitic languages,[49] and a result of vocabulary remnants from the Akkadian language still being preserved in the modern Syriac language.[50]

Most Assyrians speak a modern form of Syriac,[51] 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, Armenian, 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.[52] It is the oldest known Aramaic text.

Religion

File:Chaldean.jpg
File:Assyrian Church of the East Symbol.JPG

Assyrians became Christians during the first century AD,[37] though not until during the third century had they all become Christians.[13] Some Assyrians also claim that their ancestors became Christians during the lifetime of Jesus.[53] Jesus spoke of "Men of Nineveh", repenting from their old sins; this refers to 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.

— Luke 11:32, King James Version

Many members of the following churches consider themselves Assyrian. Ethnic identities are deeply intertwined with religion, a legacy of the Ottoman Millet system. The group is traditionally characterized as adhering to various churches of Syriac Christianity and speaking Neo-Aramaic languages. It is subdivided into:

A small minority of Assyrians accepted the Protestant Reformation in the 20th century, possibly due to British influences, and is now organized in the Assyrian Evangelical Church, the Assyrian Pentecostal Church and other Protestant Assyrian groups.

Based on the following Bible passage, many Assyrians hold apocalyptic beliefs regarding the future of their nation:[54]

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."

— Isaiah 19:23-25

Sports

Main article: Assyriska Föreningen

--Assyrian sport--

Music

Main article: Assyrian music

Assyrian music is divided into three main periods: ancient music written in Ur, Babylon and Nineveh; a middle period of tribal and folkloric music; and the modern period.

Dance

Main article: Assyrian folk dance

Assyrian Folk Dances are dances that are performed throughout the world by Assyrians, mostly on occasions such as weddings.

Art

Main article: Assyrian art

An Assyrian artistic style distinct from that of Babylonian art which was the dominant contemporary art in Mesopotamia, began to emerge c.1500 B.C. and lasted until the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC. The characteristic Assyrian art form was the polychrome carved stone relief that decorated imperial monuments.

Cuisine

Main article: Assyrian cuisine

Assyrian cuisine is very closely related to other Middle Eastern cuisines, predating both Arab and Turkish cuisine. It is also similar to Armenian, Persian and Greek cuisine. It is believed that Assyrians invented baklava in the eighth century BC.[55]

Institutions

Political parties

Other institutions

See also

Assyrian people
Culture
Music
Language
Cuisine
Folk Dance
Religion
Clothing
Settlements
Tribes

References

  1. ^ a b *MacDonald, Kevin (2004-07-29). "Socialization for Ingroup Identity among Assyrians in the United States". Paper presented at a symposium on socialization for ingroup identity at the meetings of the International Society for Human Ethology, Ghent Belgium. Based on interviews with community informants, this paper explores socialization for ingroup identity and endogamy among Assyrians in the United States. The Assyrians have lived as a linguistic, political, religious, and ethnic minority in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey since the fall of the Assyrian Empire in 612 B.C. Practices that maintain ethnic continuity in the United States include language and residential patterns, ethnically based Christian churches characterized by unique holidays and rites, and culturally specific practices related to life-cycle events and food preparation. The interviews probe parental attitudes and practices related to ethnic identity and encouragement of endogamy. Results are presently being analyzed. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laysource=, |laydate=, |month=, |laysummary=, and |quotes= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Dr. Eden Naby. "Documenting The Crisis In The Assyrian Iranian Community". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessdaymonth=, |month=, |accessyear=, |accessmonthday=, and |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ "Assyrian Christians 'Most Vulnerable Population' in Iraq". The Christian Post. Retrieved 2006-12-05. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ "Iraq's Christian community, fights for its survival". Christian World News. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ "U.S. Gov't Watchdog Urges Protection for Iraq's Assyrian Christians". The Christian Post. Retrieved 2007-12-31. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ Early History of Assyria, By Sidney Smith, University of Michigan, 1928
  7. ^ Chart of World Kingdoms, Nations and Empires - All Empires
  8. ^ a b c d Britannica Online: Akkadian language
  9. ^ Parpola, National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times

    Headline text

    . pp. 8-9

  10. ^ see e.g. Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. Aram.
  11. ^ a b c Frye, R. N. (1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Vol. 51 (No. 4): pp. 281-285. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |pages= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laysource=, |laydate=, |laysummary=, and |quotes= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) pp. 281-285
  12. ^ "The History of Ancient Mesopotamia". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. By this time the process of "Aramaicization" had reached even the oldest cities of Babylonia and Assyria. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ a b Parpola, Simo (1999). "Assyrians after Assyria". 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. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  14. ^ Hooker, Richard. "Mesopotamia, the Assyrians, 1170-612, The Assyrian Period". Washington State University. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ a b Frye, Richard N. (1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms". 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. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ a b Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B. C. by G. R. Driver
  17. ^ Britannica Online: Mesopotamian religion
  18. ^ Parpola, National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times, pp. 21
  19. ^ "Assyrians". World Culture Encyclopedia. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  20. ^ Assyrians: The Continuous Saga - Page 40 by Frederick A. Aprim
  21. ^ "Vicar: Dire Times For Iraq's Christians". CBS News. Retrieved 2007-12-04. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  22. ^ Church Bombings in Iraq Since 2004
  23. ^ Assyria
  24. ^ Florian Coulmas, The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems 23 (1996)
  25. ^ Note on the Modern Assyrians
  26. ^ Iraqi Assyrians: A Barometer of Pluralism
  27. ^ Arab American Institute Still Deliberately Claiming Assyrians Are Arabs
  28. ^ In Court, Saddam Criticizes Kurdish Treatment of Assyrians
  29. ^ Britannica Online: Syria :: Ethnic groups
  30. ^ "Assyrians". so called by e.g. 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), 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)
  31. ^ J.G. Browne, ‘‘The Assyrians,’’ Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 85 (1937)
  32. ^ George Percy Badger, The Christians of Assyria Commonly Called Nestorians (London: W.H. Bartlett, 1869)
  33. ^ 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
  34. ^ Michael D. Coogan, ed., The Oxford History of the Biblical World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 279
  35. ^ 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, http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-13.htm; 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)
  36. ^ Smith, Sidney (1925). "Early History of Assyria to 1000 B.C." 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. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  37. ^ a b Saggs, The Might That Was Assyria, pp. 290, “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.”
  38. ^ Biggs, Robert (2005). "My Career in Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology" (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. Vol. 19 (No. 1). {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laysource=, |laydate=, |month=, |laysummary=, and |quotes= (help) pp. 10, “Especially in view of the very early establishment of Christianity in Assyria and its continuity to the present and the continuity of the population, I think there is every likelihood that ancient Assyrians are among the ancestors of modern Assyrians of the area.”
  39. ^ Parpola, National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times, pp. 22
  40. ^ a b Rollinger, Robert (2006). "The terms "Assyria" and "Syria" again" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Vol. 65 (No. 4): pp. 283-287. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |pages= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laysource=, |laydate=, |month=, |laysummary=, and |quotes= (help)
  41. ^ Parpola, National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times, pp. 16
  42. ^ Rudolf Macuch, Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur, New York: de Gruyter, 1976.
  43. ^ Tsereteli, Sovremennyj assirijskij jazyk, Moscow: Nauka, 1964.
  44. ^ Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East. Vol. I: Cultural Depth and Diversity." New York: The Natural History Press, 1970. page 77
  45. ^ "Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-expression" By Mordechai Nisan. Page 181.
  46. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Assyrian DNA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  47. ^ 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
  48. ^ The Assyrian New Year
  49. ^ Akkadian Words in Modern Assyrian
  50. ^ Kaufman, Stephen A. (1974),The Akkadian influences on Aramaic. University of Chicago Press
  51. ^ The British Survey, By British Society for International Understanding, 1968, page 3
  52. ^ A Statue from Syria with Assyrian and Aramaic Inscriptions
  53. ^ The Religion Report - 30 May 2007 - Christian Minorities in the Islamic Middle East : Rosie Malek-Yonan on the Assyrians
  54. ^ Assyria in Prophecy
  55. ^ History of Baklava, Turkish Culture: Baklava, Baklava War Intesifies, Baklava

Further reading

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