Assyrian people

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by WestAssyrian (talk | contribs) at 11:15, 4 December 2008 (This has nothing to do with this articel. The article is about the Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldeans people. This is pure Propaganda by the Aramean group). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"Assyrian people" may also refer to the Ancient Assyrians.

Template:Assyrian/Syriac infobox The Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people[1] (also known as Assyrians, Syrians, Syriacs, Syrian Christians, Syriac Christians,Suroye/Suryoye[2] and other variants, see names of Syriac Christians) are an ethnic group whose origins lie in the Levant, their homeland today being divided between Northern Iraq, Syria, Western Iran, and Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia.[3] Many have migrated to the Caucasus, North America and Europe during the past century. The major sub-ethnic division is between an Eastern group ("Nestorians" and "Chaldeans") and a Western one ("Jacobites").

There are Assyrian diaspora and Iraqi refugee communities in Europe, the former Soviet Union, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Emigration was triggered by the Assyrian genocide in the wake of the First World War and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the Simele massacre in Iraq (1933) and the Islamic revolution in Iran (1979).[4]

The latest event to affect 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, although Assyrians comprise only three percent of the Iraqi population.[5][6][7]

Note that the Syrian Malabar Nasrani, also known as Saint Thomas Christians, of Malabar are another Syriac Christian group, but ethnically distinct from the Assyrian/Syriac people of the Middle East.

History

Main article: History of the Assyrian people
Celebration at a Syriac Orthodox monastery in Mosul, Ottoman Syria, early 20th century.

The Assyrian people trace their origins to the population of the pre-Islamic Levant and Mesopotamia, since the time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire speaking Aramaic, the language of the Aramaean tribes who had been assimilated into the Assyrian empire in the 8th century BC.[8][9][10][11][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]

In the 7th century BC, the ancient Assyrians 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][21][22][23]

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 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, Iraqi Assyrians have been dislocated to Syria in significant but unknown numbers. 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.

Assyrians can be divided along geographic, 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.[25] 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. [26]

Identity

Further information: Assyrianism, Aramaeanism, Arabization, and Turkification
Assyrian flag (since 1968)[27]
File:Chaldean flag.jpg
Chaldean flag (since 1997)
Syriac flag [28]

Assyrians are divided among several churches (see below). They speak and many can read and write modern Assyrian, a dialect of Neo-Aramaic.[29]

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.[30]

Today, Assyrians and other minority ethnic groups in the Middle East, feel pressure to identify as "Arabs",[31][32] and "Kurds".[33] Assyrians in Syria are disappearing as an ethnic group, due to assimilation.[34]

Neo-Aramaic (sometimes also called "Modern Assyrian"[35]) exhibits remarkably conservative features compared with Imperial Aramaic,[36] 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.[37][38][39] 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.[40]

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,[41] but receives support from modern Assyriologists like H.W.F. Saggs, Robert D. Biggs and Simo Parpola,[42][43][44] and Iranologists like Richard Nelson Frye.[15][10]

Self-designation

Main article: Names of Syriac Christians

The various communities of Syriac Christians and speakers of Neo-Aramaic advocate different terms for ethnic self-designation:

The terminological problem goes back to colonial times, but it became more acute in 1946, when with the independence of Syria, the adjective Syrian referred to an independent state. The controversy isn't restricted to exonyms like English "Assyrian" vs. "Aramaean", but also applies to self-designation in Neo-Aramaic, the "Aramaean" faction endorses both Sūryāyē ܐ݇ܣܘܪܝܝܐ and Ārāmayē ܐܪܡܝܐ, while the "Assyrian" faction insists on Āṯūrāyē ܐܬܘܪܝܐ but also accepts Sūryāyē ܐ݇ܣܘܪܝܝܐ.

Syriac Christians from the Middle East shouldn't be confused with Syriac Christian Dravidians from India, who are an entirely different ethnic group but follow the same version of Christianity that was spread by Syriac Christians from the Middle East, centuries earlier.

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.[46][10][47]

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).[48] According to Tsereteli, however, a Georgian equivalent of "Assyrians" appears in ancient Georgian and Armenian documents.[49] 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.”
  • Mor Michael the Great, 12th century AD: "The Chaldean Bishop Addai Scher writes according to the Syrian Orthodox Church Patriarch Michael the Great (1126-99) the Greeks were offending the Jacobites in the first half of the 9th century by saying: 'Your Syrian sect has no importance neither honor, and you did never have a kingdom, neither an honorable king'. The Jacobites answered by saying that even if their name is "Syrian", but they are originally 'Assyrians' "and they have had many honorable kings." This is in line with the contemporary Assyrian claim that the terms Syrian, Suryoye applied to them mean Assyrian. He furthere wrote: "..Syria is in the west of Euphrates, and its inhabitants who are talking our Aramaic language, and who are so-called 'Syrians', are only a part of the 'all', while the other part which was in the east of Euphrates, going to Persia, had many kings from Assyria and Babylon and Urhay.[50] The Greeks evidently directed their comments to the Jacobites of Syria therefore Michael difrentiates between them and those who lived east of Euphrates, he adds: "Assyrians, who were called 'Syrians' by the Greeks, were also the same Assyrians, I mean 'Assyrians' from 'Assure' who built the city of Nineveh".[50] This concurs with his contemporary Gewargis Arbilaya's [from Arbil] and others before and after him who have identified their people as Assyrians and Babylonians."
  • John of Wurzburg, 12th century AD: Visited Nestorians and Jacobite communities in Jeruselum and wrote: "For the Assyrians [ local Syrian Christians] whose fathers were the settlers of that country from the first persecution, say that after Our Lord's Passion the city was seven time captured and destroyed, together with all the churches, but not wholly leveled to the ground.".[51]
  • Horatio Southgate, 1843 AD: Visited the Syrian Orthodox communities of Turkey in 1843 he reported that its followers were calling themselves Assyrians in the form of "Suryoye Othoroye". He writes: " I began to make inquiries for the Syrians. The people informed me that there were about one hundred families of them in the town of Kharpout, and a village inhabited by them on the plain. I observed that the Armenians did not know them under the name which I used, SYRIANI; but called them ASSOURI, which struck me the more at the moment from its resemblance to our English name ASSYRIANS, from whom they claim their origin, being sons, as they say, of Assour, (Asshur,) who 'out of the land of Shinar went forth, and build Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resin between Nineveh and Calah; the same is a great city...[52]
  • Mor Afram Barsum, 1920 AD: When Metropolitan Mutran Aprim Barsum went to the Paris peace conference in 1920 to plead the case of the Syrian Orthodox his petition identified members of his church as Assyrians. The text of Mor Barsum's petition dated Feb. 1920 reads: "We have the honor of bringing before the Peace Conference the information that H.B. the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch has entrusted me with the task of laying before the Conference the suffering and the wishes of our ancient Assyrian nation who reside mostly in the upper valleys of Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia..."[53][54]

More recent archaeological findings have added to the debate, attesting to the synonymy between the terms "Assyria" and "Syria", including the Çineköy Inscription.[46]

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.[55] 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.[56]

Genetics

Late 20th century DNA analysis 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."[57] Genetic analysis of the Assyrians of Persia demonstrated that they were "closed" with little "intermixture" with the Muslim Persian population and that an individual Assyrian's genetic makeup is relatively close to that of the Assyrian population as a whole.[58] Cavalli-Sforza et al. state in addition, "[T]he 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."[59] Regarding the homogeneity of the Assyrian people, according to a recent study by Kevin MacDonald, the Assyrians tend to encourage endogamy.[3] "The genetic data are compatible with historical data that religion played a major role in maintaining the Assyrian population's separate identity during the Christian era".[57]

More recently, Assyrian Fox News reporter, Nineveh Dinha, reported on geneology and ancestry research and was able to trace her mitochindrial DNA, which examines genetic information passed on by mother to child[60], back to what was ancient Assyria in 1400 BC, between modern day Turkey and Syria.[61]

Culture

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

Assyrian culture is largely influenced by religion.[62] 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).[63]

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.[64]

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".[65] 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.[66]

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),[11] an East Semitic language written in cuneiform script. After the Assyrian empire expanded westward, Aramaic gradually became the dominant tongue.[11] Around 1000-800 BC, Assyrians adopted the Aramaic alphabet and language and it became the lingua franca throughout the Mesopotamian area. It was the language of commerce, trade and communication and became the vernacular language of Assyria.[67] Akkadian-influenced Aramaic was declared an auxiliary language by King Ashur-nirari V in 752 BC[68] 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,[69] and a result of vocabulary remnants from the Akkadian language still being preserved in the modern Syriac language.[70]

Most Assyrians speak a modern form of Syriac,[71] 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.[72] It is the oldest known Aramaic text.

Religion

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

Nearly all Assyrians became Christians during the first century AD,[42] Many Assyrians are able to trace their Christian ancestry back to the lifetime of Jesus.[73] 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:[74]

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

Assyrian Clubs:

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.[76]

Names

Biblical names in English/Arab/Aramaic variants are Syriac tradition. Names like Gabriel, George, Jacob, Josef, Thomas, Peter, James, John, Elias and Maria are of clear religious origin. Aramaic names like Charbel, Aram and Ninorta are among traditional names. French and Italian names are also given (predominantly by West Levant Syriacs); Jean, Pierre, Lawrence. Because of historical oppression from the larger Arab peoples and Turks where Syriacs live, names of foreign origin is prominent in Syriacs, for instance, Syriacs from Turkey (ex. Tur Abdin, Midyat) have predominantly Turkish surnames.

The most common surname is Haddad.

Institutions

Political parties

Other institutions

See also

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

References

  1. ^ so identified in the current US census
  2. ^ an anglicization of the Aramaic name, also as Suraye/Suryaye; e.g. in Al-Ali et al., New Approaches to Migration? (Routledge 2002, p. 20) used synonymously with "Syriac Christians".
  3. ^ 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: |quotes= and |month= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ 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)
  5. ^ "Assyrian Christians 'Most Vulnerable Population' in Iraq". The Christian Post. Retrieved 2006-12-05. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ "Iraq's Christian community, fights for its survival". Christian World News. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ "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)
  8. ^ Parpola, National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times . pp. 8-9
  9. ^ see e.g. Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. Aram.
  10. ^ a b c Frye, R. N. (1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Vol. 51 (No. 4): 281–285. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laydate=, |laysource=, |quotes=, and |laysummary= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) pp. 281-285
  11. ^ a b c Britannica Online: Akkadian language
  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. ^ 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.
  20. ^ The Plight of Religious Minorities: Can Religious Pluralism Survive? - Page 51 by United States Congress
  21. ^ The Armenian Genocide: Wartime Radicalization Or Premeditated Continuum - Page 272 edited by Richard Hovannisian
  22. ^ Not Even My Name: A True Story - Page 131 by Thea Halo
  23. ^ The Political Dictionary of Modern Middle East by Agnes G. Korbani
  24. ^ http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:F0rveNQBQ7MJ:www.zindamagazine.com/iraqi_documents/whoareassyrians.html+term+assyrian+added+to+church&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us
  25. ^ "Vicar: Dire Times For Iraq's Christians". CBS News. Retrieved 2007-12-04. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  26. ^ "Church Bombings in Iraq Since 2004". Aina.org. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  27. ^ "Assyria". Crwflags.com. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  28. ^ "Syriac-Aramaic People (Syria)". Crwflags.com. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  29. ^ Florian Coulmas, The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems 23 (1996)
  30. ^ Note on the Modern Assyrians
  31. ^ Iraqi Assyrians: A Barometer of Pluralism
  32. ^ "Arab American Institute Still Deliberately Claiming Assyrians Are Arabs". Aina.org. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  33. ^ "In Court, Saddam Criticizes Kurdish Treatment of Assyrians". Aina.org. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  34. ^ Britannica Online: Syria :: Ethnic groups
  35. ^ "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)
  36. ^ J.G. Browne, ‘‘The Assyrians,’’ Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 85 (1937)
  37. ^ George Percy Badger, The Christians of Assyria Commonly Called Nestorians (London: W.H. Bartlett, 1869)
  38. ^ 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
  39. ^ Michael D. Coogan, ed., The Oxford History of the Biblical World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 279
  40. ^ ‘‘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)
  41. ^ 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)
  42. ^ 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.”
  43. ^ 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: |month=, |laydate=, |laysource=, |quotes=, and |laysummary= (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.”
  44. ^ Parpola, National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times, pp. 22
  45. ^ "Eastern Churches", Catholic Encyclopedia, see Eastern Syrians and Western Syrians respectively. Modern terminology within the group is Western Assyrians and Eastern Assyrians respectively, while those who reject the Assyrian identity opt for Syriacs rather than Assyrian or Syrian.
  46. ^ a b Rollinger, Robert (2006). "The terms "Assyria" and "Syria" again" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Vol. 65 (No. 4): 283–287. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month=, |laydate=, |laysource=, |quotes=, and |laysummary= (help)
  47. ^ Parpola, National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times, pp. 16
  48. ^ Rudolf Macuch, Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur, New York: de Gruyter, 1976.
  49. ^ Tsereteli, Sovremennyj assirijskij jazyk, Moscow: Nauka, 1964.
  50. ^ a b History of Mikhael The Great" Chabot Edition (French) P: 750) as quoted by Addai Scher, Hestorie De La Chaldee Et De "Assyrie"
  51. ^ F. E. Peters, "Jerusalem", Princeton University Press 1985 pp. 297-8 citing Saewulf 1896; "Saewulf. 'Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land', Trans. the Lord Bishop of Clifton. 'Palestine Pilgrims Text Society 4' Reprint New York Ams Press, 1971
  52. ^ Horatio Southgate, "Narrative of a Visit to the Syrian [Jacobites] Church", 1844 P 80
  53. ^ "Article - Afram Barsom 7". Bethsuryoyo.com. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  54. ^ "Articles - Afram Barsom 5". Bethsuryoyo.com. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  55. ^ Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East. Vol. I: Cultural Depth and Diversity." New York: The Natural History Press, 1970. page 77
  56. ^ "Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-expression" By Mordechai Nisan. Page 181.
  57. ^ a b Dr. Joel J. Elias, Emeritus, University of California, The Genetics of Modern Assyrians and their Relationship to Other People of the Middle East
  58. ^ 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
  59. ^ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi, Alberto Piazza, The History and Geography of Human Genes, p. 243 [1]
  60. ^ http://www.genetree.com/help/faq.html
  61. ^ http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=4E58462AC75A7DA41FDD733470DD21C3?contentId=5792817&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1
  62. ^ http://www.aina.org/articles/chicago.pdf
  63. ^ The Assyrian New Year
  64. ^ Chamberlain, AF. Notes on Some Aspects of the Folk-Psychology of Night. The American Journal of Psychology, 1908 - JSTOR.
  65. ^ Gansell, AR. FROM MESOPOTAMIA TO MODERN SYRIA: ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON FEMALE ADORNMENT DURING RITES. Ancient Near Eastern Art in Context. 2007 - Brill Academic Publishers.
  66. ^ Chambers, C. End-of-Life Rituals. 2006. Cherrytree Books. pp 76-81.
  67. ^ "Microsoft Word - PeshittaNewTestament.doc" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  68. ^ Bae, C. Aramaic as a Lingua Franca During the Persian Empire (538-333 BCE). Journal of Universal Language. March 2004, 1-20.
  69. ^ Akkadian Words in Modern Assyrian
  70. ^ Kaufman, Stephen A. (1974),The Akkadian influences on Aramaic. University of Chicago Press
  71. ^ The British Survey, By British Society for International Understanding, 1968, page 3
  72. ^ A Statue from Syria with Assyrian and Aramaic Inscriptions
  73. ^ "The Religion Report - 30 May 2007 - Christian Minorities in the Islamic Middle East : Rosie Malek-Yonan on the Assyrians". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  74. ^ Assyria in Prophecy
  75. ^ Rsssf.com
  76. ^ History of Baklava, Turkish Culture: Baklava, Baklava War Intesifies, Baklava

Further reading

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Assyrian_people&oldid=255821693"