The Assyrians are an ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.^[1] Many have migrated to the Caucasus, North America and Western Europe during the past century.

Hundreds of thousands more have not assimilated but live in Assyrian diaspora and Iraqi refugee communities in Europe, the former Soviet Union, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Persecution in the wake of the First World War and breakup of the Ottoman Empire resulted in a significant diaspora. Other contributing 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 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 to five percent of the Iraqi population.^[3][4][5]

History

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] 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

Assyrians in Iraq account for a slight majority in two Ninewa counties, Tel Kaif and Al-Hamdaniya.

• the "Western Assyrians" or "Jacobite" group of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and eastern Anatolia (Syriac Orthodox Church & Syriac Catholic Church);
• the "Eastern Assyrians" or "Nestorian" group of northern Iraq, eastern Anatolia, and Iran (Assyrian Church of the East & Ancient Church of the East);
• the "Chaldean Christians" or "Chaldean Assyrians" group of northern Iraq, Iran, and eastern Anatolia (Chaldean Catholic Church);

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

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

Assyrian flag (since 1968)^[23]

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

Alqosh, located in the midst of Assyrian contemporary civilization.

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 (A???r?ye) were afterwards called Syrians (S?r?y?) and later on also for (S?ry?y?) 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]

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

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." Genetic analysis of the Assyrians of Persia demonstrated that they were "closed" with little "intermixture" with the Muslim Persian population.^[46] 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." 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.

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 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.

Language

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 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,^[48] and a result of vocabulary remnants from the Akkadian language still being preserved in the modern Syriac language.^[49]

Most Assyrians speak a modern form of Syriac,^[50] 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.^[51] It is the oldest known Aramaic text.

Religion

Nearly all Assyrians became Christians during the first century AD,^[37] Many Assyrians are able to trace their Christian ancestry back to the lifetime of Jesus.^[52] Jesus spoke of "Men of Nineveh", repenting from their old sins; this refers to when the prophet Jonah visited the Assyrian capital Nineveh: 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:

• adherents of the East Syrian Rite, formerly also called Nestorian Assyrians
  • adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East & Ancient Church of the East, also called East Assyrians or Assyrians.
  • adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, also called Chaldean Christians or Chaldean Assyrians.
• adherents of the West Syrian Rite, also called Syriac Assyrians, and formerly also Jacobites.
  • adherents of the Syriac Orthodox Church, also called West Assyrians, Assyrians-Syriacs or Syriacs
  • adherents of the Syriac Catholic Church, also called West Assyrians, Assyrians-Syriacs or Syriacs

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:^[53]

Sports

Assyrian Clubs:

• Assyrian SC - Iraqi football Club established in 1955 and renamed to Al-Tamouz in 1974, they won the Iraq FA Cup once in 1959/1960. ^[54]
• Assyriska Föreningen

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

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

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

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

• 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

• Ashur TV
• Assyriska
• Ishtar TV
• AssyriaSat (KBSV)
• Suroyo TV
• Suryoyo Sat
• Zinda Magazine

See also

• Assyrian Independence
• Assyrian homeland
• Assyrian nationalism
• Assyrian genocide
  • Simele massacre
• Assyrian diaspora
• Iraqi minorities
  • Refugees of Iraq
  • Assyrians in post-Saddam Iraq?
• List of Assyrian tribes
• List of Assyrians
• List of Assyrian settlements
• Maronites

References

Further reading

External links

• Assyrian people, Britannica Online
• A virtual Assyria: Cyberland
• A virtual Assyria: Christians from the Middle East
• Traditional Assyrian Costumes
• Assyrian Iraqi Document Projects
• Who Are Assyrians?

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