Assyrians / Syriacs ܐܬܘܪ̈ܝܐ Āṯūrāyē / ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Sūryāyē [49]
Ashurnasirpal II • Ephrem the Syrian • Agha Petros • Freydun Atturaya Naum Faiq • Ammo Baba • Rosie Malek-Yonan • Ashour Asho
Total population
ca. 3,3-4,3 million[50][51] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Ashurnasirpal II, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California Ashurnasirpal II was king of Assyria from 884 BC-859 BC. Ashurnasirpal succeeded his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II, in 884 BC. He conquered Mesopotamia and the territory of what is now the Lebanon, adding them to the growing Assyrian empire. ... Ephrem the Syrian (Syriac: , ;Greek: ; Latin: Ephraem Syrus; 306–373) was a deacon, prolific Syriac language hymn writer and theologian of the 4th century. ... Agha Petros, was born on April 1st. ... Dr. Freydun Bit Abram (or Freydun Atturaya) (1891-1926) was an Assyrian physicist born in the town of Charbash in the district of Urmia (Iran). ... Naum Faiq (in Syriac: ܢܥܘܡ ܦܐܝܩ) born in Diyarbakir 1868/Omid in North Mesopotamia and passed away in New Jersey in US 1930. ... Emmanuel Baba Dawud (born November 27, 1934), better known as Ammo Baba, is a former Iraqi Assyrian international football player and coach for the Iraq national football team. ... // Born on the fourth of July, in Tehran, Iran, Rosie Malek-Yonan ( رزی ملک یونان ) is an Assyrian actress, artist, director, author and activist. ... Ashour Asho is an Assyrian boxer from America. ...
Regions with significant populations
Assyrian homeland  Iraq+  Syria ca. 0.5-2.5 million [52]  Iran 10,000 [53]  Turkey 5,000 [53] Assyrian diaspora  United States ca. 83,000-300,000 [54][55]  Jordan 77,000 [56][57]  Sweden 80,000 [58]  Australia 24,000 [59]  Germany 23,000[citation needed]  France 15,000 [60]  Russia 14,000 [61]  Canada 7,000 [62]  Armenia 3,409 [63]
Language(s)
Aramaic (various Neo-Aramaic dialects)
Religion(s)
Syriac Christianity (various Eastern denominations)
Related ethnic groups
Other Semitic peoples, and other ethnic groups from the Fertile Crescent.[40]

The Assyrians (also called Syriacs or Chaldeans; see names of Syriac Christians) are an ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria, 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. The Assyrian homeland or Assyria refers a name of a geographic and cultural region in the Middle East, inhabited traditionally by the Assyrian people. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Syria. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iran. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Turkey. ... Since World War I, the Assyrian diaspora has steadily increased so that there are now more Assyrians living in western and eastern European countries (including Australia) and North America, than in the Middle East. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Jordan. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Sweden. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Russia. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Armenia. ... Neo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken as a mother tongue in the modern era. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Syriac Christianity is a culturally and... In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic (from the Biblical Shem, Hebrew: שם, translated as name, Arabic: سام) was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages. ... This map shows the extent of the Fertile Crescent. ... The various communities of adherents of Syriac Christianity and speakers of Neo-Aramaic languages advocate different terms for ethnic self-designation: Assyrians, after the ancient Assyrian Empire, advocated by the Assyrian Church of the East (Eastern Assyrians),[1] and other Aramaic-speaking Christians from the other Syriac Churches Aramaeans, after... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Caucasus Mountains. ... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... A current understanding of Western Europe. ... Since World War I, the Assyrian diaspora has steadily increased so that there are now more Assyrians living in western and eastern European countries (including Australia) and North America, than in the Middle East. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...

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] Bodies of Christians who perished during the Assyrian Genocide 40 Christians dying a day say Assyrian refugees - The Syracuse Herald, 1915. ... Since World War I, the Assyrian diaspora has steadily increased so that there are now more Assyrians living in western and eastern European countries (including Australia) and North America, than in the Middle East. ... After Islamic Conquest  Modern SSR = Soviet Socialist Republic Afghanistan  Azerbaijan  Bahrain  Iran  Iraq  Tajikistan  Uzbekistan  This box:      The Iranian Revolution (also known as the Islamic Revolution,[1][2][3][4][5][6] Persian: انقلاب اسلامی, Enghelābe Eslāmi) was the revolution that transformed Iran from a monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza... The Simele massacre was the first massacre commited by the Iraqi government as Assyrian Christians of Sumail (Simele) were systematically being targeted. ... Bodies of Christians who perished during the Assyrian Genocide 40 Christians dying a day say Assyrian refugees - The Syracuse Herald, 1915. ... For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ... UN and U.N. redirect here. ...

[edit] History

Main articles: History of the Assyrian people and Assyrian Genocide

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.^[4][5][6] Eventually, Assyrian kings conquered Aramaean tribes and assimilated them into the Assyrian empire,^[7][8][9] and their language, Aramaic, supplanted the native Akkadian language,^[6][10][11] due in part to the mass relocations enforced by Assyrian kings of the Neo-Assyrian period.^[12] 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.^[13] By the 5th century BC, "Imperial Aramaic" had become lingua franca in the Achaemenid Empire.^[14] The Assyrian people (Aramaic: Āṯūrāyē; Akkadian: Aššuri) 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 the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire which stretched from Egypt and Anatolia, across Mesopotamia, to western... Bodies of Christians who perished during the Assyrian Genocide 40 Christians dying a day say Assyrian refugees - The Syracuse Herald, 1915. ... This article concerns the ancient Mesopotamian kingdom. ... The Akkadian Empire usually refers to the Semitic speaking state that grew up around the city of Akkad north of Sumer, and reached its greatest extent under Sargon of Akkad. ... Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great (Akkadian Šarru-kinu, cuneiform ŠAR.RU.KI.IN , meaning the true king or the king is legitimate), was an Akkadian king famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th and 23rd centuries BC.[1] The founder of... The Aramaeans, or Arameans, were a Semitic, semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated and had lived in upper Mesopotamia and Syria. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... Akkadian (lišānum akkadītum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language family) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... For other uses, see Assyria (disambiguation). ... Frederick Douglass with his second wife Helen Pitts Douglass (sitting) who was white, a famous 19th century American example of miscegenation. ... Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges. ... The Assyrian homeland or Assyria refers a name of a geographic and cultural region in the Middle East, inhabited traditionally by the Assyrian people. ... Founder of empires: Cyrus, The Great is still revered in modern Iran as he was in all the successor Persian Empires. ...

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.^[15] 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.^[16][17] Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 7th century BC started on January 1, 700 BC and ended on December 31, 601 BC. // Overview Events Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria who created the the first systematically collected library at Nineveh A 16th century depiction of the Hanging Gardens of... This article is about the political and historical term. ... This article is about two nested areas of Turkey, a plateau region within a peninsula. ... Central New York City. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Languages Arabic other minority languages Religions Predominantly Sunni Islam, as well as Shia Islam, Greek Orthodoxy, Greek Catholicism, Roman Catholicism, Alawite Islam, Druzism, Ibadi Islam, and Judaism Footnotes a Mainly in Antakya. ... This article is about the Persian people, an ethnic group found mainly in Iran. ... Languages Kurdish Religions Predominantly Sunni Muslim also some Shia, Yazidism, Yarsan, Judaism, Christianity Related ethnic groups other Iranian peoples (Talysh Baluch Gilak Bakhtiari Persians) The Kurds are an ethnic group who consider themselves to be indigenous to a region often referred to as Kurdistan, an area which includes adjacent parts... Look up Persecution in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

[edit] Demographics

Further information: List of Assyrian settlements

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 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: The following is a list of Assyrian towns and villages. ... Image File history File links Assyrianadministartedareasuggestion2005. ... Image File history File links Assyrianadministartedareasuggestion2005. ... Tel Kaif (Tel Keipeh in Syriac ܬܠ ܟܦܐ) is one of the largest Chaldo-Assyrian towns in Iraq. ... Bakhdida (Arabic,بخديدا or قره قوش), also known as Al-Hamdaniya Municipality, is an assyrian town in the northern Iraq Ninawa Governorate, located about 32 km south eastern of the city of Mosul amid agricultural lands, close to the ruins of Nemrod and Nineveh. ... The Assyrian homeland or Assyria refers a name of a geographic and cultural region in the Middle East, inhabited traditionally by the Assyrian people. ... Since World War I, the Assyrian diaspora has steadily increased so that there are now more Assyrians living in western and eastern European countries (including Australia) and North America, than in the Middle East. ... For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ...

• 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);

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. Languages Turoyo, Syriac Religions Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church Related ethnic groups Eastern Assyrians, Chaldean Assyrians, and other Assyrian ethnic divisions Western Assyrians (also known as Syriac-Aramaic people, Jacobites, after Jacob Baradaeus, and Suryoye Othoroye) consist of members of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church, forming... The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East with members spread throughout the world. ... Languages Assyrian Neo-Aramaic Religions Syriac Christianity, Assyrian Church of the East Related ethnic groups Western Assyrians, Chaldeans, and other Assyrian ethnic divisions A painting of a Nestorian Assyrian bishop from 1779. ... This article is about two nested areas of Turkey, a plateau region within a peninsula. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Assyrian Church of the East... the Chaldean flag, designed in 1985 by Amer Hanna Fatuhi[2][3]. The Chaldean Christians (also known as Chaldean Assyrians, Chaldo-Assyrians, Assyro-Chaldeans, and sometimes, Keldani; Neo-Aramaic: ܟܠܕܝܐ Kaldaye), adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, form a subset of the Assyrian people. ... These are the only peoples in this region that were fully and originally Semitic. ... Map of Nineveh plains overlaid over the Ninawa Governorate map Nineveh plains (Mosul plains, Assyria among others, Assyrian: Deshta d-Ninwe ܕܫܬܐ ܕܢܝܘܐ ) is a region in the Ninawa Governorate to the north and west of the city Mosul. ... Dahuk (also referred to as Dohuk) (Arabic: دهوك , Kurdish: Duhok) is one of the governorates of Iraq. ... This article is about the Iranian province; for similar uses, see Azerbaijan (disambiguation). ... Al Hasakah is a governorate in the far north-east corner of Syria that has the Euphrates river running through it. ... Southeastern Anatolia Region Southeastern Anatolia Region (Turkish: GüneydoÄŸu Anadolu Bölgesi) // Southeastern Anatolia Region Adıyaman Province Batman Province Diyarbakır Province Gaziantep Province Kilis Province Mardin Province Åžanlıurfa Province Siirt Province Şırnak Province 85% of the population of the South-eastern Anatolia Region is Kurdish, a... Eastern Anatolia Region Eastern Anatolia Region (Turkish: DoÄŸu Anadolu Bölgesi) encompasses the eastern provinces of Turkey, and it is one of the 7 non-administrative sub-divisions used for census purposes. ...

[edit] 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, and Kurdification

Assyrians are divided among several churches (see below). They speak and many can read and write modern Assyrian, a dialect of Neo-Aramaic.^[18] Image File history File linksMetadata Assyrianculture. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Assyrian music is divided into three main sections or periods, The Ancient Period that is of (Ur, Babylon and Nineveh), The middle period or Tribal and Folkloric period, and the Modern Period. ... Aramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. ... Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... Assyrian cuisine is similar to other Middle Eastern cuisines. ... Assyrian Folk Dances are dances that are performed throughout the world by Assyrians, mostly on occasions such as weddings. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Syriac Christianity is a culturally and... // Cutting Out The knee-length and full-length tunics with short sleeves are the commonest dresses worn to different types of headdress. ... The following is a list of Assyrian towns and villages. ... The various communities of adherents of Syriac Christianity and speakers of Neo-Aramaic languages advocate different terms for ethnic self-designation: Assyrians, after the ancient Assyrian Empire, advocated by the Assyrian Church of the East (Eastern Assyrians),[1] and other Aramaic-speaking Christians from the other Syriac Churches Aramaeans, after... There are Muslim Assyrians, but Arabic-speaking Muslims known as Mhalmoye or Mhallami from the Tur Abdin region may originally have converted from Syriac Orthodoxy to Islam during the sixteenth century. ... Arabization is the gradual transformation of an area into one that speaks Arabic and is part of the Arab culture. ... Kurdification is a term used to describe a cultural change in which something ethnically non-Kurdish is made to become Kurdish. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

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.^[19] The Assyrian homeland or Assyria refers a name of a geographic and cultural region in the Middle East, inhabited traditionally by the Assyrian people. ... The following is a list of Chaldean/Assyrian/Syriac cities, districts, towns and villages: // Iraq Arbil Province Ankawa ܥܢܟܒܐ Armota Batas Darbandoki Diyana Harir Hawdiyan Hinari Rowanduz Seerishmi Shaqlawa Qalata Dohuk Province Badarash Bebadeyy Dawodiya Dehi Harmash Hezany Nohadra Sarsing Semel Ninawa Province Alqosh ܐܠܩܘܫ Araden Bakhdida (Al-Hamdaniya or Qara Qosh... The Chaldean Catholic Church aka the Chaldean Church of Babylon is an Eastern Rite sui juris (autonomous) particular church of the Roman Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Pope in Rome. ...

Assyrians and other ethnic groups feel pressure to identify as "Arabs",^[20][21] and "Kurds".^[22] Assyrians in Syria, are disappearing as an ethnic group, due to assimilation.^[23]

Neo-Aramaic ("Modern Assyrian")^[24][25] exhibits is remarkably conservative features compared with Imperial Aramaic,^[26] 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.^[27][28][29] 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.^[30] Not to be confused with the Amharic language, the official language of Ethiopia. ...

Assyrian nationalism emphatically connects Modern Assyrians to the population of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This connection is disputed,^[31] but receives support from Assyriologists like H.W.F. Saggs, Robert D. Biggs and Simo Parpola,^[32][33][34] and Iranistics like Richard Nelson Frye.^[13][9] They believe that the modern Assyrians truly are the descendants of the ancient Assyrians.^[35] This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Map of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and its expansions. ... Assyriology is the linguistic, historical and archaeological study of ancient Mesopotamia and neighbouring cultures which used cuneiform writing. ... Henry William Frederick Saggs (born 1920, died 2005) was a classicist and orientalist. ... Robert D. Biggs is an Assyriology professor. ... Simo Parpola is professor of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki, Finland. ... Iranistics or Iranian studies is an area of study found in most of the important universities around the world. ... Richard Nelson Frye (c. ...

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.^[36][9][37] The name Syria derives from the ancient Greek name for the Syrians, , .[1] The name is often connected to , , from the Akkadian . ...

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).^[38] According to Tsereteli, however, a Georgian equivalent of "Assyrians" appears in ancient Georgian and Armenian documents.^[39] Image File history File links Iraqvillagealqosh. ... Image File history File links Iraqvillagealqosh. ... Entrance to the village Alqosh or Alqush (Syriac: ܐܠܩܘܫ, Arabic: القوش) is one of the most famous Chaldean towns in Iraq. ...

More recent archaeological findings have added to the debate, attesting to the synonymy between the terms "Assyria" and "Syria", including the Çineköy Inscription^[36]. Distribution of the Luwian language, shown in purple. ...

DNA analysis that has been conducted "shows that [Assyrians] have a distinct genetic profile that distinguishes their population from any other population."^[40] Genetic analysis of the Assyrians of Persia demonstrated that they were "closed" with little "intermixture" with the Muslim Persian population.^[41]

[edit] Culture

Assyrian child dressed in traditional clothes.

Main article: Assyrian culture

Assyrian culture is dictated by religion. The language is also tied to the church as well for it uses the Syriac language in liturgy. Festivals occur during religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas. There are also secular holidays such as Akitu (the Assyrian New Year).^[42] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

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. Brit milah (Hebrew: convenant of circumcision), also bris milah (Ashkenazi pronunciation) is a Jewish ceremony which welcomes infant boys into the covenant through ritual circumcision performed by a mohel in the presence of family and friends, followed by a celebratory meal. ... In Judaism, Bar Mitzvah (Hebrew: בר מצוה, one (m. ...

[edit] Language

Main article: Neo-Aramaic languages

The ancient Assyrian tongue was referred to as the Akkadian language (also called Assyro-Babylonian),^[6] an East Semitic language written in cuneiform script. After the Assyrian empire expanded westward, Aramaic gradually became the dominant tongue.^[6] 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.^[14] By the first century AD, Akkadian was extinct. Modern Syriac, however, shares some of its vocabulary, as both are Semitic languages,^[43] and a result of vocabulary remnants from the Akkadian language still being preserved in the modern Syriac language. Neo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken as a mother tongue in the modern era. ... 11th century book in Syriac Serto. ... is the reconstructed name of the first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, continued in descended Semitic alphabets as Phoenician , Syriac , Hebrew Aleph , and Arabic . Aleph originally represented the glottal stop (IPA ), usually transliterated as , a symbol based on the Greek spiritus lenis , for example in the transliteration of the...   Beth or Bet is the second letter of many Semetic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic. ... Gimel is a commune in Switzerland of the canton of Vaud, located in the district of Aubonne. ... Dalet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... He is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic . Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative (). The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Epsilon, Etruscan , Latin E and Cyrillic Ye. ...   Vav or waw is the sixth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic in abjadi order; it is the twenty-seventh in modern Arabic order. ... Zayin or Zain is the seventh letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic. ... For the letter Heth in the Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets, see Heth (letter). ... (also Teth, Tet) is the ninth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic (in abjadi order, 16th in modern order). ... Yodh (also spelled Yud or Yod) is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic (in abjadi order, 28th in modern order). ... Kaph (also spelled Kap or Kaf) is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Arabic alphabet , Persian alphabet . ... Lamed or Lamedh is the twelfth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet . Its sound value is IPA: . The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Lambda (Λ), Latin L, and Cyrillic El (Л). // Lamedh is believed to have come from a pictogram of an ox goad... Mem is the thirteenth letter of the Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets. ... → [Nun] is the 14th letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet (in abjadi order). ... Samekh or Simketh is the fifteenth letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic, representing . ... or Ayin is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic (in abjadi order). ... Pe is the seventeenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet (in abjadi order). ... Tsade (also spelled or Tzadi or Sadhe) is the eighteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew ‎ and Arabic alphabet ‎. Its oldest sound value is probably IPA: , although there is a variety of pronunciation in different modern Semitic languages and their dialects. ... Qoph or Qop is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet (in abjadi order). ... Resh is the twentieth letter of the Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets. ... Shin (also spelled Å in or Sheen) is the twenty-first letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic (in abjadi order, 12th in modern order). ... Taw may refer to: The 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet The game of marbles This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Akkadian (lišānum akkadÄ«tum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language family) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... The East Semitic languages are one of the two major subdivisions of Semitic languages, the other being West Semitic. ... Cuneiform redirects here. ... Aramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. ... An international auxiliary language (sometimes abbreviated as IAL or auxlang) is a language used (or to be used in the future) for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language. ... Ashur-nirari V was King of Assyria from 754 to 745 BC. He was succeeded by Tiglath-Pileser III. Categories: People stubs | 745 BC deaths | Assyrian kings ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... Founder of empires: Cyrus, The Great is still revered in modern Iran as he was in all the successor Persian Empires. ... (Redirected from 1st century AD) (1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century - other centuries) The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 to 99. ... Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. ... 14th century BC diplomatic letter in Akkadian, found in Tell Amarna. ...

Most Assyrians speak a modern form of Syriac,^[44] 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. Syriac ( Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. ... Aramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. ... For dialects of programming languages, see Programming language dialect. ... Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Neo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken as a mother tongue in the modern era. ... 11th century book in Syriac Serto. ... Bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great, 3rd century BC. The Aramaic alphabet is an abjad alphabet designed for writing the Aramaic language. ...

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. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... The term stateless can mean more than one thing: In law, a stateless person is a person without a state, in other words someone who is not a citizen or subject of any state. ... Arabic redirects here. ... Farsi redirects here. ... The Kurdish language (Kurdish: Kurdî or کوردی) is the language spoken by Kurds. ...

Recent archaeological evidence includes a statue from Syria with Assyrian and Aramaic inscriptions.^[45] It is the oldest known Aramaic text. Akkadian (lišānum akkadītum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language family) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... Aramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. ...

[edit] Religion

Main article: Syriac Christianity

Assyrians became Christians during the first century AD,^[32] 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.^[46] Jesus spoke of "Men of Nineveh", repenting from their old sins; this refers to when the prophet Jonah visited the Assyrian capital Nineveh: Image File history File linksMetadata Chaldean. ... Image File history File links Assyrian_Church_of_the_East_Symbol. ... Image File history File links شعار_الكنيسة.jpg‎ File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Syriac Orthodox Church Assyrian people ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Syriac Christianity is a culturally and... , For other uses, see Nineveh (disambiguation). ... The Prophet Jonah, as depicted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel Jonah (Hebrew: , Standard  Tiberian  ; Arabic: يونس, Yunus or يونان, Yunaan ; Latin Ionas ; Dove) was a prophet in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) and Quran who was swallowed by a great fish. ...

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. The Prophet Jonah, as depicted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel Jonah (Hebrew: , Standard  Tiberian  ; Arabic: يونس, Yunus or يونان, Yunaan ; Latin Ionas ; Dove) was a prophet in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) and Quran who was swallowed by a great fish. ...

– Luke 11:32, King James Version

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. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

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

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.there are also a group of neo aramaic in [iran],[iraq],[israel]and[turkey] The Ancient Church of the East is an offshoot of the Assyrian Church of the East; it was formed in resistance to certain reforms and separated due to the question of hereditary succession of bishops and calendar changes in 1964. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Assyrian Church of the East... The Assyrian Evangelical Church is a Presbyterian denomination in the Middle East. ... These are the only peoples in this region that were fully and originally Semitic. ... The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East with members spread throughout the world. ... The Syriac Catholic Church or Syrian Catholic Church is a Christian church in the Levant having practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. ... Reformation redirects here. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... The Assyrian Evangelical Church is a Presbyterian denomination in the Middle East. ... The Pentecostal movement within Protestant Christianity places special emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. ...

Based on the following Bible passage, many Assyrians hold apocalyptic beliefs regarding the future of their nation:^[47] This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... Look up Apocalypse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

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

[edit] 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. Assyrian music is divided into three main sections or periods, The Ancient Period that is of (Ur, Babylon and Nineveh), The middle period or Tribal and Folkloric period, and the Modern Period. ... For other uses, see Ur (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Babylon (disambiguation). ... , For other uses, see Nineveh (disambiguation). ... Folk song redirects here. ...

[edit] 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. The culture of Assyria, and still more of Babylonia, was essentially literary; we miss in it the artistic spirit of Egypt or Greece. ...

[edit] 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, Israeli and Greek cuisine. It is believed that Assyrians invented baklava in the eighth century BC.^[48] Assyrian cuisine is similar to other Middle Eastern cuisines. ... Cuisine (from French cuisine, cooking; culinary art; kitchen; ultimately from Latin coquere, to cook) is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Arab cuisine is the cuisine of the Arab countries. ... Turkish cuisine inherited its Ottoman heritage which could be described as a fusion and refinement of Turkic, Arabic, Greek, Armenian and Persian cuisines. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Iranian cuisine. ... Greek cuisine is the cuisine of Greece and of the Greeks . ... Baklava is prepared on large trays and cut into a variety of shapes Baklava or Baklawa is a rich, sweet pastry featured in many cuisines of the former Ottoman countries. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) Ruins of the training grounds at Olympia, Greece. ...

[edit] Institutions

The Assyrian flag.

Image File history File links FlagofAssyria. ... Image File history File links FlagofAssyria. ...

[edit] Political parties

• Assyria Liberation Party
• Assyrian Democratic Movement
• Assyrian General Conference
• Assyrian Patriotic Party