The
Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people (frequently known as
Assyrians in English, besides
Syrians,
Syriacs,
Syrian Christians,
Syriac Christians,
Suroye/Suryoye and other variants, see
names of Syriac ChristiansThe various communities of Syriac Christians and speakers of Neo-Aramaic advocate different terms for ethnic self-designation:*"Assyrians", after the ancient Assyrian Empire, advocated by followers of the Assyrian Church of the East & the Ancient Church of the East , and other Aramaic-speaking...
) are an
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
whose origins lie in the
Fertile CrescentThe Fertile Crescent is a region in the Near East, incorporating the Levant and Mesopotamia, and often incorrectly extended to Egypt. Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of civilization and saw the development of the earliest human civilizations and is the birthplace of writing and the wheel.The...
, their
homelandThe Assyrian homeland or Assyria or Beth Nahrain refers to a geographic and cultural region in the Middle East, inhabited traditionally by the Assyrian people...
today being divided between Northern Iraq,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
, Western
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
, and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
's Southeastern Anatolia. Many have migrated to the
CaucasusThe Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region between at the border of Europe and Asia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including Europe's highest mountain ....
,
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
and
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
during the past century. The major sub-ethnic division is between an
EasternThe East Syrian Rite is also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian Rite, or Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa.-History and Origin :...
group ("Syrian Nestorians" and "
Chaldean ChristiansThe Chaldean Christians , are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church....
") and a
WesternThe West Syrian Rite is the rite used by certain Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic churches. It is in its origin simply the old rite of Antioch in the Syriac language. Into this framework the Oriental Orthodox have fitted a great number of other anaphoras, so that now their liturgy has...
one ("Syrian Jacobites").
There are diaspora and refugee communities in Europe, the former Soviet Union, North America, Australia, New Zealand,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
,
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
, and
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
. Emigration was triggered by such events as the
Assyrian genocideThe Assyrian Genocide was committed against the Assyrian/Syriac population of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War by the Young Turks...
in the wake of the First World War and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the
Simele massacreThe Simele Massacre was the first of many massacres committed by the Iraqi government during the systematic targeting of Assyrians of Northern Iraq in August 1933...
in Iraq (1933) and the
Islamic revolution in IranThe Iranian Revolution of 1979 or 1979 Islamic Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution...
(1979).
The latest event to affect the Assyrian community is the
war in IraqThe Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.Prior to the war, the governments of the United...
; of the one million or more Iraqis reported by the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
to have fled, nearly forty percent (40%) are Assyrian, although Assyrians comprise only three percent of the Iraqi population.
The
Syrian Malabar NasraniThe Syrian Malabar Nasrani people, also known as Saint Thomas Christians and Nasrani Mapillas are an ethnoreligious group from Kerala, India, adhering to the various churches of the Saint Thomas Christian tradition....
, also known as the
Saint Thomas ChristiansThe Saint Thomas Christians are an ancient body of Christians on the east and west coasts of India, claiming spiritual descent from the Apostle St. Thomas. Until the middle of the XVII century, the Thomas Christians were all one in faith and rite...
of
MalabarMalabar is a region of southern India, lying between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. The name is thought to be derived from the Malayalam word Mala and Persian word Bar or Bar from Arabic language....
, are another Syriac Christian group, but are ethnically distinct from the Assyrian people of the Middle East.
History
The Assyrian people trace their origins to the population of the pre-Islamic
MesopotamiaMesopotamia "land between the rivers" is a name for the Tigris–Euphrates region in the eastern Mediterranean, largely corresponding to Iraq, as well as northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khūzestān Province of southwestern...
, since the time of the Akkadian Empire. It was not until the
Neo-Assyrian EmpireThe Neo-Assyrian Empire was a period of Mesopotamian history which began in 934 BC and ended in 609 BC. During this period, Assyria assumed a position as a great regional power, vying with Babylonia and other lesser powers for dominance of the region, though not until the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser...
that the Assyrians began to speak Aramaic, the language of the
AramaeanThe Aramaeans are a West Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who lived in upper Mesopotamia . Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East...
tribes who had been assimilated into the Assyrian empire in the 8th century BC. due in part to the mass relocations enforced by Assyrian kings of the Neo-Assyrian period.
They were Christianized in the 1st to 3rd centuries, in Roman Syria and
Persian AssyriaAssyria, as a Persian province, may refer to:*Achaemenid Assyria*Asuristan...
.
They were divided by the
Nestorian SchismThe Nestorian Schism was the split between the Byzantine church of the West and the Assyrian church of the East in the 5th century. Mar Nestorius was a student of Theodore of Mopsuestia at the middle School of Antioch before he became bishop of Constantinople...
in the 5th century, and from the 8th century, they became a religious minority following the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia.
Culturally and linguistically distinct from, although quite influenced by, their neighbours in the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
- the Arabs,
PersiansThe Persian people are the majority ethnic group in Iran. However, there are sub-groups who speak the Persian language as their mother tongue throughout the Iranian plateau. The term Persian has also a supra-ethnic significance and has been historically referred to a part of Iranian peoples...
,
KurdsThe Kurds are an Ethnic-Iranian ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
,
TurksThe Turkish people , also known as the "Turks" are defined mainly as citizens of the Republic of Turkey. An early historic text provided the definition of being a Turk as "any individual within the Republic of Turkey; whatever his/her faith or racial/ethnic background; who speaks Turkish, grows up...
, and Armenians - the Assyrians have endured much hardship throughout their recent history as a result of religious and ethnic
persecutionPersecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are sexual persecution i.e.; persecution of women, religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these...
.
The most significant recent persecution against the Assyrian population was the
Assyrian genocideThe Assyrian Genocide was committed against the Assyrian/Syriac population of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War by the Young Turks...
, 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.
Iraq War
Since the
Iraq WarThe Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.Prior to the war, the governments of the United...
starting in 2003, there has been a massive persecution of Assyrians in Iraq, mostly by
Islamic extremistsIslamic fundamentalism Arabic: usul , is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah.Definitions of the term vary...
. In places like
DoraDora is a female name of Greek origin, derived from Dorothea or Theodora, meaning "God's Gift". Dora may refer to:- People :*Dora Anastasiou, Cypriot Miss World delegate*Dora Bakoyannis, Greek politician- Music :...
, an estimated 90% of Iraq's Assyrian population has either fled or been murdered.
The Assyrian people are and have been the indigenous people of the land framed by the Tigris and Euphrates.
Incidents such as the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons and the
Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversyThe Regensburg lecture was an important lecture delivered on 12 September 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg in Germany, that sparked international reactions and controversy. The pope delivered his lecture, entitled "Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and...
have hit the Assyrian communities directly. Since the start of the
Iraq warThe Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.Prior to the war, the governments of the United...
, at least 46 churches and monasteries have been bombed.
Homeland
The Assyrians are considered to be one of the indigenous people in the Middle East. Their homeland was thought to be located in the area around the
TigrisThe Tigris is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates. The river flows from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
and
EuphratesThe Euphrates is the longest and historically one of the most important rivers of Southwest Asia. Together with the Tigris, the Euphrates is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
. There is a significant Assyrian population in Syria where an estimated 877,000 Assyrians live.
In
Tur AbdinTur Abdin is a hilly region of south east Turkey incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and Sirnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria. The name 'Tur Abdin' is from the Syriac language meaning 'mountain of the servants '...
, known as the homeland for Syriacs, there are only 3,000 left, and an estimated 15,000 in all of Turkey. After the 1915
Assyrian genocideThe Assyrian Genocide was committed against the Assyrian/Syriac population of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War by the Young Turks...
many Assyrians/Syriacs also fled into Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Iraq and into the
Western worldThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
.
The Assyrian/Syriac people can be divided along geographic, linguistic, and denominational lines, the three main groups being:
- the "Western
The West Syrian Rite is the rite used by certain Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic churches. It is in its origin simply the old rite of Antioch in the Syriac language. Into this framework the Oriental Orthodox have fitted a great number of other anaphoras, so that now their liturgy has...
" or "Jacobite" group of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and eastern AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
(Syriac Orthodox ChurchThe Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. It parted ways with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which the Syriac Orthodox Church rejects. It is a major...
, Syriac Catholic ChurchThe 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. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and...
& Maronite ChurchMaronites are members of one of the Lebanese or Syriac Eastern Catholic Churches, with a heritage reaching back to Maron the Syriac Monk in the early 5th century. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th century...
);
- the "Eastern
The East Syrian Rite is also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian Rite, or Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa.-History and Origin :...
" or "Nestorian" group of northern Iraq, eastern AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
, and Iran (Assyrian Church of the Eaststyle="float: right;"|- |The Assyrian Church of the East known officially as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East , in Persian القدس وابسته به پاپ کاتولیک آشوری...
& Ancient Church of the EastThe Ancient Church of the East separated from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, after Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East introduced reforms which were not supported by a certain number of traditionalist followers of the church...
);
- the "Chaldean Christian" or "Chaldean Catholic"
The Chaldean Christians , are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church....
group of northern and central Iraq, northern Iran, and eastern AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
(Chaldean Catholic ChurchThe Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon ( ,Syriac ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ is an Eastern particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full...
); Chaldeans make up the majority of Iraqi Christian population.
Diaspora
Ever since the
Assyrian GenocideThe Assyrian Genocide was committed against the Assyrian/Syriac population of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War by the Young Turks...
many Assyrians have fled their homelands for a more safe and comfortable life in the west. Since the beginning of the 20th century the Assyrian population in the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
has decreased dramatically. As of today there are more Assyrians in the Western World then there are in their homeland.
A total of 550,000 Assyrians are currently living in Europe. Large Assyrian/Syriac diaspora communities can be found in Germany, Sweden, the USA, and Australia. The largest Assyrian/syriac diaspora communities are those of
Södertälje' is a city and the seat of Södertälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 60,279 inhabitants in 2005.Södertälje is noted for its large influx of Iraqi refugees - Södertälje has taken in more Iraqi refugees than the United States and Canada combined...
,
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, and
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
.
Identity
Assyrians are divided among several churches (see below). They speak, and many can read and write, dialects of Neo-Aramaic.
In certain areas of the
Assyrian homelandThe Assyrian homeland or Assyria or Beth Nahrain refers to a geographic and cultural region in the Middle East, inhabited traditionally by the Assyrian people...
, identity within a community depends on a person's village of origin (see List of Assyrian villages) or Christian denomination, for instance Chaldean Catholic.
Today, Assyrians and other minority ethnic groups in the Middle East, feel pressure to identify as "Arabs", and "Kurds". Assyrians in Syria are disappearing as an ethnic group, due to assimilation.
Neo-Aramaic exhibits remarkably conservative features compared with Imperial Aramaic, 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. 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.
Assyrian nationalism emphatically connects Modern Assyrians to the population of the
Neo-Assyrian EmpireThe Neo-Assyrian Empire was a period of Mesopotamian history which began in 934 BC and ended in 609 BC. During this period, Assyria assumed a position as a great regional power, vying with Babylonia and other lesser powers for dominance of the region, though not until the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser...
.
A historical basis of this sentiment has been disputed by a few early historians, but receives support from modern Assyriologists like H.W.F. Saggs,
Robert D. BiggsRobert D. Biggs is an Assyriology professor. He received his PhD at Johns Hopkins University. He is an editor of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies.-External links:*...
and
Simo ParpolaSimo Parpola is professor of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki located in Helsinki, Finland. He specialized in epigraphy of the Akkadian language, and has been working on the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project since 1987. He is also Honorary Member of the American Oriental Society .Dr...
, and Iranologists like
Richard Nelson FryeRichard Nelson Frye is an American scholar of Iranian and Central Asian Studies, and Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Harvard University...
.
Self-designation
The various communities of Syriac-speaking people of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey advocate different terms for ethnic self-designation:
- "Assyrians", after the ancient Assyria
Assyria was a civilization centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, advocated by some followers of the Assyrian Church of the Eaststyle="float: right;"|- |The Assyrian Church of the East known officially as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East , in Persian القدس وابسته به پاپ کاتولیک آشوری...
& the Ancient Church of the EastThe Ancient Church of the East separated from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, after Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East introduced reforms which were not supported by a certain number of traditionalist followers of the church...
("Eastern Assyrians"), and some communities of the Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic ("Western Assyrians") and Chaldean Catholics ("Eastern Catholic Assyrians").
- "Syriacs" (Suryoye), or "Aramaeans" after the ancient Aramaeans
The Aramaeans are a West Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who lived in upper Mesopotamia . Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East...
, advocated by some followers of the Syriac Orthodox ChurchThe Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. It parted ways with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which the Syriac Orthodox Church rejects. It is a major...
, Syriac Catholic ChurchThe 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. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and...
and Maronite ChurchMaronites are members of one of the Lebanese or Syriac Eastern Catholic Churches, with a heritage reaching back to Maron the Syriac Monk in the early 5th century. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th century...
.
- "Chaldeans
The Chaldean Christians , are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church....
", after ancient ChaldeaChaldea or Chaldaea , "the Chaldeans" of the KJV Old Testament, was a Hellenistic designation for a part of Babylonia, which became an independent kingdom under the Chaldees...
, advocated by some followers of the Chaldean Catholic ChurchThe Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon ( ,Syriac ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ is an Eastern particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full...
.
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 and
Ārāmayē , while the "Assyrian" faction insists on
Āṯūrāyē but also accepts
Sūryāyē .
The question of ethnic identity and self-designation is sometimes connected to the scholarly debate on the
etymology of "Syria"The name Syria is latinized from the Greek .Herodotus used it loosely to refer to Cappadocia .In Greek usage, Syria and Assyria were used almost interchangeably, but in the Roman Empire, Syria and Assyria came to be used as distinct geographical terms...
. 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. Meanwhile, some scholars has disclaimed the theory of Syrian being derived from Assyrian as "simply naive", and detracted its importance to the naming conflict.
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). According to Tsereteli, however, a
GeorgianGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
equivalent of "Assyrians" appears in ancient Georgian and Armenian documents. 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.
Culture
Assyrian culture is largely influenced by religion. The language is 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
Kha b-NisanKha b-Nisan-Ha b`Nisin, also Ha b-Nison; "First of April", Resha d Sheta; "Head of the year" in Syriac, also known as Akitu, or Assyrian new year is the spring festival among the Assyrians, celebrated on 1 April....
(vernal equinox).
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.
Children are often given Biblical names, and, by Assyrianist patriots, Assyrian names such as Ashur, Sargon, Shamiram, Nineveh, Ninos, Nimrod, etc. And to the contrary by the Aramaean/Syriac nationalists, Aramaean/Syriac names such as Abgar, Aram, Afrem, Aryu, etc.
Baptism and First Communion are extensively celebrated events similar to how a Bris and a Bar Mitzvah are in Judaism. In the event of a death, three days after burial there is a gathering to celebrate them rising to heaven (as did Jesus), after seven days another gathering commemorates 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
Neo-Aramaic languagesNeo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken vernaculars in the medieval to modern era, evolving out of Middle Aramaic dialects around AD 1200 ....
are ultimately descended from Old Aramaic, the lingua franca in the later phase of the
Neo-Assyrian EmpireThe Neo-Assyrian Empire was a period of Mesopotamian history which began in 934 BC and ended in 609 BC. During this period, Assyria assumed a position as a great regional power, vying with Babylonia and other lesser powers for dominance of the region, though not until the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser...
, displacing the East Semitic
Assyrian dialect of AkkadianAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
. Aramaic was the language of commerce, trade and communication and became the vernacular language of Assyria in classical antiquity.
By the first century AD, Akkadian was extinct, although some loaned vocabulary survives in Neo-Aramaic.
Most Assyrians speak an Eastern Aramaic language whose
dialectThe term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by scholars of language. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other...
s include
ChaldeanChaldean Neo-Aramaic is a Northeastern Neo-Aramaic language. Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is spoken on the Plain of Mosul in northern Iraq, as well as by the Chaldean communities worldwide...
and
TuroyoTuroyo/Surayt is traditionally spoken in eastern Turkey and north-eastern Syria by the Assyrian/Syriac people.-Etymology:From the word , meaning 'mountain', is the mountain tongue of the Tur Abdin in southeastern Turkey....
as well as
AssyrianAssyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic language. Assyrian Neo Aramaic is neither to be confused with Assyrian Akkadian, nor the Old Aramaic dialect that was adopted as a lingua franca in Assyria in the 8th century BC. Although this latter Aramaic is also an Aramaic language, it is...
.
All are classified as
Neo-Aramaic languagesNeo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken vernaculars in the medieval to modern era, evolving out of Middle Aramaic dialects around AD 1200 ....
and are written using
Syriac scriptThe Syriac alphabet is a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC. It is one of the Semitic abjads directly descending from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet and shares similarities with the Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabets.-General...
, a derivative of the ancient
Aramaic scriptThe Aramaic alphabet is adapted from the Phoenician alphabet, and became distinctive from it by the eighth century BCE. The letters all represent consonants, some of which are matres lectionis, which also indicate long vowels....
. Assyrians also may speak one or more languages of their country of residence.
To the native speaker, "Syriac" is usually called
Soureth or Suret. A wide variety of dialects exist, including
Assyrian Neo-AramaicAssyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic language. Assyrian Neo Aramaic is neither to be confused with Assyrian Akkadian, nor the Old Aramaic dialect that was adopted as a lingua franca in Assyria in the 8th century BC. Although this latter Aramaic is also an Aramaic language, it is...
,
Chaldean Neo-AramaicChaldean Neo-Aramaic is a Northeastern Neo-Aramaic language. Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is spoken on the Plain of Mosul in northern Iraq, as well as by the Chaldean communities worldwide...
, and
TuroyoTuroyo/Surayt is traditionally spoken in eastern Turkey and north-eastern Syria by the Assyrian/Syriac people.-Etymology:From the word , meaning 'mountain', is the mountain tongue of the Tur Abdin in southeastern Turkey....
. Being
statelessA stateless nation is a political term used to imply that a group, usually a minority ethnic group, is a nation, and is entitled to its own state, specifically a nation-state for that nation. Since there are no objective criteria for whether a particular group is a nation, or which particular...
, Assyrians also learn the language or languages of their adopted country, usually
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
,
ArmenianThe Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
,
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
or
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
. In northern Iraq and western Iran,
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
and
KurdishKurdish is the language spoken by Kurds in western Asia. Unlike many other languages it does not have a single standardized linguistic entity with the status of an official or state language...
is widely spoken.
Recent archaeological evidence includes a statue from
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
with
AssyrianAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
and
AramaicAramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. It has been the language of administration of empires and the language of divine worship...
inscriptions. It is the oldest known Aramaic text.
Religion
Assyrians belong to various Christian denominations, some of which are the
Church of the EastChurch of the East may refer to the Church centered in Assyria, modern Iraq, Iran, and Syria inaccurately named Nestorian in the West before it was divided into the three bodies below...
, with an estimated 300,000 members, the Chaldean Catholic Church, with about 900,000 members, and the
Syriac Orthodox ChurchThe Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. It parted ways with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which the Syriac Orthodox Church rejects. It is a major...
which has 100,000 to 4,000,000 members around the world, and various Protestant churches.
Mar Dinkha IV, who resides in Chicago Illinois, and
Mar Addai IIMar Addai II is the Catholicos Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East and resides in Baghdad, Iraq....
, whose headquarters are in
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
, are Patriarchs of the
Assyrian Church of the Eaststyle="float: right;"|- |The Assyrian Church of the East known officially as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East , in Persian القدس وابسته به پاپ کاتولیک آشوری...
and the
Ancient Church of the EastThe Ancient Church of the East separated from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, after Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East introduced reforms which were not supported by a certain number of traditionalist followers of the church...
respectively. Mar Emmanuel III Cardinal Delly, the Patriarch of the
Chaldean Catholic ChurchThe Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon ( ,Syriac ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ is an Eastern particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full...
, has become the first Patriarch to have been elevated to Cardinal when he joined the
college of cardinalsThe College of Cardinals is the body of all cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory. It also convenes on the death or abdication of a pope as a papal conclave to elect a successor...
in November 2007. The current Patriarch of the
Syriac Orthodox ChurchThe Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. It parted ways with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which the Syriac Orthodox Church rejects. It is a major...
is
Ignatius Zakka I IwasIgnatius Zakka I Iwas is the 122th reigning Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and as such, Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church. Also known by his traditional episcopal name, Severios, he was enthroned as patriarch on 14 September 1980 in St. George's Patriarchal Cathedral in...
. The
Syriac Orthodox ChurchThe Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. It parted ways with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which the Syriac Orthodox Church rejects. It is a major...
's headquarters are located in
DamascusDamascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and its current population is estimated at about 1,669,000...
.
Many members of the following churches consider themselves Assyrian. Ethnic identities are deeply intertwined with religion, a legacy of the Ottoman
Millet systemMillet is an Ottoman Turkish term for a confessional community in the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, with the Tanzimat reforms, the term started to refer to legally protected religious minority groups, other than the ruling Sunni. Millet comes from the Arabic word millah and literally means...
.
The group is traditionally characterized as adhering to various churches of
Syriac ChristianitySyriac Christianity is an ancient near Eastern Christian group represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India. Particularly notable is the liturgical use of ancient Syriac, a dialect related to the Aramaic of Jesus.-History:...
and speaking
Neo-Aramaic languagesNeo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken vernaculars in the medieval to modern era, evolving out of Middle Aramaic dialects around AD 1200 ....
. It is subdivided into:
- adherents of the East Syrian Rite
The East Syrian Rite is also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian Rite, or Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa.-History and Origin :...
, formerly also called Nestorians
- adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East
style="float: right;"|- |The Assyrian Church of the East known officially as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East , in Persian القدس وابسته به پاپ کاتولیک آشوری...
& Ancient Church of the EastThe Ancient Church of the East separated from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, after Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East introduced reforms which were not supported by a certain number of traditionalist followers of the church...
, also called East Syrians or Assyrians.
- adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church
The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon ( ,Syriac ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ is an Eastern particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full...
, also called Chaldeans or Chaldo-Assyrians.
- adherents of the West Syrian Rite
The West Syrian Rite is the rite used by certain Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic churches. It is in its origin simply the old rite of Antioch in the Syriac language. Into this framework the Oriental Orthodox have fitted a great number of other anaphoras, so that now their liturgy has...
, also called Syriacs, and formerly also Jacobites.
- adherents of the Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. It parted ways with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which the Syriac Orthodox Church rejects. It is a major...
, also called West Syrians or Syriacs
- adherents of the Syriac Catholic Church
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. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and...
, also called West Syrians or Syriacs
A small minority of Assyrians accepted the
Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
in the 20th century, possibly due to British influences, and is now organized in the
Assyrian Evangelical ChurchThe Assyrian Evangelical Church is a Presbyterian denomination in the Middle East. The Church has congregations in Iraq, Iran, Australia, and the United States....
, the
Assyrian Pentecostal ChurchThe Assyrian Pentecostal Church , in , began in villages across the Urmia region in Iran, and spread to the Assyrians living in the adjacent cities. The current church's doctrine and tradition is a continuation of the spiritual revival movements that took place in Western Iran during the 1930s...
and other Protestant Assyrian groups.
Music
Zoorna
(basic flute) and dahola (large two-sided drum) became the most common musical instruments for tribal music. Some well known Assyrian/Syriac singers in modern times are
Habib MousaHabib Mousa is a Assyrian/Syriac singer. He was born in 1952. In 1971 he made his debut in singing in Syriac.Habib Mousa was born in Malikiyeh-Syria on October 9, 1952 and raised in Al-Qamishli, Syria where he studied at the Syriac school. Since his early childhood he liked the church melodies that...
,
Josef ÖzerJosef Özer is a Syriac musician. He was born 18 July 1983 in Västerås, Sweden. In 2005 he made his debut in Melodifestivalen with the song Rain, written by Bobby Ljunggren. Saz, drums, guitar and the piano are among the instruments that Josef masters....
,
Janan SawaJanan Sawa is a famous Assyrian musician.A Catholic by faith, Janan started singing in 1972, at the age of 17. In 1975, Janan's father forced him to marry. He spent 4 years in the Iraqi army, from 1974 to 1978....
and
Linda GeorgeLinda George is an Assyrian singer who began singing at five in a local church choir. Her music ranges from a blend of traditional Assyrian beats, to modern new age music. She is known as the "golden voice". George has toured many countries including the USA, Europe, Canada, Australia, New...
.
The first International
Aramaic Music FestivalAramaic Music Festival is the First International Aramaic Music Festival, which was held in Aramaic Tannourine village in Mount Lebanon, Lebanon, year 2008 1-4 August for the Aramean-Syriac people....
was held in Lebanon from 1 August until 4 August, 2008 for Assyrian people internationally.
Festivals
Assyrian/Syriac festivals tend to be closely associated with their Christian faith, of which
EasterEaster is the most important annual religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day from his crucifixion...
is the most prominent of the celebrations. Assyrian/Syriac members of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church and Syriac Catholic Church follow the
Gregorian calendarThe Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas...
and as a result celebrate Easter on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 inclusively. While Assyrian/Syriac members of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Ancient Church of the East celebrate Easter on a Sunday between April 4 and May 8 inclusively on the Gregorian calendar (March 22 and April 25 on the
Julian calendarThe Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and came into force in 45 BC . It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus...
). During
LentLent, in Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter.The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus,...
Assyrian/Syriacs are encouraged to fast for 50 days from meat and any other foods which are animal based.
Names
Distinctively
Assyrian languageAssyrian language may refer to:*The Assyrian language, an extinct Semitic language spoken in ancient Assyria*the modern Assyrian Neo-Aramaic language...
names are attested into the Sassanid period before they are replaced by Christian names.
Biblical names in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
/Arabic/Syriac variants are Syriac tradition. Names like
DanielDaniel is the central protagonist of the Book of Daniel...
,
DavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Bible. He is depicted as a righteous king, although not without fault, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet .The biblical chronology sets his life c.1037–970 BCE, his reign over Judah c.1007–1000 BCE,...
,
GabrielIn Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an angel who serves as a messenger from God....
,
George-Places:Australia*Lake George, New South WalesCanada*George's Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador*George Street, St. John's, Newfoundland and LabradorSouth Africa*George, Western CapeUnited States*George Air Force Base, a former U.S...
,
JacobJacob , also known as Israel , was the third Biblical patriarch and ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel, named after ten of his twelve sons, as well as the two sons of his son Joseph.The Bible says...
, Josef,
ThomasThomas may refer to:In people:* Thomas * Thomas , a masculine given name* Thomas the ApostleIn business:* THOMAS, the US Library of Congress's online database* Thomas Built BusesIn food:...
,
PeterPeter is a male given name.Peter may also refer to:-People:The following people are known primarily by the name Peter:In religion:* Saint Peter , Jesus' disciple...
,
JamesJames is a common English surname and given name:* James , the typically masculine first name James* James , various people with the last name JamesJames may also refer to:* King James , various kings named James...
, John,
EliasElias is the Latin transliteration of the Greek name , or in most European languages, and in English.It is the Greek form of Elijah, the name of an important prophet in the Hebrew Bible. Some English translations of the New Testament, including the King James Version, use this form of the name....
and
MariaMaria is a female given name in many diverse cultures, including African, Armenian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, English, German, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, Swedish, Spanish as well as in Pakistan and India.It became popular with the spread...
are of clear religious origin, although many of the mentioned names are in Aramaic.
French and Italian names are also given;
JeanOn the European Continent and in all French-speaking countries, Jean, pronounced , is a male name derived from the Old French Jehan. The female equivalent is Jeanne, pronounced , and derives from the Old French Jehanne....
,
PierrePierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter . Pierre originally means "rock" or "stone" in French...
,
Lawrence-Communities:In Australia:*Lawrence, New South WalesIn New Zealand:* Lawrence, New ZealandIn the United States:* Lawrence, Indiana* Lawrence, Kansas* Lawrence, Massachusetts* Lawrence, Michigan* Lawrence, New York* Lawrence, Wisconsin...
. Names of Turkish and Arab origin are also prominent, for instance, in Turkey (ex.
Tur AbdinTur Abdin is a hilly region of south east Turkey incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and Sirnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria. The name 'Tur Abdin' is from the Syriac language meaning 'mountain of the servants '...
,
MidyatMidyat is a district of Mardin Province of Turkey. The ancient city is the epicenter of a centuries-old Christian Assyrian/Syriacs enclave in Southeast-Turkey, widely familiar under its Aramaic name Tur Abdin...
) have predominantly Turkish surnames as a result of the Turkish law that forbids Assyrians to baptize Assyrian names to their childen.
The usage of names dating back to Assyrian and Akkadian Empire such as
Sargon- People :*Sargon of Akkad , also known as Sargon the Great or Sargon I, Mesopotamian king*Sargon I , Assyrian king*Sargon II , Assyrian king...
,
AshurAshur , was the second son of Shem, the son of Noah. Ashur's brothers were Elam, Aram, Arpachshad and Lud....
, Ramsen,
NinosNinos may refer to:*Ninus, founder of Nineveh*Tukulti-Ninurta, a reference to ancient Kings*Nineveh, in Greek sources*Ninos, a popular Assyrian forename, and less commonly surname...
, Sanharib,
NinurtaNinurta in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology was the god of Nippur, identified with Ningirsu with whom he may always have been identical...
are also used by Assyrian/Syriacs.
Genetics
Late 20th century DNA analysis conducted by
Cavalli-SforzaLuigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza is an Italian population geneticist born in Genoa, who has been a professor at Stanford University since 1970 .-Works:...
, 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 and that an individual Assyrian's genetic makeup is relatively close to that of the Assyrian population as a whole. 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 fideBona Fide is a studio album from rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the first studio album in six years and is the only studio album to feature guitarist Ben Granfelt...
descendants of their namesakes." Regarding the homogeneity of the Assyrian people, according to a recent study by
Kevin MacDonaldKevin B. MacDonald, is a professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, best known for his use of evolutionary psychology to inform his study of Judaism as being a "group evolutionary strategy." MacDonald's most controversial claim is that a suite of traits that he attributes...
, the Assyrians tend to encourage
endogamyEndogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class or social group, rejecting others on such bases as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships...
. "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".
See also
External links