History of the Assyrian people

The Assyrian people (Aramaic: "Āṯūrāyē"; Akkadian: "Aššūrāyu") are descended from the ancient Assyrians of Mesopotamia (Aramaic: "Bet-Nahrain", "the house 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 Iran.

Assyrians (also called Chaldeans and Syriacs) are the ethno-linguistic descendants of the Roman and Achaemenid provinces of Syria and Assyria.cite web |first= |last= |authorlink= |author=Frye, Richard N. |coauthors= |title=Assyria and Syria: Synonyms |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KesgkBziUs |format=HTML |work=PhD., Harvard University |publisher=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |id= |pages= |page= |date=1992 |accessdate= |language=English |quote=The ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote that the Greeks called the Assyrians, by the name Syrian, dropping the A. And that's the first instance we know of, of the distinction in the name, of the same people. Then the Romans, when they conquered the western part of the former Assyrian Empire, they gave the name Syria, to the province, they created, which is today Damascus and Aleppo. So, that is the distinction between Syria, and Assyria. They are the same people, of course. And the ancient Assyrian empire, was the first real, empire in history. What do I mean, it had many different peoples included in the empire, all speaking Aramaic, and becoming what may be called, "Assyrian citizens." That was the first time in history, that we have this. For example, Elamite musicians, were brought to Nineveh, and they were 'made Assyrians' which means, that Assyria, was more than a small country, it was the empire, the whole Fertile Crescent. ] The Assyrian people adopted Christianity as one of the first nations, in the 1st to 3rd centuries. [cite journal
quotes =
author = Parpola, Simo
date =
year = 2004
month =
title = National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times
journal = Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies
volume = Vol. 18
issue = No. 2
pages = pp. 21
publisher = JAAS
location =
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url = http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v18n2/Parpola-identity_Article%20-Final.pdf
language = English
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quote = From the third century AD on, the Assyrians embraced Christianity in increasing numbers ]

Culturally, linguistically, and ethnically distinct from their neighbours in the Middle East - the Arabs, Persians, Kurds, Turks, and Armenians - the Assyrians have, throughout their recent history, endured much hardship, largely as a result of religious and ethnic persecution.

Assyrian nationalism emphasizes their indigeneity to the Assyrian homeland, and cultural continuity since the Iron Age Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Prehistory to Early Bronze Age

The oldest neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna (in Mosul, Iraq), the center of the Hassuna culture. The Assyrian roots ultimately go back to the ancient Akkadians, from whom the ancient Assyrians are believed to have descended. The Akkad region laid in north and central Mesopotamia. The main city, Akkad (or "Agade"), is thought to have been situated on the west bank of the Euphrates, between Sippar and Kish, close to modern Baghdad. The Akkadian Kingdom reached the height of its power between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests of king Sargon.

Assyrian Empire

The first inscriptions of Assyrian rulers appear after 2000 BC. Assyria then consisted of a number of city states and small Semitic kingdoms. The foundation of the Assyrian monarchy was traditionally ascribed to Zulilu, who is said to have lived after Bel-kap-kapu (Bel-kapkapi or Belkabi, circa 1900 BC), the ancestor of Shalmaneser I. The Assyrian kings controlled a large kingdom at three different times in history. These are called the Old, Middle, and Neo-Assyrian kingdoms, or periods. The most powerful and best-known nation of these periods is the Neo-Assyrian kingdom (911-612 BC), or the Assyrian empire, the first true empire in human history. [Van De Mieroop, Marc, (2004) "A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC". Blackwell: Oxford, pp. 216] However, its capital was captured in the Battle of Nineveh, ending the dynasty. The Assyrians moved their capital to Harran, and when Harran was captured, the Assyrians once again moved their capital to Carchemish. [ [http://www.padfield.com/2008/carchemish.html Carchemish, Turkey | Battle Between Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh Necho ] ]

Perso-Roman rule

Pre-Christian Period

After the defeat of Ashur-uballit II in 608 BC at Haran, the last Assyrian stronghold of resistance, the Assyrian empire was divided up by the key invading forces, the Babylonians and the Medes. Sumer and Akkad and the bulk of the Western half of the empire came under the realm of the Babylonian king Nabopolassar, whereas the Eastern half of Assyria-proper and Urartu were controlled by the Medes, led by Cyaxares. The Median empire was then conquered by Cyrus in 547 BC. [Olmatead, "History of the Persian Empire", Chicago University Press, 1959, p.39] , under the Achaemenid dynasty, and the Persian empire was thus founded, which later consumed the Neo-Babylonian or "Chaldean" Empire. King Cyrus changed Assyria's capital from Nineveh to Arbela. Assyrians became front line soldiers for the Persian empire under King Xerxes, because of their strategic locations, playing a big role in the Battle of Marathon under King Darius I in 490 BC. ["Artifacts show rivals Athens and Sparta", Yahoo News, December 5, 2006.]

Early Christian Period

From the 1st century BC, Assyria was the theatre of the protracted Perso-Roman Wars. It would eventually become a Roman province between 161 and 363 AD, although Roman control of this province was unstable and was often returned to the Persians. Along with the Armenians and Ethiopians, the Assyrians were among the first people to convert to Christianity and spread Eastern Christianity to the Far East.

The Council of Seleucia of ca. 325 dealt with jurisdictional conflicts among the leading bishops. At the subsequent Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon of 410, the Christian communities of Mesopotamia renounced all subjection to Antioch and the "Western" bishops and the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon assumed the rank of Catholicos.The Nestorian and Monophysite schisms of the 5th century divided the church into separate denominations.

Islamic empires

The ancient Assyrian capital of Nineveh had its own bishop of the Church of the East at the time of the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia. [http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/yv544142p5rnx055/ Hannibal Travis] (2006), "Native Christians Massacred": The Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians During World War I, "Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal", vol. 1.3, pp. 329] During the era of the Islamic Empire, Assyrians maintained their autonomy; in a fatwa, Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, demanded the "protection of the Assyrian people of Mesopotamia". [http://www.christianitytoday.com.au/ct/2004/131/52.0.htmlVerify credibility|date=September 2007] The Assyrians eventually lost their autonomy when the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and the written fatwa destroyed in 1847, after which thirty thousand Assyrians were subsequently massacred. [New-York Weekly Tribune. January 2, 1847 ]

20th century

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Ottoman Empire was disintegrating. World War I and its aftermath saw its end, during which time Assyrians – like Armenians – claim a genocide occurred (1914 to 1922), where an estimated two-thirds of Assyrians died in organized massacres, starvation, disease, and systematic kidnapping and rape. In 1932, Assyrians refused to become part of the newly-formed state of Iraq and instead demanded their recognition as a nation within a nation. The Assyrian leader Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII asked the League of Nations to recognize the right of Assyrians to govern the area known as the "Assyrian triangle" in northern Iraq. [cite book
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=PK-TPKvmG7UC&printsec=frontcover#PPA148,M1
title = Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide
accessdate =
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author = Ye'or, Bat
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors = Miriam Kochan, David Littman
date =
year = 2002
month =
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publisher = Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
pages = pp. 148
language = English
isbn = 0838639437
oclc = 47054791
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quote = ] Eventually this led to the Iraqi government to commit its first of many massacres against its minority populations (see Simele massacre). [Iraq Between the Two World Wars: The Militarist Origins of Tyranny, by Reeva Spector Simon]

Post-Ba'thist Iraq

With the fall of Saddam Hussein and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, no reliable census figures exist on the Assyrians in Iraq (as they do not for Iraqi Kurds or Turkmen), though the number of Assyrians is estimated to be approximately 800,000.

The Assyrian Democratic Movement (or ADM) was one of the smaller political parties that emerged in the social chaos of the occupation. Its officials say that while members of the ADM also took part in the liberation of the key oil cities of Kirkuk and Mosul in the north, the Assyrians were not invited to join the steering committee that was charged with defining Iraq's future. The ethnic make-up of the Iraq Interim Governing Council briefly (September 2003 - June 2004) guided Iraq after the invasion included a single Assyrian Christian, Younadem Kana, a leader of the Assyrian Democratic Movement and an opponent of Saddam Hussein since 1979.

Timeline

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bar:hist from:-1350 till:-891 shift:(0,-2) color:orange text:"Aramaean kingdoms" from:-890 till:-612 shift:(2,-2) color:orange text:"Neo-Assyria" from:-64 till:100 shift:(15,-2) color:orange text:"Roman Syria" from:100 till:637 shift:(15,-2) color:red text:" " from:637 till:1031 shift:(2,-2) color:green text:"Caliphate" from:1098 till:1268 shift:(2,-2) color:red text:Crusader states from:1512 till:1908 shift:(2,-2) color:green text:"Ottoman Empire" from:1919 till:end shift:(2,-2) color:red text:"diaspora"

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bar:lang from:-1100 till:200 shift:(10,-2) color:old text:"Old Aramaic" from:201 till:1200 shift:(10,-2) color:middle text:"Middle Aramaic" from:1201 till:2007 shift:(10,-2) color:neo text:"Neo-Aramaic"

ee also

*"Assyrian - The Struggle for Identity" (an upcoming documentary)

External links

* [http://www.nineveh.com/Assyrians%20after%20Assyria.html Assyrians after Assyria]
* [http://www.christiansofiraq.com/facts.html Assyrians from the fall of Nineveh to Present]

References