|
The Assyrian
identity and the nomenclature
(A comparison
between truth and fact)
by: Ashur Giwargis – Beirut,
Lebanon
Translated to English by: Mary Challita – Canada
There
are only two mistakes one can make along the road to
truth; not going all the way, and not starting”
(Buddha)
Truth
and fact are the same in the minds of many
Assyrians, especially
those who try to avoid
confronting the “bitter
fact”; hence they tend to suggest some
submissive ideas for a
“common” goal which they don’t work for
neither believe in, in the first place. But the
anomalous reality of genuine peoples
be it in regards to
their rights or
identity, should be faced with the confirmed
truth and political methods depending on a reformist
intellectual movement stemming from the political
institutions either through awareness or by cleaning
the house in any
possible manner. The truth though is contrary to the
claims of some opportunist Assyrians who because
their Church is the largest in Iraq then they think
as: “Be
careful about our feelings… We are many”! As
if the majority supports them… In addition to other
coquetry methods
which were the reason behind new cultures being
entered into the contemporary
Assyrian nationalism
when they are already
void but some politicians try to give them more
importance than they really deserve in order to
succeed in the Iraqi
elections…
Many a time we try to guess as to what will be the
new unifying name which would be suggested if the
head of the Evangelical Church in the world was to
decide calling its Assyrian followers “Sumerians”?
Then we’d see how our “striving” candidates for the
“Christian Kurdish” or “Christian Iraqi” positions
would run quickly to
promise the followers of this Church to add
their new name to the name of our “people” (?) in
order to unite our “nation” (?)
so we can obtain our full
rights (?) in our “homeland” (?) ----
All without
naming nor defining
---- They shy away from identifying these
slogans because their
proposals are already
disgraceful
…In any case let’s proceed one step ahead
of the “future Sumerians” and
do our
parties’ job
in order to compensate for an expected loss, by
digging a little into history’s pages so as to
conclude and have a clear idea about the Assyrian
name and nomenclature,
by going into the meaning of
each, how and why
they were used throughout history? Where they given
to a section of people joined in one culture? A
“people”…Or “nation”?
In the midst of the struggle between the two
Assyrian schools (the Assyrian nationalists and the
neo nationalists) new names are being suggested
which have no relation whatsoever to any
nationality, while others aren’t related to a
specific nationality, but when we want to discuss
our name (I regrettably
say it..), we must study and analyze our
suggestions from a historical and a futuristic point
of view, understanding their meaning, cultural and
national extent, thus in order to be clearer we
shall begin with the oldest
name - out of curiosity –
just to explain what a “nationality” means.
We can firmly for example say that we are the
descendants of Akkadians but we can’t say that our
nationality is “Akkadian” because our Akkadian
forefathers didn’t have an Akkadian culture and the
“Akkadian” language is related to the geographical
environment and not to the “people”, also there
wasn’t an Akkadian
nationalism but rather a “political” tendency which
was limited to expanding and uniting the subdued
areas in one entity providing security for a human
group, whether cultural or racial (just like the
other groups did before the idea of “nationalism”
was born) However, the Assyrian expansion was aimed
at spreading an “Assyrian culture” by imposing an
Assyrian ideology, worshipping Assyrian deities and
phasing out other cultures within the national
melting pot policy in the expanded Assyrian society
by way of captivity. Professor Simo Parpola mentions
what the Assyrian King Tiglath Pileser the first,
had inscribed in the ancient Assyrian language about
those captives in old Assyrian: “Itti nise
mat Assur amnosunuti” which means “I
counted them as citizens of Assyria”
(1) hence there was an Assyrian “nationalism”.
It’s erroneous to connect the history of “Assyrian
nationalism” with the beginning of the “Assyrian
State” because that state was called “Ashur” in
reference to god “Ashur” which ultimately means that
the Assyrian “culture” or “ideology” (religion,
philosophy, language.. all with Assyrian
characteristics) were found even before establishing
the Assyrian State. This thought was firmly
established in the belief of god Ashur the creator
of the universe (today’s
Almighty God) thus even a king from the early
period of what’s known as “Mesopotamia” had taken
the name of god Ashur, that is Puzur-Ashur I, this
preceded the Akkadian period of Sargon of Akkad by
four kings. Then there was Puzur-Ashur II in the
Akkadian period when the Assyrian independence began
(independence of kingdoms and not a state) that’s
about 570 years before King Shamshi Adad which some
historians assert that he was the founder of the
Assyrian “State”, then there was Puzur-Ashur III
(1521 - 1497 B.C.)
who succeeded Ashur Nirari I (1547-1521 B.C.) during
the Assyrian period. This repetition in the name of
“Ashur” even before the Akkadian period is a proof
on the authenticity of the Assyrian ideology before
establishing the State, and repeating the phrase
“Puzur-Ashur” is another proof on the continuity of
roots, as in Sharukeen (Sargon) the first, during
the Akkadian period, followed 1600 years later by
Sharukeen II in the neo Assyrian period.
If we are to look into the origin of the word
“Akkad” we will notice that it didn’t represent a
culture since it was mentioned in the Assyrian
inscriptions as Akkadu and before
that, it was mentioned in the historical accounts of
the goddess Ishtar’s story who submitted to the “Aka-Di”
which meant the “crown” or the “wreath” of fire in
Sumerian (2)
therefore “Akkad” didn’t mean a national belonging
but rather was a geographical name for a
socio-political entity (State of Akkad) in the
physical sense, and the people were retraced to the
“geographical” name Akkad and not the national one
in reference to the period before the establishment
of the national ideology as it is known today. The
Catholic Encyclopedia directly refers to the
“Assyrian” culture of the Akkadians by saying that
the “Chaldean” astrology should be
called “Assyrian” because the first
inscription about astrology goes back to the
Akkadian era at the time of king Sargon I
(3) therefore
astronomy during Sargon of Akkad’s period was an
“Assyrian” science even if it had existed before the
establishment of the Assyrian State.
As for the Syrian name, it represents a Church
culture which spread in what the Greeks erroneously
called “Syria” from “Ashur”
(4) because Ashur
(the State which contained one national society and
not the Empire) was far smaller than the area which
was called the Greek “Syria”
(5-6)
but as long as we have our
own particular history and a distinguished language
then we’re not obliged to dress what the Greeks or
others had sewn. The Syrian name (Suryaya)
never meant a nationality but rather a cultural,
liturgical or Church heritage, thus we can say that
all our Churches (Church of the East, Syrian and
Chaldean) share a “Syrian” (Suryaya) liturgical rite
(as per the academic liturgical explanation and not
as per the historical truth of the Suryaya
“culture”).
Nationalism isn’t limited
to a certain Church and vice versa, we shouldn’t
forget that our Churches over periods of history
included Indians, Arabs, Assyrians, Persians,
Mongols … All those weren’t from “our people” that’s
why we say it’s not possible for the Syrian name to
be a national one but it can rather denote Christian
groups regardless of their national belonging, thus
it’s possible for a Saudi Arabian to join the Syrian
Church today and be called “Suryaya”, and
what we read in Greek history about “Surios” or
“Syrian” in English translations doesn’t mean
“Suryaya” (so-called “Syriacs”) as some imagine, but
rather “Syrians” as per the geography of the Greek
“Syria”
because ancient Greek historians never used
the term “Suryaya” or “Surian” (Arabic term),
therefore there are “Suryayeh” amongst the Assyrians
and others, but we have to always determine that,
according to the geographical belonging of these
“Suryayeh” human groups in a certain area. Thus for
example if we look at the “Suryayeh” in Turkey we
will notice that the Turkish historian, Professor
Shemsettin Gunaltay in his book “History of the
East” says that the city of Edessa (Urhai or Urfa)
was founded by the Assyrian tribes (On-Asurilar)
then he says that the followers of the Old Syrian
Church (Qadim Surianilar) are the
descendants of the Subartian Assyrians (Subari
Asurilar) (7)
Also when the traveler
Father Horatio
Southgate had visited the areas of Tur Abdin and
Deir al- Za’afaran (Za’afaran Monastery) in the
early 19th century he wrote about the
Syrians (Suryayeh) : [Armenians did
not know them under the name which I used, Syrian,
but called them Assouri]
(8)
Hence
a Syrian (Suryaya) can only be an Assyrian if he was
connected historically with the Assyrian land and
language whether he liked it or not, this applies to
all the Assyrian people’s denominations whether they
are Suryayeh, Chaldeans or Easterners, because there
are – for example - Indians amongst the Chaldeans
(9),
Easterners and Suryayeh… But there aren’t “Indian
Assyrians”!
As for the term
“Chaldeans” which was lately introduced in a
nationalistic mold, it’s a noble term in history
just like the
Rab-Shaqi
(the head of butlers) or
Ashaku
(priest) or
Shangu
(the temple’s curator) and
all the other names which were used by the Assyrians
of both Babylon and Nineveh in their daily life, but
this doesn’t mean that we turn these names into
national ones whenever foreigners stick them to us,
we have also to be careful of the opportunists and
the self-serving amongst the Assyrian people who are
trying to land positions following the fall of
Saddam, and what’s
amazing today is how those have turned over on their
own previous principles, taking advantage of the
simplicity of some of their fellow Church members,
as an example we see the president of the so-called
“Chaldean National Congress” who had written a
splendid article – before the fall of Saddam –
titled: “Towards
an Assyrian strategy for the Kurdish question in
Iraq” where
he concluded it with the following statement:
[Let us hope, as Assyrians, we will be able
to achieve our national rights with the minimum
amount of sacrifices…]
(10) However, today
we see his organization calling for a “Chaldean”
nationality in Iraq, without any future vision of a
“Chaldean nation” (if there is one).
The dilemma grew bigger
when the likes these people were given much more
consideration than they really deserve, on the other
hand there’s a large number of Catholic Assyrians
who reject such ideas and participate in all the
Assyrian national institutions and more over many
were founders of such institutions. The (neo
nationalists) don’t dare to discuss their opinions
with the Iraqi political platforms because their
demands are limited to including the Chaldean name
as a national one without having any case or
national political opinion in regards to the group
which they claim to represent, but they hide behind
the clergy who are well known for their shameful
stands and all that those neo nationalists do is to
embarrass the clergy using their religious ranks
which are respected by Iraqi politicians,
until, as the Arab saying
goes; “the cup over flows”.
Let’s leave for a moment
today’s matters to deal with the Chaldean
name historically, not only as a Church name, but we
shall even go back to the period prior to the
Christian era when this term only meant a class of
society in and outside of Babylon, when it was given
to every astrologer or fortune-teller, for those who
were historically known as “Chaldeans”
were tribes which were interested in science, thus
what some read about “the land of the Chaldeans” in
the Old Testament doesn’t indicate that the land was
Chaldean but rather whomever wrote that portion of
the Torah was a contemporary of the tribes which
were called “Chaldu”, as for example the phrase “Ur
of the Chaldeans”
which doesn’t have any connection to reality because
Ur was a Sumerian city so when the Jewish shepherd
was talking about the land which had at the time
some groups that the Assyrians called “Chaldu”. The
late Professor Nahum Sarna who taught Torah studies
at Brandeis University – Massachusetts and was the
head of the Torah Hebrew translation department,
said that “Ur”
itself could
not be called
"of the Chaldeans"
whereas Chaldeans entered
it in the 1st millennium B.C
(11)
The
term “Chaldean” was mentioned for the first time in
878 B.C. in the accounts of the Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal who had named the southern lands
subdued to Babylon at the time as “the
land of Chaldu”
(al Ahwar and its southern parts) when Babylon was
still inhabited then by its indigenous people, that
was the first time according to discovered accounts
that the name “Chaldu”
was mentioned (12),
when those tribes
that came from Dilmon (today’s Bahrain) entered Iraq
in the beginning of 1000 B.C. …
Now all this isn’t
important to us but rather the meaning of the
Chaldean name and how it was used …. The term
“Chaldu” only meant a fortune-teller; the name was
used for all non-Babylonian astrologers as well,
such as the European astrologers. The name was used
in Rome when this occupation was started by a Roman
slave called Antiochus, some thing which was
confirmed by the Roman
author Marcus Porcius Cato (3rd century B.C.) who
had attacked the “Chaldeans” in Rome stating that
they were inspired by the evil gods. Later Augustus
Caesar (31 B.C.-14 A.D.) supported the engineer
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio when he said [Listen
to the advice of the Chaldeans, they read the
divination and they know the future]
(13) denoting
Rome’s astrologists. Then the Roman historian Gaius
Soetonius (1st century A.D.) mentioned in
his book “De
Vita Caesarum”
(The Lives of the Caesars), what Vitilius Caesar
(15A.D.-69A.D) had said when he was fed up with the
fortune-tellers of Rome, Soetonius says: [He
(Vitilius) ordered the astrologers to leave the city
and Italia before the calends of October, a placard
was at once posted, reading: “By proclamation of the
Chaldeans”, That is, the astrologers, for whom "Chaldaei"
became a general term]
(14)
which means that
those who were known as “Chaldeans” weren’t only
Babylonians.
The famous astrology
historian, Professor Robert Hand asserts in his
research “The
History of Astrology”
that [The reference to Chaldeans
refers to astrologers](15)
as for “Babylon’s
Chaldeans”, they possessed a respectable occupation
during those times, and there are many specialists
in spiritual history such as the Russian philosopher
Helena Blavadsky (1831-1891) the founder of the
Theosophy Movement who confirmed that [The
Chaldeans, or Kasdim, were at first a tribe, and
then a caste of learned Kabbalists. They were the
savants, the magians of Babylonia, astrologers and
diviners. The famous Hillel, the precursor of Jesus
in philosophy and ethics, was a Chaldean]
(16), knowing that
Hillel (60 BC – 20 AD) wasn’t Babylonian, but a
Hebrew
(17)
As for the Catholic
Encyclopedia, it mentions that [The
Assyro-Babylonian priests (Chaldeans) were the
professional astrologers of classic antiquity…]
(18) this is also
confirmed by the Encyclopedia of Wikipedia [Roman
and later authors used the name Chaldeans in
particular for astrologers and mathematicians from
Babylonia]
(19)
The Robertson’s word
studies mentions that [Among the
Persians there was a priestly caste of Magi like the
Chaldeans in Babylon]
(20) the same is
mentioned by Dr. Wilder, a specialist in ancient
philosophy when he wrote [The
sacerdotal and learned class were styled magians or
magicians. We find them also called Chaldeans]
(21), while the
traveler and discoverer William Winwood
Reade (1838-1875) wrote: [Although the
term Druid is local, their religion was of deep
root, and a distant origin. It was of equal
antiquity with those of the Persian Magi, the
Chaldees of Assyria, and the Brachmans of Hindostan]
(22). The
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia mentions
the following: [kasda'im, the same
word as the Greek “Chaldaioi” (Chaldeans), denotes
in Daniel, where alone it occurs, not the people so
designated but a class of astrologers. This usage
(common in classical writers) arose after the fall
of the Babylonian empire, when the only Chaldeans
known were astrologers and soothsayers]
(23)
Julie Gillentine,
Professor of astrology at Colorado University,
U.S.A. wrote in one of her scientific researches
[The Chaldeans were accomplished
astronomers and astrologers and ancient writers
often used their name as a synonym for magician]
(24),
The famous
researcher, linguist and Dean of Canterbury’s
Theology College, Bishop Robert Payne Smith wrote:
[Chaldeanism means Astronomy and
astrology](25)
The same is
confirmed by another historical encyclopedia,
Biblical Archaeology [The
signs of the heavens presumably consisted of the
“signs of the zodiac” used by Babylonian
priest-astrologers known as Chaldeans, who were
among the “wise men,” e.g., a retinue of conjurers,
diviners, magicians, and master astrologers, serving
at the courts of the Babylonian kings
] (26)
Thus there shouldn’t be a
mix up between a “Babylonian” and a “Chaldean”, and
that there isn’t a “Chaldean nationality”.
As for the ancient
historians, the Greek historian Herodotus (05th
century B.C.) in his book “The Histories” in its
nine volumes, had mentioned the term “Chaldean” two
or three times only, he said: [The
shrine contains no image, and no one spends the
night there except, as the Chaldeans who are the
priests of Bel say, an Assyrian woman, all alone,
whoever it may be that the God has chosen]
(27)
The Greek Strabos
(60B.C.-20A.D.) wrote [In Babylonia
there was a dwelling place for the native
philosophers, called Chaldeans, who are for the most
part concerned with astronomy …. And there are of
the Chaldean astronomers several kinds. For some are
called Orchenoi, and others Borsippenoi]
(28). The historian
Diodorus Siculus (80B.C.-21A.D.) had
mentioned that Babylonians named their astrologers
by “Chaldeans”
(29),
Then the historian
Eusebius of Caesarea (the father of Church history)
(260-340A.D.) in his book “Praeparatio
Evangelica”
(Preface to Evangelism) where he handled the
relation between the Old and New Testaments,
mentioned that Chaldeans were Assyrians
(30)
As for those who believe in the myths of the Old
Testament claiming that in some parts the term
Chaldean was mentioned, we see that Isaiah frankly
and clearly had expressed who the (ancient)
Chaldeans were when he wrote:
[Behold the
land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the
Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the
wilderness]
(31) The Torah
researcher Robert Dick Wilson explains that “Chaldean”
in the Torah didn’t mean a nation or people
(32) and he
presents the following verses from the Book of
Daniel in regards to King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream:
(Daniel 2:1-2):
[And in the
second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,
Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit
was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Then the
king commanded to call the magicians, and the
astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans,
for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and
stood before the king]
(Daniel 2:10):
[The
Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There
is not a man upon the earth that can shew the
king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor
ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or
astrologer, or Chaldean.]
Then Nebuchadnezzar said of his dream in
(Daniel 4:6-7):
[Therefore
made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of
Babylon before me, that they might make known unto
me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the
magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the
soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but
they did not make known unto me the interpretation
thereof].
When a strange writing appeared on the wall of King
Belshazzar, (Daniel 5:7): [The King cried
aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans and
the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the
wise men of Babylon, whosoever shall read this
writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof,
shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of
gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in
the kingdom.]
Then Belshazzar’s
wife interferes and advises him to forego the
interpretations of the “wise
men of Babylon”
and call for Daniel as it is mentioned in
(Daniel 5:11) [there
is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of
the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light
and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the
gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar
thy father, the king, I say thy father, made master
of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and
soothsayers.]
Thus, how would
Nebuchadnezzar say “I
brought in the Chaldeans”
if he belonged to a “people” called Chaldean? And
how would his daughter in law talk to her husband
about Daniel saying “Thy
father made him master of the Chaldeans”,
even though Daniel was a Hebrew? Assuming that
Belshazzar was a king for a “people” called Chaldean?
Rather we see that the Chaldean name always took
place next to the names of occupations!
All these references
confirm that there wasn’t a Chaldean “nationality”,
a “people”, or even a “nation”, but rather those who
had carried the name “Chaldu” were fortune-tellers
and their presence wasn’t limited to Babylon, but
there were those who were called “Chaldeans” amongst
the Egyptians, Persians, Assyrians and even Romans…
And even some of the “Chaldu” who had lived in
Babylon were rejected by the Babylonians who asked
for help from the Assyrians of the North when the
“Amukani” and “Yakeen” tribes which were known as
“Chaldu” attacked Babylon in 734B.C. hence, the
Assyrian army arrived from “Arapkhu”
(kurdified to “Karkuk”)
at the demand of their compatriots the Babylonians
and saved the city from the “Chaldu” who had come
from Al Ahwar region
(33)
Also the Assyriologue
Wilfinson speaks of the Babylonians’ hatred towards
their foreign rulers and mentions how they used to
call for the Assyrians from the North to assist
them, then he mentions how some Babylonian
rebellions wanted to join
Nineveh,
and that Babylon was a mix of nations with
controversies and conflicts
(34)
Even during Christian
times there isn’t any thing which points to the
Chaldean name as being a “nationality”, however,
historians do agree that those who practiced this
occupation either faded away within their different
roots or were integrated within a religion whether
Christianity, Islam or Magianism. In her book
“Hagarism, The making of the Islamic World”,
Patricia Crone (History Professor at the University
of London) highlighted this subject when she wrote:
[Like the Assyrians, they might call themselves Suryane in
contradistinction to the pagans; but they never
shared any single identity between them: the only
identity there was to inherit was Chaldean, and on
conversion the Chaldean renounced his ethnicity as
Magian and his culture as Zoroastrian. The Assyrian
Christians have a genuine precedent for their name,
but Christians were only called Chaldeans by way of
abuse] (35)
Then we see the Chaldean
name disappearing and we don’t hear about it except
in the lamentations of the Vatican upon Abraham and
his Ur which was called “Chaldean”, then the name
re-appeared in Cyprus in the middle of the 15th
century A.D. enforced by the Vatican in 1445 when
Pope Eugene IV decided to call the followers of the
Church of the East who became Catholics as “Chaldeans”.
One of the Church historians, Father Botros
Nasri wrote: [On August 07/1445A.D. Pope
Eugene IV issued his famous declaration in regards
to those who found the “right path” in it he ordered
that they shouldn’t be called “Nestorians” any more,
but “Chaldeans”]
(36) and
later,
Cardinal Eugene Taisaran,
secretary of the Holy Council of the Eastern Church
mentions: [The conclusive union came
to be in 1445 A.D. when a formal document from the
Roman Church was issued by Pope Eugene IV when
Timothaeus the “Nestorian” Archbishop declared his
(Roman) Catholic faith, then the Pope declared that
they shouldn’t be treated any more like those Syrian
heretics but rather they should be called “Chaldeans”]
(37)
Hence the modern Chaldean
name was synonymous to “Nestorian”, thus it’s not a
national name because there isn’t a “Nestorian
nationality” and if we want to see what the experts
say specially the Vatican itself through the famous
“Catholic Encyclopedia” we would notice that the
“few” Assyrians who are calling for Chaldean as a
national name, are
turning in a vortex and the case has become that of
being stubborn and nothing more… So what about
today’s “Chaldeans”?
The Wikipedia Encyclopedia mentions
about today’s Assyrians: [Assyrians
traditionally belong to the Assyrian Church of the
East (Nestorian), the Chaldean Catholic Church, or
the Syrian Orthodox Church. Modern Assyrians trace
their heritage to an ancient race of the same name,
responsible for creating the world's first empire in
recorded history]
(38)
then continues relating to
the Chaldeans: [The Chaldeans
are Catholic Assyrians, their church is part of the
Church of the East, and is also known as the
Chaldean Church of Babylon or the Chaldean Catholic
Church. In Iraq there are an estimated 750,000
living mostly in the North (Shimal) of the country.
They speak Neo-Assyrian which is also known as
Syriac Aramaic]
(39)
Father
Professor Javier Koodapuzha,
the bishopric representative for St. Dominic’s
Catholic Cathedral in Tamil – India asserts that the
Vatican’s documents mention Mar Youkhana Sulaqa who
founded the “Chaldean” Church as being the
[Patriarch
of the Assyrian nation]
(40)
In a definition for the
word “Chaldean” used today, the Catholic
Encyclopedia mentions [Strictly,
the name of Chaldeans is no longer correct; in
Chaldea proper, apart from Baghdad, there are now
very few adherents of this rite, most of the
Chaldean population being found in the cities of
Kerkuk, Arbil, and Mosul, in the heart of the Tigris
valley, in the valley of the Zab… It is in the
former ecclesiastical province of Ator (Assyria)
that are now found the most flourishing of the
Catholic Chaldean communities](41)
It also mentions
that Patriarch Sulaqa was the founder of this
Church, and was called [The
Patriarch of Mosul and Assyria](42)
The
International religious World Vision publications
mention the following: [The
17th and 18th centuries
witnessed a change in the Church of the East, when
the Assyrians of the valleys of North of Iraq were
subdued in 1778 under the Papal authority, their
name became “Chaldean” and the title of their
Patriarch became Patriarch of Babylon]
(43)
In modern
history the Chaldeans are known for their Assyrian
nationality and there isn’t till now any politician
who mentions them as a “nationality”, even their
fate hasn’t been dealt with distinguishly in any
international conference because their fate is that
of every “Christian” in the East which the West’s
concern for them is merely a religious one, in his
book “Minorities in the
Middle East”, Mordechai
Nissan, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the
University of Jerusalem wrote: [The
Mosul massacres of 1959-1960 found the Assyrians,
particularly in Tall Kayf, loyal to Kassem in his
struggle against Nasserites insurrection]
(44)
In their
valuable book, “Politics and Minorities in the Near
East”, both historians Laurent and Annie Chabri, in
a chapter titled “The
Assyrians: Nestorians and Chaldeans”,
stated the following: [Today’s
Assyrians are descendants of the ancient Assyrians
and they’re devided into two denominations: The
“Nestorians” who are gathered within the Assyrian
Church of the East and the Chaldean Church which
split from the “Nestorians” since 1553]
(45)
Where then is the “nationalism”
of the Chaldean name? And upon what do some Catholic
Assyrians build their new theories? How will they
face the Iraqi academics if the matter of
recognizing “Chaldean” as a nationality was brought
up in a proper manner? How will they demand that
they be mentioned in the curriculum of the history
subject in Iraq?
These are fundamental questions
which must be answered so that they would avoid
ridicule; many non-Assyrian politicians and
Assyriologues regretted the division of the Assyrian
nation and the newly national suggestions which have
begun to hinder the
advancement of the Assyrian Cause, one of those is
Professor Simo Parpola when he writes: [Today,
the Assyrian nation largely lives in Diaspora, split
into rivaling churches and political factions… many
modern Assyrians originating from central Assyria
now identify with "Chaldeans", a term associated
with the Syriac language in the 16th century but
ultimately derived from the name of the dynasty that
destroyed Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire! …
Disunited, dispersed in exile, and as dwindling
minorities without full civil rights in their
homelands, the Assyrians of today are in grave
danger of total assimilation and extinction. In
order to survive as a nation, they must now unite
under the Assyrian identity of their ancestors. It
is the only identity that can help them to transcend
the differences between them, speak with one voice
again, catch the attention of the world, and regain
their place among the nations]
(46)
What’s more
strange are the claims made by some that today’s
Assyrians aren’t the descendants of ancient
Assyrians and that the Assyrian name is a new name
which was given by the English to those who were
called “Nestorians”, hence we see one of those
accused of “Assyrianizing the Nestorians” that is
the Englishman Dr William Wigram writing that the
Persian king Yezdegerd recognized Assyrians
as a “Millet” (nation)
(47)
as it was also
mentioned by Father Horatio Southgate when he had
visited Tur Abdin and Deir Azza’afaran in the
western mountains of Ashur that he was surprised by
Syrian Orthodox being called “Assouri” by the
Armineans and he wrote: [
… “Assouri”, which struck me
the more at the moment from its resemblance to our
English name “Assyrians”, from whom they claim their
origin, being sons, as they say, of Assour, (Asshur,)]
(48). This phrase clearly shows that
the English who came to the area called us
“Assyrians” in reference to history and because we
retrace ourselves to the Assyrians before their
arrival, but they were interested
with this new “discovery” for political reasons and
they as part of a sham, supported the independence
of the Assyrian nationality from the occupying
peoples, as well as for religious reasons because
they had thought that the Assyrians were annihilated
as was mentioned in the political Jewish magazine
(The Torah), thus meeting the “Nestorians, Syrians
and Chaldeans” was for the English a historical
discovery specially that the Assyrians had kept
traditions, customs, and a heritage
which were “purely Assyrian” and were spoken of by
many English and German travelers.
In the
following lines we shall limit the mention of the
Assyrians before the 19th century (before
the arrival of the English) as this subject is
worthy to be aware of because Assyrian generations
are brought up upon wrong understanding of history,
we shall state “some” references which point to the
irrefutable truth about the continuity of the
Assyrian people, language, land and identity even
with the fall of their political entity in 612B.C.,
it’s to be duly noted that many Assyrian and
non-Assyrian authors and historians have preceded us
in supplying the libraries with interesting
researches in the matter but regrettably they are
still discarded by many something which is clear
through some of the opinions which we read or hear
about from some who are naive.
The historical
accounts have proved that the “Assyrian” language
remained alive and was even used by the Persians, it
was known to the Greeks as well by the same name
even with the inclusion of some Aramaic vocabulary
which were used by the Aramaean tribes, this is what
we know from a foreigner called
Thucydides (471-400 B.C), the
commander of the Greek
navy in the war between the cities of Sparta and
Athena (05th century B.C.) who had
mentioned the arrival of Artavernis the Persian
King’s envoy to Athena by saying: [When
he was brought to Athens, the Athenians translated
his letters out of the Assyrian language into Greek,
and read them]
(49)
This took place after the
fall of Nineveh and Babylon, and after the Assyrians
had developed the Akkadian language from the time of
Sennacherib and included some Aramaic which was
already influence by the Assyrian writing in what
relates to grammar and conjugation as asserted by
the late Dr Taha Baqer, who was Professor of ancient
languages at Baghdad University.
(50)
Therefore, the language
which was and is still spoken by the Assyrians is an
Assyrian language.
The Assyrians
continued on with their daily lives, participating
as a military power within the Empires which ruled
them after the political fall of Assyria (Ashur),
the most important sources which mention that are
those written by the Greek Herodotus
who was born in the Greek city of
Halicarnasus in 490B.C., that is 122 years after the
fall of Nineveh and he lived in Assyria during the
Persian occupation. Herodotus told about the
Assyrians’ daily lives, their participation
as brigades in the Persian army and of that he wrote
[The Assyrians
were equipped with bronze helmets, made in a
complicated barbarian way which is hard to describe,
shields, spears, daggers, woodden clubs studded with
iron, and linen crosslets…]
(51)
In one of his
valuable researches titled The Archaemenid period in
Northern Iraq, Professor John Curtis, head of the
Eastern Artifacts section at the British Museum,
wrote about [Assyrian
delegations used to visit Darius and Xerxess]
(52) Arian (Lucius
Flavius Arrianus) the well known Greek historian
86-160A.D. wrote that 10.000 Assyrian men had helped
Alexander the Great in building aqueducts after they
welcomed him as their savior from the Persians
(53)
The Assyrian
continuity wasn’t only a human one, because the
Assyrian culture continued through the Persian and
Roman eras when the temple of god Ashur was re-built
and worshipping continued in other temples such as
that of god “Sin” which
was considered one of the religious, military and
political inspiration
centers for the Assyrians
(54)
and that was re-built in the neo Babylonian era by
Nabonides
(556-539 B.C)
(55)
after he dreamt of
“Sin” calling him to rebuild the temple so he would
have had the
power to occupy Egypt
(56).
The Assyrians continued
worshipping in that temple before the coming of
Christ and till the 09th century A.D, one
of the temple’s priests “Baba of Harran” had
predicted the coming of Christ
(57)
The Assyrians in these
areas remained on their ancient religious beliefs,
while Professor Simo Parpola mentions that the
ancient beliefs continued till the 10th
century A.D. when he says:
[In Harran, the cults of Sin, Nikkal, Bel, Nabu, Tammuz and
other Assyrian gods persisted until the 10th century
AD and are still referred to in Islamic sources.
Typically Assyrian priests with their distinctive
long conical hats and tunics are depicted on several
Graeco-Roman monuments from Northern Syria and East
Anatolia]
(58)
The beginning
of the Christian era witnessed the folding of some
long pages of history, when societies began to go
through new social, religious and intellectual
ideas, the Assyrian people accepted the new religion
easily because it didn’t differ much from their old
religion (the Assyrian religion before
Christianity). Before the coming of Christ the Lord,
the Assyrians had spread the idea of the Oneness of
God and believed in him as “Ashur” in Nineveh and
Merdokh in Babylon, as they had believed in his
resurrection three days after his death, the
significance of these ideas was what the Assyrian
New Year represented, which was celebrated on the 01st
of “Nissanu” (Starts in the Spring equinox, 19-21 of
March) in Babylon and Nineveh
(59)
These
similarities influenced the traditions of the Church
of the East which was founded by the Assyrians, thus
tangible representations such as (portraits and
statues) didn’t become a part of its daily practices
and worshipping rites, in contrast other Churches
which its people used to worship idols and statues
or used tangible representations as means of
communicating with the gods before the coming of
Christ, while till today there hasn’t been any
discovery of idols in
Assyria.
As they
embraced the new religion, the Assyrians added new
ideas to understanding life and the philosophy
beyond it, as they were the first to accept
Christianity
(60)
when the Church
was founded at the hands of the apostles Addai (Thaddaeus)
and Mari, the Assyrian society with all its classes
welcomed it where monasteries quickly spread in all
the Assyrian regions but specially in the areas of
Beth Karmaii (Kirkuk),
Hidyab {Adiabene} (Arbil),
Nohadra (Dohuk), Beth Bagash (Nojiyya and
Gawar) and Beth Slakh (today’s Shaqlawa and North
Eastern Arbil).
As to what
concerns the continuation of the Assyrian identity
following the spread of Christianity, Henry Saggs,
Professor of Semitic languages at the University of
Cardiff-Britain wrote: [The
collapse of the Assyrian Empire didn’t obliterate
the inhabitants who were –primarily- peasants, the
descendants of those Assyrian peasants used to
re-build-when given the chance-their new villages on
top of the old cities and they would live their
rural lives remembering the traditions of the
cities; following seven or eight centuries of
turbulence they embraced Christianity…]
(61)
In what
concerns the cohesiveness of the Assyrian society,
the historian Edward Gibbon
(1737-1794) wrote in his famous book “The history of
the Decline and the fall of the Roman Empire”
quoting the philosopher Libanius (314-394) who
taught rhetoric to Emperor Julian(62)
as follows:
[The fields of Assyria were devoted by
Julian to the calamities of war, The trembling
Assyrians summoned the rivers to their assistance;
and completed, with their own hands, the ruin of
their country … Two cities of Assyria presumed to
resist the arms of a Roman emperor: and they both
paid the severe penalty of their rashness…. The
Assyrians maintained their loyalty by a skilful, as
well as vigorous, defense; till the lucky stroke of
a battering-ram, having opened a large breach, by
shattering one of the angles of the wall, they
hastily retired into the fortifications of the
interior citadel ]
(63) which means,
that during the time of the Persian king Shah’bur
Ardashir and Julian the Roman emperor
who was killed at the entrances of Ctesephon during
his attack on the city
(64),
the Assyrians
were ready to face a great Empire and they were
united even though they were overcome by the Persian
Empire.
The Assyrian national tendency in
the early centuries of Christianity is confirmed by
Patricia Crone, history Professor at the University
of London, who goes as far as accusing the Assyrians
of being chauvinists because they resorted to
Christianity but more precisely “Nestorianism”
fleeing from being integrated with Persian
Zoroastrianism and Greek Orthodoxy, so that they
would avoid dispersing within the surrounding
cultures. She writes that in her book Hagarism: The
making of the Islamic world […condemned
to oblivion by the outside world,
Assyria could recollect its own glorious past
in certain tranquility. Consequently when the region
came back into the focus of history under the
Parthians, it was with an Assyrian, not a Persian
let alone Greek, self-identification: the temple of
Ashur was restored, the city was rebuilt, and an
Assyrian successor state returned in the shape of
the client kingdom of Adiabene…. Like the
provincials of the west, the Assyrians stuck to
their genealogy, but unlike them they could not
merely go heretical: even a heretical Zoroastrian
was still conceptually a Persian, and vis-à-vis the
Persians the Assyrians therefore needed a different
religion altogether. On the other hand, even an
orthodox Christian was still only a Greek by
association; vis-à-vis the Greeks a heresy therefore
sufficed. Consequently, after a detour via Judaism,
the Assyrians adopted Christianity and found their
heresy in Nestorianism… (And she continues)
Hence where Coptic chauvinism was ethnic and
linguistic, that of Assyria turned on the memory of
a glorious past. In this connection two timely
conversions served to dear the Assyrian kings of
their Biblical disrepute. Firstly Sardana the son of
Sennacherib, thirty-second king of Assyria after
Belos and ruler of a third of the inhabited world,
submitted to the monotheistic message of Jonah and
instituted the Ninivite fast which saved Ninive from
destruction; and the fast having saved the Assyrians
from the wrath of God in the past, it was
reinstituted by Sabrisho' of Karkha de-Bet Selokh to
save them from a plague a thousand
years later." Secondly, the conversion of Izates II
of Adiabene to Judaism was reedited as the
conversion of Narsai of Assyria to Christianity. In
other words the Assyrians were monotheists before
Christ and Christians after him, and the past
therefore led on to the present without a break.
Thus the history of Karkha de-Bet Selokh begins with
the Assyrian kings and ends with the Assyrian
martyrs: Sargon founded it and the martyrs made it
'a blessed field for Christianity'. Likewise in the
seventh century before Christ all the world stood in
awe of Sardana, and in the seventh century after
Christ the saints took his place as the 'sun of
Athor' and the 'glory of Ninive'. …]
(65) In the 04th
century A.D. King Sennacherib II reigned over the
kingdom of “Ashur”
and he was the
father of the saints Behnam and Sarah
(66)
Ashur was also mentioned
by other Assyrians, when the Catholicos Mar
Isho-Yabh III of Adiabene (649-659) wrote a letter
to the Archbishop Mar Gabriel, and to Mar
Hermis D’Beth Laphat
stating
[The best example of such faith is
found among those living in central Athur (Assyria)
and the surrounding places. A heritage of good
manner, a clear mind and the teaching of the word of
God have contributed to the growth of this
blessedness]
(67)
During the
period when the Assyrians embraced the new religion,
many prominent brilliant figures appeared in
intellect and philosophy such as Tatian of Adiabene
(130 A.D.) who called himself “the Assyrian”, he was
the one who collected the Four Gospels (Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John) in one book which he called
the Diatessaron
(68)
He is credited
with firmly establishing the doctrine of the Holy
Trinity since the idea was originally that of his
forefathers culture, about that, Hippolytus the
historian (170-236 A.D) who was known as “the martyr
bishop of Rome” wrote in his book titled “Refutatio”
(“Refutations
of all Heresies”)
what follows: [The
Assyrians first advanced the opinion that the soul
has three parts, and yet one. For of soul, say they,
is every nature desirous, and each in a different
manner, for soul is cause of all things made.]
(69) In any case
the Church of Rome was concerned about the Christian
Trinity, for the Pope Dionysius (259-268 A.D.)
considered the trinity idea proposed by Clement of
Alexandria as a heresy and when he asked about the
origines of his trinity Ideology, Clement said that
it’s from the teacher, “Tatian
the Assyrian”(70)
The
mention of the Assyrians is seen precisely again in
the middle of the 06th century A.D. when
Emperor Anastasius occupied the city of Dara
(between Mardin and Nisibis) in 556 A.D. which is
mentioned by Bishop John of Ephesus (505-585 A.D.)
in his Ecclesiastical History:
[And thus he (Anastasius)
spoiled the city of a vast and incalculable prey,
and took the people captive, and emptied it of its
inhabitants, and left in it a garrison of his own,
and returned to his land with an immense 385 booty
of the silver and gold taken from the inhabitants,
and the churches, and every where else. Its capture,
and deliverance into the hands of the Assyrians,
took place seventy-two years, more or less, after
the time of it’s first being founded by king
Anastasius ](71)
In another
letter of Patriarch Mar Ishoyahb III to Bishop
Theodorus he wrote: [I
shall be late for few days visiting the Assyrians
who live outside these lands]
(72)
This took place in the 07th
century A.D., then in the 08th century
A.D. we read in a letter by the Catholicos Mar
Timotheus the Great to Mar Sargis the bishop of
Elam: “We
wrote twice to the brothers Khnanisho and Isho
Sabran, as per the law of the word of God, but they
are not willing to come even though the Assyrians
respect them”…
(73)
In
his book the “Sharafnameh”, the Kurdish historian
Sharaf khan Bedlisi (16th century A.D.)
had stated about how a group of Assyrians from
Hakkari had met with Asad al-Din al-Kolabi (
nicknamed “Zerinjank”: the golden hand) where he
said: “A
group of Christians known as “Assuri” of that
Vilayat (Hakkari) had traveled as usual to Egypt and
Sham (Syria) to work and make a living, so they had
a chance to see the position and prestige of Asad
al-Din Zerinjank”(74)
During
the 18th century A.D. , before the
arrival of the English, and according to George
Bournoutian, Professor of Middle East history at the
University of New York, in a letter from the Russian
Colonel Sivan Burnashiev to General Paul Potmekin
dated 26/05/1784, Burnashiev wrote:
[There are 100
villages inhabited by Assyrians in the domain of the
Khan of Urmiye, in addition , some 20,000 families
reside within the borders of Turkey](75)
These
were but some of a wealth of resources which confirm
the presence of the Assyrian people prior to the
arrival of the English, and the impossibility of
having any name next to the Assyrian one, whether
it’s under the motto of “unity” or any other banner,
the unity should a “Assyrian
Unity”
and not that of three nationalities in one Christian
people as we see in some moody decisions as that of
the Baghdad Conference whose organizers don’t
believe in the Assyrian identity but consider the
Assyrian name a denominational
(76-77)
even though
they lead “national” parties bearing the Assyrian
name alone, and knowing that these parties have
members of all our denominations.
However, all
voices call for unity, all are Assyrians, all are
Syrians and all are Chaldeans… Every one says and
writes what he desires as if our division was a
denominational one, this is a great crime against
the Assyrian nation because calling for unity
amongst “denominations” is an affliction in itself,
because those who believe in the Assyrian name as a
national one belong to all our denominations,
contrary to those who believe in the other names as
national ones, and who don’t belong except to the
denominations that carry those names (the
neo-nationalists).
In this manner
the Assyrian intellect who calls for a compound
unity (whether he believed in the Assyrian name or
not) resorts to the rule “we are all one people” as
if he has made a new discovery, then he suggests the
compound name without any research specially if he
is still flipping in the beginnings of nationalism,
here the germ of “call me whatever you like” is born
following a difficult intellectual birth, but he who
is calling for that would collide with other
currents which don’t agree with his “call me
whatever you like” idea. We can justify the position
of these currents because the Iraqi Constitution
shall not include a nationality called “Whatever you
like”… Rather there’s a confirmed historical truth
and an abnormal reality represented in the lies and
treachery of some Assyrian politicians and the
naivety of some followers of one Patriarch or
another… adding to that the cowardice of the
intellectuals … This is the fact !
This fact is
the result of previous ideological struggles which
don’t exist today but they have formed a
“separatist” thought for some, which was spoken of a
hundred years ago by the Assyrian martyr Ashur
Yousif – the Syrian Orthodox
(78)
when he said: “The
hindrance before the advancement of the Assyrian
people was not so much the attacks from without as
it was from within, the doctrinal and sectarian
diputes and struggles, like Monophysitism (One
nature of Christ) Dyophysitism (Two natures of
Christ) is a good example, these caused division,
spiritually, and nationally, among the people who
quarreled among themselves even to the point of
shedding blood. To this very day the Assyrians are
still known by various names, such as Nestorians,
Jacobites, Chaldeans”
(79)
The devout
Assyrian activist the late Dr David Perley, also
from the Syrian Orthodox Church gave an advice which
expressed his sarcasm towards the stands of the
clergy who were then neglecting the unity between
the Churches of the Assyrian people, about that he
said: “I
am an Assyrian, and as an Assyrian I’m obligated to
be actively interested in the destiny of the
Assyrians, once the greatest nation now almost
forgotten. I would be an arch-criminal if I failed
to assume this obligation… Indeed we are caught in
an inescapable network of destiny; the Nestorian
needs the Jacobite, the Jacobite needs the Chaldean,
and they all need each other, none is an island
entirely of itself… everyone is a part of the
Assyrina national stream, we cannot emphasize enough
that our destinies are tied together. These are the
facts of Assyrian life, however our clerics try to
romaticize our problem and say something different.
Ignore them, and let them seek their happiness in
ostrich of optimism”
(80)
The
Assyrian people have to be aware that the Iraqi
Constitution shall not be merciful, and that all
those who represent this people (those whom the
Assyrians were fooled by- with no exceptions) those
aren’t concerned neither with its identity nor
rights, thus it is the duty of the intellectuals to
unite in a true Assyrian unity to face every party,
organization, movement or Church that would hinder
the recognition of the Assyrian identity and the
rights of the Assyrian people in equality with the
rest of the Iraqi factions in the Constitution.
NOTES:
(1)
“The Assyrian Identity in ancient times and today”,
Prof Semo Parpula, P:7
(2)
“Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon”, John D. Prince,
P: 23 – Journal of Biblical Literature, 1906
(3)
“Astrology” The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol II
(4)
“An article about Syria” The late Syrian Catholic
Patriarch Mar Afram II Rahmani, Beirut-Lebanon,
1926, page 1.
(5)
“Christianity’s history in the East”. Patriarch
Ignatius IV Hazeem, the Middle East Council of
Churches Publications. Beirut, Chapter 15, 2002,
Page 468. (Arabic)
(6)
[We are not “one people”, but “Assyrians”], Ashur
Giwargis, December 2001.(Arabic and English).
(7)
http://cavemanart.com/osroene/osroene.htm
“The history of the Suryoyeh”. Father Gabriel Aydin.
1994, page 18
(8)
“Narrative of a Visit to the Syrian Church of
Mesopotamia”, Horatio Southgate, 1844 - P:80
(9)
“Chaldean Christians”,
by J. Labourt, the Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III
(10)
“Al-Muntada” Magazine, article by Ghassan Hanna
Shathaya, Apr -1999, P: 39,40,41
(11)
“The Problem of Ur” By Prof. Nahum M. Sarna, Shocken
Books, New York, 1966, reprinted 1970 – P: 98
(12)
“Babylonians”, H.W.F Saggs, 1995, P: 153
(13)
“Chaldeans”,Encyclopedia of Wikipedia
(14)
Soetonius, J. C. Rolfe, The Loeb Classical Library,
1914, Vol II
(15)
“The History of Astrology – Mesopotamian Astrology
First Stages”, Robert Hand, (Research).
(16)
“Theosophy”,
Helena Petrova Blavadsky, Vol. 52, No. 6, P: 175 –
Edition 1964
(17)
“Hillel & Jesus”, By Dr.James H. Charlesworth, Loren
L.Johns – 1997
(18)
“Astrology”, By Max Jacobi, The Catholic
Encyclopedia, Vol II
(19)
“Chaldea” - Encyclopedia of Wikipedia
(20)
“Matthew II”, Robertson’s word studies
(21)
“New Platonism and Alchemy” Dr, Alxander Wilder –
1869, Chap: “ Alchemy or the Hermetic Philosophy”
(22)
“The Mysteries of the Druids”, William Winwood
Reade, Vol III “The Druids”, 1861.
(23)
“Divination and the Bilble”, the International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia.
(24)
“Is Character influenced by Calendars ?”,
Jullie Gillentine,
Atlantis
Rising Magazine, Issue 52
(25)
“A
Compendious Syriac Dictionary”, R. Payne Smith,
First ed. 1903, Oxford. Reprint in 1998, Indiana –
P: 215.
(26)
“Assyrian and Babylonian Calendar”, Biblical
Archeology, Editon 2000, Michael Germano
(27)
“The Histories”, Herodotus, Vol I, P: 72,
Translation by Prof. Aubrey De Selincourt, Penguin
Edition, 1996.
(28)
“Geographies”, by Strabos, Part XII, 9
(29)
“Bibliotheca
Historica”,
Diodorus Siculus, Book II, P: 9,
translated by John
Skelton
(30)
“Praeparatio
Evangelica”,
Eusebius of
Caesarea,
Translated by E.H. Gifford (1903) - Book 9, Chap: 10
(Oracles of Appolo)
(31)
Isaiah 23:13
(32)
“Studies in the Book of Daniel: A Discussion of
Historical Questions”, R.D Wilson, Chapter XVII: The
Chaldeans.
(33)
“The Power that was Ashur”. Professor Henry Saggs.
Translation by Dr Aho Yousif, 1995, page 140.
(34)
“The history of Semitic languages”. A. Wilvinson.
Beirut-Lebanon, 1980, page 29.(Arabic translation).
(35)
“Hagarism: The making of the Islamic World”,
Patricia Crone, Michael Cook, Cambridge University
Press, P:55-57 – (Also Arabic Editon by Nabil
Fayyad, 1999)
(36)
“A
treasure of thought in the history of the Eastern
and Western Syrians (Syriacs) Father Botros Nasri,
1913, Vol. II, Page 72.
(37)
“A
Valuable Summary from the history of the Chaldean
Church. Cathlolic Liturgy Dictionary, 1930, page 107
(Arabic).
(38)
“Assyrians”, Encyclopedia of Wikipedia.
(39)
See reference # 13.
(40)
“Faith and communion in the Indian church of
St.Thomas Christians”, Oriental institute of
religious studies, India, P: 59
(41)
See reference # 9.
(42)
“The Chaldean Rite”, Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967,
Vol.III, P: 427-428 (Article by William Warda,
“Zinda”, June/22/2005)
(43)
"I am the Way-
World Vision Publishing , 1987, P:45
(44)
“Minorities in the Middle East – A History of
Struggle and Self Expression”, Mordechai Nissan,
Edition 1991, P:165
(45)
“Politics and Minorities in the Near East: The
reasons for explosion”. 1991, Chapter 7, page 370.
(Arabic)
(46)
See reference #1 Page 18.
(47)
“Assyrians and their neighbors”, Rev. W. A. Wigram,
London, 1929, P:51
(48)
See reference # 8 - Southgate.
(49)
“History Of The Peloponnesian Wars”, Thucydides,
Trans. Thomas Hobbes (1839), Volume I: Book: VI
(50)
“Ancient linguistic precipitations in our linguistic
heritage”. The late Dr Taha Baqer. Popular Heritage
magazine, Baghdad-Iraq, 1973, pages 9-21 (From a
research by Dr. Saddi Al-Malih: “The Assyrian roots
of today’s Chaldeans, The language as example”.
(51)
“Histories”, Herodotus, Book VII, P: 396,
Penguin Classics
edition, Trans. By Prof. Aubrey De Selincourt, 1996.
(52)
“The Archaemenid period in northern Iraq”, 21-22
Nov, 2003, Ref:
Schmidt 1953:
pls.153B, 203C; Roaf 1983,
P: 130
(53)
“The Campaigns of Alexander”, Arrian, Trans:
Sergyenko, 1962, P:231 – Ref: Matviev
(54)
“The religion of Babylon and Assyria”. S. Hook.
Translation Nohad Khayyata, page 144.
(55)
“Gaza”, Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol.VI
(56)
“Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament”, James B. Pritchard, 1969 P: 562.
(57)
“The missing link in the Assyrians history”. Zaia
Kanon, page51.(Arabic)
(58)
“State
Archives of Assyria”, Prof. Simo Parpola, Vol.9:
Assyrian Prophecies - Helsinki, 1997
(59)
“April First: The Assyrian New Year”, Ashur
Giwargis. An-Nahar Newspaper 14/04/2002.
Beirut-Lebanon. (Arabic and English)
(60)
I
Peter, 5:13.
(61)
“The might that was Assyria”. Professor Henry Saggs,
Arabic edition by Dr Aho Yousif, 1995, pages
396-397.
(62)
“Julian the Emperor" (1888) -Libanius, Funeral
Oration for Julian
(63)
“The history of the Decline and the fall of the
Roman Empire” -1776,
Lord Edward Gibbon, Part III, Chap:24
(64)
“The Quarterly Journal of military history”, Barry
S. Strauss, June/29/2005
(65)
See reference # 35, Patricia Crone.
(66)
“The biographies of the Martyrs and Saints. The
works of Mar Marutha, IV century. Zaia Kanon, page
68. (Arabic)
(67)
“The Book of Consolations, the Pastoral Epistles of
Mar Isho-Yahbh of Kuphlana in Adiabene”, Philip S.
Moncrieff, Part I
(68)
“Diatessaron”, a Greek word meaning “stemming from
four”. This book was translated to Arabic by Abu
al-Faraj Abdalla Ibn Al-Tayeb (an Arab from the
Church of the East) 1543.
(69)
“Refutatio”, Hippolytus, The System of the Naasseni,
Book V, 7.9
(70)
“Strom”, Clement of Alexandria, III, 12.81,
1.1 and
11.2
(71)
“Ecclesiastical History of John Bishop of Ephesus”,
By Jessie Payne Margoliouth, 1909, Part III, Book
VI.
(72)
“Ishoyahb Patriarch
III liber
epistularum”,
Rubens Duval, 1905,
P: 106
(73)
“Today’s Assyrians”. Odisho Malko. In reference to
the book of the late Archbishop Yacoub Augin Manna
“Al Mouroj al Nozheeya” Vol. II, page 34 (Arabic)
(74)
“Sharafnameh”.
Sharaf khan al-Badlisi, translated from Persian by
Mohammad Ali Aouni. Vol. I, page 90 (Arabic)
(75)
"Armenians and Russia (1626-1796): A Documentary
Record", G. Bournoutian, Coasta Mesa, California:
2001 (From “Assyrians, the continuous saga, By
Frederick Aprim, edition 2004, P: 166)
(76)
“The Syrians and the controversy of names”. Mr.
Bashir al- Saadi. Article in the “Socialist Studies
Magazine”. March 1991.
(77)
An
interview with Mr. Younadam Kana on “Roge” Kurdish
T.V, 31/05/2005.
(78)
Ashur Yousif, the founder of “The Assyrians Guide”
newspaper and one of the first martyrs for the
Assyrian Cause. He was hung in 1915 in the Turkish
prisons.
(79)
“The reasons behind the retrogression of the
Assyrian people”. An article by prof. Ashur Yousif,
was published on 20/10/1914.
(80)
An
article by the late Dr. David Perley. 29/04/1973.
--------------------------------------------------
Related
Information...
 ASSYRIAN
IDENTITY IN ANCIENT TIMES AND TODAY1/ Prof. Simo
Parpola, Helsinki PDF
The
Assyrians in the Christian Asia Minor Holocaust
/by
Panayiotis Diamadis B.A., University of Sydney
Indigenous
People in Distress
Assyrians:
The Continuous Saga
Semitic
Languages and Cultures: Assyriology/Near
Eastern Studies (TCNO)/Leiden
University
The Chaldeans, Facts
and Fiction
Chaldeans or
Catholic Assyrians
History of the
Chaldean Church, a confusion of religion with ethnicity
|
Nineveh On Line Education