What is Assyrian?
1.
A lot of Assyrians are too proud of their roots, so they love proving that Chaldeans are really Assyrians.
Let me say, if you are Chaldean, more than likely, you are historically Catholic. The name came from the Catholic church back in the 15th century to break ties Chaldeans (babylonians at the time) from their previous ties identities to other groups. Chaldeans maintain full communion with the Pope in Rome today.
But the Assyrian population is not constrained by the Catholic religion. There are many different religious affiliations with the Assyrian identity, such as the Assyrian Church of the East, Assyrian Evangelical Church, and Assyrian Pentecostal Church, to name a few.
Assyrian Catholics and Chaldean Catholics are ancient people, and chaldeans, syriacs, and assyrians came from one people and then split off into 3 groups, but both groups have evolved, so for anyone to say we are the same people are extremely ignorant.
But let's say we are all Assyrian. Taking this information from the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), 45% of Assyrians are Chaldeans (i.e. THE MAJORITY). The Assyrian identity proponents want a majority to change their name?
Finally, as a little anecdote, as my uncle/boss was reading the article (he is around 38 years old), he asked me "what is an Assyrian?" If that doesn't clearly illustrate to you why we shoud not change our name, then I don't know what will. If a man does not even know what an Assyrian is, how can we forge through the trenches and call him an Assyrian, something he knows nothing about?
Chaldeans can unite with Assyrians not through name change; it is completely unnecessary and irrelevant. When you say "Save Christians of Iraq" that encompasses all Christians, not just Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Syriacs. "Assyrian" is NOT a great unifier. Whoever decided to start this whole Assyrian campaign is an idiot. It is offensive, unintelligent, and based on hubris. It is the sole reason that there is a division today. I'm happy that Chaldeans aren't laying down and taking everything they are being spoon fed for face value. I am one of those THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of Chaldeans.
Chaldeans seperating from Assyrians is older from the Americans seperating from the English. Does that make Americans truly English? NO.
- H.S.
Ashur (assyrian): YOU'RE ALL ASSYRIAN! WE MUST SAVE THE ASSYRIAN NAME SO WE CAN GET OUR LAND AND SAVE OUR PEOPLE!
Brando (syriac): Okay, let's call ourselves syrian and get the land
Sargon (assyrian): NEVER!
Yousif (chaldean): Yeah, you tell 'em, Brando!
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2.
The nationality that i am. A race of super sexy middle easterns that are all some how related that know everyone as cousins.
Assyrian:Whatup cousin!!!111
Me: Dude i dont even know you, but your still probably my cousin so SUP!
3.
The Assyrians were Semitic people living in the northern reaches of Mesopotamia; they have a long history in the area, but for most of that history they are subjugated to the more powerful kingdoms and peoples to the south. Under the monarch, Shamshi-Adad, the Assyrians attempted to build their own empire, but Hammurabi soon crushed the attempt and the Assyrians disappear from the historical stage. Eventually the Semitic peoples living in northern Mesopotamia were invaded by another Asiatic people, the Hurrians, who migrated into the area and began to build an empire of their own. But the Hurrian dream of empire was soon swallowed up in the dramatic growth of the Hittite empire, and the young Hurrian nation was swamped. After centuries of attempts at independence, the Assyrians finally had an independent state of their own since the Hittites did not annex Assyrian cities. For the next several hundred years, the balance of power would shift from the north to the south.
Beginning with the monarch, Tukulti-Ninurta (1235-1198 BC), Assyria began its first conquests, in this case the conquest of Babylon. The Assyrian dream of empire began with the monarch, Tiglat-Pileser (1116-1090), who extended Assyrian dominance to Syria and Armenia. But the greatest period of conquest occurred between 883 and 824, under the monarchies of Ashurnazirpal II (883-859 BC) and Shalmeneser III (858-824 BC), who conquered all of Syria and Palestine, all of Armenia, and, the prize of prizes, Babylon and southern Mesopotamia. The Assyrian conquerors invented a new policy towards the conquered: in order to prevent nationalist revolts by the conquered people, the Assyrians would force the people they conquered to migrate in large numbers to other areas of the empire. Besides guaranteeing the security of an empire built off of conquered people of different cultures and languages, these mass deportations of the populations in the Middle East, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, turned the region into a melting pot of diverse cultures, religions, and languages. Whereas there would be little cultural contact between the conquered and the conquerors in early Mesopotamian history, under the Assyrians the entire area became a vast experiment in cultural mixing. It was the Assyrian monarch, Sargon II (721-705 BC), who first forcefully relocated Hebrews after the conquest of Israel, the northern kingdom of the Hebrews. Although this was a comparatively mild deportation and perfectly in line with Assyrian practice, it marks the historical beginning of the Jewish diaspora. This chapter in the Jewish diaspora, however, never has been really written, for the Hebrews deported from Israel seem to have blended in with Assyrian society and, by the time Nebuchadnezzar II conquers Judah (587 BC), the southern kingdom of the Hebrews, the Israelites deported by Sargon II have disappeared nameless and faceless into the sands of northern Mesopotamia.
The monarchs of Assyria, who hated Babylon with a passion since it constantly contemplated independence and sedition, destroyed that city and set up their capital in Nineveh. Later, however, feeling that the Babylonian god, Marduk, was angry at them, they rebuilt the city and returned the idol of Marduk to a temple in Babylon. The last great monarch of Assyria was Ashurbanipal (668-626 BC), who not only extended the empire, but also began a project of assembling a library of tablets of all the literature of Mesopotamia. Thirty thousand tablets still remain of Ashurbanipal's great library in the city of Nineveh; these tablets are our single greatest source of knowledge of Mesopotamian culture, myth, and literature.
After Ashurbanipal, the great Assyrian empire began to crumble; the greatest pressure on the empire came from their old and bitter enemies, the Babylonians. Aided by another Semitic people, the Medes, the Babylonians led by Nabopolassar eventually conquered the Assyrian capital of Nineveh and burned it to the ground, ending forever Assyrian dominance in the region.
The Assyrians were a great empire.
4.
Indigenous Christian people of the Middle East, as well as founders of the empires of Assyria and Babylonia. Commonly referenced in the Bible, Assyrians created one of the most historically organized systems of government and society. Assyrians were the first civilization to establish a system of common laws, a library system, and are recognized as inventors of the wheel. Throughout history, Assyrians have been subjected to massive genocide. There are currently only 3.3 million Assyrians living today, with about half the global Assyrian population living in Iraq. Locations with the largest concentrations of Assyrians in the United States, which is the home to about 400,000 Assyrians, are the Chicago, IL area with about 70,000 Assyrians, and the Modesto, CA area with about 20,000 Assyrians. Also see
With the coming of Christ, Assyrians were one of the first people who accepted Christianity.
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5.
Racially, Assyrians -- like most Middle Eastern people -- are classified as Caucasian.
The Assyrians look quite similar to Southern Europeans (Greeks, Italians, Maltese, etc) and also Persian people. So they are Mediterranean.
Most Assyrians are fair-skinned. Though, there are lots that are olive and dark-skinned. Mediterranean
Lighter
Assyrians are found in Northern Iraq/Turkey.
Darker ones are found in the south of Iraq.
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6.
Type of people who think too much of themselves. It is a type of race that is soon to become extinct no matter how much they value themselves. People feel bad for these types of people because they dont have a country.
Warning: Any racial comments against assyrians may result in a 60 min speech of their back ground and history that doesnt even matter anymore.
"We are assyrian!"
"Assyrian? wheres the country?"
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7.
The most racially mixed people in the Middle East.
Most Assyrians look Mediterranean. Though, many do look European/White and Arab/Middle Eastern. A number of them look Hispanic, too.
However, we may also find some Assyrians looking like they are half Asian. Also, some will look Indian and some will look like they are Pacific Islanders/Aboriginals.
Assyrians are people of colour.
"Hi, so...you're European?"
"No, I'm an Assyrian. I'm from Iraq. All Assyrians look different from each other. They range from pale white to dark.
"Oh, you're Middle Eastern!? You're so white.
_________________________________________
"Are you Eurasian?"
"No, I'm an Assyrian. Not even 1% Asian. My dad looks Indian, but we're all FULLY Assyrian.
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