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The Assyrians of today are the descendents of ancient Assyrians. Only a few months ago (1st April 2003) they celebrated their New Year - 6753 years of their settlement in Assyria. Assyrians, the most ancient biblical nation survivimg to day, are the children of Asur (Ashur) one of the sons of Shem (Sem) from which the word 'Semitic' is derived. Shem had five sons (Gen. 10:22): Asur, Lud, Aram, Arphax and Elam. Arameans were the off-springs of Aram, and their language was Aramaic.
Ashur, Asur, built his Temple, the first Temple, in Ninveh, the capital of Assyria, 4750 BC, and that is the beginning of Assyrian Calendar - 6753 years ago. In fact some say Assyrians existed in Mesopotamia even before that. For example, the well-known and eminent British Archaeologist, Max Mallowon, who specialized in Mesopotamian (Assyrian and Babylonian) archaeology demonstrated in 1932 during his excavation of certain parts of Nineveh, legendary city of the Old Testament, that this city was inhabited in 5000 BC. Yes indeed, Assyrians' settlement in Mesopotamia most probably dates back 7000 years.
Assyrians in different languages and by different peoples are called somewhat differently, largely depending on the pronunciation of the words Assyria and Assyrian. Some of these are Asuri, Asori, Ashuri, Assyro, Ashorian, Athuri, Assyri, and so on. In Aramaic and among the Assyrians 'Assyria' is referred to as Ashur and and the word 'Assyrians' is Ashuraye; however, Assyriansalso call themselves 'Athouraye'. Greeks were the only people in the world who called the Assyrian people 'Syrians', and the whole Western world sheepishly and gladly followed in their foot-steps, perhaps because it is one of the best ways of telling the world that there is no such people today as Assyrians - they are all Syrians! And they also applied this to other derivatives of the word in question. For example, it was from the word 'Syrian' that also the word 'Syraic' was coined. Thus, the word 'Syriac' was used in referring to Assyrian (or 'Assyriac') Aramaic language. Herodotus a well-known Greek historian of the fifth century says that the word "Syrian" is merely a Greek corruption of the word "Assyrian". He says
'The Greeks called these people Syrians and others called them Assyrians'
And Encyclopaedia Americana says. 'It is now certain that the name Syrian is derived from the older name Assyrian.'
Assyria extended from North of Iraq to Northwestern Iran and South-Eastern Turkey to North-Eastern Syria. At its 'height of power' Assyria included also Syria, Israel, Judah, and Egypt as far as Thebes and Jonah, and even further. The first King of Assyria was Sargon, beginning in 2371 BC. However this was not the beginning of the ruling power in Assyria. There had been before Sargon 173 Assyrian rulers, not quite established kings, who had ruled Assyria.
It is sad that some people look at Assyrians only from a narrow perspective of the Old Testament, describing them as warriors, invaders and depicting them as somehow 'blood-thirsty' people. They forget about their contributions to the world: philosophy, science, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, medicine, and later law and theology. Their culture and civilization was not just unique or just extraordinary but as one Assyriologist and Aramaic scholar puts it, 'extraordinarily unique'. No wonder the historians and the 'Students of Culture and Civilization' have called Mesopotamia, 'The Cradle of Civilization'; the cultural heritage of Mesopotamia is second to none.
The Assyriologists do like the Assyrians, and most of them greatly admire them, and there are some who are truly fascinated by their courage and creative power, and not forgetting their cultural and intellectual contributions. Professor HWF Saggs, an Assyriologist, who has spent (from what I read about him) a half of his life studying Assyrians; in his book, 'The Might That Was Assyria', he says,
"Most readers in the Western world will have met the Assyrians in the Bible. There they are found as the imperial power which destroyed the kingdom of Israel, taking the so-called 'ten tribes' into captivity. A generation later they attacked Jerusalem, capital of the sister kingdom of Judah. It is this latter attack which inspired Byron's poem beginning:
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold.
Largely in consequence of the Bible and of Byron's poem, the Assyrians have a reputation in the English-speaking world for ruthless barbarity. They have been maligned. Certainly they could be rough and tough to maintain order, but they were defenders of civilization, not barbarian destroyers."
Then in his book, 'The Greatness That Was Babylon', Professor Saggs says that the Old Testament has depicted some other peoples too as merciless villains, and sadistic warriors. He says,
"Furthermore, the Assyrian practice should not be considered in the light of the highest Christian ideals - which in the wars of the twentieth century A.D. have been so frequently forgotten - but by comparison with the contemporary standards (of their time) of which instructive examples may be found in the book of Kings. ........ .... As to comparison with contemporary warfare, there is very little in the more gruesome sections of the Assyrian royal annals that can not be equalled or exceeded from the records of events in Europe and Africa (Black and White) since 1939."
George Roux, an Assyriologist, in his book, 'Ancient Iraq', says,
"It must be noted, however, that these atrocities were usually reserved for those local princes and their nobles who had revolted and that in contrast with the Israelites, for instance, who exterminated the Amalekites for purely ethno-cultural reasons, the Assyrians never indulged in systematic genocides."
Also the eminent Assyriologist of Helsinki University, Doctor Simo Parpola, comes to the defence of Assyrians whom he admires. He talks about the fact that history in the West has distorted the truth about the Assyrians and introduced them as warriors only; and hardly, when we read Assyrian history, we hear about the culture and the greatness of these people. Professor Parpola says,
"The traditional picture that, I for one studied, is that of a brutal power which ruthlessly subjugated its subjects and neighbouring countries. Assyrian culture is not a word usually mentioned in this context. In the recent years we are witnessing a change. I would say that the traditional position which is based on Assyrian royal annals and Assyrian palace relief was not totally wrong because it was conveyed to us by the Assyrians themselves, but it was awfully one sided and misleading. It's as if our own notion of the United States were founded based on the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War or its police function in South America. Today, we see Assyria in a more complicated and more many-sided light. .... Reflecting this, the Assyrian high officials wore stamp seals, which throughout display religious motifs, we see the tree of life, emblems of God etc., depicted on the seals. Most important of all, our picture has not undergone a change only in terms of royal ideology, but we can see also a serious commercial power as archaeological excavations carried out in Israel, for instance, have shown Assyrian economic involvement had dimensions that resemble notions that we have from modern powers that were not projected upon Assyrians previously."
Now let us go back to Professor HWF Saggs who has some more "nice things" to say about the Assyrians. He says,
"The reader will soon notice that I actually like the Assyrians, warts and all: I make no apology for this. Though the Assyrians, like the people of every other nation ancient and modern, were sometimes less than kind to their fellow humans, I feel no compulsion to be continually advertising my own right-mindedness by offering judgment upon their every action or attitude in terms of current liberal orthodoxy."
Assyrian Empire fell in 612 BC. It was a complete devastation and indescribable massacre. Those who could flee, and escape the tyrannies took refuge and settled in certain parts of North of Iraq. Then a few centuries later The Light Shone - the Ministry of Lord Jesus began. As a People, the Assyrians were tte first in becoming Christians. Most of the Assyrians were among the closest followers of Christ, and Christ loved them. Furthermore, He spoke and taught in their spiritually rich language----Aramaic.