u/ACFchicago

Why did Assyrian kings carve their lives into stone?

Dr. Kiersten Neumann, Curator at the ISAC Museum and Research Associate/Lecturer at the University of Chicago, explores how ancient Assyrian art expressed kingship, religious belief, identity, and imperial power.

From palace reliefs and lamassu to royal monuments and lasting artistic influence, these works were more than decoration. They told the story of Assyria’s power, faith, and legacy across millennia.

Watch the full lecture, Between Heaven and Earth: The Art of Ancient Assyria, now on our YouTube channel.

The Assyrian Cultural Foundation, in partnership with Home Care Powered by AUAF, is proud to offer FREE Art Classes for Seniors!

Join us for a fun and engaging 4-week program featuring painting, crafts, creative activities, and more in a welcoming community environment. No prior experience is needed, just bring your creativity!

🖌️ Starts Wednesday, July 29th
📅 Every Wednesday | 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
📍 Assyrian Cultural Foundation
4343 W. Touhy Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712
📞 Register today: (224) 601-4677

Happy Birthday to everyone celebrating on July 1st! 🎉🎂
For many Assyrians, July 1st holds a special place in our shared history.

During Iraq's 1957 civil registration campaign, many people either did not know or had never officially recorded their exact date of birth.

To standardize government records, officials assigned July 1st as the official birth date for those whose birthdays were unknown, a practice that continued for many years, especially in rural areas.

As a result, generations of Assyrians share July 1st as their official birthday, making it one of the most common birthdays in our community.

Whether July 1st is your actual birthday or the date that became part of your official record, we wish you a wonderful day filled with happiness, and good health.

This past weekend, we were honored to host Assyrian researcher, author, and U.S. Air Force veteran Andrew Bet-Shlimon at the Assyrian Cultural Foundation for an engaging lecture on the communities of Qamishli and their remarkable role in shaping one of Syria’s most important cultural and educational centers.

We are excited to share that over 60 books were sold, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Assyrian Church of the East Relief Organization (ACERO). Thank you to everyone who attended, purchased a book, and supported this meaningful cause.

A special thank you to Andrew Bet-Shlimon for sharing his knowledge, stories, and passion for preserving Assyrian history. We are grateful to everyone who joined us and helped make this event a success.

#Assyrian #Qamishli #AssyriansInQamishli #AssyrianHistory #AssyrianCulture #AssyrianCulturalFoundation #ACERO

For over 100 years, scholars searched for a lost land mentioned by the Assyrian king Esarhaddon.

Syria. Jordan. Iran. Eastern Arabia.

What if the answer was Yemen?

In 676 BC, Esarhaddon recorded a campaign to a remote land called Bāzu, a place so distant that he claimed no king before him had reached it. For generations, historians debated where this mysterious region was located.

In this Assyrian Renaissance lecture, Stephen Compton reexamines the evidence and presents a compelling case for locating Bāzu in ancient South Arabia.

Compton has an extensive background in academic publishing, including work with Oxford University Press and the Smithsonian Institution. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of South Africa.

Explore:

• The mystery of Bāzu

• Esarhaddon's Arabian campaign

• Ancient South Arabian place names

• The identification of Yadiʾ with Yathill

• Possible connections between Bāzu, Punt, and the Horn of Africa

Watch the full lecture on the Assyrian Cultural Foundation YouTube channel

Do you think Esarhaddon's most remote campaign may have reached Yemen?

#Assyrian #AssyrianRenaissance #AssyrianCulturalFoundation #StephenCompton #Esarhaddon

What role did Assyrians play in building one of Syria’s most important cultural and educational centers?

Join us as Assyrian researcher, author, and U.S. Air Force veteran Andrew Bet-Shlimon shares the story of the Syriac communities of Qamishli. Discover how they rebuilt their lives after persecution and helped shape the Jazira region into a thriving center of culture, education, and national identity.

Sunday, June 28, 2026 | 3:00 PM
Assyrian Cultural Foundation
4343 W Touhy Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712

Free & Open to the Public
Whether you're interested in Assyrian history, modern Middle Eastern history, or the story of Qamishli itself, this lecture offers a unique firsthand perspective from someone who lived it.

Tag a friend who should attend and share this post to help preserve and promote Assyrian history.

#Assyrian #Qamishli #AssyriansInQamishli #AssyrianCulture #AssyrianCulturalFoundation

Dr. Kiersten Neumann, Curator at the ISAC Museum, and Research Associate and Lecturer of Near Eastern Art and Archaeology, gives the audience at the Assyrian Renaissance lecture 2026 a glimpse of the artistic contents of an Assyrian grave during the middle Assyrian period.

Assyrian art evolved from the relatively modest and functional style of the Old Assyrian period (c. 2050 BC), centered in the merchant city of Aššur, where we find cylinder seals, small-scale religious objects, and trade-related imagery. During the Middle Assyrian period (c. 1400 BC), Assyria emerged as a regional empire, and its art became more imperial and martial, with stronger royal symbolism, monumental architecture, and reliefs portraying kingship, divine favor, and military authority.

In the Neo-Assyrian period (c. 911–609 BC), Assyrian art reached its height under rulers such as Ashurnasirpal II, Sargon II, and Sennacherib, becoming highly sophisticated, monumental, and narrative-driven. Vast palace reliefs depicted warfare, lion hunts, deportations, rituals, and courtly life with incredible detail and realism, designed both as propaganda and as expressions of cosmic order. After the fall of Assyria, many artistic traditions survived in the art of the Babylonians, Achaemenid Persians, and later Near Eastern cultures, while Assyrian motifs, such as winged guardian figures, heroic combat scenes, and royal iconography, continued to influence the visual language of empires for centuries.

For modern Assyrians, art remains one of the clearest expressions of historical continuity and collective memory. Contemporary Assyrian artists frequently draw upon ancient Assyrian motifs, such as the lamassu, cuneiform inscriptions, winged disks, royal beards, sacred trees, and imagery from the palaces of Nineveh and Nimrud, to reconnect modern identity with the ancient past.

(Full lecture on our YouTube channel u/acfchicago link in bio)

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this special Memorial Day documentary screening and helped make the event a memorable one.

Honoring the Assyrian Who Never Came Home: Major Kenneth Joseph Yonan.

#Assyrian #CommunityEvent #DocumentaryScreening

Inside Chicago’s only Assyrian-owned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy.

Raised by his immigrant mother and grandmother in Chicago, Professor Ashur Darmo discovered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at just 15 years old. What began as an outlet became a life-changing pursuit, one that led him to become a Pan-American Champion, world-ranked IBJJF competitor, and founder of The Academy Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Glenview, Illinois.

Now a 2nd-degree black belt, Ashur has spent half his life on the mats building more than athletes. Through discipline, structure, mentorship, and community, he’s helping shape the next generation both on and off the mat.

In our conversation with Professor Ashur Darmo, we discusssed:
• Growing up in Chicago and discovering martial arts
• How Jiu-Jitsu gave him structure and direction
• Building confidence and discipline in children
• Creating community through training
• What it means to represent the Assyrian community through excellence
• The vision behind Chicago’s only Assyrian-owned BJJ academy

“Kids need passion. Kids need structure. Otherwise, they’ll find direction somewhere else.”

From world-class competition to mentorship and community leadership, The Academy Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu reflects a story built on perseverance, humility, and purpose.

📍The Academy Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
1730 Waukegan Rd, Glenview, IL