r/Assyria

I’m not sure why some people continue to make these claims, because they rely on conflating ancient peoples with modern ethnic groups. The Sumerians were an ancient Mesopotamian people whose language, Sumerian, is generally regarded by linguists as a language isolate.

Despite various attempts to connect Sumerian genetically to other languages, no such relationship has gained general acceptance in Assyriology or historical linguistics, not one.

Kurdish, by contrast, belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family and is generally classified within the Western Iranian group. This does establish that Kurdish and Sumerian belong to entirely different linguistic traditions.

Likewise, the fact that modern Kurds live today in areas that were historically connected to Mesopotamia does not make them Sumerians, nor does it establish that they were historically part of māt Aššur.

Claims of continuity between ancient Assyrians and modern Kurds need to be demonstrated through contemporary historical and linguistic evidence, rather than assumed from geography as I have ran into Kurds who also claim Ancient Assyrian ancestry.

The name Kurd itself is also relevant. The Middle Persian kurt (kwrt) is attested from the pre-Islamic period and referred to nomadic, tent-dwelling. The term originally functioned as a social designation associated with a nomadic way of life before developing into an ethnonym.

Therefore, projecting the modern Kurdish identity backwards onto Sumerians or Assyrians or Medes or Gutians or Hittites or Mitanni or Hurrian or Sassanids or Greeks, and anyone else other than the KWRTS, is historically unwarranted and pseudohistory (Soran Hamarash is a pseudo-historian!). Their languages (mainly for Sumerians), political structures and identities are independently attested and should not be conflated simply because modern Kurdish populations inhabited parts of the same broader regions much, much later.

Hello. I wish you guys are doing great.

I came across this song in a wedding but I could not find it online. I was wondering if anyone knows of it.

I have attached an mp4 file to this post which contains the a short recording of the song for reference.

Thank you in advance.

(Photo: Page 123, Mossoul: Métropole Chrétienne dans la Plaine de Ninive, 1880-1980, by Heritage Architectural, 2015, Source Identifier ADM 01339b, scanned by Assyrian Archive.)

Came across this academic paper by G. Rouwhorst and thought people here might find it interesting.

The author argues that early Syriac Christianity preserved a surprisingly large number of Jewish traditions, including influences in the Peshitta, biblical interpretation, theology, asceticism, and especially liturgy. He also discusses the theory that Jewish Christians may have played a significant role in the early Christianization of Syriac-speaking areas like Edessa.

I’ve always found the similarities between Syriac/Assyrian Christian traditions and Jewish traditions fascinating, especially given the shared Semitic languages and the long history of Jews and Assyrians living in the same broader region.

For anyone knowledgeable about Church of the East history or liturgy: how much Jewish influence do you think actually survives in Assyrian liturgical practice today?

The sentence on the flag can be translated to "the land between the two rivers". I used Akkadian letters to write and my idea behind making this flag was to make a secular flag that represents all people of Mesopotamia.

A rare piece of Assyrian history has found a new home at the Ashurbanipal Library.

The DeKasha family recently donated a collection of rare books and historical materials to the Assyrian Cultural Foundation, including a historic Church of the East Takhsa d’Raza, or Order of the Liturgy, believed by the family to be nearly 400 years old.

According to the family, the Takhsa was brought to the United States in 1928 by their great-grandfather, Kasha Eshaya, when the family immigrated from the village of Mazra’a in the Hakkari region.

Passed down through generations, the manuscript carries a remarkable connection to the family’s priestly lineage, ancestral village, and Assyrian Christian heritage. Its exact age has yet to be confirmed. Future research, dating, and authentication will help uncover more of the Takhsa’s history and provide greater context to its journey across generations.

In grateful recognition of this meaningful contribution, ACF presented the DeKasha family with a Certificate of Appreciation for entrusting these materials to the Ashurbanipal Library, where they can be preserved for future generations.

Do you own rare books or historical materials connected to Assyrian heritage? Contact the Ashurbanipal Library to inquire about a potential donation:

📧 Library@acf-us.org

📞 773-863-3538

#Assyrian #AssyrianHistory #AssyrianHeritage #AshurbanipalLibrary #AssyrianCulturalFoundation #ACF

I work with Ai a lot at work and this is just a little info about why you should not always trust it for your sources.

I am not saying it’s 100% wrong as it’s useful for many other things but when it comes to academic or photography, you need to have discernment and also well versed in history if you want to debate others with it.

I’ll use this tiny example of a picture someone posted on here and I asked Google ai if this boy was Assyrian. If you keep asking it the same query, it will always give you different responses. So, this just shows it’s not always going to give what you asked it for. Make sure you stress test it with other ai’s to be always certain of the footnotes and citations it uses as sometimes it needs a few tries to get it right. This is where historical knowledge comes to play b/c if you already know the answer and many sources for your question, then it will be much easier to pickup on the bullsh*t it spits out.

Hope that helps you out in your future journey with ai.

I wasn’t expecting that reaction but alright