Two non bad rivers run through Assyria, the Tigris in addition to the Euhprates, in addition to many lesser ones, the most of import of which beingness the Upper Zab in addition to Lower Zab, both tributaries to the Tigris. Strategically surrounding the Tigris in addition to the 2 Zabs are the Assyrian cities of Nineveh, Ashur, Arbel, Nimrod in addition to Arrapkha.
To the N in addition to eastward of Assyria prevarication the Taurus in addition to Zagros mountains. To the due west in addition to due south lies a great, depression limestone plateau. At the southern terminate of Assyria the gravel plains give way to alluvium deposited yesteryear the Tigris, in addition to further due south in that location is insufficient rainfall for agriculture without irrigation. These 2 features do a geogrpahical boundary betwixt Assyria in addition to the neighboring dry soil to the south.
To the due south of Baghdad lies Babylon. There is a stark geographical distinction betwixt Babylonia in addition to Assyria. To quote Saggs,
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 journeying inward outflow from Baghdad, the uppercase of modern Republic of Iraq in addition to inside the Area of Ancient Babylonia, to Mosul [Nineveh], which is nigh several old Assyrian capitals, takes the traveller into what is plainly a dissimilar country. In the portion of Baghdad in addition to southwards the predominant vegetation is palm trees. . .The terrain is apartment to the horizon, in addition to for most of the twelvemonth its sun-parched earth is arid in addition to dead wherever irrigation ditches do non reach. Approaching Mosul [Nineveh] the traveller finds a striking change. The apartment terrrain gives way to undulating plains, inward outflow greenish with pasturage or cereal crop in addition to gay in addition to scented with flowers in addition to clover. The rolling plains are cutting with wadis, aflow after outflow rains, with higher ranges of hills on the horizon. The traveller has reached Assyria.[Might that was Assyria, page 5]
The Assyrian dry soil is rich in addition to fertile, with growing fields found inward every region. Two large areas contain the Assyrian breadbasket: the Arbel acre in addition to the Nineveh plain. To this solar daytime these areas rest critical crop producers. This is from where Assyria derived her strength, every bit it could feed a large population of professionals in addition to craftsman, which allowed it to expand in addition to advance the fine art of civilization.
Racial Type
Assyrians are a Semitic peoples indigenous to Mesopotamia. They are Mediterranean Caucasoids, in addition to are ethnically distinct from Arabs in addition to Jews.
Language
History of Assyrians
It is convenient to dissever Assyrian history into vi periods:
Emergence: beginnings to 2400 B.C.
First Golden Age: 2400 B.C. to 612 B.C.
First Dark Age: 612 B.C. to 33 A.D.
Second Golden Age: 33 A.D. to 1300 A.D.
Second Dark Age: 1300 A.D. to 1918 A.D.
Diaspora: 1918 A.D. to the present:
Emergence: beginnings to 2400 B.C.
In 1932, Sir Max Mallowan, the eminent British archaeologist, dug a deep sounding which reached virgin soil 90 feet below the laissez passer on of the mound of Nineveh; this gave a pottery sequence dorsum to prehistoric times in addition to showed that the site was already inhabited yesteryear 5000 B.C.. Very before long after that, the 2 other non bad Assyrian cities were settled, Ashur in addition to Arbel, although an exact appointment has however to live determined. Arbel is the oldest extant city, in addition to remains largely unexcavated, its archaeological treasures waiting to live discovered. The same holds for Ashur. It is clear that yesteryear 2500 B.C., these iii cities were good established in addition to were thriving metropoli.
This menstruum of history saw the evolution of the fundamentals of our civilization: beast domestication, agriculture, pottery, controllable burn downward (kilns), smelting, to shout out but a few. As regards Assyrians, because of it rich corn fields, Arbel was i of the real earliest permanent agricultural settlements.
Between 4500 in addition to 2400 B.C., complex societies look inward the cast of cities, with arts and crafts specialization in addition to writing. These features were associated with the Sumerians, but they apace spread to other parts of Mesopotamia, including Assyria. In Assyria, settlements had go large in addition to guarded yesteryear fortifications walls, which implies the opportunity of assault from outside, in addition to thus the demand for defense strength in addition to warfare.
First Golden Age: 2400 B.C. to 612 B.C.
We acquire into into an extremely fruitful menstruum inward Assyrian History. This menstruum would regard 1800 years of Assyrian hegemony over Mesopotamia, kickoff with Sargon of Akkad inward 2371 B.C. in addition to ending with the tragic autumn of Nineveh inward 612 B.C.
Sargon of Akkad established his kingdom inward 2371 B.C., becoming the initiatory of all Rex to assert command exterior of his city-state. His model would live followed yesteryear all succeeding empires, downward to our times. From his base of operations at Akkad, due south of Baghdad, Sargon would come upwardly to command territories stretching N to Ashur in addition to due west to the Mediterranean.
Shamshi-Adad I would institute his kingdom inward 1813 B.C. Shamshi-Adad forever united the iii cities of Ashur, Nineveh in addition to Arbel into i cohesive unit, in addition to brought Arrapkha firmly into the Assyrian sphere, so that henceforth these iv cities, in addition to Nimrod, would constitute the real nitty-gritty of Assyria. Under Shamshi-Adad I, the long established Assyrian merchant colonies of Cappadocia saw renewed activity. Shamshi-Adad accomplished this through his administrative efficiency in addition to political skill.
In 1472 B.C. or in that location about, a Mittanian Rex annexed Assyria, in addition to this lasted for nigh seventy years. Mittanian command was decisively thrown off yesteryear nigh 1365 B.C. yesteryear Ashuruballit, who set the foundation of the initiatory of all Assyrian empire. Invaders from the Taurus mountains, N of Assyria, posed a pregnant threat to Assyria, in addition to occupied Arik-den-ili for a position out of years, but were successfully repelled, paving the way for Adad-narari (1307 B.C.) to institute the initiatory of all Assyrian empire, which lasted until closed to 1248 B.C.
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 novel mightiness from south-west Iran, the Elamites, would assert command over Babylon for thirty years. This affected Assyria slightly. The choke of Ashurdan inward 1135 B.C. brough instability every bit his 2 sons vyed for the crown. Their price alone lasted i year, in addition to Ashur-resh-ishi I ascended to the thrown inward 1133 B.C.
The Middle Assyrian empire began inward 1307 B.C. with Tiglath-Pileser, who greatly expanded Assyrian territory. It is also during his reign that a pregnant evolution occurs, that of the Aramean migrations into Assyria. This would receive got a profound impact on Assyria in addition to Assyrians, every bit nosotros shall see. Tiglath-Pileser states "I crossed the Euphrates 20 8 times...in pursuit of the Arameans." This would ultimately evidence unsuccessful.
Tiglath-Pileser was non alone a armed forces man, but also a sportsman. Upon reaching the Mediterranean, he took the time, he tells us, to go dolphin hunting. He also established several zoos inward Assyria, every bit he had a fascination with unusual animals.
The Aramean job persisted during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser's successor in addition to son, Ashur-bel-kala 1074-1057), who tells us that the Arameans were penetrating deep into Assyrian territory, including Tur Abdin, Harran in addition to Khabur. For the adjacent century Assyria declined, the Aramean disruptions beingness the principal cause. It was non until 934 B.C., yesteryear which fourth dimension the Arameans had settled into stable kingdoms inward Mesopotamia, that Assyria would reemerge.
Ashur-dan II would concentrate on rebuilding Assyria inside its natural borders, from Tur Abdin to the foothills beyond Arbel. He built authorities offices inward all provinces, in addition to every bit an economical boost, provided ploughs throughout the land, which yielded tape grain production. He was followed yesteryear iv able kings, who used the foundation which he had set to brand Assyria the major world mightiness of its time.
The iv Kings that followed Ashur-dan II were Adad-nerari II (his son), Tukulti-Ninurta II, Ashur-nasir-pal II, in addition to Shalmaneser III. Adad-nerari would supply the terminal solution to the Aramean problem. He defeated the paramount Aramean principal at Nisibin and, marching upwardly in addition to downward the Khabur, he obtained formal submissions from a serial of Aramean controlled cities.
Ashur-nasir-pal II would choose nether Assyrian command the expanse from due south Lebanese Republic to the Zagros mountains, with liberate command over the Taurus region. Diyarbekr was nether straight Assyrian control.
Skipping ahead to Shamsi-Adad V, in addition to I shout out him because his married adult woman was none other than Sammurammat, or Shamiram, whom so many Assyrian adult woman are named after today. There is a stele nigh her, it says:
Stele of Sammurammat
Queen of Shamshi-Adad
King of all, Rex of Ashur
woman nurture of Adad-nerari
King of all, Rex of Ashur
Daughter-in-law [kalta] of Shalmaneser
King of the iv regions
We come upwardly similar a shot to the kickoff of greatest expansion of the Assyian empire with Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727); through a serial of able kings, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, Ashurbnaipal, Assyria would extend its dominion over a vast area, from Arab Republic of Egypt upwardly to cyprus to the west, through Anatolia, to the Caspian inward the east.
The Assyrian empires, especially the 3rd one, had a profound in addition to lasting impact on the Near East. Before Assyrian hegemony would come upwardly to an end, the Assyrians would choose the highest civilization to the so known world. From the Caspian to Cyprus, from Anatolia to Egypt, Assyrian royal expansion would choose into the Assyrian sphere nomadic in addition to barbaric communities, in addition to would bestow the gift of civilization upon them.
And though today nosotros are far removed from that time, some of our most basic in addition to fundamental devices of daily survival, to which nosotros receive got go so accustomed that nosotros cannot conceive of life without them, originated inward Assyria. One cannot imagine leaving his domicile without locking the door; it is inward Assyria where locks in addition to keys were initiatory of all used. One cannot live inward this world without knowing the time; it is inward Assyria that the sexagesimal organisation of keeping fourth dimension was developed. One cannot imagine driving without paved roads; it is inward Assyria where paved roads were initiatory of all used. And the listing goes on, including the initiatory of all postal system, the initiatory of all job of iron, the initiatory of all magnifying glasses, the initiatory of all libraries, the initiatory of all plumbing in addition to even toilets, the initiatory of all electrical batteries, the initiatory of all guitars, the initiatory of all aqueducts, the initiatory of all arch, in addition to on in addition to on.
But it is non alone things that originated inward Assyria, it is also ideas, ideas that would shape the world to come. It is the idea, for example, of royal administration, of dividing the dry soil into territories administered yesteryear local governors who written report to the key authority, the King of Assyria. This fundamental model of direction has survived to this day, every bit tin live seen inward America's federal-state system.
It is inward Assyria where the mythological foundation of the old in addition to novel will is found. It is hither that the story of the overflowing originates, 2000 years earlier the old will is written. It is hither that the initiatory of all epic is written, the Epic of Gilgamesh, with its universal in addition to timeless subject of the combat in addition to role of humanity. It is hither that civilization itself is developed in addition to handed downward to futurity generations. It is hither where the initiatory of all steps inward the cultural unification of the Middle East are taken yesteryear bringing nether Assyrian dominion the various groups inward the area, from Islamic Republic of Iran to Egypt, breaking downward ethnic in addition to national barriers in addition to preparing the way for the cultural unification which facilitated the subsequent spread of Hellenism, Judaism, Christianity in addition to Islam.
First Dark Age: 612 B.C. to 33 A.D.
The Assyrian empire collapsed inward 612 B.C. The Assyrian people survived the loss of their state, in addition to they remained generally inconspicuous for the adjacent 600 years. The Persians shout out employing Assyrians every bit troops, in addition to in that location is the failed travail at reestablishing an Assyrian Kingdom inward 350 B.C.; the Persians squelched this travail in addition to castrated 400 Assyrian leaders every bit punishment.
Second Golden Age: 33A.D. to 1300 A.D.
Assyrians continued living inward their homeland throughout this nighttime age, until that momentous minute inward human history, when the Lord Son of God gave himself for the salvation of mankind. Very before long after the crucifixion, the mass of the Assyrian population converted to Christianity, although in that location remained to live Ashurites, until 256 A.D. It was the Apostle Thomas, with Thaddeus in addition to Bartholomew who came to the Assyrian metropolis of Edessa in addition to founded the Assyrian Church of the East, the initiatory of all in addition to oldest church building inward the world.
Armed with the give-and-take of God, in addition to after 600 years of dormancy, the Assyrians i time over again set out to construct an empire, non a armed forces empire, but a religious empire founded on divine revelation in addition to Christian brotherhood. So successful was the Assyrian missionary enterprise, yesteryear the terminate of the 12th century the Assyrian Church was larger than the Greek Orthodox in addition to Roman Catholic churches combined, in addition to it spanned the Asian continent, from Syrian Arab Republic to Mongolia, Korea, China, Nihon in addition to the Philippines.
When Marco Polo visited PRC inward the thirteenth century, he was astonished to uncovering Assyrian priests inward the Chinese royal court, in addition to tens of thousands of Chinese Christians. The Assyrian missionaries had reached PRC inward the 6th century. With alone the bible, a cross, in addition to a loaf of staff of life inward hand, these messengers had walked thousands of miles along the old silk route to deliver the give-and-take of God. So successful were the missionaries, when Genghis Khan swept through Asia, he brought with him an regular army over one-half of which belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East. So successful were the missionaries, the initiatory of all Mongolian organisation of writing used the Assyrian alphabet.
Armed with the give-and-take of God, Assyrians i time over again transformed the aspect upwardly of the Middle East. In the fourth, fifth, in addition to 6th centuries they began a systematic translation of the Greek trunk of cognition into Assyrian. At initiatory of all they concentrated on the religious works but so apace moved to science, philosophy in addition to medicine. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, in addition to many others were translated into Assyrian, in addition to from Assyrian into Arabic. It is these Standard Arabic translations which the Moors brought with them into Spain, in addition to which the Spaniards translated into Latin in addition to spread throughout Europe, thus igniting the European renaissance.
By the 6th century A.D., Assyrians had begun exporting dorsum to Byzantia their ain works on science, philosophy in addition to medicine. In the acre of medicine, the Bakhteesho Assyrian theatre unit of measurement produced nine generations of physicians, in addition to founded the non bad medical schoolhouse at Gundeshapur. Also inward the expanse of medicine, Hunayn ibn-Ishaq*s textbook on ophthalmology, written inward 950 A.D., remained the authoritative source on the bailiwick until 1800 A.D.
In the expanse of philosophy, the Assyrian philosopher Job of Edessa developed a physical theory of the universe, inward the Assyrian language, that rivaled Aristotle*s theory, in addition to that sought to replace thing with forces.
One of the greatest Assyrian achievements of the 4th century was the founding of the initiatory of all academy inward the world. The School of Nisibis had iii departments: theology, philosophy in addition to medicine, in addition to became a magnet in addition to see of intellectual evolution inward the Middle East. The statutes of the School of Nisibis, which receive got been preserved, afterwards became the model upon which the initiatory of all Italian academy was based.
When Arabs in addition to Islam swept through the Middle East inward 630 A.D., they encountered 600 years of Assyrian Christian civilization, with a rich heritage, a highly developed culture, in addition to advanced learning institutions. It is this civilization which became the foundation of the Arab civilization.
But this non bad Assyrian Christian civilization would come upwardly to an terminate inward 1300 A.D. The taxation which the Arabs levied on Christians, exactly for exactly beingness Christian, forced many Assyrians to convert to Islam to avoid the tax; this inexorably drained the community, so that yesteryear the fourth dimension Timurlane the Mongol delivered the terminal blow inward 1300 A.D., yesteryear violently destroying most cities inward the Middle East, the Assyrian Christian community had dwindled to its nitty-gritty inward Assyria, in addition to henceforth the Assyrian Church of the East would non regain its quondam glory, in addition to the Assyrian language, which had been the clapper franca of the Middle East until 900 A.D., was completely supplanted yesteryear Standard Arabic (except alongside the Assyrians). This, from 1300 A.D. until World War One, became the 2d Assyrian nighttime age.
Second Dark Age: 1300 A.D. to 1918 A.D.
The Assyrian missionary enterprise, which had been so successful throughout the Asian continent, came to an abrupt terminate with the coming of Timurlane the Mongol. The indiscriminate devastation leveled yesteryear Timurlane against the civilizations he encountered position to a permanent terminate the Assyrian missionary enterprise. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 large segment of the Assyrian population escaped the ravages of Timurlane yesteryear fleeing into the Hakkary mountains (present solar daytime eastern Turkey); the remaining Assyrians continued to alive inward their homelands (presently North Republic of Iraq in addition to Syria), in addition to Urmi. The iv Assyrian communities, over time, get defining themselves inward price of their church building affiliation. The western Assyrians, all of whom belonging to the Syrian Orthodox Church, began identifying themselves every bit "Jacobites". The remaining communities belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East. After the sectionalization of the Church of the East inward 1550 A.D., the Chaldean Church of Babylon, a Roman Catholic Uniate, was created, in addition to members of this church building began to telephone band themselves Chaldean. By the terminate of the nineteenth century, these iii communities no longer saw themselves every bit i in addition to the same.
Diaspora: 1918 A.D. to the present:
In this century, Assyrians receive got suffered massive genocide, receive got lost command of their ancestral lands, in addition to are inward a combat for survival. The Assyrian land today stands at a crossroad. One 3rd of is inward a diaspora, piece the remaining two-thirds lives perilously inward its native lands. These are some of the dangers facing the Assyrians:
Denominationalism in addition to fragmentation
Islamic fundamentalism
Arabization
Cultural immersion in addition to absorption into Arab societies
Mass emigration to the West, in addition to absorption into Western societies
World Assyrian Population
Country▲ Population
Armenia 15000
Australia 30000
Austria 7000
Belgium 15000
Brazil 10000
Canada 23000
Denmark 10000
France 20000
Georgia 15000
Germany 70000
Greece 8000
Iran 50000
Iraq 1500000
Italy 3000
Jordan 44000
Lebanon 100000
Mexico 2000
Netherlands 20000
New Zealand 3000
Russian Federation 70000
Sweden 120000
Switzerland 10000
Syrian Arab Republic 700000
Turkey 24000
United Kingdom/Great Britain 8000
United States 400000
--Other-- 100000
Total 3377000
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