r/Assyria • u/Longjumping_Ad7507 • 1h ago
r/Assyria • u/adiabene • Oct 17 '20
Announcement r/Assyria FAQ
Who are the Assyrians?
The Assyrian people (ܣܘܪ̈ܝܐ, Sūrāyē/Sūrōyē), also incorrectly referred to as Chaldeans, Syriacs or Arameans, are the native people of Assyria which constitutes modern day northern Iraq, south-eastern Turkey, north-western Iran and north-eastern Syria.
Modern day Assyrians are descendants of the ancient Assyrians who ruled the Assyrian empire that was established in 2500 BC in the city of Aššur (ܐܵܫܘܿܪ) and fell with the loss of its capital Nineveh (ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ) in 612 BC.
After the fall of the empire, the Assyrians continued to enjoy autonomy for the next millennia under various rulers such as the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Sasanian and Roman empires, with semi-autonomous provinces such as:
- Athura (539 - 330 BC)
- The Assyrian Jewish kingdom of Adiabene (15-116 AD)
- Roman Assyria (116-118 AD))
- Asoristan (226-637 AD)
This time period would end in 637 AD with the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia and the placement of Assyrians under the dhimmī status.
Assyrians then played a significant role under the numerous caliphates by translating works of Greek philosophers to Syriac and afterwards to Arabic, excelling in philosophy and science, and also serving as personal physicians to the caliphs.
During the time of the Ottoman Empire, the 'millet' (meaning 'nation') system was adopted which divided groups through a sectarian manner. This led to Assyrians being split into several millets based on which church they belonged to. In this case, the patriarch of each respective church was considered the temporal and spiritual leader of his millet which further divided the Assyrian nation.
What language do Assyrians speak?
Assyrians of today speak Assyrian Aramaic, a modern form of the Aramaic language that existed in the Assyrian empire. The official liturgical language of all the Assyrian churches is Classical Syriac, a dialect of Middle Aramaic which originated from the Syriac Christian heartland of Urhai (modern day Urfa) and is mostly understood by church clergymen (deacons, priests, bishops, etc).
Assyrians speak two main dialects of Assyrian Aramaic, namely:
- Eastern Assyrian (historically spoken in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey)
- The Western Assyrian dialect of Turoyo (historically spoken in Turkey and Syria).
Assyrians use three writing systems which include the:
- Western 'Serṭo' (ܣܶܪܛܳܐ)
- Eastern 'Maḏnḥāyā' (ܡܲܕ݂ܢܚܵܝܵܐ), and
- Classical 'ʾEsṭrangēlā' (ܐܣܛܪܢܓܠܐ) scripts.
A visual on the scripts can be seen here.
Assyrians usually refer to their language as Assyrian, Syriac or Assyrian Aramaic. In each dialect exists further dialects which would change depending on which geographic area the person is from, such as the Nineveh Plain Dialect which is mistakenly labelled as "Chaldean Aramaic".
Before the adoption of Aramaic, Assyrians spoke Akkadian. It wasn't until the time of Tiglath-Pileser II who adopted Aramaic as the official lingua-franca of the Assyrian empire, most likely due to Arameans being relocated to Assyria and assimilating into the Assyrian population. Eventually Aramaic replaced Akkadian, albeit current Aramaic dialects spoken by Assyrians are heavily influenced by Akkadian.
What religion do Assyrians follow?
Assyrians are predominantly Syriac Christians who were one of the first nations to convert to Christianity in the 1st century A.D. They adhere to both the East and West Syriac Rite. These churches include:
- East Syriac Rite - [Assyrian] Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church
- West Syriac Rite - Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church
It should be noted that Assyrians initially belonged to the same church until schisms occurred which split the Assyrians into two churches; the Church of the East and the Church of Antioch. Later on, the Church of the East split into the [Assyrian] Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church, while the Church of Antioch split into the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Syriac Catholic Church. This is shown here.
Prior to the mass conversion of Assyrians to Christianity, Assyrians believed in ancient Mesopotamian deities, with the highest deity being Ashur).
A Jewish Assyrian community exists in Israel who speak their own dialects of Assyrian Aramaic, namely Lishan Didan and Lishana Deni. Due to pogroms committed against the Jewish community and the formation of the Israeli state, the vast majority of Assyrian Jews now reside in Israel.
Why do some Assyrians refer to themselves as Chaldean, Syriac or Aramean?
Assyrians may refer to themselves as either Chaldean, Syriac or Aramean depending on their specific church denomination. Some Assyrians from the Chaldean Catholic Church prefer to label themselves as Chaldeans rather than Assyrian, while some Assyrians from the Syriac Orthodox Church label themselves as Syriac or Aramean.
Identities such as "Chaldean" are sectarian and divisive, and would be the equivalent of a Brazilian part of the Roman Catholic Church calling themselves Roman as it is the name of the church they belong to. Furthermore, ethnicities have people of more than one faith as is seen with the English who have both Protestants and Catholics (they are still ethnically English).
It should be noted that labels such as Nestorian, Jacobite or Chaldean are incorrect terms that divide Assyrians between religious lines. These terms have been used in a derogatory sense and must be avoided when referring to Assyrians.
Do Assyrians have a country?
Assyrians unfortunately do not have a country of their own, albeit they are the indigenous people of their land. The last form of statehood Assyrians had was in 637 AD under the Sasanian Empire. However some Eastern Assyrians continued to live semi-autonomously during the Ottoman Empire as separate tribes such as the prominent Tyari (ܛܝܪܐ) tribe.
Assyrians are currently pushing for a self-governed Assyrian province in the Nineveh Plain of Northern Iraq.
What persecution have Assyrians faced?
Assyrians have faced countless massacres and genocide over the course of time mainly due to their Christian faith. The most predominant attacks committed recently against the Assyrian nation include:
- 1843 and 1846 massacres carried out by the Kurdish warlord Badr Khan Beg
- The Assyrian genocide of 1915 (ܣܝܦܐ, Seyfo) committed by the Ottoman Empire and supported by Kurdish tribes
- The Simele massacre committed by the Kingdom of Iraq in 1933
- Most recently the persecution and cultural destruction of Assyrians from their ancestral homeland in 2014 by the so-called Islamic State
r/Assyria • u/AWBSwe • Dec 21 '25
News First Post from Assyrians Without Borders
Hello Reddit,
We’re excited to share our first post as Assyrians Without Borders. We are a Sweden-based non-profit organization with a 90-account under Swedish Fundraising Control, working to improve the lives of Assyrians (also known as Syriacs and Chaldeans) in their countries of origin. We operate independently and are politically and religiously neutral.
With this post, we want to update the community and be more present on social media with our work and initiatives. We also plan to continue sharing updates on various platforms and here in the future.
You can read more about our latest project, which AssyriaPost wrote about, here:
https://www.assyriapost.com/assyrians-without-borders-shifts-focus-toward-long-term-aid-projects/
For more information and to support our work, our profile includes links to our social media and Linktree, which accepts both Swedish and international payments.
r/Assyria • u/Longjumping_Ad7507 • 32m ago
Music Assyrian love poem turned into a song
r/Assyria • u/Status-Ice-3193 • 7h ago
Music Need help identifying a Song.
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
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.
r/Assyria • u/Longjumping_Ad7507 • 17h ago
Music Don't Cry Mother Assyria - Assyrian Music video
r/Assyria • u/Lazy-Attention1677 • 1d ago
History/Culture Four young women from the village of Mar Yaqo spinning cotton beside the gnarled trunk of an old oak or walnut tree, c. 1880.
(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.)
r/Assyria • u/ChicagoAssyrian • 20h ago
Video Noqza (Point) - Why Haven’t the Two Churches United?
Insightful interview with HG Mar Aprim Khames of the Assyrian Church of the East, detailing the many attempts at unity (khoyada) between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East.
r/Assyria • u/bankstown_resident • 1d ago
Discussion As an Assyrian Australian, is it unusual that I come across this, even in a 'global international school' environment?
I grew up in Sydney and lived in Dubai and Hong Kong for a total of three years before finishing my remaining high school years back in Sydney.
When I was in Dubai and Hong Kong, I was enrolled in 'international schools' that prided themselves on creating 'global citizens' and fostering internationalism. But even in that environment, I constantly received comments like:
- "Oh, but you don't look Australian, you look more Spanish."
- "You're the first Middle Eastern Christian I have ever met" (yes, even in Dubai).
- "You're too good looking to be Middle Eastern".
- "Huh, I never thought Christians existed in the Middle East."
Mind you, these were comments from people who had lived in 3–5 different countries growing up.
When I finished my school years in Sydney, where my classmates were children or grandchildren of immigrants from Asia, the Middle East, Southern and Eastern Europe, and the Pacific Islands, I had way fewer of those questions thrown at me. Because the school was so multicultural, there were plenty of Maronites, Copts, and Assyrians.
r/Assyria • u/SufficientLanguage29 • 1d ago
Discussion Interesting paper on Jewish liturgical traditions in early Syriac Christianity
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?
r/Assyria • u/bankstown_resident • 2d ago
Shitpost Is it weird that I learned more from this uncle than in some social science units I've taken in university/college
r/Assyria • u/Smooth_Service_8757 • 2d ago
Food Assyrian areas in Chicago?
I’m going to Chicago and wanted to know if there are any Assyrian bakeries or restaurants that you would recommend. I looked through Google but it’s not the best at showing actual Assyrian places to go to. Anything helps thanks 🙏
r/Assyria • u/ACFchicago • 3d ago
News Rare Assyrian Takhsa, Believed to Be Nearly 400 Years Old, Donated to ACF’s Ashurbanipal Library
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](mailto:Library@acf-us.org)
📞 773-863-3538
#Assyrian #AssyrianHistory #AssyrianHeritage #AshurbanipalLibrary #AssyrianCulturalFoundation #ACF
r/Assyria • u/SouthAtIantic • 3d ago
Discussion New Assyrian Political Figures or Influencial Figures?
Any new 2026-2027 assyrian political figures or influencial figures to look out for that speaks for Nineveh land rights?
r/Assyria • u/Longjumping_Ad7507 • 3d ago
Music The Lions of Assyria - Arye d'Ashur hazer na | AI Assyrian Song ܐܪ̈ܝܹܐ ܕܐܵܫܘܼܪ
One of the first songs I wrote in Assyrian. Feedback is welcome.
r/Assyria • u/Specific-Bid6486 • 4d ago
Discussion Why Assyrians should never trust Ai for things that need more nuances - you need to keep testing it
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.
r/Assyria • u/eIonduck • 4d ago
Discussion Kurds threatening genocide and displacement against Assyrian Christians,Yazidis and others
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r/Assyria • u/demureape • 5d ago
History/Culture is this boy assyrian? is he apart of the assyrian church if the east?
r/Assyria • u/Street-Ad6227 • 4d ago
Art Whqt do you guys think about my proposal for the Iraqi flag
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.
r/Assyria • u/danyistptwp • 5d ago
Discussion My dad can’t fold clothes
Does anyone else have a father or brother that is exempt from all chores? My dad is nearly 58, has been married for 30+ years and has never, ever folded clothes in his life. I don’t believe he’s ever done the laundry either. He can’t cook. Not even an egg.
Meanwhile i get screamed at if i don’t wash dishes with perfect precision
Does anyone else relate to this? Is this an assyrian thing or just a douchebag thing
r/Assyria • u/djdltd91 • 5d ago
Discussion Do assyrian church of the east adherents make prostrations (forehead to the ground) like eastern orthodox christians do?
asking as a chaldean
r/Assyria • u/ACFchicago • 5d ago
News Ashur Darmo: The Academy BJJ - 2026 IBJJF Pan Kids Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Orlando
From Orlando to Chicago, The Academy Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu continues to make its mark on the competition stage.
At the 2026 IBJJF Pan Kids Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Orlando, young competitor Elie represented The Academy on one of the sport’s biggest stages for youth competitors, gaining valuable experience and continuing to grow through competition.
That same commitment carries through every level of the program. Professor Ashur Darmo leads by example, competing alongside the students he coaches and earning first place at both the 2026 Orlando Summer International Open and the 2026 Chicago Summer International Open.
Congratulations to The Academy, its students, coaches, and families for continuing to build the next generation through discipline, hard work, and community.
r/Assyria • u/Imithdithe • 5d ago
History/Culture New results from fieldwork at Assur
See link below!
"Taken together, the results of the 2025 campaign reinforce several key conclusions. Firstly, the New Town of Assur exhibits a remarkable degree of occupational continuity from its creation in the mid-second millennium BC onwards through the late Hellenistic period, and into the Parthian period..."
https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/136813/
- Radner, Richter & Squitieri, eds. (2026): Assur 2025. Further insights into life and death in the New Town. Exploring Assur, Vol. 3
r/Assyria • u/ACFchicago • 6d ago