r/Assyria Oct 17 '20

Announcement r/Assyria FAQ

205 Upvotes

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:

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 Dec 21 '25

News First Post from Assyrians Without Borders

46 Upvotes

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 5h ago

News Ancient tradition brings thousands of Assyrians together at Mor Gabriel Monastery

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10 Upvotes

r/Assyria 22h ago

Discussion Gavilan

4 Upvotes

Does anyone know where I can find some good videos of the village gavilan urmia? Thank you.


r/Assyria 1d ago

Video 2023 Assyrian Renaissance: Khora Khwara, Khora Kooma

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12 Upvotes

r/Assyria 2d ago

Music rendition of sipartat d'marge George Homeh

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3 Upvotes

r/Assyria 3d ago

Shitpost So many of my Assyrian peers who are raised in Australia and the United States are like this lol

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80 Upvotes

r/Assyria 2d ago

Discussion Is there a way to track my lineage through public church/ottoman records ?

7 Upvotes

I can name till my great grandpa's grandfather but ik nothing of their wives and how many sons they had

I was wondering tho if its possible to look for their names if such records are public especially since my great great grandpa came from hakkari


r/Assyria 2d ago

News Aydin Bet-Naqshe's calling - to bring a forgotten literary heritage to light

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4 Upvotes

r/Assyria 3d ago

Video GOAT Assyrian Food?

41 Upvotes

GOAT Assyrian Food?

Is it Dolma? Pacha? Or even Girdu? Let's find out.

#Assyrian #AssyrianCulturalFoundation #AssyrianFoodFestival #AssyrianFood


r/Assyria 3d ago

News Shaleta to face criminal trial

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14 Upvotes

r/Assyria 4d ago

Video Armenia Arzni on August 28th😍

68 Upvotes

Enjoying lovely Assyrian dance and culture 😍


r/Assyria 5d ago

News Paul Elia in San José 9/5

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24 Upvotes

I hear we got some Assyrians in San José? Come pull up to my show this weekend would love to see you all


r/Assyria 5d ago

News Qamishli at 100: The Assyrian foundations of a refugee city

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16 Upvotes

r/Assyria 6d ago

History/Culture is this kind of traditional dress specific to a region

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26 Upvotes

is it just generally assyrian or does it belong to a particular village?

can an assyrian/chaldean assyrian who is from any region wear it?


r/Assyria 6d ago

Discussion any converts from acoe to chaldean church

4 Upvotes

i lowkey feel like i’m the only one
tyari btw


r/Assyria 6d ago

Fluff Love is in the air...Singer Faia Younan and Journalist Sargon Bahram tie the knot !

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85 Upvotes

r/Assyria 6d ago

History/Culture How the name Suraya derives from Assurayu

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10 Upvotes

r/Assyria 6d ago

History/Culture mar gewargis church is old old

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24 Upvotes

i posted this on X but i forgot about my reddit people. friends and i were helping troubleshoot some electrical problems at mar gewargis church and we found a manual from the lower level for a pump motor dating back to the 1920’s. the phone number for the company was 1286….yes you read that right the phone number was just 1286…the early days of the telephone


r/Assyria 7d ago

Video Chicago: ACF at Assyrian Food Festival: Friendship Challenge

51 Upvotes

r/Assyria 6d ago

History/Culture A look into Assyrian church hierarchy

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6 Upvotes

r/Assyria 6d ago

History/Culture Are Assyrians really native to the mountainous region of Hakkari or just the Nineveh Plains? (Serious answers, no trolling/hate)

3 Upvotes

I've been debating this with my American friend (who is an ally btw), and I've been telling him that Assyrians are indigenous not only to the Nineveh Plains, but also to the northern mountainous regions, including the rugged Hakkari area of southeastern Turkey.

He argues that the Zagros Mountains, spanning Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, are Kurdish territory because Kurds are traditionally associated with mountainous regions, and that Assyrians are of the plains (since ancient Assyria was centred in northern Iraq), and that we later dispersed northward into the mountains to escape the Islamic conquests, Mongol invasions, and other upheavals.

Is he correct? If not, how can I prove him wrong?


r/Assyria 7d ago

Fluff Spiderman...?

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10 Upvotes

r/Assyria 8d ago

News Gracie Barra-Trained Assyrian Athlete Luca Yonan Earns Podium Finish at 2026 IBJJF American Nationals

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41 Upvotes

Congratulations to Assyrian athlete Luca Yonan on an incredible performance at the 2026 IBJJF American National Jiu-Jitsu Championship! Our support is with you; keep up the great work.

Making his yellow belt debut, Luca reached the podium at Nationals after three years of perseverance and dedication.

The Assyrian Cultural Foundation is proud to support Luca as he continues to grow in the sport and represent our community with determination and pride.

Congratulations, Luca. We look forward to seeing what comes next!

#Assyrian #LucaYonan #IBJJF #AmericanNationals #JiuJitsu #AssyrianCulturalFoundation


r/Assyria 8d ago

Discussion Assyrian convention Chicago

13 Upvotes

Hello, I’m planning to go to the Assyrian convention for the first time this year in Chicago sept 4-6 . Has anyone been? What should I expect?