Assyrian homeland

This article is about the modern region. For the ancient inhabited settlements, see List of Assyrian tribes.
For the ancient empire, see Assyria. For other uses, see Assyria (disambiguation).
Assyria
ܐܬܘܪ (Classical Syriac)
Āṯōr
Star of Shamash of Assyria
Star of Shamash
The Assyrian Triangle had the greatest concentration of indigenous Assyrians in both their native land and the world prior to the 2014 invasion of Iraq by ISIS,[1] and was the proposed borders for an autonomous Assyrian state following World War I.[2]
The Assyrian Triangle had the greatest concentration of indigenous Assyrians in both their native land and the world prior to the 2014 invasion of Iraq by ISIS,[1] and was the proposed borders for an autonomous Assyrian state following World War I.[2]
Largest cityQaraqosh, Iraq
Official languages
Recognised national languagesNeo-Aramaic
Recognised regional languagesMesopotamian Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and Persian.
Ethnic groups
Assyrian people (historical majority)
Religion
Syriac Christianity
Demonym(s)Assyrian
Syrian, Syriac (historically)
Today part of Iraq (Mesopotamia)
 Iran (margin in western Urmia Plain)
 Syria (Mesopotamia)
 Turkey (Mesopotamia)

The Assyrian homeland, Assyria (Classical Syriac: ܐܬܘܪ, romanized: Āṯōr or Classical Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, romanized: Bêṯ Nahrin), refers to the homeland of the Assyrian people within which Assyrian civilisation developed, located in their indigenous Upper Mesopotamia. The territory that forms the Assyrian homeland is, similarly to the rest of Mesopotamia, currently divided between present-day Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria.[3] In Iran, the Urmia Plain forms a thin margin of the ancestral Assyrian homeland in the north-west, and the only section of the Assyrian homeland beyond the Mesopotamian region. The majority of Assyrians in Iran currently reside in the capital city, Tehran.[4]

The Assyrians are indigenous Mesopotamians, descended from the Akkadians, Sumerians and Hurrians[5][6][7] who developed independent civilisation in the city of Assur on the eastern border of northern Mesopotamia. The territory that would encompass the Assyrian homeland was divided through the centre by the Tigris River, with their indigenous Mesopotamia on the west and western margins of the Urmia Plains, which they occupied in 2000 BCE prior to the arrival of the modern Iranians, to the east. In modern times, Assyrians largely only recognise Assyrian towns and cities immediately neighbouring the Tigris to the east as their indigenous territory, in addition to Mesopotamia,[8][9] with the homeland only expanding beyond the borders due to the major centres of Assyrian civilisation, such as the cities of Nineveh, Assur and Nimrud, being built on the banks of the Tigris itself.

Modern Assyrians are predominantly Christian, mostly adhering to the East and West Syriac liturgical rites of Christianity.[10] They speak Neo-Aramaic languages, most common being Suret and Turoyo.[11]

  1. ^ The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great By Arther Ferrill – p. 70
  2. ^ Odisho, Devi (February 12, 2016). "Canada and the Future of Assyria". Foreign Policy Journal. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  3. ^ Carl Skutsch (2013). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-135-19388-1.
  4. ^ Macuch, R. (1987). “ASSYRIANS IN IRAN i. The Assyrian community (Āšūrīān) in Iran.” Encyclopædia Iranica, II/8. pp. 817-822
  5. ^ 2000, p. 58
  6. ^ p. 32
  7. ^ p.
  8. ^ "Assyrians: "3,000 Years of History, Yet the Internet is Our Only Home"". www.culturalsurvival.org. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  9. ^ "The Issue of An Assyrian Homeland". Seyfocenter. 2020-03-06. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  10. ^ For Assyrians as a Christian people, see
  11. ^ Y Odisho, George (1998). The sound system of modern Assyrian (Neo-Aramaic). Harrowitz. p. 8. ISBN 3-447-02744-4.