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
Flag
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]
Largest city
Qaraqosh, Iraq
Recognised national languages
Neo-Aramaic
Recognised regional languages
Mesopotamian 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: Bêth 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 and Sumerians, 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,[5][6] 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.[7] They speak Neo-Aramaic languages, most common being Suret and Turoyo.[8]
^The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great By Arther Ferrill – p. 70
^Odisho, Devi (February 12, 2016). "Canada and the Future of Assyria". Foreign Policy Journal. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
^Carl Skutsch (2013). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-135-19388-1.
^Macuch, R. (1987). “ASSYRIANS IN IRAN i. The Assyrian community (Āšūrīān) in Iran.” Encyclopædia Iranica, II/8. pp. 817-822
^"Assyrians: "3,000 Years of History, Yet the Internet is Our Only Home"". www.culturalsurvival.org. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
^"The Issue of An Assyrian Homeland". Seyfocenter. 2020-03-06. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
^For Assyrians as a Christian people, see
Joel J. Elias, The Genetics of Modern Assyrians and their Relationship to Other People of the Middle East
Steven L. Danver, Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues, p. 517
^Y Odisho, George (1998). The sound system of modern Assyrian (Neo-Aramaic). Harrowitz. p. 8. ISBN 3-447-02744-4.
Greeks, and Nabataeans. The ancestral indigenous lands that form the Assyrianhomeland are those of ancient Mesopotamia and the Zab rivers, a region currently...
Assyrian flag (Syriac: ܐܬܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܬܐ ʾāṯā ʾāṯōrāytā or ܐܬܐ ܕܐܬܘܪ ʾāṯā d-ʾāṯōr) is the flag widely used to represent the Assyrian nation in the homeland...
Assyrian independence movement is a political movement and ethno-nationalist desire of ethnic Assyrians to live in their indigenous Assyrianhomeland...
persecution of the Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire, and is today commonly espoused by Assyrians in the Assyrian diaspora and Assyrianhomeland. The Unrepresented...
from the Northern Mesopotamian region, specifically the Assyrianhomeland. Today, their homeland is a part of North Iraq, Southeast Turkey, Northwest Iran...
The culture of the Assyrians is both distinct from those of neighbouring ethnic groups as well as ancient. Many Assyrians (estimates of fluent speakers...
religious traditions, with Assyrians in Iraq, Assyrians in Iran and Assyrians in Syria, as well as with the Assyrian diaspora. Assyrians in such European countries...
emigration" a key part of their identity. Assyrian cuisine Assyrian culture AssyrianhomelandAssyrian music Assyrian struggle for independence History of...
Early Assyrian Period Old Assyrian Period Middle Assyrian Empire Neo-Assyrian Empire Post-imperial Assyria Assyrian language (disambiguation) Assyrian Church...
also known as Chaldeans (ܟܲܠܕܵܝܹ̈ܐ, Kaldāyē), Chaldo-Assyrians or Assyro-Chaldeans, are ethnic Assyrian adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, which originates...
within the Patriarch's own archeparchy. Christianity in Israel AssyrianhomelandAssyrian Jews Jews from Kurdistan Shafrir, Asher (2011). "Ethnic minority...
Many Assyrian leaders advocate an autonomous Assyrianhomeland within the Nineveh Province (mostly in the Nineveh Plains region) for the Assyrian population...
Syria. Syrian-Assyrians are people of Assyrian descent living in Syria, and those in the Assyrian diaspora who are of Syrian-Assyrian heritage. They...
movement'), is an Assyrian political party situated in Iraq, and one of the main Assyrian parties within the Iraqi parliament. The Assyrian Democratic Movement...
have formed militias in the north to protect Assyrian communities, towns and villages in the Assyrianhomeland and Nineveh Plains. Some foreign Christian...
the Assyrian name in the world, to secure the human rights of the Assyrian people in their homeland and to attain an autonomous state in the Assyrian homeland...
indigenous Assyrian communities in the AssyrianHomeland, northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey and northeastern Syria. The indigenous Assyrian people of...
1930s. After the Iraq War in 2003, a number of Assyrians in Baghdad relocated to the Assyrianhomeland in northern Iraq. Many others have immigrated to...
Retrieved 5 January 2017. "NPF: Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people of Iraq liberate their Christian homeland from ISIS". Syriac International News Agency....
region is ethnically diverse, it is considered to be the traditional Assyrianhomeland in addition to Aramaic-speaking Christian descendants of the ancient...
ancient Assyrian history into the Early Assyrian (c. 2600–2025 BC), Old Assyrian (c. 2025–1364 BC), Middle Assyrian (c. 1363–912 BC), Neo-Assyrian (911–609...
Assyrians in the State of Palestine (Arabic: آشُورِيُّون في إسرائيل وفلسطين) are Assyrians living in the State of Palestine, whose number is several thousands...
The Assyrian Church of the East (ACOE), sometimes called the Church of the East and officially known as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of...
Global Information
![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]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Assyria_World_War_1_relief_English.png/250px-Assyria_World_War_1_relief_English.png)
Iraq (Mesopotamia)
Iran (margin in western Urmia Plain)
Syria (Mesopotamia)
Turkey (Mesopotamia)