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|poptime= 1.5 million (est)
|popplace=
[[Iraq]] <br> 800,000 (
[[Syria]] <br> 500,000 (
[[United States]] <br>
[[Sweden]] <br> 35,000 [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=SE est] </br>
[[Germany]] <br> 23,000 [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=DE est]</br>
[[Australia]] <br>
[[Russia]] <br> 14,000 ([http://www.eastview.com/census_2002/1_7_eng.pdf 2002 census])<br />
[[Iran]] <br> 10,000 (est) <br />
[[Canada]] <br>
[[Lebanon]] <br> 5,000 (est) <br />
[[Turkey]] <br> 5,000 (est) <br />
[[Netherlands]] <br> 5,000 [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=NL est]</br>
[[United Kingdom]] <br> 5,000 [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=GB est]</br>
[[
[[
[[Ukraine]]: <br> 3,
[[Greece]] <br> 2,000 [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=GR est]<br />
[[New Zealand]] <br> 1,
|langs=
|rels=[[Christianity]] ([[#Religious denominations|various Eastern denominations]])
|related= [[Semitic|other Semites]], [[Armenians
}}
{{otheruses4|the people variously identified as Aramaean, Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac|other uses of the name "Assyrian"|Assyrian}}
'''
Estimated about 1
▲Estimated about 1,5 million people they are speakers of various neo-[[Aramaic]] languages and adhere to [[Christianty]].
==Identity==
During the [[1st century|first century AD]], [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] was spoken throughout much of the [[Middle East]] by Christians, [[Jew]]s and followers of various [[paganism|pagan religions]]. However, communities separated by religion and geographical distance spoke quite different varieties of Aramaic, and intelligibility between them was in places low. The other main language of the region was [[Koine Greek]], which was spoken in the upper echelons of society and in the major urban centres of the [[Levant]]. The establishment of churches in urban centres in the Levant, [[Asia Minor]] and [[Greece]] led to Greek becoming the dominant language of the early church. However, the Christian faith also spread rapidly among the Aramaic-speaking peoples in the smaller towns and farther east. Early writings employ the name ''Armāyē'' (<span dir="rtl" lang="syr">ܐܖ̈ܡܝܐ</span>). However, Greek texts (including the Jewish [[Books of the Maccabees]]) referred to the language as ''Syriakos'' (Συριακός), and its speakers as ''Syriakoi'' (Συριακοί, probably based on ''[[Assyria]]''). Relatively early on in the development of the Aramaic-speaking church, the name Armāyē was abandoned in favour of the Aramaicised Greek name, ''Suryāyē'' (<span dir="rtl" lang="syr">ܣܘܖ̈ܝܝܐ</span>).
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Christian Assyrian writers have attested to this fact. The term Syrian later was applied by the Greeks to the the Assryians of Mesopotamia and the people west of Euphrates, because that region did not have a specific national identity but was part of the Assyrians empire. There is no reason to believe that it meant Aramean, because the inhabitants of the what became Syria during the first century AD were Greeks, Romans, Arameans, Hitites, Assyrians and people of other nationalities, Therefore the term Suraya and Syrian did not mean Christian or Aramean because it had been in used since sixth century B.C to mean Assyrian whom the Old Testament writers considered pagan. In facts the Arameans are praised in the Old Testament because Abraham the father of the Jewish religion and later Christianity was said to have been Aramean. The Aramaic language promoted by the Ancient Assyrians as an international language of communication was spoken by many nations who were not Aramean. Because the Aramaic speakers took pride in the fact that Christ spoke their language indicates that Aramean and Aramaic was not considered as Pagan by the early Christians. Christians who lived in Mesopotamia considered themselves Assyrians after Christianity as they had done before. For referrences to the Assyrians before and afer Christianity see [http://christiansofiraq.com/facts.html Facts about Assyrians]
Occasionally, the designation ''Syrians'' is used in the same manner, but this can lead to confusion with the modern nation-state of [[Syria]] and its inhabitants, some of whom are Syriacs, but the majority of whom are not. In the [[Middle Ages]], Syriac scholars, particularly West Syriacs, revived the use of the designation ''Armāyē'' with a new vocalisation based on the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''{{unicode|Ărāmîṯ}}'', producing ''Ārāmāyē'' (<span dir="rtl" lang="syr">ܐܖ̈ܡܝܐ</span>, pronounced ''Oromoye'' by West Syriacs). This designation is, and was, used often to refer to a far larger group of people, and often including the [[Maronite]] Catholics, [[Melkite]] Greek Catholics and the [[Antiochian Orthodox Church|Antiochian Orthodox]]''. It often pertained to the Aramaic language which they had in common, just as the nations of Europe, who speak Latin related languages, at times have been called Latin.
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==Self-identifications==
[[Image:Syriac aramaeac flag.jpg|thumb|125ppx|Flag of the Aramaeans]]▼
;Aramaean ''(ܐܖ̈ܡܝܐ Ārāmāyē)''▼
:Throughout the history of the Syriac Christians, there have been references to their [[Aramaean]] heritage in Syriac literature, both in the West Syrian and in the East Syrian traditions.<ref>[http://www.aramnaharaim.org/]</ref>. Since Christianization, ''Oromoyo/Ārāmāyā'' began to bear the connotation "pagan", whereas ''Suryoyo/Suryāyā'' (literally "Syrian") was used to refer only to the Christianized Aramaeans. More recently, in reaction to Syriac Christians calling themselves "Assyrians", there has been an awakening of the self-appellation "Aramaean", especially among Syriacs in the diaspora, but to a growing extent also in Turkey, and among some [[Maronites]] in Lebanon. In [[Germany]], for instance, the name ''Aramäer'' has come into use quite extensively to refer to Syriacs primarily from the West Syrian tradition. ▼
[[Image:FlagofAssyria.png|thumb|125ppx|The [[Assyrian flag]]]]
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Because Assyrians have not had a sovereign state after the fall of their empire to unite and give them international recognition they have been primarily recognized by the names of their religious denominations. Members of the Syrian Orthodox Church have considered themselves as Assyrians according to the Syriac and other sources. The Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Michael the Great (1126-99) wrote: In the first half of the 9th century "the Greeks were offending the Jacobites by saying: 'Your Syrian sect has no importance neither honor, and you did never have a kingdom, neither an honorable king'. the Jacobites answered them by Saying that even if their name is "Syrian", but they are originally "Assyrians" and they have had many honorable kings... from Assyria, Babylon and Urhay." [[History of Mikhael The Great" Chabot Edition (French) P: 750) as quoted by Addai Scher, Hestorie De La Chaldee Et De "Assyrie"]] However the Syrian Orthodox Church patriarch Aphrem Barsoum who in 1920 represented his people as Assyrians in the 'League of Nations’ peace conference', for religious and political reasons, in 1952, ordered his people to be known as Arameans . While a segment of his followers abided by such decree the rest continued to identify themselves as Assyrians. See; [http://christiansofiraq.com/joseph/reply2.html Aphrem barsoum]
▲[[Image:Syriac aramaeac flag.jpg|thumb|125ppx|Flag of the Aramaeans]]
▲;Aramaean ''(ܐܖ̈ܡܝܐ Ārāmāyē)''
▲:Throughout the history of the Syriac Christians, there have been references to their [[Aramaean]] heritage in Syriac literature, both in the West Syrian and in the East Syrian traditions.<ref>[http://www.aramnaharaim.org/]</ref>. Since Christianization, ''Oromoyo/Ārāmāyā'' began to bear the connotation "pagan", whereas ''Suryoyo/Suryāyā'' (literally "Syrian") was used to refer only to the Christianized Aramaeans. More recently, in reaction to Syriac Christians calling themselves "Assyrians", there has been an awakening of the self-appellation "Aramaean", especially among Syriacs in the diaspora, but to a growing extent also in Turkey, and among some [[Maronites]] in Lebanon. In [[Germany]], for instance, the name ''Aramäer'' has come into use quite extensively to refer to Syriacs primarily from the West Syrian tradition.
;Chaldean ''(ܟܠܕ̈ܝܐ Kaldāyē)''
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==Languages==
The various groups and religious communities included under the Assyrians umbrella-ethnonym usually speak various Neo-Aramaic languages, including [[Assyrian Neo-Aramaic]] (Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey) and [[Chaldean Neo-Aramaic]] (Iraq), which belong to the Eastern Aramaic branch of the [[Afro-Asiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic]] family. These dialects are the contemporary remnants of the classical Aramaic language, a Semitic language related to [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] whose vocabulary includes many words borrowed from
Beside local Neo-Aramaic vernacular forms, there is a literary language, based primarily on the dialect used in the [[Urmia]] district of northwestern Iran. It uses the [[Syriac alphabet]] in its Eastern variety, revived by [[Europe]]ean missionaries in the first half of the 19th century. It is in this [[alphabet]] and language, Eastern Neo-Aramaic, that the first newspaper in all of Iran was printed ([[1849]]–[[1918]]). When [[United States|American]] missionaries first arrived in Urmia, among 125,000 Aramaic-speaking inhabitants, only 40 men and one woman (sister of the Patriarch) could read and write. By the [[1890s]], the Assyrians had made such progress in education that most of the dozens of villages in the Urmia area had primary schools, and some had secondary schools as well. Although attempts to create a literary form for Eastern Aramaic probably date back to the [[17th century]] (with the priests of the school of [[Alqosh]]), the Americans and their local advisors in Urmia can fairly be credited for laying the foundations of what is now called Neo-Aramaic [[Koine]] or [[Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache|Dachsprache]].
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Similar disagreements over language and unity exist among many minorities in the Middle East that have had no state structure. Assyrians have managed to preserve Aramaic for more than two thousand years without any state backing. The cultural heritage and the language may help to preserve the community.
==Assyrian music==
:''main article: [[Assyrian music]]''
Assyrian music is divided into three main periods: the ancient period that is of (Ur, Babylon and Nineveh), the middle period (or tribal and folkloric period) and the modern period.
==Religious denominations==
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There are no (known) Assyrian [[Muslim]]s, but Arabic-speaking Muslims locally named ''Mhalmoye'' in [[Tur Abdin]] seem to be converts to Islam from the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]] in the [[16th century]] (compare with [[Hamshenis]], [[Greek-speaking Muslims]], [[Pomaks]], [[Torbesh]], [[Gorani (Kosovo)|Gorani]], etc.). They would have kept many customs from the period in which they were Christian, without being aware of their origins: the [[Christian cross|Cross]] frequently finds itself in their work, but is thought of as a decoration based on a flower.<ref>Voice of Tur Abdin No. 16, quoted in [http://sor.cua.edu/Pub/StephenGriffith/VisitSETurkeyOct1999.html Stephen Griffith, A Fourth Visit to Tur Abdin and SE Turkey - A Short Report of a Visit between 24th and 28th October 1999], [http://sor.cua.edu Syriac Orthodox Resources]</ref> <ref>[http://sor.cua.edu/Pub/StephenGriffith/VisitSETurkeyMay2001.html Stephen Griffith, Tur Abdin - A Report of a Visit to S.E. Turkey in May 2001], [http://sor.cua.edu Syriac Orthodox Resources]</ref> A Swedish Assyrian website names four other ethnic groups whom it considers as "Assyrian Muslims": Barzanoye (the [[Barzani]] Kurdish clan), Tagritoye, Taye (the [[Tay]] tribal confederation), and Shammor (the [[Shammar]] tribal confederation).<ref>http://ornina.org/assa/verk97/verk97.htm Assyriska sällskapet förstudenter och akademiker (ASSA), VERKSAMHETSBERÄTTELSE 1997</ref> <ref>Denho Özmen, ''Shaikh fathullah. The Assyrian "modern" identity'', Hujådå, autumn 1997</ref>
==See also==
* [[Assyria]]
▲* [[Assyrian cuisine]]
* [[Assyrian flag]]
* [[Assyrian Independence]]
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* [[KBSV]] (Assyrian TV station)
* [[Assyriology]]
* [[List of Assyrians]]
* [[Mesopotamian religion]] (ancient)
* [[Akkadian language]] (ancient)
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==External links==
===Publication links===
* [http://www.edennaby.com/Publications/publications.htm Assyrians: The Continuous Saga by Frederick A. Aprim]
* [http://www.edennaby.com/Publications/publications.htm Dr. Eden Naby's publications]
*[http://www.thecrimsonfield.com Rosie Malek-Yonan's The Crimson Field]
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