#assyrians

[aqlstar]

@unsolicited-opinions

Realizing I didn't answer why the context matters-

A white christian swedish man burning the Quran to express his hatred of it is presumably motivated by the desire to maintain the status quo/protest equal treatment of other religions.

An Assyrian man burning a Quran is an expression of defiance. He said- look at me: for over a thousand years you have tried to make people like me be respectful of this book, on pain of death. Now I am in Sweden, where I am free to tell you exactly what I think of this book by setting it on fire, and you can't stop me.

And then Sweden proved him wrong.

Sweden said: actually, no- no matter where you go in this world, you will never be equal to a Muslim.

[nanshe-of-nina]

Favorite History Books || Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire by Eckart Frahm ★★★★☆

… This birth of Assyria in the proper sense of the term— its emergence as a land that included great cities such as Nineveh, Calah, and Arbela, and soon others much farther away— marked the beginning of a new era: the Middle Assyrian period. Now a full-fledged monarchy, Assyrians started to see their land as a peer of the most powerful states of the time, from Babylonia in the south to Egypt in the west. During the eleventh century BCE, the Assyrian kingdom experienced a new crisis, this one caused by climate change, migrations, and internal tensions. It lost most of its provinces, especially in the west. But when the dust settled, it managed to rise from the ashes faster than any of the other states in the region. A number of energetic and ruthless Assyrian rulers of the Neo-Assyrian period (ca. 934– 612 BCE) took advantage of the weakness of their political rivals, embarking on a systematic campaign of subjugation, destruction, and annexation. Their efforts, initially aimed at the reconquest of areas that had been under Assyrian rule before and then moving farther afield, were carried out with unsparing and often violent determination, cruelly epitomized in an aphoristic statement found in another of Esarhaddon’s inscriptions: “Before me, cities, behind me, ruins.” . . . During the last years of Esarhaddon’s reign, Assyria ruled over a territory that reached from northeastern Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean to Western Iran, and from Anatolia in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south. Parks with exotic plants lined Assyrian palaces, newly created universal libraries were the pride of Assyrian kings, and an ethnically diverse mix of people from dozens of foreign lands moved about the streets of Assyrian cities such as Nineveh and Calah. Yet it was not to last. Only half a century after Esarhaddon’s reign, the Assyrian state suffered a dramatic collapse, culminating in the conquest and destruction of Nineveh in 612 BCE. Assyria’s fall occurred long before some better- known empires of the ancient world were founded: the Persian Empire, established in 539 BCE by Cyrus II; Alexander the Great’s fourth-century BCE Greco-Asian Empire and its successor states; the third-century BCE empires created by the Indian ruler, Ashoka and the Chinese empero, Qin Shi Huang; and the most prominent and influential of these, the Roman Empire, whose beginnings lay in the first century BCE. The Assyrian kingdom may not have the same name recognition. But for more than one hundred years, from about 730 to 620 BCE, it had been a political body so large and so powerful that it can rightly be called the world’s first empire. And so Assyria matters. “World history” does not begin with the Greeks or the Romans— it begins with Assyria. “World religion” took off in Assyria’s imperial periphery. Assyria’s fall was the result of a first “world war.” And the bureaucracies, communication networks, and modes of domination created by the Assyrian elites more than 2,700 years ago served as blueprints for many of the political institutions of subsequent great powers, first directly and then indirectly, up until the present day. This book tells the story of the slow rise and glory days of this remarkable ancient civilization, of its dramatic fall, and its intriguing afterlife.

[nickysfacts]

Lilith: the feminist beach babe, who has a taste for babies!

🍎🚺🐍

[gemsofgreece]

What do greeks think of assyrians, kurds and iranians ?

Greeks have good relations with all these people.

Greeks like Iranians and bond over having an ancient civilisation. I have seen a few people wonder whether Greeks and Iranians are cold due to historical past (Persian Wars, Alexander the Great, Byzantium vs Sasanid Persia etc). The answer is no. Greeks and Iranians have very good relations and appreciate each other's history. Greeks however generally wish for Iran to become more secular again, like it was a few decades back.

Greeks bond with Kurds over a shared perception of oppression by the Ottoman Empire / Turkish state. I haven't met a Kurd but judging from Kurdish comments on the Internet I believe the sentiment is mutual. I'd say Kurds sound like some of the most Greek-positive people of West Asia, always judging from Internet comments.

I don't know how significant or frequent the interaction between Greeks and Assyrians practically is nowadays, however Greeks respect Assyrians for their ancient history and culture and bond over the Greek and Assyrian (and Armenian) genocides committed by the Young Turks in the early 20th century. Greeks also value Assyrians for preserving the Christian faith in the Middle East.

[quark-nova]

PSA for people who might try to claim that Arabs in Syria are "colonizers" and not indigenous to the region

Arabs are, in fact, indigenous to central, southern and eastern Syria, with a historically attested presence dating from way before the 7th-century conquests. The region was historically mixed between Arabs and Arameans. Already in the Bronze Age, the Qedarites stretched through the Syrian desert, while Palmyrene identity was a blend of Arab and Aramean cultures.

In southern Syria, the Iturean tribe was already attested in classical identity. In the eastern and central regions, later historical states include the successive Tanukhid, Salihid and Ghassanid kingdoms (client states of the Roman Empire in the region in the 4th-7th centuries CE, often stretching from central Syria to Jordan).

Further up north and west, the populations were historically mostly Aramaic-speaking, although Homs had an Arabic-speaking presence, and was at one point under the Arab Emesene dynasty.

Upper Mesopotamia (northeast) was historically mostly Aramaic and Assyrian, although Arab presence is also documented, with the Sasanid province of Arbayastan (3rd century CE) being named after the Arab inhabitants of the region. Iranian peoples were also present in the region, ancestors to the Kurdish people of today.

Most Arameans and some Assyrians (not all, some are still around!) were Arabized following the 7th-century conquests. This was cultural assimilation of already related Semitic people, although settling of non-indigenous Arab populations also took place at the same time (for instance, the Diyar Mudar and Diyar Rabi'a tribes in Upper Mesopotamia), which is closer to what we understand as settler colonialism.

Of course, I'm not saying that imposing another culture on the local populations was a good thing, but my point is that modern-day Arabs in Syria have ties to native pre-conquest Arab, Aramean and Assyrian populations, rather than being an entirely different group that replaced them as is sometimes depicted.

There is of course the question of what is meant by indigeneity to begin with. Can peoples who lived in the region for 14 centuries and developed new cultures there be considered indigenous? I am less knowledgeable on the many definitions of indigenous status, but my point here is that Arabs in Syria have strong ties to native populations of the region, rather than being exclusively later settlers.

[art-appreciation-dog]

(Source) (Posters sold here)

[sag-dab-sar]

Deity Dagan

Originally a god of West Semitic speakers from the Levant, but worshipped widely throughout the Near East, including Mesopotamia.

Deity of grain, as well as its cultivation and storage. Indeed, the common word for "grain" in Ugaritic and Hebrew is dagan. According to one Sumerian tradition and to the much later Philo of Byblos, Dagan invented the plow. In the north, he was sometimes identified with Adad. Thus, he may have had some of the characteristics of a storm god. In one tradition his wife was Ishara, in another Salas, usually wife of Adad. Salas was originally a goddess of the Hurrians. Dagan also had netherworld connections. According to an Assyrian composition, he was a judge of the dead in the lower world, serving with Nergal and Misa-ru(m), the god of justice. A tradition going back at least to the fourth century BCE identified Dagan as a fish god, but it is almost certainly incorrect, presumably having been based upon a false etymology that interpreted the element "Dag" in Dagan as deriving from the Hebrew word dag "fish."

The earliest mentions of him come from texts that indicate that, in Early Dynastic times, Dagan was worshipped at Ebla. Dagan was taken into the Sumerian pantheon quite early as a minor god in the circle of Enlil at Nip-pur. Kings of the Old Akkadian peri-od, including Sargon and Narām-Sin, credited much of their success as conquerors to Dagan. Sargon recorded that he "prostrated (himself in prayer before Dagan in Tutul [sic]" (Oppen-heim, ANET: 268). At the same time, he gave to the god a large area of the country he had just conquered, including Mari, Ebla, and larmuti in western Syria. A number of letters from the Mari archives, dated mainly to the reign of Zimri-Lim, record that Dagãn was a source of divine revela-tion. The letters reported prophetic dreams, a number of which came from Dagan, conveyed by his prophets and ecstatics. In his law code, Hammu-rapi credits Dagan with helping him subdue settlements along the Euphrates.

The Assyrian king Samsi-Adad I commissioned a temple for him at Terqa, upstream from Mari, where funeral rites for the Mari Dynasty took place.

In the Old Babylonian period, kings of the Amorites erected temples for Dagan at Isin and Ur. In the Anzû(m) myth, Dagan was favorably coupled with Anu(m). At Ugarit Dagan was closely associated with, if not equated to, the supreme god El/I(u). Although he is mentioned in the mythic compositions of Ugarit as the father of the storm god Ba'lu/ Had(d)ad, Dagan plays only a very minor role. His popularity is indicated by his importance in offering and god lists, one of which places him third, after the two chief gods and before the active and powerful god Ba'lu/ Had(d)ad. Dagan is attested in Ugaritic theophoric names. In Ugaritic texts the god is often referred to as "Dagan of Tuttul." It might also be the case that one of the two major temples of the city of Ugarit was dedicated to him, and he might there have been identified with the chief god I(u) / El.

Festivals for Dagãn took place at Ter-ga and Tuttul, both of which were cult centers of the god. He was certainly worshipped at Ebla and also at Mari.

At Mari, in Old Babylonian times, he appears as fourth deity on a god list; that is, he was very important. He was venerated also at Emar. There a "Sacred Marriage" ritual between Dagan and the goddess Nin-kur was celebrated.

At the same city, a festival was held in honor of "Dagan-Lord-of-the-Cattle," at which the herds of cattle and prob. ably sheep were blessed.

According to the Hebrew Bible, Dagan was the national god of the Philistines. I Samuel:5-6 tells of the capture of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines. It was customary in the Ancient Near East for the conquerors to carry off the deity statues of the conquered to mark the surrender not only of the people, but also of their deities.

So the Philistines took the Ark, the symbol of the god of the Israelites, into the temple of Dagan at Ashdod. Since the Israelites had no statues of their deity, the much revered Ark was an obvious substitute. In this way, the Philistines marked the submission of the Israelite god to Dagan. However, on the next day, the people of Ashdod found the statue of Dagan lying face down in front of the Ark. The following day the same thing happened except that the head and hands of Dagan's statue lay broken on the temple threshold. This biblical account seems to be an etiology for a practice of the priests of the temple of Dagan at Ashdod, for it states that for this reason it is the custom of the priests of Dagan not to tread on the threshold as they enter the temple of Dagan. The best-known of the biblical stories that mention Dagan is in Judges 16, the tale of Samson and Delilah. After Delilah arranged for the Philistines of Gaza to capture Samson, they blinded him, shackled him, and made him a slave at a mill. During a festival to Dagan, the Philistines took Samson to be exhibited in Dagan's temple, where thou sands of Philistines had gathered for the celebrations. After praying to the Israelite god, the now long haired Samson got back his old strength. By pushing against two central pillars, he brought the temple crashing down on himself and on more Philistines than he had killed in his whole lifetime of killing Philistines.

— From a Handbook to Ancient Near Eastern Gods & Goddesses by Frayne & Stuckey page 67-69

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

The program is most effective when translating sentences of 118 or fewer characters. In some of the sentences, the program produced “hallucinations” – output that was syntactically correct in English but not accurate.

Gordin noted that in most cases, the translation would be usable as a first-pass at the text. The authors propose that machine translation can be used as part of a “human-machine collaboration,” in which human scholars correct and refine the models’ output.

Hundreds of thousands of clay tablets inscribed in the cuneiform script document the political, social, economic and scientific history of ancient Mesopotamia, they wrote. “Yet, most of these documents remain untranslated and inaccessible due to their sheer number and the limited quantity of experts able to read them.”

They concluded that translation is a fundamental human activity, with a long scholarly history since the beginning of writing. “It can be a complex process, since it commonly requires not only expert knowledge of two different languages but also different cultural milieus. Digital tools that can assist with translation are becoming more ubiquitous every year, tied to advances in fields like optical character recognition (OCR) and machine translation. Ancient languages, however, still pose a towering problem in this regard. Their reading and comprehension require knowledge of a long-dead linguistic community, and moreover, the texts themselves can also be very fragmentary.”

[secular-jew]

The tunnel of Hezekiah.

Water tunnel carved under the City of David in Jerusalem in ancient times. Its popular name is due to the most common hypothesis of its origin, namely, that it dates from the reign of Hezekiah.

The tunnel leads from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam. If indeed built under Hezekiah, it dates to a time when Jerusalem was preparing for an impending siege by the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib.

Since the Gihon Spring was already protected by a massive tower and was included in the city's defensive wall system, Jerusalem seems to have been supplied with enough water in case of siege even without this tunnel. The curving tunnel is 533 m., According to the Siloam inscription, the tunnel was excavated by two teams, one starting at each end of the tunnel and then meeting in the middle.

[dougielombax]

Should we tell them that a diaspora born of refugees and genocide/other such atrocity survivors are NOT colonisers?!

99.9% of the time. (Sometimes it happens but not always)

I mean they won’t listen, but still.

(I refer to morons in general)

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Call him ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz

1 The Lord also told me, “Take a large tablet and write on it with a stylus pen, ‘For Maher-shalal-hash-baz’. 2 Then I will call Uriah the priest and Jeberechiah’s son Zechariah as reliable witnesses to testify on my behalf.”

3 After this, I was intimate with the prophetess and she conceived. Later, she bore a son, and then the Lord told me, “Call him ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz,’ 4 for before the young lad knows how to call out to his father or mother, the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

Invasion by Assyria

5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people have rejected the gently-flowing waters of Shiloah, and because they keep rejoicing in Rezin and Remaliah’s son, 7 watch out! The Lord God is about to bring the flood waters of the Euphrates River against them, mighty and strong.

“It’s the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river’s channels and run over all of its banks. 8 He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person’s neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!”

9 “Band together, you peoples,    but be shattered!        Listen, all you distant countries! Strap on your armor,        but be shattered. 10 Take counsel together,    but it will all be for nothing; go ahead and talk,    but it will all be for nothing,        for God is with us.”

Waiting on God

11 For this is what the Lord spoke to me, as his forceful hand was resting on me, and as he was warning me not to live the way this people were living:

12 “Don’t call conspiracy everything    that this people calls conspiracy, and don’t fear what they fear,    or live in terror. 13 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies—    he’s the one you are to regard as holy. Let him be the one whom you fear,    and let him be the one before whom you stand in terror! 14 Then he will be a sanctuary,    but for both houses of Israel he’ll also be a stone with which someone strikes himself,    a rock one stumbles over,        a trap and a snare to those who live in Jerusalem. 15 Many will stumble on them;    They’ll fall and be broken;        They’ll be snared and captured.

16 “Bind up the testimony,    and seal up the teaching among my disciples. 17 I’ll wait for the Lord,    who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob,        and I’ll put my trust in him. 18 Watch out! I and the children    whom the Lord has given me are a sign and a wonder in Israel    from the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,        who resides on Mount Zion.”

Rejecting Occultic Wisdom

19 “So when they advise you,

‘Ask the mediums your questions,    and quiz the spiritists who chirp and mutter,’ shouldn’t a people instead be consulting their God—    and not the dead— on behalf of those who are living 20 for instruction and for testimony?    Surely they are speaking like this        because the truth hasn’t dawned on them.

21 “They’ll pass through the land,    while[w] greatly distressed and hungry. When they are hungry,    they’ll become enraged, and they’ll curse their king and their god.    They’ll turn their faces upwards, 22 or they’ll look toward the earth,    but they’ll see only distress and darkness, the gloom that comes from anguish,    and then they’ll be thrown into total darkness.” — Isaiah 8 | International Standard Version (ISV) The International Standard Version of the Holy Bible Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. All Rights Reserved internationally. Cross References: Genesis 41:24; Exodus 20:20; Leviticus 24:11; 1 Kings 18:46; 2 Kings 16:10-11; Isaiah 1:10; Isaiah 7:8-9; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 17:12; Isaiah 29:11-12; Isaiah 30:8; Jeremiah 20:3; Matthew 1:23; Matthew 21:44; Luke 2:34; Luke 13:4; Luke 20:18; Luke 24:27; Acts 16:16; 1 Peter 3:14-15; Revelation 16:10; Revelation 17:15

[jeanatartheartist]

Egyptian Culture and Religion's Influence on Other Beliefs

Did you know that the worship of Isis and Osiris may have contributed to the early Christianity? IN THIS ARTICLE, read about religions & systems influenced by Ancient Egypt. #EgyptianCulture #ReligiousInfluence #IsisAndOsiris #AncientHistory 🏛️

Egyptian culture and religion had a profound influence on many other religions and cultures throughout history. From as early as predynastic times, Nubia was influenced by Egyptian culture and religion, while Syria was impacted in the 3rd millennium BCE. The New Kingdom of Egypt was very receptive to Middle Eastern cults, and Egyptian medical and magical expertise was highly regarded by the…

[entrapdaknation]

It's fascinating to learn about how ancient people struggled with the same traumas as modern people.

Physicians' records from the Assyrian empire describe symptoms among soldiers such as unintelligible speech, disorganized thoughts, depression, and nightmares involving ghosts. That certainly sounds like PTSD.

Nothing New Under the Sun: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders in the Ancient World

In Histories, Herodotus mentions an Athenian soldier names Epizelus who suddenly became blind in the heat of battle, despite having sustained no injuries to his eyes. Perhaps Epizelus experienced a conversion disorder due to war trauma?

Histories -- Epizelus

Sumerian Veteran: *has severe PTSD but doesn't know it because the term won't be invented for another 5000 years* I fight the same battle in my dreams every night and my relationship with my family has fallen apart.

Sumerian Healer: *saw hundreds of veterans with the exact same affliction before* You're cursed by desert demons.

[spiritsoulandbody]

#DailyDevotion God's Church Will Be Purified

#DailyDevotion God's Church Will Be Purified Micah 1 8For this I will wail and howl and go barefoot and naked. I will wail like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich. 9The blow she’ll get will not be cured; it will have an effect on Judah and reach the gate of my people, yes, even Jerusalem. The reason for Micah to wail and howl and go barefoot and naked is because of the previous verses and which he explains in the next. The blow Samaria is going to get from the LORD is going to expand down into Judah as well. The Assyrians who will invade and destroy Samaria will also invade the kingdom of Judah and many of its people will be taken prisoner as evidenced by the barefoot and naked. Samaria will not be able to recover from the Assyrian invasion. They will be utterly destroyed because they rejected the King of Glory. The fact that it reaches the gate of Jerusalem means the Assyrians will deeply go into Judah as prophesied also by Isaiah the prophet in 8:8 and 30:28. 10Don’t tell it in Gath. Don’t weep there. In Beth-le-aphrah roll in the dust. 11You who live in Shaphir , leave it shamefully naked. You who live in Zaanan will not march out of it. The lamentation in Beth-ezel is because there is nothing to stand near. 12You who live in Baroth will be tired of looking for better days. Disaster will come down from the LORD to the very gate of Jerusalem. 13Hitch the horses to the chariots, you who live in Lachish. You started the people of Zion to sinning because the sins of Israel were found in you. 14Then give a parting gift to Moresheth, near Gath. The homes of Aczip will deceive the kings of Israel. 15You who live in Mareshah , I will again allow the enemy to dispossess you until Israel’s glory comes to Adullam. We see here how complete the invasion will be into Judah as the prophet lists off ten towns or cities in Judah that will be affected. Ten is often the number of completion in biblical thought. He starts off with Gath and quotes David from 2 Sam. 1:20 referring to Saul's death. David didn't want the Philistines to rejoice over this though Saul had made David his enemy, David was loyal to Saul as the LORD's anointed. So too there will be great mourning because of the invasion by the Assyrians into Judah. He lists punishments for these towns based on their names. The second he says they will roll in the dust. The second, though beautiful, will leave it naked. The third meaning march says they will not march. The fourth will be nothing to stand near. The fifth will tire looking for better days. It continues with the rest. This interesting one is Lachish. The prophet says the sin of Israel was found there and caused the people of Zion to start sinning. Joram (2 Kings 18:18) king of Judah married Ahab's daughter. She brought with her probably Baal worship though perhaps instead of Baal she brought a golden calf, like Bethel and Dan, and set it up in Lachish to be worshiped. Bad company corrupts good morals. This is as good a reason not to marry unbelievers, we who are Christians. It's not clear whether the LORD will bring an heir to Mareshah or a conqueror. Translations go either way. Perhaps the glory to Adullsm indicates an heir. Adullam was the cave to which David fled to for safety. Perhaps this is a reference to Jesus. Jesus was buried in a cave and when He arose He established the kingdom of God. God's people, the Church, are dispossed of until Christ Jesus comes again in glory. May we remain faithful to receive it. Heavenly Father, grant us faith to endure Your discipline so we may receive the Kingdom won for by Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Read the full article