Assyrian Christians

A COMPANION TO ASSYRIA BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO THE ANCIENT WORLD This series provides sophisticated and authoritative overviews of periods of ancient history, genres of classical literature, and the most important themes in ancient culture. Each volume comprises approximately twenty‐five and forty concise essays written by individual scholars within their area of specialization. The essays are written in a clear, provocative, and lively manner, designed for an international audience of scholars, students, and general readers. ANCIENT HISTORY A Companion to the Classical Tradition Published Edited by Craig W. Kallendorf A Companion to the Roman Army A Companion to Roman Rhetoric Edited by Paul Erdkamp Edited by William Dominik and Jon Hall A Companion to the Roman Republic A Companion to Greek Rhetoric Edited by Nathan Rosenstein and Robert Morstein‐Marx Edited by Ian Worthington A Companion to the Roman Empire A Companion to Ancient Epic Edited by David S. 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Kyle A Companion to Greek Religion A Companion to the Ancient Novel Edited by Daniel Ogden Edited by Edmund P. Cueva and Shannon N. Byrne A COMPANION TO ASSYRIA Edited by Eckart Frahm This edition first published 2017 © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. The right of Eckart Frahm to be identified as the author of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with law. Registered Offices John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK Editorial Office 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148‐5020, USA For details of our global editorial offices, customer services, and more information about Wiley products visit us at www.wiley.com. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the authors shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data Name: Frahm, Eckart, editor. Title: A companion to Assyria/edited by Eckart Frahm, Yale University, New Haven, US. Description: Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, 2017. | Series: Blackwell companions to the ancient world | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016046160 (print) | LCCN 2016050443 (ebook) | ISBN 9781444335934 (cloth) | ISBN 9781118325247 (pdf) | ISBN 9781118325230 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Assyria–History. | Assyria–Civilization. | Assyria–Antiquities. | Civilization, Assyro‐Babylonian. Classification: LCC DS71 .C59 2017 (print) | LCC DS71 (ebook) | DDC 935/.03–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016046160 Cover Design: Wiley Cover Image: © duncan1890/Gettyimages Set in 10/12.5pt Galliard by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  Contents Notes on Contributors viii Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 Eckart Frahm Part I Geography and History 11 1 Physical and Cultural Landscapes of Assyria 13 Jason Ur 2 “Assyria” in the Third Millennium BCE 36 Lauren Ristvet 3 The Old Assyrian Period (20th–18th Century BCE) 57 Klaas R. Veenhof 4 Economy, Society, and Daily Life in the Old Assyrian Period 80 Cécile Michel 5 The Transition Period (17th to 15th Century BCE) 108 Shigeo Yamada 6 The Middle Assyrian Period (14th to 11th Century BCE) 117 Stefan Jakob 7 Economy, Society, and Daily Life in the Middle Assyrian Period 143 Stefan Jakob 8 The Neo‐Assyrian Period (ca. 1000–609 BCE) 161 Eckart Frahm vi Contents 9 Economy, Society, and Daily Life in the Neo‐Assyrian Period 209 Karen Radner 10 Post‐Imperial Assyria 229 Stefan R. Hauser Part II The Fringes of Empire: Assyria and its Neighbors 247 11 Assyria and the North: Anatolia 249 Andreas Fuchs 12 Assyria and the East: Western Iran and Elam 259 Andreas Fuchs 13 Assyria and the West: Syria and the Levant 268 Ariel M. Bagg 14 Assyria and the Far West: The Aegean World 275 Robert Rollinger 15 Assyria and the South: Babylonia 286 Eckart Frahm 16 Assyria and the Far South: The Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf 299 Eckart Frahm Part III Elements of Assyrian Civilization 311 17 Languages and Writing Systems in Assyria 313 Mikko Luukko and Greta Van Buylaere 18 Assyrian Religion 336 Stefan M. Maul 19 Assyrian Literature 359 Alasdair Livingstone 20 Assyrian Scholarship and Scribal Culture in Ashur 368 Nils P. Heeßel 21 Assyrian Scholarship and Scribal Culture in Kalḫu and Nineveh 378 Jeanette C. Fincke 22 Assyrian Legal Traditions 398 Frederick Mario Fales 23 Assyrian Cities and Architecture 423 John M. Russell 24 Assyrian Art 453 John M. Russell 25 Assyrian Technology 511 Ariel M. Bagg  Contents vii 26 Assyrian Warfare 522 Stephanie Dalley 27 Thoughts on the Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Kingship 534 Mario Liverani Part IV The Afterlife and Rediscovery of Assyria 547 28 Assyria in Late Babylonian Sources 549 Paul‐Alain Beaulieu 29 Assyria in the Hebrew Bible 556 Eckart Frahm 30 Assyria in Classical Sources 570 Robert Rollinger 31 The Archaeological Exploration of Assyria 583 Mogens Trolle Larsen 32 Assyrian Christians 599 Aaron Michael Butts List of Assyrian Kings 613 Eckart Frahm Index 617  CHAPTER 32 Assyrian Christians Aaron Michael Butts Introduction It is well known that various individuals and groups associated with Syriac Christianity and the Syriac heritage are today called Assyrians.1 What is less understood is when, how, and why this identification came about. This has unfortunately led to a good deal of contro- versy and misunderstanding. Within the Syriac communities, the so‐called “name debate” continues to be a hotly discussed topic, especially in the diaspora (see recently Atto 2011). Discussions about the relationship of the Syriac heritage to the ancient Assyrians are also to be found within the academy, with some scholars supporting the connection, e.g., Parpola (2004: 21–2), and others doubting it, e.g., Coakley (1992: 6, 366 [“bogus ethnology”]). The present essay is not concerned with evaluating the legitimacy of connec- tions between the Syriac heritage and ancient Assyria. Rather, it assumes as a given that certain individuals and groups associated with the Syriac heritage have in the past identified as Assyrian and continue to do so until the present. The essay does, however, take up the task of outlining the historical background for the events that led to the promotion of this identification in the nineteenth century and to the ensuing development of an Assyrian ideology within Syriac communities. The essay begins with a discussion of the use of Assyria and Assyrian in pre‐modern Syriac sources. It then looks at how nineteenth‐century literature from the West represented Syriac Christians as Assyrian. Following this brief foray into the western literature, the essay turns to the use of Assyrian as an identity marker in Syriac communities from the mid‐nineteenth century onward, beginning first with the Church of the East and then moving to the larger Syriac heritage. The essay concludes with a recapitulation of the previous sections, drawing connections between them. A Companion to Assyria, First Edition. Edited by Eckart Frahm. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 600 Aaron Michael Butts Assyria and Assyrian in Pre‐Modern Syriac Sources In pre‐modern Syriac sources, the term ʾāthorāyā “Assyrian” is not the typical self‐designation for individuals belonging to the Syriac heritage, whether East Syriac or West Syriac. The typ- ical self‐designations, rather, are ʾārāmāyā “Aramean” and suryāyā “Syrian,” along with its truncated variant surāyā (for the relationship of the latter two, see Heinrichs 1993: 102 n. 2).2 The early Syriac author Bardaiṣan (154–222), for instance, is described both as ʾārāmāyā and suryāyā in the Syriac version of Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History (Wright and McLean 1898: 243.18 and 183.7, respectively), which was translated before 420 (Van Rompay 1994: 73 n. 15). The adjectives ʾārāmāyā and suryāyā serve as the typical self‐desig- nations for Syriac Christians throughout the pre‐modern sources.3 While ʾāthorāyā “Assyrian” is not the typical self‐designation for Syriac Christians in pre‐modern Syriac sources, Assyria (ʾāthor) and Assyrian (ʾāthorāyā) do occur in several senses throughout this period. First and foremost, ʾāthor refers to the ancient empire of Assyria and the area surrounding its last capital Nineveh. In the Syriac translation of the Hebrew Bible, for instance, Hebrew ʾaššur is often rendered by Syriac ʾāthor (Kings 15:19, 20, 29; 17:6, 23; 18:11; etc.). Following this usage, the gentilic adjective ʾāthorāyā designated a person from the ancient empire of Assyria or more specifically its capital Nineveh. From this primary sense of ʾāthor, at least two secondary senses developed in pre‐modern Syriac literature. First, Syriac ʾāthor came to refer to the city of Mosul (Fiey 1965–86: 2.570), which was built on the west bank of the Tigris directly across from the ancient ruins of Nineveh. This is the primary meaning of ʾāthor relayed by the native Syriac lexicographers Ishoʿ bar ʿAli (ninth century; Hoffmann 1874: 63)4 and Ḥ asan bar Bahlul (mid‐tenth century; Duval 1888–1901: 1.322). This meaning of ʾāthor is also found in the Arabic geographer Yaqut (d. 1228) who states that Mosul was called ʾathū ru before it was called al‐mawṣil (Wüstenfeld 1866–1873: 1.119.16–19). With ʾāthor referring to the city of Mosul, the gentilic adjective ʾāthorāyā was, then, used as a designation for a citizen of Mosul. It is probably in this sense that the Syriac Orthodox patriarch and historian Michael the Great (d. 1199) called ʿImād al‐Dı̄n Zangı̄ (ca. 1085–1146), who was the atabeg of Mosul, an “Assyrian (ʾāthorāyā) pig” in his Chronicle (Chabot 1899–1910: 3.261 [French transla- tion]; 4.630.2.24 [Syriac text]). This meaning continued to be used in Classical Syriac at least until the turn of the twentieth century (see Fiey 1965: 156 with n. 53; Heinrichs 1993: 105). In addition, it is found in the Neo‐Aramaic dialect of Ṭ uroyo (Ritter 1979: 352 [387]), which is spoken in the Ṭ ur ʿAbdin region in South Eastern Turkey. This use of ʾāthorāyā as a gentilic adjective for Mosul may well also explain why the Protestant mission in Mosul (1849–60) chose the name Assyrian Mission for “geographical reasons” (Anderson 1872: 8–106, esp. 83; see also Fiey 1965: 148–9).5 Finally, some scattered evi- dence suggests that the geographic sense of ʾāthorāyā extended beyond Mosul to include the area around Arbela (modern Erbil) and Karka d‐Beth Slokh (modern Kirkuk) (Brock 1982: 16–17; Salvesen 1998: 157). Second, based on the fact that the Biblical Assyrians were the enemies of Israel, ʾāthorāyā was used with a metaphorical meaning for the enemies of Christians. This metaphorical use is often accompanied by imagery based on the Biblical depictions of the Assyrians (for which see Chapter 29), such as the Assyrians as the instruments of God’s wrath found in Is. 10:5–34. The metaphorical meaning of ʾāthorāyā was especially developed for the Persians.6 Already in  Assyrian Christians 601 the fourth century, Ephrem (d. 373), the most widely‐known of all Syriac authors, referred to Persia as “filthy Assyria (ʾāthor), mother of corruption” (Beck 1961: 21.24 [Syriac text]; 24 [German translation]). This metaphor was further developed in the sixth‐century Life of John of Tella, in which the term ʾāthorāyā serves as a negative epithet for the Persians on several occasions. The text narrates, for example, that after the Persian marzbān and his sol- diers pursued John of Tella into the mountains around Sinjār they “descended on him like wild animals with swords drawn and bows out like Assyrians (ʾāthorāʾith)” (Brooks 1907: 67.15–17), adopting the Biblical imagery of the Assyrians as apt warriors. More direct bib- lical phraseology occurs at the beginning of the Life of John of Tella where the Persian capture of the city of Kallinikos in 542 is referred to as the “Rod of the Assyrian (ʾāthorāyā)” (Brooks 1907: 38.16), invoking Is. 10:5 (“Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger” [NRSV]). The same Biblical verse is referenced in the Chronicle of Pseudo‐Joshua the Stylite (written after 506), which recounts the destruction brought by the Persians as follows: “(God) struck us with the hands of the Assyrian (ʾāthorāyā), which is called the rod of anger’ (ed. Chabot 1927: 240.2‐3 [Syriac text]; Trombley and Watt 2000: 5 [English translation]). The historian John of Ephesus (d. 589) also refers to the Persians as Assyrians, describing the conquest of Dara by the Persians in 566 as “its capture and its deliverance into the hands of the Assyrians (ʾāthorāyē)” (ed. Brooks 1935–36: 292.6 [Syriac text]; 221 [Latin translation]). Following the Arab conquests, the metaphor of Assyrians as the enemies of Christianity was naturally extended to the Arab conquers. The eighth‐century Chronicle of Zuqnin (formerly called the Chronicle of Pseudo‐Dionysius of Tel Maḥre) presents an elaborate description of the Arab con- querors as Assyrians based on Isaiah 10:5–24 (Chabot 1933 [Syriac text]; Harrak 1999 [English translation]; for analysis, see Harrak 2004). Thus, in the pre‐modern period, Syriac authors at times used ʾāthorāyā “Assyrian” as an epithet for their enemies (for additional examples, see Harrak 2004: 52–3). While Assyrian (ʾāthorāyā) is not the usual self‐designation for Syriac Christians in pre‐ modern sources, a connection between Syriac Christians and the ancient Assyrians is occasionally made in this period. In the Syriac History of Qardagh (written ca. 600–630 CE according to Walker 2006), the main protagonist Qardagh is described as being “from the stock of the kingdom of the Assyrians (ʾāthorāy ē),” with his father descending from the house of Nimrod and his mother from the house of Sennacherib (Abbeloos 1890: 12.9–13 [Syriac text]; Walker 2006: 20 [English translation]). Slightly later on in the History, Qardagh is said to become the “prefect of Assyria (ʾāthor)” (Abbeloos 1890: 15.5 [Syriac text]; Walker 2006: 22 [English translation]), and Arbela is described as “the city of the Assyrians (ʾāthorāy ē)” (Abbeloos 1890: 16.1 [Syriac text]; Walker 2006: 22 [English translation]). Walker (2006: 248–9; 2006–07) has argued that the connection of Qardagh with Assyrian lineage may be due to the fact that the saint’s shrine in North Iraq was situated on the ruins of a Neo‐Assyrian temple. According to this argument, the area around Erbil would have preserved some awareness of its Assyrian past (similarly Brock 1982: 16–17).7 It is clear from the examples presented here that the term ʾāthorāyā “Assyrian” in pre‐modern Syriac sources is used in its most basic sense as a gentilic adjective for ancient Assyria and its capital Nineveh. From this primary meaning, two secondary uses developed: 1. a gentilic adjective for Mosul, as well as possibly the area around Erbil and Kirkuk; 2. a metaphorical use for the enemies of Christians. The adjective ʾāthorāyā is not, however, the typical self‐ designation for individuals belonging to the Syriac heritage. This function, rather, is filled by the adjectives ʾārāmāyā “Aramean” and suryāyā “Syrian.” 602 Aaron Michael Butts Assyrian Christians in Nineteenth‐Century Literature from the West In mid‐nineteenth‐century writings by Western archeologists, travelers, and missionaries, Syriac Christians are at times connected with the ancient Assyrians.8 An early occurrence of the phrase “Assyrian Christians” is to be found in the Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan and on the Site of Ancient Nineveh (1836: 1.120) by the British traveler C.J. Rich (1787–21). It seems, however, that by the term “Assyrian Christian” Rich was only referring to geo- graphic location, since in a footnote on the same page he refers to the “Christians of Assyria.” It is noteworthy that Rich gives no indication that Assyrian was a self‐designation used by the communities in question. A more direct connection between Syriac Christians and ancient Assyrians is made by the missionary H. Southgate (1812–94). In his Narrative of a Visit to the Syrian [Jacobite] Church of Mesopotamia (1844), Southgate states, “I observed that the Armenians did not know them under the name which I used, Syriani; but called them ASSOURI, which struck me the more at the moment from its resemblance to our English name Assyrians, from whom they claim their origin, being sons, as they say, of Assour …” (80; italics and small capitals in the original). It should first be noted that this report by Southgate does not state that Syriac Christians self‐identified as Assyrian, but only that the Armenians called them asori.9 It does, however, provide a witness to the fact that Syriac Christians themselves claimed an Assyrian lineage already in the mid‐nineteenth century.10 The connection between East‐Syriac Christians and Assyria was popularized by the British traveler and archeologist A.H. Layard (1817–94). In his Nineveh and its Remains (1849), Layard argued that there were good reasons to suppose that the Christians whom he met were “the descendants of the ancient Assyrians” (1.215–16; 2.237). Again, it is important to note that Layard does not claim that they were called Assyrians nor that they called themselves Assyrians – he only states his belief that they were their “descendants.” Layard may well, however, have come to this connection through his archaeological assistant Hormuzd Rassam (1826–1910), who was born in Mosul to a prominent Church of the East family.11 The earliest systematic use of the term “Assyrian” for Syriac Christians seems to have developed in the second half of the nineteenth century within the context of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Mission in Urmia, a city west of Lake Urmia in Northwest Iran (in general, see Coakley 1992: 5–6, 366–7, passim as well as Fiey 1965: 149–53 and Murre‐van den Berg 1999: 37). By 1870, the term Assyrian had become entrenched in the Anglican vocabulary, at least partly due to the influence of G.P. Badger (1815–88) (Coakley 1992: 65–6). It should be noted that Badger’s advisor was Christian Rassam, the brother of Layard’s assistant Hormuzd Rassam. The use of the term Assyrian in the context of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Mission probably arose in an effort to avoid the term Nestorian; an additional motivating factor may have been an attempt to find a term parallel to Chaldean, which had been introduced by J.S. Assemani (1687–1768) and J.A. Assemani (1710–1782) for Syriac Christians who were in communion with Rome. In the 1880s, the full name of the Anglican mission was established as The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Mission to the Assyrian Christians (Coakley 1992: 99–100). Though “Assyrian” became a regular part of the Anglican vocabulary in the West, it was not – or at least only rarely, e.g., by W.A. Wigram (1872–1953) – used by the missionaries them- selves in the field (Coakley 1992: 5; Murre‐van den Berg 1999: 37).  Assyrian Christians 603 Assyrian Identity and the Church of the East It is in the context of the Anglican Mission to Urmia that East‐Syriac Christians likely adopted the term Assyrian as a general self‐designation and began to develop a national ideology based on it.12 This took place during what has been called the “Syrian Awakening” (Murre‐ van den Berg 1998: 500–4), or “religious renaissance” (Macuch 1987: 818), that occurred in Urmia toward the end of the nineteenth century. Nineteenth‐century Urmia was a center of western missionary activity, with the aforementioned Anglican mission (1886–1915) as well as the Presbyterian missionaries of the American Board (1834–1918), the Roman Catholic mission (1839–1918), and the Russian Orthodox mission (1897–1914) (in gen- eral, see Murre‐van den Berg 1999: 43–74; for the Anglican mission in particular, see Coakley 1992). The presence of missionaries in Urmia led to the accentuation, as well as creation, of confessional divisions among the Syriac Christians in the Urmia and Hakkari regions. At the same time, however, it introduced a unifying factor in the development of Literary Urmia Aramaic, a new literary language based on the spoken Neo‐Aramaic dialects (see especially Murre‐van den Berg 1999). With the introduction of the printing press in 1840, a number of publications appeared in Literary Urmia Aramaic, including Biblical translations and the periodical Zahrire ̄ d‐Bahrā “Rays of Light” (1849–1915; see Macuch 1976: 136–87). By 1870, the local Christians had assumed prominent roles in the local literary production, espe- cially in the periodical Zahrirē d‐Bahrā as well as the slightly later Qālā da‐šrārā “Voice of Truth” (1896; see Macuch 1976: 194–201) and Kokhbhā “The Star” (1906; see Macuch 1976: 206–10). Thus, Literary Urmia Aramaic and the publications written in it provided a common means of expression for the East‐Syriac Christians of the area. An additional unifying factor at this time was the development of a national Assyrian identity. At the end of the 19th century, the concepts of nation and nationalism – probably introduced from Europe – found expression in a number of communities, including the Turks, Kurds, Armenians, and Arabs, as well as the East‐Syriac Christians. The connection with the ancient Assyrians, whose civilization had been explored in the Mosul area since the middle of the 19th century, provided the East‐Syriac Christians with a national identity. Through the construction of an Assyrian ideology, East‐Syriac communities were able to transcend differences, including confessional differences, and unite behind a common national identity. Leading up to World War I, the Assyrian national identity was developed by authors such as Fredon ʾĀ thorāyā, who in 1911 wrote an article entitled “Who are the Syrians (surāyē) and how should our nation (ʾumthā) be established?” (Heinrichs 1993: 110; Macuch 1976: 383). At this time, Church of the East Christians began to self‐identify not only by Classical Syriac ʾāthorāyā “Assyrian” but also by the newly‐coined ʾasurāyā “Assyrians” (in general, see Macuch 1987: 818; Heinrichs 1993: 102–8; Joseph 2000: 1–‐20). The latter term was based on the inherited adjective surāyā “Syrian” but was updated with an initial glottal stop to mirror ʾāthorāyā.13 The change of surāyā to ʾasurāyā may have been further facilitated by the Armenian adjective asori (Heinrichs 1993: 106–7), since many Armenians are known to have resided in the Urmia and Hakkari regions. In the orthography of the written language, the initial glottal stop of ʾasurāyā was often “cancelled out” by means of a linea occultans (Syriac mbaṭṭlānā), an orthographic symbol that indicates an etymological writing that no longer conforms to pronunciation. The writing with linea occultans is already found in 1897 in an article in Zahrirē d‐bahrā entitled “The Kingdom of the Assyrians (ʾāthorāyē) or the (As)Syrians ([ʾ]surāyē) according to the Biblical History and the Antiquities of Nineveh” (Macuch 1976: 142; cited in Heinrichs 1993: 102 n. 3). 604 Aaron Michael Butts The First World War introduced dramatic changes to the Church of the East, as well as to the wider Syriac community more generally. It is estimated that anywhere from a third to a half of the population belonging to the Church of the East lost their lives during the course of the war and its aftermath. Initially forced out of Persia and Turkey, the surviving remnant was forced to settle in Iraq as refugees. During the British Mandate in Iraq, the name Assyrian continued to develop in a nationalistic sense, with some East‐Syriac Christians, including the Church of the East Patriarch Eshai Shemʿon (1909–75), pressing for the creation of an independent state. The end of the British Mandate in Iraq in 1932 brought further diffi- culties for the Church of the East, including the massacre of Assyrian civilians by the Iraqi army at Simele in 1933. In the end, a majority of the Church of the East was forced from its native homeland, displaced elsewhere in the Middle East, e.g., Syria, or emigrating to the world‐wide diaspora, especially to Europe (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, and Russia), the USA (Chicago, Detroit, and California), and Australia and New Zealand. In the aftermath of World War I, the name Assyrian became firmly established as the usual self‐identification for individuals belonging to the Church of the East. The creation of modern Syria further reinforced this use of Assyrian, since Syrian now served as the gentilic adjective for Syria. Perhaps more importantly, however, Assyrian identity and ideology continued to be developed, especially in the diaspora, as a way to unify the East‐Syriac com- munities who had originated from different regions, but who now lived side by side in their new homelands. Many individuals and groups connected to the Church of the East continue to self‐identify as Assyrian today, with one of the two branches even adopting Assyrian in its official name, the Holy Catholic Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East.14 Assyrian Identity and the Greater Syriac Heritage The term Assyrian was occasionally used by some West‐Syriac individuals and groups prior to World War I. It gained greater currency following the war as various individuals and groups wished to unite the different Syriac communities, both East‐Syriac and West‐Syriac, within a single nation of Assyrians. This use of Assyrian was popularized by several writers within the USA. An early promoter of this use was Naʿʿū m Fāʾiq (1868‐1930) (for whom, see Chuqqı̄ 1936; Macuch 1976: 432–33; Kiraz, in GEDSH, 163). Born in 1868 in Amid (modern Diyarbakır, Turkey), Fāʾiq survived the 1895 massacre of Christians there. Throughout his time in Amid, he served as an educator in various schools, and in 1908 he founded the periodical Kukhbho d‐Madhnḥo “Star of the East.”15 In 1912, he immigrated to the USA, living in New Jersey, where he established a new periodical, Beth Nahrin (1916–). Fāʾiq, whose ecclesiastical affil- iation was Syriac Orthodox, was an ardent promoter of Assyrian nationalism. Among his many contributions to this ideology, his poem “Awake, son of Assyria, awake” is perhaps the most well‐known. The text of this poem reads:16 Awake, son of Assyria (ʾat̄ hor), awake; see how enlightened the world is; opportunity is being led out of our hands; even time is quickly passing away; awake, son of Assyria, awake.  Assyrian Christians 605 In vigilance, let us take refuge; let us ascend to elevate light; if we do not awake, without resource, distress will encounter us in our path; awake, son of Assyria, awake. With poems such as this, Fāʾiq encouraged all Syriac Christians, including the Syriac Orthodox, to unite as a single Assyrian nation.17 Another American promoter of Assyrian nationalism from within the Syriac Orthodox Church was D.B. Perley (1901–79) (for whom see Macuch 1976: 337; Coakley, in GEDSH, 326). Perley was born in the village of Kharput in Eastern Turkey, and he immigrated to the USA in 1918 following what in the West‐Syriac tradition is called Sayfo “the Sword,” i.e., the massacre of Christians in the aftermath of World War I. In 1933, he helped found the Assyrian National Federation. Perley understood his religious identity to be Syriac Orthodox but his national identity to be Assyrian. He summarized his understanding of the relationship bet- ween religion and nation as follows: “The Assyrians, although representing but one single nation as the direct heirs of the ancient Assyrian Empire … are now doctrinally divided … No one can coherently understand the Assyrians as a whole until he can distinguish that which is religion or church from that which is nation …” (Perley, apud Malek 1935: 103). In this spirit, Perley proposed uniting all Syriac Christians, whether East‐ or West‐Syriac in religious identity, under the Church of the East Patriarch, or in his words, “under the banner of our Ethnarch, Mar Eshai Shimun XXI, our hero, both spiritual and secular” (Perley, apud Malek 1935: 112–13; italics in original). In the last fifty years, West‐Syriac Christians have continued to promote Assyrian identity as a means of uniting all Syriac Christians, regardless of religious affiliation, within a single nation. This movement has been particularly strong in the Syriac diaspora communities in Western Europe, especially Germany and Sweden (Yonan 1978; Atto 2011). It has also extended beyond the Syriac Orthodox to include other communities belonging to the Syriac heritage. Many Syriac Orthodox individuals and groups have resisted the adoption of an Assyrian iden- tity and ideology. As an alternative, some have developed an Aramean identity and ideology (Heinrichs 1993: 111; Brock and Coakley, in GEDSH, 31). In 1952, for instance, the Syriac Orthodox patriarch Ignatius Afram Barsoum (1887–1957) wrote a pamphlet entitled The Syrian Church of Antioch: Its Name and History in which he rejected the term “Assyrian,” preferring instead Aramean. More recently, the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church has generally preferred the designation suryāyā “Syriac.” Thus, in 1981, the late patriarch Ignatius Zakkā I ʿIwās ̣ (1933–2014) issued an encyclical in which he voiced his support for the designa- tion suryāyā over against both Assyrian and Aramean (al‐ʾathūrı̄ya and al‐ʾārāmı̄ya, respectively, in the Arabic original).18 Despite this effort, Assyrian identity and ideology continue to be pre- sent within some Syriac Orthodox communities. This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the fact that the birth name of this same patriarch was Sanharı̄b, the Arabic version of Sennacherib. Conclusion In Syriac communities today, one encounters various cultural identity markers that are derived ultimately from ancient Assyria. Syriac children are named Sennacherib, Sargon, and Nebuchadnezzar. The winged lions of Nineveh fly proudly on the Assyrian Christian flag. Syriac 606 Aaron Michael Butts Figure 32.1 Bronze statue of the Assyrian king Assurbanipal, designed by Fred Parhad, an artist of Assyrian descent born in Iraq. The statue, dedicated “by the Assyrian people” to the city of San Francisco, stands near the city’s “Main Library.” Source: Reproduced with permission of Jacob Rosenberg‐Wohl.  Assyrian Christians 607 Christians have dedicated a bronze statue of Assurbanipal to the city of San Francisco (see Figure 32.1). The Akı̄tu festival, the ancient Assyrian New Year, is celebrated, with some cele- brants even donning costumes to resemble ancient dress (see the photograph in Baumer 2006: 279). The present essay has explored the complex historical realities that led to the connection between Syriac Christians and ancient Assyria. Before the nineteenth century, ʾārāmāyā “Aramean” and suryāyā “Syrian” – not ʾāthorāyā “Assyrian” – served as the typical self‐designation for indi- viduals belonging to the Syriac heritage. The middle of the nineteenth century, however, brought the excavations of Nineveh, the last capital of the ancient Assyrians, and other Assyrian archaeo- logical sites. At roughly the same time, the concepts of nation and nationalism were introduced to Syriac Christians in the Middle East. Thus, the ancient Assyrians provided East‐Syriac Christians with a model for a viable national identity. The tragic events of World War I only served to strengthen this identity. In the wake of the war, most East‐Syriac Christians were exiled from their homelands, and Assyrian identity was further developed in the diaspora as a means to unite dis- placed communities. Having suffered their own tragedies in the war, some Syriac Orthodox Christians also adopted an Assyrian identity as a means to unite all Syriac Christians, regardless of religious affiliation, within a single nation. Thus, today, many individuals associated with the Church of the East, as well as others from the broader Syriac heritage, identify as Assyrian. Appendix: The Churches of the Syriac Heritage In this essay, the term Syriac, as well as Syriac Christianity and Syriac heritage, are used for indi- viduals and groups that identify with Syriac linguistic, religious, and/or cultural traditions. Following the Councils of Ephesus (431) and of Chalcedon (451), the Syriac tradition has been divided into several branches: 1. the churches that accept both councils, such as the Melkite Church and the Maronite Church; 2. the West‐Syriac branch, which accepts the Council of Ephesus, but not Chalcedon, and includes the Syriac Orthodox Church (for his- torical overview, see Brock [with Taylor] 2011) and its Uniate continuations, such as the Syriac Catholic Church; 3. the East‐Syriac branch, which rejects both councils and which includes the Church of the East (for historical overviews, see Baum and Winkler 2003; Baumer 2006; Teule 2008; Wilmshurst 2000) – itself divided into two branches since 1968 – and its Uniate contin- uations, such as the Chaldean Catholic Church. The Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church are at times called Nestorian and Jacobite, respectively; these two names, however, are best avoided for a variety of reasons (see Brock 1996), not the least of which is that the churches themselves do not typically self‐identify by them. In addition to the churches that have their roots in the Near East, the Syriac tradition is represented by seven distinct churches in Kerala, India, two of which belong to the East‐Syriac tradition (Malabar Catholic Church and Chaldean Syrian Church) and five of which belong to the West‐Syriac tradition (Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Malankara Catholic Church, Malabar Independent Syrian Church, and Mar Thoma Syrian Church). Acknowledgments I would like to thank Adam Becker (New York University), J.F. Coakley (University of Cambridge), Ulla Kasten (Yale University), George Kiraz (Beth Mardutho: Syriac Institute), Aryo Makko (Stockholm University), and especially Lucas Van Rompay (Duke University) 608 Aaron Michael Butts for their useful comments on earlier drafts of this essay. I would also like to express my grat- itude to Eckart Frahm (Yale University) for his decision to include an essay on “Assyrian Christians” within a volume on (ancient) Assyria. Notes 1 For readers less familiar with the ield of Syriac studies, a brief Appendix follows this essay that lays out the various churches that belong to the Syriac heritage. 2 Other terms are occasionally used as well. The Syriac Orthodox scholar Jacob of Edessa (d. 708), for instance, refers to the Syriac literary tradition as “(Meso‐)potamian (nahrāyā), i.e., Edessene (ʾurhāyā), or more speciically so to say, Syriac (suryāyā)” (Phillips 1869: 11*.1–2 [Syriac text], 9 [English translation]). See Van Rompay 2000: 78. 3 The ideology behind ʾārāmāyā and suryāyā was elaborated upon by the Syriac Orthodox patriarch and historian Michael the Great (d. 1199) in an appendix to his world chronicle dedicated to the topic of “the kingdoms that have come about in ancient times from our people (ʾumthā), the Arameans (ʾārāmāyē), i.e., sons of Aram, (who) were called Syrians (suryāyē), i.e., sons of Syria” (ed. Chabot 1899–1910: 3.442–7 [French translation]; 4.748–51 [Syriac text]). See Weltecke 2010. 4 There has been a good deal of confusion in the secondary literature concerning the biography and identity of Bar ʿAli, for which see now Butts in GEDSH, 53–4 and, with more detail, Butts 2009. 5 In contrast, Protestant missionaries in Urmia did not use the name Assyrian (Murre‐van den Berg 1999: 37). 6 This connection may well have been based in the Biblical text since the Persian king is called the “king of Assyria” in Ezra 6:22. 7 It should be noted that Becker (2008) has questioned this “folkloric continuity between the Neo‐ Assyrians and the late Sasanian period” (409) preferring to see the Syriac History of Qardagh as a deliberate “Assyrianizing” in which “Syriac‐speaking Christians in Mesopotamia employed the Assyria they found in the Bible as well as in Greek sources translated into Syriac as a model for understanding themselves and their place in the world” (398). 8 For earlier usages in the West, see Fiey 1965: 146–8; Heinrichs 1993: 107–8. 9 The Armenian language does not distinguish between Assyrian and Syrian/Syriac, using the adjective asori for both. 10 Southgate accepted this claim, arguing that Syriac Orthodox Christians from the Mardin area were “undoubtedly descendants of the Assyrians and not of the Jews” (Missionary Register 1843: 129). He thus set up an (implicit) contrast with arguments by A. Grant (1841), who claimed that the Church of the East Christians were one of the ten “lost tribes” of Israel (see also Kawerau 1958: 158 n. 290; Heinrichs 1993: 110 n. 20). 11 I would like to thank J.F. Coakley for suggesting this. 12 For possible 16th- to 18th-century precursors to this construction of identity, see Murre‐van den Berg 2004. See also ter Haar Romeny 2010. 13 The development of ʾasurāyā is not directly related to the likely etymological connection between Assyria and Syria, which has generated a good deal of secondary literature; see, e.g., Nöldeke 1871a; 1871b; Fiey 1965: 142–6; Tvedtnes 1981; Frye 1992; Heinrichs 1993: 102–8; Joseph 1997; Odisho 2001: 13–14; Parpola 2004: 16–21. To the traditional discussion, one can add a relatively new datum from the Phoenician‐Luwian bilingual from Çineköy (editio princeps in Tekoǧlu and Lemaire 2000), in which Phoenician ʾšr “Assyria” is paralleled by a Luwian form beginning with a sibilant and no vowel (see Lanfranchi 2005; Rollinger 2006a; 2006b). 14 The other branch, the Ancient Church of the East, may have shunned the term “Assyrian” to avoid a nationalistic‐sounding name in Iraq (Brock and Coakley, in GEDSH, 100). 15 This is not to be confused with the periodical of the same name that was later published in Tbilisi.  Assyrian Christians 609 16 I would like to thank Sargon Donabed (Roger Williams University) for kindly providing the Syriac text of the poem. The English translation is mine and departs in places from previous translations. 17 It should be noted that Fāʾiq also promoted an Aramean identity. 18 The Arabic text was originally published in al‐Majalla al‐baṭriyarkı̄ya 1981, 386–9. An English translation, along with the Arabic, is available on the Syriac Orthodox Resources website at http://sor.cua.edu/Personage/PZakka1/19811129Name.html (accessed 15 May 2012). Abbreviation GEDSH = Brock et al. 2011. References Abbeloos, J.B. 1890. “Acta Mar Ḳardaghi,” Analecta Bollandiana 9, 5–106. Anderson, R.1872. History of the Missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to the Oriental Churches, vol. 2, Boston: Congregational Publishing Society. Atto, N. 2011. Hostages in the Homeland: Orphans in the Diaspora. Identity Discourses among the Assyrian/Syriac Elites in the European Diaspora, Leiden: Leiden University Press. Baum, W. and Winkler, D.W. 2003. The Church of the East: A Concise History, London: Routledge Curzon. Baumer, C. 2006. The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity, London: I.B. Tauris. Beck, E. 1961. Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Carmina Nisibena, vol. 1, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 218–19, Louvain: Peeters. Becker, A. 2008. “The Ancient Near East in the Late Antique Near East: Syriac Christian Appropriation of the Biblical East,” in: G. Gardner and K.L. Osterloh (eds.), Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Pasts in the Greco‐Roman World, Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 123, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 394–415. Becker, A. 2015. Revival and Awakening: American Evangelical Missionaries in Iran and the Origins of Assyrian Nationalism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Brock, S.P. 1982. “Christians in the Sasanian Empire: A Case of Divided Loyalties,” in: S. Mews (ed.), Religion and National Identity; Papers Read at the Nineteenth Summer Meeting and the Twentieth Winter Meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society, Oxford: Blackwell, 1–19. (Reprinted in Sebastian Brock 1984. Syriac Perspectives on Late Antiquity, London: Variorum Reprints. VI.) Brock, S.P. 1996. “The ‘Nestorian’ Church: A Lamentable Misnomer,” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 78, 23–35. Brock, S.P. (with the assistance of D.G.K. Taylor) 2001. The Hidden Pearl: The Syrian Orthodox Church and its Ancient Aramaic Heritage, 1–4, Rome: Trans World Film Italia. Brock, S.P., Butts, A.M., Kiraz, G.A., and Van Rompay, L. (eds.) 2011. Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, Piscataway: Gorgias Press. Brooks, E.W. 1935–36. Iohannis Ephesini. Historiae Ecclesiasticae. Pars Tertia, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 105–6, Louvain: Peeters. Butts, A.M. 2009. “The Biography of the Lexicographer Ishoʿ bar ʿAli (ʿĪsā b. ʿAlı̄),” Oriens Christianus 93, 60–71. Chabot, J.‐B. 1899–1910. Chronique de Michel le Syrien patriarche jacobite d’Antioche (1166–1199), 1–4, Paris: Ernest Leroux. Chabot, J.‐B. 1927. Chronicon Anonymum pseudo‐Dionysianum vulgo dictum, vol. 1, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 91, Louvain: Peeters. 610 Aaron Michael Butts Chabot, J.‐B. 1933. Incerti auctoris Chronicon pseudo‐Dionysianum vulgo dictum, vol. 2, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 104, Louvain: Peeters. Chuqqı̄, M.F. 1936. Naʿʿūm Fāʾiq. Dhikrā watakhlı d̄ , Damascus: al‐Maṭbaʿa al‐Ḥ adı̄tha. Coakley, J.F. 1992. The Church of the East and the Church of England: A History of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assyrian Mission, Oxford: Clarendon Press. De Kelaita, R.W. 1994. “On the Road to Nineveh: A Brief History of Assyrian Nationalism 1892–1990,” Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society 8, 6–30. Donabed, S. 2012. “Rethinking Nationalism and an Appellative Conundrum: Historiography and Politics in Iraq,” National Identities 14.4, 407–31. Donabed, S., Mako, G., and Mako, S. 2009. “Ethno‐Cultural and Religious Identity of Syrian Orthodox Christians,” Chronos 19, 71–113. Duval, R. 1888–1901. Lexicon Syriacum auctore Hassano bar Bahlule, 1–3, Paris: Reipublicæ Typographæo. Fiey, J.‐M. 1965. “‘Assyriens’ ou Araméens?,” L’Orient Syrien 38, 141–60. Fiey, J.‐M. 1965–86. Assyrie chrétienne. Contribution à l’étude de l’histoire et de la géographie ecclésiastiques et monastiques du nord de l’Iraq, Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique. Frye, R.N. 1992. “Assyria and Syria: Synonyms,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 51, 281–5. van Ginkel, J.J., Murre‐Van den Berg, H.L., and Van Lint, T.M. (eds.) 2005. Redefining Christian Identity: Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 134, Louvain: Peeters. Grant, A. 1841. The Nestorians; or, the Lost Tribes, New York: Harper & Brothers. ter Haar Romeny, B. (ed.) 2010. Religious Origins of Nations? The Christian Communities of the Middle East, Leiden: Brill. Harrak, A. 1999. The Chronicle of Zuqnı n ̄ : Parts III and IV. A.D. 488–775, Mediaeval Sources in Translation 36, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. Harrak, A. 2005. “Ah! The Assyrian is the Rod of my Hand!: Syriac View of History after the Advent of Islam,” in van Ginkel et al., 45–65. Heinrichs, W. 1993. “The Modern Assyrians: Name and Nation,” in: R. Contini, F.A. Pennacchietti, and M. Tosco (eds.), Semitica. Serta philologica Constantino Tsereteli dicata, Turin: Zamorani. Hoffmann, G. 1874. Syrisch‐arabische Glossen, Vol. 1, Autographie einer gothaischen Handschrift enthal- tend Bar Ali’s Lexikon von Alaf bis Mim, Kiel: Schwers’sche Buchhandlung. Holm, T.L. 2014. “Memories of Sennacherib in Aramaic Tradition,” in: I. Kalimi and S. Richardson (eds.), Sennacherib at the Gates of Jerusalem. Story, History and Historiography, Leiden: Brill, 295–323. Joseph, J. 1997. “Assyria and Syria: Synonyms,” Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society 11, 37–43. Joseph, J. 2000. The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: Encounters with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, and Colonial Powers, Studies in Christian Mission 26, Leiden: Brill. Kawerau, P. 1958. Amerika und die orientalischen Kirchen, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Lanfranchi, G.B. 2005. “The Luwian‐Phoenician Bilingual of Çineköy and the Annexation of Cilicia to the Assyrian Empire,” in: R. Rollinger (ed.), Von Sumer bis Homer. Festschrift für Manfred Schretter zum 60. Geburtstag am 25. Februar 2004, Münster: Ugarit‐Verlag, 481–96. Layard, A.H. 1849. Nineveh and its Remains, London: John Murray. Macuch, R. 1976. Geschichte der spät‐ und neusyrischen Literatur, Berlin: de Gruyter. Macuch, R. 1987. “Assyrians in Iran. i. The Assyrian Community (Ā šūrı̄an ̄ ) in Iran,” in: E. Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopædia Iranica, vol. 2.5, London: Routledge, 817–22. Makko, A. 2010. “The Historical Roots of Contemporary Controversies: National Revival and the Assyrian ‘Concept of Unity’,” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 24, 1–29. Malek, Y. 1935. The British Betrayal of the Assyrians, Chicago: Kimball Press. de Mauroy, H. 1976. “Chrétiens en Iran. 4e partie: Pourquoi assyro‐chaldéens? Les différentes appellations et leurs variations historiques,” Proche Orient Chrétien 26, 66–85.  Assyrian Christians 611 Missionary Register 1843 = The Missionary Register for M DCCC XLIII containing the Principal Transactions of the various Institutions for Propagating the Gospel: with the Proceedings, at large, of the Church Missionary Society, London: Seeley, Burnside, and Seeley. Murre‐van den Berg, H.L. 1998. “A Syrian Awakening. Alqosh and Urmia as Centers of Neo‐Syriac Writing,” in R. Lavenant (ed.), Symposium Syriacum VII, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256, Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 499–515. Murre‐van den Berg, H.L. 1999. From a Spoken to a Written Language: The Introduction and Development of Literary Urmia Aramaic in the Nineteenth Century, Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten. Murre‐van den Berg, H.L. 2005. “The Church of the East in the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century: World Church or Ethnic Community?” in: van Ginkel et al. (eds.), 301–20. Naby, E. and Hopper, M.E. 1999. The Assyrian Experience: Sources for the Study of the 19th and 20th Centuries from the Holdings of the Harvard University Libraries (with a selected bibliography), Cambridge: Harvard College Library. Nöldeke, T. 1871a. “AΣΣYPIOΣ ΣYPIOΣ ΣYPOΣ,” Hermes 5, 443–68. Nöldeke, T. 1871b. “Die Namen der aramäischen Nation und Sprache,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 25, 113–31. Odisho, E.Y. 1988. The Sound System of Modern Assyrian (Neo‐Aramaic), Semitica Viva 2, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Odisho, E.Y. 2001. “The Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Identity of Modern Assyrians,” in: R. M. Whiting (ed.), Mythology and Mythologies. Methodological Approaches to Intercultural Influences: Proceedings of the Second Annual Symposium of the Assyrian and Babylonian Intellectual Heritage Project Held in Paris, France, October 4–7, 1999, Melammu Symposia 2, Helsinki: Neo‐Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 137–48. Parpola, S. 2004. “National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo‐Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post‐Empire Times,” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 18, 5–49. Phillips, G. 1869. A Letter by Mār Jacob, Bishop of Edessa, on Syriac Orthography, London: Williams and Norgate. Rich, C.J. 1836. Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan and on the Site of Ancient Nineveh, London: James Duncan. Richardson, S. 2014. “The First ‘World Event’: Sennacherib at Jerusalem,” in I. Kalimi and S. Richardson (eds.), Sennacherib at the Gates of Jerusalem. Story, History and Historiography, Leiden: Brill, 433–505. Ritter, H. 1979. Ṭ ur̄ ōyo. Die Volkssprache der syrischen Christen des Ṭ ur̄ Abdîn, Vol. B, Wörterbuch, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. Rollinger, R. 2006a. “Assyrios, Syrios, Syros und Leukosyros,” Welt des Orients 36, 72–82. Rollinger, R. 2006b. “The Terms ‘Assyria’ and ‘Syria’ Again,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 65, 283–7. Salvesen, A. 1998. “The Legacy of Babylon and Nineveh in Aramaic Sources,” in: S. Dalley et al. (eds.), The Legacy of Mesopotamia, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 139–61. Southgate, H. 1844. Narrative of a Visit to the Syrian [Jacobite] Church of Mesopotamia, New York: D. Appleton & Co. Teule, H. 2008. Les Assyro‐Chaldéens. Chrétiens d’Irak, d’Iran et de Turquie, Turnhout: Brepols. Trombley, F.R. and Watt, J.W. 2000. The Chronicle of Pseudo‐Joshua the Stylite, Translated Texts for Historians 32, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. Tvedtnes, J.A. 1981. “The Origin of the Name ‘Syria’,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 40, 139–40. Van Rompay, L. 1994. “Some Preliminary Remarks on the Origins of Classical Syriac as a Standard Language,” in: G. Goldenberg and Sh. Raz (eds.), Semitic and Cushitic Studies, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 70–89. Van Rompay, L. 2000. “Past and Present Perceptions of Syriac Literary Tradition,” Hugoye 3, 71–103. 612 Aaron Michael Butts Walker, J.T. 2006. The Legend of Mar Qardagh: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq, Berkley: University of California Press. Walker, J.T. 2006–7. “The Legacy of Mesopotamia in Late Antique Iraq: The Christian Martyr Shrine at Melqi (Neo‐Assyrian Milqia),” ARAM 18–19, 483–508. Weltecke, D. 2010. “Michael the Syrian and Syriac Orthodox Identity,” in: ter Haar Romeny (ed.), 115–25. Wilmshurst, D. 2000. The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318–1913, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 582, Louvain: Peeters. Wright, W. and McLean, N. 1898. The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphili, 265–339, Bishop of Caesarea, London: Cambridge University Press. Wüstenfeld, F. 1866–73. Jacūt’s geographisches Wörterbuch, Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus. Yonan, G. 1978. Assyrer heute. Kultur, Sprache, Nationalbewegung der aramäisch sprechenden Christen im Nahen Osten. Verfolgung und Exil, Hamburg: Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker. Further Reading For a general introduction to the Syriac heritage, one can now consult the recently published encyclopedic dictionary that appeared as GEDSH. Here one will find entries, with bibliography, for most of the authors and literary works associated with the classical Syriac tradition as well as broader, more conceptual entries. Macuch 1976 is an indispensable supplement for authors and literature belonging to the later period. The standard discussions of the use of the term “Assyrian” within the Syriac context are Fiey 1965; de Mauroy 1976; Heinrichs 1993; De Kelaita 1994; Salvesen 1998: 157–8; Odisho 1988; 2001: 3–18; Joseph 2000: 1–32; Becker 2008; Coakley, “Assyrians,” in GEDSH, 45. Becker 2015 is an essential publication on this topic, but it appeared after this essay had been submitted. In addition, Coakley 1992 (on the Anglican Mission in Urmia) and Murre‐van den Berg 1999 (on the development of Literary Urmia Aramaic) provide essential background information.