Review of Özdemir, Assyrian Identity and the Great War: Nestorian, Chaldean and Syrian Christians in the 20th Century, trans. L. M. A. Gough (Dunbeath: Whittles Publishing, 2013) (original) (raw)
Related papers
“Assyrian Christians,” in Eckart Frahm (ed.), Companion to Assyria (Malden: Wiley Blackwell, 2017). 599-612.
These are second proofs, with minor differences to the published version. This essay, delivered as a preliminary paper in Helsinki, was completed while three articles, organized in a specific series on the topic of ethnicity in the Neo-Assyrian empire through the lens of the nisbe, were in course of publication: Fales 2013, Fales 2015, and Fales 2017. It may thus be read as explicitly presenting a bird’s-eye view of the results given in much greater detail therein, although it also offers a number of new additions in the footnotes and the bibliography.
Banipal: Issued by General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts, 2025
Christianity rose to a position of great prominence in the Late Antique Middle East. In Āthōr “Assyria”, on the other hand, pre-Christian traditions may have persisted until the end of the fifth– or early-sixth centuries. The process of Christianisation was not only gradual but may have allowed for the preservation of collective memory and lore among the Āthōrāyē “Assyrians”. In what follows, I shall try to demonstrate how certain elements from Assyria’s pre-Christian past may have been consciously re-purposed not only as a means of bridging the transition from one faith to another but for maintaining devotional practices as well as cultural identity. Such processes not only appear to have asserted Christianity’s triumph over the “old faith” but may have served as building blocks for Christianisation. In this paper, I shall also try to elaborate on how the re-dedication of pre-Christian rituals, feasts, festivals, devotions, monumental structures, as well as sacred spaces and sites such as temples may have been part of a deliberate strategy to appeal to the cultural sensibilities of the region’s indigenous inhabitants. It shall be argued that church complexes and feast days associated with certain Syriac Christian saints— both East Syriac and West Syriac —may have been fixed upon sacred spaces and dates hitherto associated with major ancient Assyrian traditions. This paper will finally attempt to present a brief overview of how the Assyrian cultural identity may have served as a common and meaningful self-designation for Syriac Christians. In my methodology, I rely upon diverse sources that have been meticulously selected to ensure both relevance and reliability. Drawing upon insights from fields such as archaeology, anthropology, and linguistics, I adopt an interdisciplinary approach to analysis and contextualise the sources cited in my paper. By synthesizing perspectives from such disciplines, a nuanced understanding of the complexity of culture and memory among native population groups in Late Antique Assyria thus emerges. Through a systematic application of such techniques, my methodology challenges the prevailing narratives that continue to negate the cultural continuity of the Assyrian people post empire by uncovering overlooked voices and shedding further light on marginalised perspectives.
Banipal: Issued by General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts, 2024
Christianity rose to a position of great prominence in the Late Antique Middle East. In Āthōr “Assyria”, on the other hand, pre-Christian traditions may have persisted until the end of the fifth– or early-sixth centuries. The process of Christianisation was not only gradual but may have allowed for the preservation of collective memory and lore among the Āthōrāyē “Assyrians”. In what follows, I shall try to demonstrate how certain elements from Assyria’s pre-Christian past may have been consciously re-purposed not only as a means of bridging the transition from one faith to another but for maintaining devotional practices as well as cultural identity. Such processes not only appear to have asserted Christianity’s triumph over the “old faith” but may have served as building blocks for Christianisation. In this paper, I shall also try to elaborate on how the re-dedication of pre-Christian rituals, feasts, festivals, devotions, monumental structures, as well as sacred spaces and sites such as temples may have been part of a deliberate strategy to appeal to the cultural sensibilities of the region’s indigenous inhabitants. It shall be argued that church complexes and feast days associated with certain Syriac Christian saints— both East Syriac and West Syriac —may have been fixed upon sacred spaces and dates hitherto associated with major ancient Assyrian traditions. This paper will finally attempt to present a brief overview of how the Assyrian cultural identity may have served as a common and meaningful self-designation for Syriac Christians. In my methodology, I rely upon diverse sources that have been meticulously selected to ensure both relevance and reliability. Drawing upon insights from fields such as archaeology, anthropology, and linguistics, I adopt an interdisciplinary approach to analysis and contextualise the sources cited in my paper. By synthesizing perspectives from such disciplines, a nuanced understanding of the complexity of culture and memory among native population groups in Late Antique Assyria thus emerges. Through a systematic application of such techniques, my methodology challenges the prevailing narratives that continue to negate the cultural continuity of the Assyrian people post empire by uncovering overlooked voices and shedding further light on marginalised perspectives.
2016
I am an Assyrian today, tomorrow, forever, and I am proud of it.-Raphael BidawidChaldean Patriarch of Babylonia, 19741Any Chaldean who calls himself Assyrian is a traitor, and any Assyrian who calls himself Chaldean is a traitor.-Emmanuel DallyChaldean Patriarch of Babylonia, 20062Disputes, negotiations, and resolutions regarding the representatively "accurate" appellations for the modern Chaldeans and Assyrians are not confined to the two patriarchs' statements above. They dot the diasporic history of the two Eastern Christian communities throughout the twentieth century and extend well into the present. In the diasporas of Europe and the United States, where most of the communities are now settled, Syriac studies and Assyriology developed as the two authoritative scholarly tradi- tions of writing about Eastern Christianity. The appellation debate has also found its way into various contemporary religious and political discourses at home (present-day Turkey, Iraq, Ira...
2019
This article is identical in content to the one published in 2018, The Composition and structure of the Neo-Assyrian Empire: Ethnicity, Language and Identities, in R. Rollinger (Ed.), Conceptualizing Past, Present and Future, Münster 2018, 443-494 (see below here in academia.edu). It was republished "as is" in SAAS 29 with no formal intimation, request to, or permission by the author --who is perplexed by this circumstance.