ins001 said:
Sounds like a good idea.
And who else "our other ancestors"?
I'm very passionate about seeing/making this happen.
We have heaps of ancestors from different societies. If one examines the Assyrianisation and deportation policies that Assyria applied against it's subjects, he will find that the populations of the Middle East were shuffled around quite a lot. The Hebrews are known for having two states, Israel and Judah, both of which were conquered by the Akkadian states, Assyria and Babylonia respectively. The Israelites (sometimes referred to as 10 of the 12 Hebrew tribes of the Bible) were deported from their homeland and completely Assyrianised (with at least most of them believed to have been taken straight to the Assyrian capital or it's surrounds).
The Jews (the people of Judah, sometimes regarded as 2 of the 12 Hebrew tribes of the Bible) were taken to Babylon where they later split into two groups, the Jews who stayed in Babylon and the ones who migrated back to their Levantine homeland. All the Jews that we know of today are descended from the Jews who migrated back to the Levant, except for Iraqi Jews and Iranian Jews (and any other similar groups if I've failed to mention them).
It is the Iraqi Jews and the Iranian Jews who descend from the Jews who remained in Babylon, and of the Assyrians who converted to Judaism after the Babylonian Jews migrated north to live with Assyrians. Their Assyrian heritage is why the speak Northern Neo-Aramaic as all Assyrians do. By that same token, they could fairly be regarded as Assyrian Jews for speaking NENA, and because non-Jewish Assyrians are genetically the closest population related to Iraqi Jews (alongside Iranian Jews who are just as closely related).
Now, all of that is just one example. The Assyrian governments of antiquity subjugated and Assryianised countless other peoples, and did so at rapid speeds. It was not uncommon for conquered peoples to strictly use only Assyrian names for the first generation following conquest. Of course, we are the descendants of both the winners and losers of many wars that Assyria was involved in.
Keep in mind that Assyrians often deported talented people to the heart of the homeland; that means scholars, physicians, engineers, military experts, musicians etc. As a non-exhaustive list, and
of the ones that I can think of, here are some other peoples that were at least partially if not completely absorbed into the Assyrian population either by deportation, immigration, warfare, purely by annexation or by mixing with Assyrians after the loss of Assyrian sovereignty:
-Caucasus and Anatolia: Urartians (closely related to Hurrians), Mitanni (who were Hurrians too), Hittites (and Hatti), Luwians (who were an off-shoot of the Hittites), Armenians, Cimmerians, Scythians,
-"Eber-Nari" (Akkadain for "Transeuphratia"; the Levant up until Mesopotamia): Amorites, Canaanites, Phoenecians (off-shoot of Canaanites), Hebrews (off-shoot of Canaanites)
-Iranian Plateau (all of the following are non-Iranian peoples; the following might have also been absorbed into Iranian societies): Elamites (musicians were famously deported to Assyria), Kassites, Mannaeans, Gutians
-Iranian Plateu (Iranian peoples): Persians (and Sassanids), Parthians, Medes
-Mesopotamia: Chaldeans (who quickly assimilated into Akkadian society upon immigrating to southern Mesopotamia)
-Africa and Saudi Peninsula: ethnic Egyptians (following Esarhaddon's conquest of Egypt, all blacks in Egypt were removed from Egypt and the Neo-Assyrian Empire; talented non-black Egyptians were deported to Assyria) (much later on, it is also possible that the loyalist Egyptian troops who stood shoulder to shoulder and fought to the very end on the side of Assyria, would have mixed with Assyrians -much more likely with West Assyrians)
-Europe: Greeks, Romans
The most prominent of our ancestors, the Sumerians, Akkadians, Arameans and Hurrians, were not only massive contributors to our gene pool, but they were the most significant Mesopotamian peoples, have contributed much to our identity and culture, and they're fairly unique to our people aside from the fair possibility that West Aramaic speakers (such as the people of Ma'loula) share a large portion of Aramean ancestry with Assyrians (Suryoye/Suraye). To which extent were those West Aramaic speakers Assyrianised is questionable, I don't know if they share our genetic dynamics. What is certain is that all speakers of Western Neo-Syriac (Suryoye) and Eastern Neo-Syriac (Suraye) are Assyrians. If Western Neo-Aramaic speakers wish to adopt an Assyrian identity to coalesce with Suryoye/Suraye, I don't find any good cause to deny them.
Neta1991 said:
Sharukinu, are we suryoye, suryaya, nestorian church, syriac orthodox church and chaldean church talking eastern aramaic which was the language of the ancient assyrians in the ancient neo Assyrian empire? or is it called east aramaic, not sure, maybe u could help?
I've already answered this on the last page; ordered from left to right, I've listed the most general groups to the most specific:
" Neo-Aramaic -> Western Neo-Aramaic (spoken by the people of Ma'loula for example)
Neo-Aramaic ->
Northern Neo-Aramaic -> Northeastern Neo-Aramaic -> Eastern Neo-Syriac (
spoken by East Assyrians; spoken by Urmians for example)
Neo-Aramaic ->
Northern Neo-Aramaic -> Northwestern Neo-Aramaic -> Western Neo-Syriac (
spoken by West Assyrians; spoken by Turoyo for example)
"