Editing Assyria (section)

== Religion ==

=== Ancient Assyrian religion ===
{{main|Ancient Mesopotamian religion|Ashur (god)}}
{{Multiple image
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| image1 = Nimrud - emblem of the god Ashur.png
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| footer = Three symbols of the god [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]], from reliefs at [[Nimrud]]
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| image3 = Nimrud - emblem of the god Ashur3.png
}}Knowledge of the ancient [[Polytheism|polytheistic]] Assyrian religion, referred to as "Ashurism" by some modern Assyrians,{{sfn|BetGivargis-McDaniel|2007|p=7}} is mostly limited to state cults given that little can be ascertained of the personal religious beliefs and practices of the common people of ancient Assyria.{{Sfn|Bedford|2009|p=35}} The Assyrians worshipped the same pantheon of gods as the Babylonians in southern Mesopotamia.{{Sfn|Garfinkle|2007|p=54}} The chief Assyrian deity was the national deity Ashur.{{Sfn|Lambert|1983|p=83}}{{Sfn|Lewy|1971|p=763}} Though the deity and the ancient capital city are commonly distinguished by modern historians through calling the god Ashur and the city Assur, both were inscribed in the exact same way in ancient times (''Aššur''). In documents from the preceding Old Assyrian period, the city and god are often not clearly differentiated, which suggests that Ashur originated sometime in the Early Assyrian period as a deified personification of the city itself.{{Sfn|Lambert|1983|pp=82–85}}

Below Ashur, the other Mesopotamian deities were organized in a hierarchy, with each having their own assigned roles (the sun-god [[Shamash]] was for instance regarded as a god of justice and Ishtar was seen as a goddess of love and war) and their own primary seats of worship ([[Ninurta]] was for instance primarily worshipped at Nimrud and Ishtar primarily at Arbela). Quintessentially Babylonian deities such as [[Enlil]], [[Marduk]], and [[Nabu]] were worshipped in Assyria just as much as in Babylonia, and several traditionally Babylonian rituals, such as the ''[[akitu]]'' festival, were borrowed in the north.{{Sfn|Bedford|2009|p=35}}

Ashur's role as the chief deity was flexible and changed with the changing culture and politics of the Assyrians themselves. In the Old Assyrian period, Ashur was mainly regarded as a god of death and revival, related to agriculture.{{sfn|Breasted|1926|p=164}}{{Sfn|James|1966|p=42}} Under the Middle and Neo-Assyrian Empire, Ashur's role was expanded and thoroughly altered. Possibly originating as a reaction to the period of suzerainty under the Mittani kingdom, Middle Assyrian theology presented Ashur as a god of war, who bestowed the Assyrian kings not only with divine legitimacy, something retained from the Old Assyrian period, but also commanded the kings to enlarge Assyria ("the land of Ashur") with Ashur's "just scepter", i.e. expand the Assyrian Empire through military conquest.{{Sfn|Fales|2017|p=402}}

This militarization of Ashur might also have derived from the Amorite conqueror Shamshi-Adad I equating Ashur with the southern Enlil during his rule over northern Mesopotamia in the 18th and 17th centuries BC. In the Middle Assyrian period, Ashur is attested with the title "king of the gods", a role previous civilizations in both northern and southern Mesopotamia ascribed to Enlil.{{Sfn|Maul|2017|p=342}} The development of equating Ashur with Enlil, or at least transferring Enlil's role to Ashur, was paralleled in Babylon, where the previously unimportant local god [[Marduk]] was elevated in the reign of [[Hammurabi]] (18th century BC) to the head of the pantheon, modelled after Enlil.{{Sfn|Maul|2017|pp=343–344}}

Assyrian religion was centered in temples, monumental structures that included a central shrine which housed the cult statue of the temple's god, and several subordinate chapels with space for statues of other deities. Temples were typically self-contained communities; they had their own economic resources, chiefly in the form of land holdings, and their own hierarchically organized personnel. In later times, temples became increasingly dependent on royal benefits, in the shape of specific taxes, offerings and donations of booty and tribute. The head of a temple was titled as the "chief administrator" and was responsible to the Assyrian king since the king was regarded to be Ashur's representative in the mortal world. Records from temples showcase that divination in the form of astrology and [[extispicy]] (studying the entrails of dead animals) were important parts of the Assyrian religion since they were believed to be means through which deities communicated with the mortal world.{{Sfn|Bedford|2009|p=35}}

Unlike many other ancient empires, the Neo-Assyrian Empire did at its height not impose its culture and religion on conquered regions; there were no significant temples built for Ashur outside of northern Mesopotamia.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017b|p=180}} In the post-imperial period, after the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Assyrians continued to venerate Ashur and the rest of the pantheon,{{Sfn|Radner|2015|p=19}} though without the Assyrian state, religious beliefs in many parts of the Assyrian heartland diverged and developed in different directions.{{Sfn|Haider|2008|p=200}} From the time of Seleucid rule over the region (4th to 2nd century BC) onward, there was a strong influence of the [[ancient Greek religion]], with many Greek deities becoming syncretized with Mesopotamian deities.{{Sfn|Haider|2008|p=202}} There was also some influence of [[Judaism]], given that the kings of [[Adiabene]], a vassal kingdom covering much of the old Assyrian heartland, converted to Judaism in the 1st century AD.{{sfn|Marciak|Wójcikowski|2016|p=80}}

In the 1st century BC onward, as a frontier region between the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] and the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] empires, Assyria was likely highly religiously complex and diverse.{{sfn|Hauser|2017|p=238}} Under Parthian rule, both old and new gods were worshipped at Assur.{{Sfn|Haider|2008|p=194}} As late as the time of the city's second destruction in the 3rd century AD, the most important deity was still Ashur, known during this time as ''Assor''{{Sfn|Radner|2015|p=19}} or ''Asor''.{{Sfn|Hauser|2017|p=240}} Worship of Ashur during this time was carried out in the same way as it had been in ancient times, per a cultic calendar effectively identical to that used under the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] 800 years prior.{{Sfn|Parpola|2004|p=20}} The ancient Mesopotamian religion persisted in some places for centuries after the end of the post-imperial period, such as at Harran until at least the 10th century (the [[Sabians#Sabians of Harran|"Sabians" of Harran]]) and at [[Mardin]] until as late as the 18th century (the ''[[Shamsīyah]]'').{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=21}}

=== Christianity ===
{{main|Church of the East}}[[File:Nestorian archbishop and servants.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|An early 20th-century [[archbishop]] of the [[Assyrian Church of the East]], with entourage]]
The Church of the East developed early in Christian history.{{sfn|Cassidy|2005|p=49}} Though tradition holds that Christianity was first spread to Mesopotamia by [[Thomas the Apostle]],{{sfn|Filoni|2017|p=6}} the exact timespan when the Assyrians were first Christianized is unknown. The city of [[Erbil|Arbela]] was an important early Christian center; according to the later ''[[Chronicle of Arbela]]'', Arbela became the seat of a bishop already in AD 100, but the reliability of this document is questioned among scholars. It is however known that both Arbela and Kirkuk later served as important Christian centers in the Sasanian and later Islamic periods.{{Sfn|Hauser|2017|p=239}}

According to some traditions, Christianity took hold in Assyria when Saint [[Thaddeus of Edessa]] converted King [[Abgar V]] of Osroene in the mid-1st century AD.{{Sfn|Donabed|2019|p=118}} From the 3rd century AD onward, it is clear that Christianity was becoming the major religion of the region,{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=21}} with Christ replacing the old Mesopotamian deities.{{Sfn|Hauser|2017|p=241}} Assyrians had by this time already intellectually contributed to Christian thought; in the 1st century AD, the Christian Assyrian writer [[Tatian]] composed the influential '' [[Diatessaron]]'', a synoptic rendition of the gospels.{{Sfn|Donabed|2019|p=118}}

During the early centuries of Christianity, Syriac priests and scholars often identified themselves as Arameans, primarily in a linguistic and cultural sense, due to Aramaic playing a central role in their daily life.<ref>King, Daniel (Ed.). (2020). The Syriac World. Routledge.</ref><ref>Stark, Rodney, 1996, The Rise of Christianity: History, Documents, and Key Questions</ref><ref>Ferguson, Everett. (2005). Backgrounds of Early Christianity.</ref> However, they remained aware of their Assyrian heritage, which was rooted in biblical and cultural traditions.<ref>King, Daniel (Ed.). (2020). The Syriac World. Routledge.</ref> Syriac Christians in Mesopotamia and Syria identified themselves as Arameans based on their use of Aramaic and shared cultural practices—much like how Arabic speakers today may identify as Arabs, regardless of their specific ethnic background, due to linguistic and cultural ties.

For instance, Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306–373 CE), a prominent figure in Syriac Christianity, often criticized the ancient Assyrians for their imperial violence and idolatry, reflecting a common Christian view of pre-Christian empires. His theological and poetic works contrasted the Christian Syriac identity with the pagan legacy of earlier civilizations. While he did not express ethnic identification with the Assyrian past, his writings reflect a broader cultural and historical awareness of the region's heritage, reinterpreted through a Christian lens.<ref>Brock, Sebastian P. (1990). St. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns on Paradise</ref> This dual identity—of being both Aramean in language and Assyrian in heritage—was part of a broader process in which Syriac Christians, despite their Christian faith, maintained cultural and linguistic ties to their ancient past.<ref>Ferguson, Everett. (2005). Backgrounds of Early Christianity.</ref>

Aramean and Assyrian identities coexisted and overlapped; therefore, it is historically accurate to understand Syriac Christians as Arameans in terms of cultural and linguistic identity, and as Assyrians in terms of ancestral and historical heritage.<ref>[[Robert Murray (priest)|Murray, Robert]] (2006), Symbols of Church and Kingdom.</ref>

It is likely that some Syriac Christians identified as "Assuraye" (Assyrians) before the term "Suryoyo" (Syriac) became widespread. Their identity as Assyrians reflects the enduring legacy of the Assyrian Empire in both biblical and cultural traditions, even as it was reinterpreted through a Christian lens.<ref>Winkler, Dietmar W., and Wilhelm Baum (2003), The Church of the East.</ref> The term "Suryoyo", derived from the Greek word Syrios (possibly a shortened form of Assyrios), was adopted by Syriac Christians to express their linguistic and religious identity. Arameans and Assyrians, who shared many cultural and spiritual practices, both used this term to describe themselves.<ref>King, Daniel (Ed.). (2018). The Syriac World. Routledge.</ref>

"Suryoyo" thus came to represent a religious and linguistic identity for those who spoke Syriac—a dialect of Aramaic—and followed Syriac Christianity. Over time, both Arameans and Assyrians embraced the term and expressed their shared cultural and spiritual heritage within the broader Syriac Christian tradition.<ref>Murray, Robert (2006), Symbols of Church and Kingdom.</ref> While their ancient distinctions were remembered, they became part of a unified religious and cultural identity shaped by shared faith, language, and liturgy.<ref>Stark, Rodney, 1996, The Rise of Christianity: History, Documents, and Key Questions</ref><ref>Ferguson, Everett. (2005). Backgrounds of Early Christianity.</ref>

Though Christianity is today an intrinsic part of Assyrian identity,{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=21}} Assyrian Christians have over the centuries splintered into a number of different [[Christian denomination]]s. Though the prominent [[Assyrian Church of the East]], the followers of which have often been termed "[[Nestorians]]", continues to exist, other prominent eastern churches include the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]], which split off in the 16th century, the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], the [[Syriac Catholic Church]],{{Sfn|Donabed|2019|p=118}} and the [[Ancient Church of the East]], which branched off from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1968.{{sfn|Akopian|2017|p=409}}

Though these churches have been distinct for centuries, they still follow much of the same liturgical, spiritual and theological foundation.{{sfn|Cassidy|2005|p=49}} There are also Assyrian followers of various denominations of [[Protestantism]], chiefly due to missions by American missionaries of the [[Presbyterian Church (USA)|Presbyterian Church]].{{Sfn|Donabed|2019|p=118}}

Because the Assyrian Church of the East remains dismissed as "Nestorian" and heretical by many other branches of Christianity, it has not been admitted into the [[Middle East Council of Churches]] and it does not take part in the [[Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church]]. This does not mean that efforts to approach [[ecumenism]] have not been undertaken. In 1994, [[Pope John Paul II]] and Patriarch [[Dinkha IV]] signed the [[Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East]], with some further efforts also having been made in the years since.{{sfn|Cassidy|2005|p=49}}

Historically, the main obstacle in the way of ecumenism has been the ancient text ''[[Liturgy of Addai and Mari]]'', used in the Assyrian churches, wherein the [[anaphora (liturgy)|anaphora]] does not contain the [[Words of Institution]], seen as indispensable by the Catholic Church. This obstacle was removed in 2001, when the Catholic [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] determined that the text could be considered valid in Catholicism as well, despite the absence of the words.{{sfn|Cassidy|2005|pp=50–51}} Some efforts have also been made to approach reunification of the Assyrian and Chaldean churches. In 1996, Dinkha IV and Patriarch [[Raphael I Bidawid]] of the Chaldean Church signed a list of common proposals to move toward unity, approved by synods of both churches in 1997.{{sfn|Cassidy|2005|p=50}}