Ottoman and modern history
Reform, missions, printing, national movements and imperial decline transformed public identity.
A living people
Modern Assyrians and their histories
Explore homelands, churches, languages, mass displacement, public identities and the global communities that continue Assyrian cultural life.
Modern Assyrians are not one church, political movement or naming position. This publication treats self-identification as evidence and distinguishes present communities from the institutions of the ancient empire.
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Modern Assyrian peoples and communities
Living communities are diverse in church, dialect, politics and preferred names.
Read more ExploreHistorical homeland
The Nineveh Plains, Hakkari, Tur Abdin, Urmia and neighbouring districts form a shared and changing geography.
Read more ExploreLanguage and dialects
Neo-Aramaic varieties and Classical Syriac connect speech, worship, literature and endangered heritage.
Read more ExploreChurches and religious traditions
Several eastern Christian churches preserved major institutions, but denomination does not dictate ethnicity.
Read moreSayfo / Assyrian genocide
First World War mass violence destroyed communities across several distinct regions.
Read moreSimele massacre
The 1933 killing of Assyrian civilians became a defining memory of modern Iraqi history.
Iraq, Syria, Türkiye and Iran
Each state produced different legal categories, pressures and possibilities for community life.
Read more ExploreEurope, North America and Australia
Successive migrations built institutions that connect diaspora cities to villages and families abroad.
Read more ExploreContemporary cultural preservation
Language classes, archives, music, dance, digital media and heritage work sustain a living culture.
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Featured explanations
Explained · 6 min
Who are the Assyrians?
Assyrians are a living people rooted in northern Mesopotamia, with ancient historical connections, Neo-Aramaic and Syriac traditions, and a global diaspora.
Read article Identity · 6 minAssyrian churches and identity
Assyrians participate in several Syriac Christian traditions, but denomination and ethnicity overlap without being interchangeable. This guide maps the institutions without assigning anyone an identity.
Read article Modern history · 7 minAssyrians in modern Iraq
Assyrians have been citizens, writers, workers, organisers and political actors in modern Iraq while facing massacres, displacement and persistent debates over representation and security.
Read article Culture · 6 minAssyrian print and public culture
Printing, vernacular writing, newspapers and poetry created new ways for Assyrians to debate language, reform and identity across the Middle East and diaspora.
Read article Modern history · 6 minThe Assyrian diaspora
The Assyrian diaspora emerged through genocide, refugee flight, labour migration, family reunification and recent wars—and remains connected to Middle Eastern homelands.
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