Recommended evidence

Where to continue your research

A selective guide to primary-text projects, scholarly books, language documentation, museum research and modern-history sources used across this publication.

New research: waterworks, court knowledge, succession and translation

  1. Thorkild Jacobsen and Seton LloydSennacherib’s Aqueduct at JerwanUniversity of Chicago, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures · 1935 ↗

    Publication record and description of the 1933 excavation, architectural study and inscriptions. No reproduction permission is inferred.

  2. Jason UrSennacherib’s Irrigation SystemHarvard University research project ↗

    A dated methodological account of satellite and aerial mapping. Its older fieldwork-status statements are not treated as current news.

  3. Sennacherib Archaeological Park projectArchaeological Areas: Khinis, Jerwan and Shifka ValleyArchaeological and conservation project ↗

    Descriptions of channel remains, inscriptions, aqueduct structure and later damage; not a real-time condition or travel-safety assessment.

  4. Eleanor Robson and Nimrud Project contributorsScholarly ProfessionsORACC, The Nimrud Project ↗

    Explains scholarly titles, bodily healing, ritual, divination and the evidence for differences in status.

  5. Ancient Knowledge Networks project contributorsTechnical TermsORACC ↗

    Glossary of scholarly occupations and concepts; translations into modern English are approximations.

  6. Kateřina Šašková“Place in my hands the inexhaustible craft of medicine!” Physicians and healing at the royal court of EsarhaddonChatreššar 2018, issue 2; Charles University repository · 2018 ↗

    The repository abstract distinguishes medical handbooks from letters about particular patients and warns that the surviving court evidence concerns a small elite group.

  7. State Archives of Assyria editorsHalf my Kingdom to the Man Who Cures my Child (SAA 10 187)State Archives of Assyria Online ↗

    An edited, partly damaged letter. Grief and reassurance are not evidence for a retrospective clinical diagnosis.

  8. State Archives of Assyria editorsEsarhaddon’s Succession Treaty (SAA 02 006)State Archives of Assyria Online · 672 BCE; modern edition ↗

    Edition of the oath obligations surrounding the succession arrangement, not a modern constitution.

  9. Jonathan TaylorThe Succession Treaties of EsarhaddonORACC, The Nimrud Project ↗

    Object history and political context of the treaty tablets, including the distinction between Assyrian and Babylonian succession.

  10. State Archives of Assyria editorsZakutu’s Treaty (SAA 02 008)State Archives of Assyria Online ↗

    A separate oath document securing loyalty to Ashurbanipal. It must not be conflated with Esarhaddon’s 672 BCE treaty.

  11. Sebastian P. BrockGreek, Syriac translations fromGorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage · 2011 ↗

    An overview of translation periods and subject areas, including religious literature and later scientific and philosophical work.

  12. Jack TannousQenneshre, Monastery ofGorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage · 2011 ↗

    Historical account of the monastery and its Greek learning; distinguishes it from the town Qenneshrin/Chalcis.

  13. Uwe VagelpohlIn the translator’s workshopArabic Sciences and Philosophy 21(2), 249–288; University of Warwick repository · 2011 ↗

    Original research on translation choices and Hunayn’s notes in medical translations. It does not establish that every Greek-to-Arabic translation passed through Syriac.

Ancient Assyria and primary texts

  1. Karen RadnerAncient Assyria: A Very Short IntroductionOxford University Press · 2015 ↗

    A concise scholarly synthesis of Assyrian geography, society and imperial history.

  2. Eckart Frahm, ed.A Companion to AssyriaWiley-Blackwell · 2017 ↗

    Specialist chapters covering Assyrian history, language, cities, institutions and later reception.

  3. Grant Frame, directorRoyal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian PeriodOpen Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, University of Pennsylvania ↗

    Searchable scholarly editions and translations of royal inscriptions; these texts are royal political compositions, not neutral chronicles.

  4. A. Kirk Grayson and project editorsRoyal Inscriptions of Assyria onlineOpen Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, University of Pennsylvania ↗

    Scholarly editions and translations for Assyrian royal inscriptions through 745 BCE.

  5. UNESCO Memory of the WorldThe Old Assyrian Merchant Archives of KültepeUNESCO ↗

    Overview of the merchant archive from ancient Kanesh.

  6. UNESCO World Heritage CentreAshur (Qal’at Sherqat)World Heritage List · 2003– ↗

    Site history, significance and conservation status.

  7. Jon Taylor and project teamWhat was Ashurbanipal’s Library?British Museum research project · 2020–2024 ↗

    Research on the size, origins, colophons and archaeological contexts of the Nineveh tablet collections.

  8. British Museum and LMU MunichReading the Library of AshurbanipalOpen Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus · 2022– ↗

    Project documentation and editions for the Nineveh scholarly collections.

  9. Joan Aruz, Sarah B. Graff and Yelena Rakic, eds.Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical AgeThe Metropolitan Museum of Art · 2014 ↗

    Museum scholarship on Assyrian art, imperial imagery and interregional exchange.

  10. Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Old Assyrian Period (ca. 2000–1600 B.C.)Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History ↗
  11. Jonathan ValkAncient Assyrians: Identity and Society in Antiquity and BeyondCambridge University Press · 2025 ↗

    A study of Assyrian social categories that cautions against projecting modern identity models unchanged into antiquity.

  12. Stefan R. HauserPost-Imperial AssyriaA Companion to Assyria, Wiley-Blackwell · 2017 ↗
  13. Eckart FrahmThe Great City: Nineveh in the Age of SennacheribJournal of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 3 · 2008 ↗
  14. British MuseumFall of Nineveh Chronicle, BM 21901British Museum collection ↗

    Babylonian chronicle covering the decisive campaigns of 616–609 BCE.

  15. Cécile MichelWomen of Assur and Kanesh: Texts from the Archives of Assyrian MerchantsCDLI publication record · 2020 ↗

    Research on women’s economic, household and written activity in Old Assyrian archives.

  16. Klaas R. VeenhofThe Old Assyrian PeriodA Companion to Assyria, Wiley-Blackwell · 2017 ↗

Ancient society, government and religion

  1. Stefan JakobThe Middle Assyrian PeriodA Companion to Assyria, Wiley-Blackwell · 2017 ↗
  2. Stefan JakobEconomy, Society, and Daily Life in the Middle Assyrian PeriodA Companion to Assyria, Wiley-Blackwell · 2017 ↗
  3. ORACC project editorsMiddle Assyrian Laws and Scholarly TabletsText Corpus of Middle Assyrian ↗

    Editions of legal and scholarly texts; a collection of laws is not equivalent to a modern statutory code.

  4. ORACC project editorsKar-Tukulti-Ninurta Text CorpusText Corpus of Middle Assyrian ↗
  5. Karen Radner and project teamAssyrian Empire BuildersUniversity College London / ORACC ↗

    Evidence-led introductions based on Neo-Assyrian state correspondence.

  6. Karen RadnerRunning the Empire: Assyrian GovernanceAssyrian Empire Builders ↗
  7. Karen RadnerThe King’s Road: The Imperial Communication NetworkAssyrian Empire Builders ↗
  8. Karen RadnerMass Deportation: The Assyrian Resettlement ProgrammeAssyrian Empire Builders ↗
  9. Stefan M. MaulAssyrian ReligionA Companion to Assyria, Wiley-Blackwell · 2017 ↗
  10. ORACC project editorsAncient Mesopotamian Gods and GoddessesOpen Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus ↗
  11. ORACC project editorsNanna/Suen/SînAncient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses ↗
  12. Simo Parpola and project editorsKnowledge and Power in the Neo-Assyrian EmpireState Archives of Assyria Online ↗
  13. Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Assyrian Sculpture CourtHeilbrunn Timeline of Art History ↗
  14. Eckart FrahmThe Neo-Assyrian Period (ca. 1000–609 BCE)A Companion to Assyria, Wiley-Blackwell · 2017 ↗

Languages and Syriac traditions

  1. Holger GzellaA Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of IslamBrill · 2015 ↗
  2. Silvie ZamazalováAramaic and Hebrew in Alphabetic ScriptsThe Nimrud Project, ORACC ↗
  3. Geoffrey Khan and project teamNorth-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Database ProjectUniversity of Cambridge ↗

    Documented audio and linguistic data for North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic varieties.

  4. Geoffrey KhanEndangered dialects of AramaicUniversity of Cambridge · 2008 ↗
  5. Šlomo Surayt projectSurayt Aramaic Online CourseErasmus+ language project ↗
  6. UNESCO World Heritage CentreLate Antique and Medieval Churches and Monasteries of Midyat and Surrounding Area (Tur Abdin)Tentative List ↗

    A state-party nomination with UNESCO’s standard disclaimer; useful for site descriptions, not an adjudication of identity.

  7. Heleen Murre-van den BergFrom a Spoken to a Written Language: The Introduction and Development of Literary Urmia Aramaic in the Nineteenth CenturyNederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten · 1999 ↗
  8. Anthony O’MahonySyriac Christianity in the Modern Middle EastThe Cambridge History of Christianity · 2006 ↗
  9. Pope John Paul II and Mar Dinkha IVCommon Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the EastThe Holy See · 1994 ↗

Modern history and identity

  1. Adam H. BeckerRevival and Awakening: American Evangelical Missionaries in Iran and the Origins of Assyrian NationalismUniversity of Chicago Press · 2015 ↗

    Emphasises missions, education, print and modern national formation in Iran.

  2. Alda BenjamenAssyrians in Modern Iraq: Negotiating Political and Cultural SpaceCambridge University Press · 2022 ↗
  3. Naures AttoHostages in the Homeland, Orphans in the Diaspora: Identity Discourses among the Assyrian/Syriac Elites in the European DiasporaLeiden University Press · 2011 ↗
  4. Sargon George DonabedReforging a Forgotten History: Iraq and the Assyrians in the Twentieth CenturyEdinburgh University Press · 2015 ↗
  5. John JosephThe Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: Encounters with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, and Colonial PowersBrill · 2000 ↗

    A modernist account whose arguments should be read alongside community-centred and newer scholarship.

  6. Aaron Michael ButtsAssyrian ChristiansA Companion to Assyria, Wiley-Blackwell · 2017 ↗
  7. Arbella Bet-Shlimon“Propaganda of the Victims”: Atrocity Denial, Ethnic Nationalism, and the Disparagement of Assyrians in Middle East StudiesReview of Middle East Studies · 2026 ↗

    A recent critical historiographical intervention; used with, not instead of, underlying historical sources.

  8. Richard N. FryeAssyria and Syria: SynonymsJournal of Near Eastern Studies 51(4) · 1992 ↗
  9. Robert RollingerThe Terms “Assyria” and “Syria” AgainJournal of Near Eastern Studies 65(4) · 2006 ↗
  10. UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial DiscriminationConcluding observations on the combined twenty-second to twenty-fifth reports of IraqUnited Nations Digital Library · 2019 ↗

Print, literature and living culture

  1. Eden NabyThe Assyrians of Iran: Reunification of a “Millat,” 1906–1914International Journal of Middle East Studies · 2006 ↗
  2. Robert IsafAwakening, or Watchfulness: Naum Faiq and Syriac Language Poetry at the Fall of the Ottoman EmpireBrill · 2020 ↗
  3. J. F. CoakleyAssyrian Printers in the U.S.A., 1915–1943ARAM Periodical ↗
  4. Daniel BenjaminAssyrian Printing Presses in Iraq during the 20th CenturyARAM Periodical ↗
  5. Nadia YounanStateless Rhythms, Transnational Steps: Embodying the Assyrian Nation through Sheikhani Song and DanceRevue européenne des migrations internationales · 2019 ↗
  6. Dan LundbergWelcome to Assyria—Your Land on the Cyber SpaceEtnomusikologia ↗
  7. Lolita EmmanuelFrom the Fragments, We Make “Something Anew”Music & Practice · 2024 ↗

Sayfo, displacement and rights

  1. Republic of IraqConstitution of the Republic of IraqCouncil of Representatives · 2005 ↗

    Articles 4 and 125 provide legal recognition relevant to language and minority rights.

  2. David GauntMassacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War IGorgias Press · 2006 ↗
  3. David Gaunt, Naures Atto and Soner O. Barthoma, eds.Let Them Not Return: Sayfo—The Genocide Against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman EmpireBerghahn Books · 2017 ↗
  4. Joseph YacoubYear of the Sword: The Assyrian Christian Genocide: A HistoryHurst · 2016 ↗
  5. International Association of Genocide ScholarsResolution on Genocides Committed by the Ottoman EmpireIAGS · 2007 ↗

    Recognition by a scholarly association; not a judicial ruling or universal state position.

  6. United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumThe Armenian Genocide (1915–16): In DepthHolocaust Encyclopedia ↗

    Places Assyrians among other Christian populations affected by CUP population policies; pair with Sayfo-specific research.

  7. REACH Initiative / UNHCRDisplacement of Christian Communities from Ninewa Plains, 3–7 August 2014UNHCR data portal · 2014 ↗
  8. Naomi Kikoler“Our Generation Is Gone”: The Islamic State’s Targeting of Iraqi Minorities in NinewaUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum · 2015 ↗