It has been over two millennia since the Assyrian language was last spoken at Ziyaret Tepe/Tushhan, but during a recent visit by Saliba Ozman, His Grace the Bishop of Mardin and Diyarbakir of the Syriac Orthodox Church (with the scarlet shirt in the photo) and Dairoyo (monk) Yousif Said of Halab (Aleppo), one of our team, Nineb Lamassu, gave them a tour in a modern variant of the ancient Assyrian tongue.
The bishop and his party came from the monastery of Deir al-Zafaran, so named because the monks used to produce the aromatic spice saffron to support the monastery located some 60km south of Tepe. Our team has visited the monastery in past seasons and enjoyed the hosipality of His Grace, so it was our pleasure to host him in return and provide a brief tour and lunch.
We made an audio recording of Nineb’s tour and I have a brief five minute audio clip (link below) that I hope you will be able to download and enjoy.
Nineb is a language scholar and speaks most of the languages of the region, including Arabic, Turkish, Syriac, and Kurdish. He studied Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and is planning to start a PhD in philology and/or archaeology at the University of Cambridge. He’s been a member of the Ziyaret Tepe team for several years now and has learned a great deal about archaeology and the material culture of southeastern Turkey.
If you are ever in Mardin, a beautiful old city overlooking the northern plains of Syria from the Turkish mountains of the Tur Abdin, then plan a stop to see the monastery and enjoy the bishop’s hospitailty, the grand architecture and stunning views.
4 replies on “Assyrian language heard again at ancient Tushhan.”
Sir,
When reading about such historical finds, as an Assyrian I feel as if fresh blood is being pumped through my veins. Thank you and may God bless the work of your hands.
How interesting! Is there a modern population which speaks Assyrian still? Are there any daughter languages from dialects? Do they still use cuneiform writing? Or something developed from it?
Dr. Matney,
It’s great to hear that you and your team have a great Assyrian language scholar as part of your team to do archaeological work at the ancient Assyrian town of Tushhan. I’m looking forward to see more Assyrian intellectuals and scholars like Nineb Lamassu to be involved in the archaeology field in Mesopotamya (Beth Nahrin) /Assyria.
Keep up the good work you and your team are doing and looking forward to hear more news in the field of archaeology in ancient Assyrian town of Tushhan and other possible future sites in the area.
Best regards
Gilgamesh Gabriel
Hello Elizabeth. The official language of the Neo-Assyrians, at the beginning of the Neo era, was an Assyrian dialect of Akkadian. By the end of the independent Neo-Assyrian period, the official language of the Neo-Assyrians had become an Assyrian dialect of Aramaic. The impracticality of administrating a sprawling empire using cuneiform characters written on clay tablets became apparent, with the arrival of the Aramaic (~Phoenician) script, as the latter could be written on papyrus. When Jewish folks today refer to their Hebrew script (Aramaic characters), it is called “K’tav Ashuri” (Assyrian script). The Greeks referred to the Aramaic characters as “Assuriôn grammatôn.” In its modern form, Assyrian-Aramaic remains the vernacular of many Sūrāyā/Sūrōyō. Cambridge University professor Geoffrey Khan’s piece, “Remarks on the Historical Background of the Modern Assyrian Language,” is recommended.