Assyrian Books

A very well written and informative book. The author has a strong point of view, but is not overly strong in presenting it.

Meticulously researched and full of detail. Very well presented and useful for novices and academics.

A must read for those interested in the history of the Middle East or anxious to understand current events. I give it the highest possible recommendation.

This book is a must in the library of any one who is interested in the fate of peoples who are threatened of extinction. It's the result of an unprecedented effort of the many tours undertaken by Frederick Aprim in several countries where there's a presence for the Assyrian people. He endeavored to employ the energy of his thoughts to accomplish a monumental task and not merely a set of texts but rather a scientific research analyzed in an intelligent method, whereby the author mentions many errors and comments personally on them in a very logic manner.

The author dealt with the truth about the identity, language, land, studied the Assyrian community and its continuous national existence highlighting the greatness of the Assyrian perseverance since the fall of the Assyrian Empire in a transparent yet well built manner.

The author also turned the undisputable references into proper supports for the Assyrian thought. Thus, this book was born to be a source which would refute the theories that lead the Assyrian people to being marginalized in their identity, equality with others, right of self determination, and the schemes which distorted the Assyrian people's civilized image which was present even before the birth of Christ.

While waiting for Frederick Aprim's next book that will deal with the persecution of the Assyrian Nation in modern history, we recommend reading "Assyrians: The Continuous Saga".

Ashor Giwargis - Beirut

This book is a must in the library of any one who is interested in the fate of peoples who are threatened of extinction. It's the result of an unprecedented effort of the many tours undertaken by Frederick Aprim in several countries where there's a presence for the Assyrian people. When I accompanied him in one of those trips, I saw an Assyrian person who was able to overcome the process of melting within the sea of Diaspora. He endeavored to employ the energy of his thoughts insisting steadfastly to obtain details and documents in every area we visited so that to accomplish a monumental task and not merely a set of texts but rather a scientific research analyzed in an intelligent method, whereby the author mentions many errors and comments personally on them in a very logic manner.

The author dealt with the truth about the identity, language, land, studied the Assyrian community and its continuous national existence highlighting the greatness of the Assyrian perseverance since the fall of the Assyrian Empire in a transparent yet well built manner.

The author also turned the undisputable references into proper supports for the Assyrian thought. Thus, this book was born to be a source which would refute the theories that lead the Assyrian people to being marginalized in their identity, equality with others, right of self determination, and the schemes which distorted the Assyrian people's civilized image which was present even before the birth of Christ.

While waiting for Frederick Aprim's next book that will deal with the persecution of the Assyrian Nation in modern history, we recommend reading "Assyrians: The Continuous Saga".

Ashor Giwargis - Beirut

Few people within the mainstream American culture even know the Assyrian people still exist. Fewer know anything about the Genocide perpetrated against them. Almost three million Assyrian, Armenian and Greek Christians were murdered by the Islamic Ottoman Turks during World War I because of their ethnicity and faith.

The Crimson Field assigns faces and names to the victims of this dreadful chapter of history. It captures the plight of an Assyrian girl, helplessly caught up in the turmoil of her surroundings.

Malek-Yonan's work shines a terrible light on an overlooked study of Islamic violence during the 20th Century. It is a must read for any person interested in learning about the personal cost of Islamic Jihad.

Lee Enokian, The Times (Northwest Indiana) and The Illinois LeaderA Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish ResponsibilityDarfur: The Ambiguous Genocide, Revised and Updated Edition

This is a great book which shows the extents of the crimes done to Assyrians during WWI by Moslems. Even today, Assyrians are being persecuted for their only crime is being Christians. History does repeat itself and I hope books like this would make people aware of the crimes done against humanity. This book is very well written, a great story. I would recommend this book to everyone especially Assyrians so they know more about happened during WWI.

Few people within the mainstream American culture even know the Assyrian people still exist. Fewer know anything about the Genocide perpetrated against them. Almost three million Assyrian, Armenian and Greek Christians were murdered by the Islamic Ottoman Turks during World War I because of their ethnicity and faith. The Crimson Field assigns faces and names to the victims of this dreadful chapter of history. It captures the plight of an Assyrian girl, helplessly caught up in the turmoil of her surroundings. Malek-Yonan's work shines a terrible light on an overlooked study of Islamic violence during the 20th Century. It is a must read for any person interested in learning about the personal cost of Islamic Jihad.

Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and BeyondWe Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from RwandaThe Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness (Newly Expanded Paperback Edition)The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur

A really excellent book, a good "dictionary" which is the compendium of all recent knowledge about Mesopotamian civilizations.
D. E. Evangelidis - Author

This book is an introduction to ancient Mesopotamia with heavy emphasis on the art of the region. It is aimed for the armchair archaeologist and is not written for a professional in the field.

The book contains a variety of short (one or two page) topics with one or more relevent photographs on each page. The topics are to the point and give the reader the most important facts in a clear and highly readable manner. The photographs are well captioned, in fact most of the photos have several captions with a line extending from the caption to a specific detail in the picture that is being explained.

For example, the entry for Hammurabi is three pages long and has three color photos. One of the pictures has five captions which point out specific details about the crown, hair and beard styles and the finding of the statue in the picture. The text for this entry is one page long and tells the reader when Hammurabi ruled, what his major accomplishments were and what major ancient texts survive from his reign. Other entries in the book include brief biographies of other important kings, information about the major gods, and discussions about the legal system, religious festivals, jewelry, and art.

The photos in this book are in full color and are of high quality. There is also a collection of useful maps in the rear of the book and floor plans of the major buildings mentioned in the text.

My only complaint about the book is the fact that the binding does not allow the book to be opened flat. However, this book is still a very good survey of ancient Mesopotamia and is very reasoably priced.

This edition offers a well printed and well illustrated review (with a substantial bibliography) of the three great (yes!) civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia. Of special interest for Bible studies are the many reproductions of Assyrian and late Babylonian reliefs, statues, and paintings--some of them eerily redolant of contemporary Middle Eastern types ( a reminder of the shameful falsifications promulgated by Hollywood's biblical forays). Well translated from the Italian text with good color and full legend for each illustration (tho, alas, attribution for the superb Sumerian statue adorning the cover is tucked away in the text). Humbling in its reminder of the great achievements of these ancient civilizations (while Europe was doing what?...) that have so profoundly influenced Western culture, beliefs, science (flood stories and dear ol' Gilgamesh; astronomy; divisions by 60 of minutes, seconds, etc., etc.). The reader should bring a rudimentary knowledge of the time sequence of these civilizations. Father Abraham's splendid Ur of the Chaldeans receives a nicely illustrated discussion. A basic and valuable text, a labor of love and scholarship. By the way, a poignant entry describes the National Museum of Irag, in Baghdad, as "the leading museum in the Near East. Before it was damaged and sacked...."

Very easy reading on an important subject. This is a great companion to Symbols of our Celto Saxon Heritage which is also written by Bennett. Well documented. This book, however, should just be considered a part of the puzzle. Further reading is a must. Judah's Sceptre and Josephs Birthright by J.H. Allen would be a good follow-up.

This book is comprehensive and well-written. It's one of the best books on the subject of the lost tribes of Israel.
There is information on the camp arrangements of the tribes and the brigade emblems. These emblems are identical with the "four living creatures" found in the Bible.See Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7.
Mr.Bennett covers or includes the following:
The mention of Israelite captives on Assyrian monuments.
The witness of the Apocrypha and Josephus regarding the lost tribes.
The Scottish Declaration of Independence(translated into English).
An appendix detailing the view of Jewish scholarship.What is interesting with this particular index is that Jewish scholars have held that the lost tribes of Israel have not re-united with Jewry.
The Index of Scripture Passages and Index of Persons,Places,and Subjects are convenient as a reference.
I recommend this book for anyone that would like to study this subject.

This book is the best I have read on the so called "Lost Tribes" of Israel. Easy reading and presented in a way that will make it plain to anyone, who God's true chosen servant people, Israel, really are.

This book is a wonderful introduction to the armies of ancient Egypt and Assyria. First off is a list of major battles of the period, 3200 BC to 1185 BC for Egypt, and 1300 BC to 612 BC for Assyria. Next follows a series of short chapters on the tactics employed by the title powers and their enemies, their organization and formations, and the composition of their armies. The crowning glory is a section on the dress and arms of the soldiers/warriors; each type of soldier (e.g. light spearman, medium archer, horse archer, etc.) is described, and accompanied by a picture copied from an actual ancient painting or carving!

This book was written with war gamers in mind, but it is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in ancient warfare. It is rare that I wish that I could award more than five stars to a book, but this is one of those books!

This book is a wonderful introduction to the armies of ancient Egypt and Assyria. First off is a list of major battles of the period, 3200 BC to 1185 BC for Egypt, and 1300 BC to 612 BC for Assyria. Next follows a series of short chapters on the tactics employed by the title powers and their enemies, their organization and formations, and the composition of their armies. The crowning glory is a section on the dress and arms of the soldiers/warriors; each type of soldier (e.g. light spearman, medium archer, horse archer, etc.) is described, and accompanied by a picture copied from an actual ancient painting or carving!

This book was written with war gamers in mind, but it is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in ancient warfare. It is rare that I wish that I could award more than five stars to a book, but this is one of those books!

This book is part of the World History Series by Lucent Books. In this addition to the series, author and historian Don Nardo looks at the Assyrian Empire, following the course of its history from prehistoric time to its final destruction at the hands of the Babylonians and Medes. Also, the author does a good job of presenting what little is known about Assyrian society. Included in this book are many wonderful maps and black-and-white pictures.

This is a great book that, though written for younger readers, will give any reader of any age a good understanding of the. Overall, I did find this to be a fascinating and highly informative read that is also concise and highly readable. If you want an introduction to the Assyrian Empire, then this is a good book for you to get. I highly recommend it!

Almost all important aspects of the civilization of ancient Assyria are covered expertly and clearly in this history book for young persons. The constant rise and fall of empires in the old Middle East comes out very clearly, with also a lot of interesting detail about Assyrian art, sculpture and architecture. Nardo, who writes more often about ancient Greece and Rome, does his usual best in making ancient times come to life. I recommend this book to anybody intersted in ancient history or the Middle East in general.

One of the remarkable things about a discipline such as archaeology is the incredible staying-power of many of the older works. Archaeology is a discipline that crosses over arts and humanities concerns into scientific realms, both physical science and social and behavioural science. yet, while many other disciplines regularly update and supersede their earlier works, in archaeology one will often find the 'most current' research is well over a hundred years old.

True, there are more current studies on Assyrian language than this text by Sayce, yet it remains a standard. Sayce was perhaps the foremost Assyriologist of his time; a professor at Oxford, he produced this text originally in 1875 for the purposes of teaching, and to that end it is well suited.

Until the advent of computer-driven printing services, it was rare indeed for a book such as this to use actual cunieform markings, preferring a substitution method for instruction. This early text (reprinted and made available from the second edition by Wipf and Stock), made no such compromises; the reader learns Assyrian language in the script of the language.

A knowledge of how language works is assumed (grammatical structures, as well as some knowledge of non-Latinate scripts -- Hebrew/Aramaic is very helpful here) and some familiarity with languages that do not have a strict adherence to sound-character correspondence would also be helpful. Cuneiform script is, after all, a kind of corrupted pictogram or hieroglyph, much in the manner that modern Chinese characters still retain hieroglyphic elements despite being much simplified and varied in use from the original image.

Like any language, there are large sections which must simply be committed to memory, both of rules and of vocabulary and word-construction variations. However, like any language, it was intended to be understood, not confused, and thus there are patterns which become clear upon closer inspection.

The grammar follows a fairly standard pattern of setting out pieces -- nouns, numerals, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, adverbs -- then discusses briefly the phonology (however, in many cases, these are educated guesses, based upon knowledge of related modern languages' phonology) and accentuation.

There are some reading exercises in the back -- unfortunately, there are no translations accompanying some of them, so the student without a teacher or Assyriologist handy (which means, most of us) will have to hope that the translation is correct.

In a mere 130 pages, one can learn one of the most ancient languages on earth, and gain an insight into the linguistic mindset of people who dominated the fertile crescent, the birthplace of civilisation, so many thousands of years ago.

A comprehensive book, but with out instructions as to the composition of cuneiform sentences; also advice on how to go about using this book to read cuneiform. Where do I start; How do I read this language? Other than this bit of information it apprears to very complete in providing one with the tools for reading cuneiform. There will be a lot of hunting and seeking until one gets familiar with the language. One wonders why one would do this. Jimmy

Assyrian sculpture is one of the highest points (as is gold jewelry discovered in Nimrod, so called Nimrod Gold) of Assyrian art. Animal depictions especially are vivid, powerful and rather realistic, which is a rare occurence in those times. The Russian writer Ljubimov wrote in his book about ancient art, that if there were only one sculpture of this nation (The wounded Lioness) discovered we would know that the Assyrians had great art and thus the great soul. This book's fime illustrations prove Ljubimov's point.

As for depicting the ancient Assyrians as cruel looters, etc, they have not done anything what was not customary during those times and they were not as cruel as the Bible depicts them. The Bible was written by a nation which was conquered by Assyrian, that's why we hear tales of Assyrian cruelty for more than 2500 years already. But writers of the Bible have done the same things to the nations they conquered - khanaan, etc. So stop it already!

Can't you just enjoy beautiful art without spilling out your ingrained historical hatred?

Most of the sculpture described in this book is to be found in the British Museum, which indeed is where I purchased Dr. Reade's book. However, "Assyrian Sculpture" should appeal to a broad audience, especially those of us who have been following recent events in Iraq and would like a brief overview of this country's ancient imperial megalomaniacs. Even as we pulled down monuments to Saddam Hussein, so did successive dynasties of Assyrian kings loot the palaces of their predecessors and proclaim their own glory. Visitors to their palaces were forced to view a procession of triumphalist scenes, depicting the king at war, his exploits in the hunting field, and his status as exalted by Assyrian gods and genies.

For almost three centuries, until 612 B.C., the small kingdom of Assyria dominated the Middle East, its empire at one point extending from Iran to Egypt. "Assyrian Sculpture" relates the story of those years in sculpted stone, and more rarely in glazed brick, and offers its readers a glimpse of a long-lost civilization.

The archaeological discovery, starting in 1843, of a wealth of artifacts from the ancient Assyrian Empire brought to the attention of Europeans a form of artistic production that was unique and unexpectedly striking to many contemporary eyes. Roughly comparable arrays of ancient Assyrian artifacts found by both French and English excavators and transported with great difficulty to Europe, were put on display almost simultaneously in the Louvre and British Museum, starting in 1847.

The first archaeologists to explore ancient Assyrian ruins were Paul-Emile Botta, a French diplomat, and Austen Henry Layard, an adventurous English lawyer. In the mid-nineteenth century they both explored mounds in and near present-day Mosul, a city in northern Iraq that embraces the site of ancient Nineveh. Between the two of them, they uncovered the remains of five Assyrian palaces.

One, excavated by Layard in Nineveh, was the "palace without rival" of Sennacherib, perhaps the greatest of the Assyrian kings. The inner walls and courtyards were lined with two miles of sculptured stone slabs depicting the king's various campaigns, from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. It was under his rule that a system of canals and aqueducts brought water fifty miles from the Zagros Mountains to the parks, orchards, and gardens of Nineveh.

Within the palace Layard discovered thousands of clay cuneiform tablets, constituting the world's earliest-known comprehensive collection of written knowledge. In the chapter, "Biblical History in Assyrian Sculpture" the author states that although there is little direct evidence for the historicity of the biblical accounts that emerged from Layard's excavations, they did confirm that "the early history of Palestine, as recorded in the Bible, was more than a work of fiction."

Buy this book for its magnificent reproductions of Assyrian animal sculpture, for its fascinating biography of Austen Henry Layard, and for its concise overview of an ancient Mesopotamian civilization.

Note: There still exists an ethnic minority who call themselves Assyrians. They are a remnant of the Aramaic (or Syriac) speaking Christian community of northern Iraq, eastern Turkey, and western Iran.

Dr. Beblis's Myth of "Enuma Elish" is a welcome event in the world of Assyriology.
So many books have been written on the subject, that, one might think, everything has been said about it. Yet, this book brings something new, a new outlook and a new interpretation of the events described in the myth. I have always believed that I know all that is needed to know about "Enuma Elish", but, reading Dr. Beblis's book, showed me that this myth is more beautiful than I had perceived it, and that there was a direct relationship between the evolution of the social and political life of society, on the one hand, and its reflection into people's mind in the form of a myth. George Yana.

The Myth of Enuma Elish (Assyrian and Babylonian Myth): First story of Evolution is another masterpiece of its genre by Dr. Oshana Beblis. His deep knowledge of ancient history, mythology , religion and philosophy is combined with wisdom and analysis. When he poses the questions of "Who" rather than "How" or "I" and "Thou" and "man without power and will", he is telling us that mythology is a way of making sense of the world in which we live.

By Sir Budge, (1857-1934), curator of the Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum, who also translated the "Egyptian Book of the Dead." From the book's preface: "I have described the principal amulets which were used by the Semitic peoples of Western Asia, Egypt, Nambia and Ethiopia. I have added a series of short chapters in which I have tried to set forth the principal theories about the powers of 'working' amulets, and the meaning of the inscriptions and symbols inscribed on them, and to indicate the beliefs concerning them which were held by the ancient Babylonian and Egyptian magicians, and by the later Kabbalists, Gnostics, both pagan and Christian, and astrologers. And I have incorporated in the many of the views of the astrologers, makers of horoscopes, casters of nativities, diviners, crystal gazers, palmists and fortune-tellers with who I came in contact in Egypt, the Sudan and Mesopotamia." The author discusses: the Evil Eye, and amulets used by: Arabs, Persians, Babylonians, Coptics, Egyptians, Abyssinians, Gnostic, Hebrew, Mandaeen, Phoenician, Samaritan, Syriac; the Ring amulet; beliefs concerning Divination by water or animal's livers or sand; the Hand of Fatima; Babylonian demon Humbaba, god Khepera, Rd, Thoth; the Seven Seals; and much, much more. Many photographs and illustrations. Originally published in 1930; paperback in 1978.