Application of the name
Writing in the 5th century BC,
Herodotus stated that those called
Syrians by the Greeks were called
Assyrians by themselves and in the East.
[2][3] However, Herodotus distinguished between the names Syria and Assyria, and for him personally, Syrians are the inhabitants of the Levant.
Randolph Helm emphasised that Herodotus never applied the term Syria on the Mesopotamian region of Assyria which he always called "Assyria".
[4]
In Greek usage,
Syria and
Assyria were used almost interchangeably in reference to Assyria, although Herodotus' clarifications were a notable early exception.
[5]
The
Seleucid Empire (312-150 BC) applied the term Syria not only to the original Assyria, but also to
The Levant, what had until then long been known as
Aramea and
Eber Nari. This caused both the Assyrians of northern Mesopotamia and the Arameans and Phoenicians of The Levant to be collectively labelled Syrians/Syriacs in the Hellenic world. In the east however, Assyria was still known as
Athura/
Assyria/
Assuristan.
In the
Roman Empire,
Syria and
Assyria came to be used as distinct geographical terms. "Syria" in the Roman Empire period referred to those parts of the Empire situated between Asia Minor and Egypt, i.e. the western
Levant, while "Assyria" in northern Iraq, southeast Turkey and northeast Syria was part of the
Persian Empire as
Athura, and only very briefly came under Roman control (116–118 AD, marking the historical peak of Roman expansion), where it was known as
Assyria Provincia.
Connection between the names of Syria and Assyria
Majority mainstream scholarly opinion now strongly supports the already dominant position that 'Syrian' and
Syriac indeed derived from 'Assyrian', and the 21st Century discovery of the Çineköy inscription seems to clearly confirm that Syria is ultimately derived from the Assyrian term
𒀸𒋗𒁺 𐎹 Aššūrāyu.
[6]
The question was addressed from the Early Classical period through to the Renaissance Era by the likes of
Herodotus,
Strabo,
Justinus,
Michael the Syrian and
John Selden, with each of these stating that Syrian/Syriac was synonymous and derivative of Assyrian. Acknowledgments being made as early as the 5th century BC in the Hellenistic world that the Indo-European term Syrian was a derived from the much earlier Assyrian.
Some 19th-century historians such as
Ernest Renan had dismissed the etymological identity of the two toponyms.
[7] Various alternatives had been suggested, including derivation from
Subartu (a term which most modern scholars in fact accept is itself an early name for Assyria, and which was located in northern Mesopotamia), the
Hurrian toponym
Śu-ri, or
Ṣūr (the Phoenician name of
Tyre). Syria is known as
Ḫrw (
Ḫuru, referring to the
Hurrianoccupants prior to the
Aramaean invasion) in the
Amarna Period Egypt, and as
אֲרָם,
ʾĂrām in
Biblical Hebrew. J. A. Tvedtnes had suggested that the Greek
Suria is
loaned from
Coptic, and due to a regular Coptic development of
Ḫrw to
*Šuri.
[8] In this case, the name would directly derive from that of the
Language Isolate speaking Hurrians, and be unrelated to the name
Aššur. Tvedtnes' explanation was rejected as highly unlikely by
Frye in 1992.
Various theories have been advanced as to the etymological connections between the two terms. Some scholars suggest that the term Assyria included a
definite article, similar to the function of the
Arabic language "
Al-".
[9]Theodor Nöldeke in 1881 gave philological support to the assumption that
Syria and
Assyria have the same etymology,
[10] a suggestion going back to
John Selden (1617) rooted in his own Hebrew tradition about the descent of Assyrians from
Jokshan. Majority and mainstream current academic opinion strongly favours that Syria originates from Assyria. A
Hieroglyphic Luwian and
Phoenician bilingual monumental inscription found in Çineköy, Turkey, (the
Çineköy inscription) belonging to Urikki,
vassal king of
Que (i.e.
Cilicia), dating to the eighth century BC, reference is made to the relationship between his kingdom and his Assyrian overlords. The Luwian inscription reads
su-ra/i whereas the Phoenician translation reads
ʾšr, i.e.
ašur, which according to
Robert Rollinger (2006) "settles the problem once and for all".
[10]
.
See also
References
- Jump up^ Rollinger, Robert (2006). "The terms "Assyria" and "Syria" again" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies 65 (4): 284–287. doi:10.1086/511103.
- Jump up^ (Pipes 1992), s:History of Herodotus/Book 7
Herodotus. "Herodotus VII.63". VII.63: The Assyrians went to war with helmets upon their heads made of brass, and plaited in a strange fashion which is not easy to describe. They carried shields, lances, and daggers very like the Egyptian; but in addition they had wooden clubs knotted with iron, and linen corselets. This people, whom the Hellenes call Syrians, are called Assyrians by the barbarians. The Chaldeans served in their ranks, and they had for commander Otaspes, the son of Artachaeus.
Herodotus. "Herodotus VII.72". VII.72: In the same fashion were equipped the Ligyans, the Matienians, the Mariandynians, and the Syrians (or Cappadocians, as they are called by the Persians).
- Jump up^ Assyria and Syria: Synonyms, Richard N. Frye, PhD., Harvard University
- Jump up^ John Joseph (2000). The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: A History of Their Encounter with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, and Colonial Powers. p. 21.
- Jump up^ Dalley, Stephanie (1998). The Legacy of Mesopotamia. Oxford University Press. p. 94. ISBN 0198149468. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- Jump up^ Frye, R. N. (October 1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies 51 (4): 281–285. doi:10.1086/373570.
- Jump up^ "Syria is not but a contraction of Assyria or Assyrian; this according to the Greek pronunciation. The Greeks applied this name to all of Asia Minor." cited after Sa Grandeur Mgr. David, Archevêque Syrien De Damas, Grammair De La Langue Araméenne Selon Les Deux Dialects Syriaque Et Chaldaique Vol. 1,, (Imprimerie Des Péres Dominicains, Mossoul, 1896), 12.
- Jump up^ Tvedtnes, John A. (1981). "The Origin of the Name "Syria"". Journal of Near Eastern Studies 40 (2): 139. doi:10.1086/372868.
- Jump up^ A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, Sir William Smith, Charles Anthon, Harper & Brothers, 1862 "Even when the name of Syria is used in its ordinary narrower sense, it is often confounded with Assyria, which only differs from Syria by having the definite article prefixed."
- ^ Jump up to:a b Rollinger, Robert (2006). "The terms "Assyria" and "Syria" again" (PDF). Assyriology. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 65(4). pp. 284–287.
- Jump up^ Aziz Suryal Atiya (1968), A History of Eastern Christianity London: Methuen
- Jump up^ Silvio Zaorani (Turin, 1993) under the chapter entitled "The Modern Assyrians - Name and Nation", pp. 106-107)
- Jump up^ The Encyclopedia Americana, International ed. (c1986) Danbury, Conn.: Grolier
Additional Reading