Assyrians (Syriac: ܣܘܪ̈ܝܐ, romanized: Sūrāyē / Sūrōyē) are a distinct ethnic group native to Mesopotamia with roots in ancient Assyria. They speak varieties of Neo-Aramaic, a branch of the Semitic language family that replaced Akkadian during the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and largely adhere to Syriac Christianity. Some members of the community identify alternatively as Chaldeans or Arameans, based on religious, regional, and historic traditions.
Assyrians are an indigenous Semitic people of West Asia, with a continuous cultural and linguistic presence spanning over three millennia. They originally spoke Akkadian before gradually adopting Aramaic, which became a lingua franca of the region and was spoken by Jesus of Nazareth. Today, Assyrians speak modern Neo-Aramaic dialects with Akkadian influences, particularly Suret and Turoyo, and adhere to both East and West Syriac rite Christian traditions. Aramaic remains one of the oldest continuously used languages in West Asia, and has influenced regional languages such as Hebrew and Arabic.
The Assyrians were among the first peoples to accept Christianity in the 1st century AD. They are traditionally held to have been evangelised by St. Thomas the Apostle, one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus Christ, and the disciples St. Addai and St. Mari. They developed and practice a unique East Syriac rite and organised the Church of the East, which would go on to spread Christianity throughout the Asian continent. Assyrians are broadly distinguished into three principal ecclesiastical traditions, divided by liturgy, dialect, theology, and historical development. Namely the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East. A number of Assyrians are also a part of the Syriac Catholic Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church, practicing the West Syriac rite. Despite long historical and demographic continuity in Mesopotamia, they remain the only indigenous Middle Eastern Christian group without a sovereign state. Shared historical experiences, including early Christianisation and episodes of persecution, have fostered close ties with neighbouring Armenians.
The Assyrian homeland lies in northern Mesopotamia, encompassing areas along the Zab rivers and spanning parts of modern Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Over the past two centuries, large-scale displacement has led to a diaspora across North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and the Caucasus, driven by genocidal events, ongoing persecution, and conflicts including the Iraq War, the Syrian civil war, and the rise of Islamic State. In the United States, Assyrians have preserved and adapted their cultural identity, with notable communities in Michigan and California. In Australia, notable communities exist in Melbourne and Sydney. Despite constituting a small minority in their ancestral regions, they have played an active role in local defence and governance: militias such as the Nineveh Plain Protection Units participated in the liberation of Assyrian areas in Iraq, while in Syria, Assyrian groups have contributed to the multiethnic Syrian Democratic Forces and autonomous regional administration.
The modern Assyrian ethnonym (Asurāyā/Atorāyā) is closely linked to the self-designations of Aramaic-speaking Christians in Mesopotamia. During the late antiquity period, these communities adopted the term Sūryoyo, an Aramaic adaptation of the Greek Súrios. This term gradually replaced the older Aramaic autonym Armāyā ("Aramean") in literary, liturgical, and vernacular contexts, though both names continued to be used side by side well into the medieval period.
Assyria is the homeland of the Assyrian people, located in the ancient Near East. The earliest Neolithic sites in Assyria belonged to the Jarmo culture c. 7100 BC and Tell Hassuna, the centre of the Hassuna culture, c. 6000 BC.
The history of Assyria begins with the formation of the city of Assur, perhaps as early as the 25th century BC. The early Assyrians likely emerged from an ethnic blending of the Hurrians and Akkadians who inhabited Assur, yet they largely retained the Semitic language, culture, and religious practices of their Akkadian ancestors. The Hurrians however, still played an especially important role in the Assyrian formation of Mesopotamian civilization. According to H. W. F. Saggs in The might that was Assyria, a strong Hurrian influx entered Assyria in the second millennium B.C., leaving a permanent mark on Assyrian culture, and less visibly, on their ethnic make-up. During the early Bronze Age period, Sargon of Akkad united all the native Semitic-speaking peoples, including the Assyrians, and the Sumerians of Mesopotamia under the Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC). At this time, the city of Assur already existed and would later become the heart of the Assyrian Empire.
Under Sennacherib, Nineveh became Assyria's capital and was extensively expanded, covering about 750 hectares—more than twice the size of Calah or Dur-Sharrukin—and emerging as the largest and potentially wealthiest city of the ancient world. Some scholars suggest that the famed Hanging Gardens, often attributed to Babylon, may in fact have been located in Nineveh.
Prior to the rise of Nineveh, the Assyrian city of Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) emerged as the largest urban center in the world by around 800 BC. The city was established as the royal seat and military capital by Ashurnasirpal II, whose extensive building programs on the Acropolis and outer town significantly expanded Kalhu and enhanced its political and cultural significance in the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
In their early stages, Assyrian cities such as Assur and Nineveh appear to have functioned as administrative centers under Sumerian control rather than as independent political entities. Over time, the Sumerian population was gradually absorbed into the broader Akkadian-speaking (Assyro-Babylonian) populace. An Assyrian identity distinct from other neighboring groups appears to have formed during the Old Assyrian period, in the 21st or 20th century BC.
In the traditions of the Assyrian Church of the East, they are descended from Abraham's grandson, Dedan son of Jokshan, progenitor of the ancient Assyrians. However, there is no other historical basis for this assertion. The Hebrew Bible does not directly mention it, and there is no mention in Assyrian records, which date as far back as the 25th century BC. What is known is that Ashur-uballit I overthrew the Mitanni c. 1365 BC and the Assyrians benefited from this development by taking control of the eastern portion of Mitanni territory and later annexing Hittite, Babylonian, Amorite and Hurrian territories. The rise and rule of the Middle Assyrian Empire (14th to 10th century BC) spread Assyrian culture, people and identity across northern Mesopotamia.
By the late eighth century BC, Assyria had become the largest and most formidable empire yet established, with the most powerful army assembled up to that time and pioneering military techniques—including cavalry and advanced siege equipment—that influenced warfare for more than two millennia. Its success relied not only on military strength but also on a highly efficient bureaucracy and a vast administrative and trade network stretching from the Persian Gulf to Egypt.
The excessive expansion of the Assyrian Empire, combined with internal conflict during the reign of Ashurbanipal and the widespread resentment provoked by its oppressive rule, significantly undermined the state's stability and strength. The Babylonians and Medes formed an alliance and captured Nineveh in 612 BC. After a final defeat at Harran in 609 BC, the empire fell. Despite this, Assyria's culture and administrative practices influenced the subsequent Babylonian and Persian empires.
The Assyrian people, after the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 609 BC, were under the control of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and later, the Persian Empire, which consumed the entire Neo-Babylonian or "Chaldean" Empire in 539 BC. Assyrians became front line soldiers for the Persian Empire under Xerxes I, playing a significant role in the Battle of Marathon under Darius I in 490 BC. However, Herodotus, whose Histories are the primary source of information about that battle, makes no mention of Assyrians in connection with it.