Vilification of the Assyrians by the History Channel; Naked Archeologist
Robert S. Shomon
On July 15, 2007, I watched the "Naked Archeologist's" ("NA") presentation regarding the ancient Assyrian empire. NA portrayed the Assyrians as being comparable to the NAZI war machine during WWII, with frequent visual flashbacks to marching NAZI troops during his presentation. He went on to allege that if, according to Old Testament narrations in the book of Isaiah, the Assyrians under King Sennacharib had succeeded in conquering Jerusalem (in approximately 700 BC), there would be no Christianity, Judaism or Islam as we know these religions today. Instead, he infers that we might be practicing some form of Assyrian paganism today. In short, it became apparent to me that NA was holding the Assyrians out as being the enemies of civilization and religion as we know it.
As a Christian Assyrian-American, student of ancient Assyrian history and U.S. Army veteran, I found NA's presentation to be unfairly biased and skewed toward what appears to be his own underlying agenda of promoting Judaism. While I do not object to his obvious internal bias to his own religion, I find his methods to be superficial, insulting and extremely objectionable in light of the fact that most, if not all, Assyrians today are steadfastly Christian in their beliefs. In fact, according to biblical history, Jeremiah had gone into Nineveh, the capital of Assyria at that time and had converted the Assyrians from paganism (similar to what had been previously practiced by the Babylonians, Jews, Ethiopians, Egyptians and other nations) to a belief in one true God. Later, after the disciples, the Assyrians became the world's first Christian missionaries spreading the faith as far as China, India and the Mongol hordes. (Islam had not come into being until approximately 700 AD.) Further, Assyrians have distinguished themselves in the armed services in the U.S. military and elsewhere in the world against the fascism that had plagued the Jews during WWII.
To go on, NA conveniently omits the facts that the ancient Assyrians had conceptualized, refined and transmitted to subsequent nations such accomplishments as:
Medical concepts, diagnoses and sciences
Mathematics, including a system of decimals
Law, civil and criminal
Agriculture
Fingerprinting
Astrology
Astronomy
Engineering and building construction (King Sennacharib was an engineer that had first built arches in buildings, and constructed aqua ducts to bring fresh water into Nineveh from the northern mountains).
The art and machines of modern warfare,such as their own version of tanks, battering rams; pontoon bridges. (These tools are used by Israel and other nations today).
Many stories recited in the Old Testament that had been previously mentioned in other contexts in ancient Assyrian texts long before the Hebrew Bible was written.
Many of the foundations underlying the Ten Commandments found in the Old Testament.
Much of the information mentioned above that I have gathered has been obtained by me via first edition texts written by genuine archeologists, as well as learned Assyriologists from Helsinki University in Finland and in other parts of the world. Among many other first edition books, my library of ancient Assyrian history includes twenty one volumes of the Assyrian Dictionary written over an eighty year period and published by the University of Chicago Press. In addition, my visits to the British Museum, the Louvre in Paris, and other museums in Berlin, Germany appear to support what I have read and studied over the past ten years. Recently, Assyrians throughout the world have celebrated their 6,753rd new year. That's almost 5,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
Today, Assyrians live in many countries of the world. There are still those that choose to live in northern Iraq, which was ancient Mesopotamia, the country of their origin. The area that they live in was ancient Nineveh, the former capital of Assyria. The Assyrians in Iraq today, as well as for the past two thousand years, have been persecuted and murdered because they have refused to give up or hide their Christian faith. They are probably one of the few peoples in the middle east that do not espouse the idea of destroying Israel. Yet, NA appears to have an obvious ax to grind against the Assyrians. I would suggest that NA direct his "humorous" and insidious deceitful venom against the true enemies of Israel; not the Assyrians. I believe that to do that however, might require more intestinal fortitude than NA has.
In conclusion, I do not consider NA to be a true archeologist; rather, he appears to be spreading his own brand of propaganda, supported by what appears to be his hand picked, equally biased cronies appearing on his programs. If the management of the History Channel International is really interested in presenting history, they should do so without any hidden agenda to pollute and distort the facts. I would expect nothing short of a public apology by the management of History International to the Assyrians throughout the world today for NA's insulting, disgraceful and unprofessional presentation. NA employs the use of deceitful language, "cute" and trite innuendos, and "smoke and mirrors". Then again, I should consider the source.
Sincerely,
Robert S. Shomon, CPA
P.S. Since the Assyrians are Semites, they are by definition not "Anti-Semitic". As a whole they are however, honest, forthright and "anti-deceitful".
Webmaster's note:
There is a tendency among some Christian writers and commentators to vilify the ancient Assyrians because of their conflict with the ancient Israel, as evidenced by the 'Naked Archeologist'. His assumption that If King Sennacharib had succeeded in conquering Jerusalem, "there would be no Christianity, Judaism or Islam as we know these religions today," is based on the erroneous premise that Assyrians would have imposed their religion on the Jews, Such perception is contrary to the Old Testament and historical evidences. The fact is ancient Assyrians did not impose their religion on any nation they conquered. According to the Old Testament when the Samaritans who were exiled to Israel wrote to king Sargon letting him know that they wished to learn to worship the Jewish religion he sent them Rabies to instruct them.
The Pre-Christian religions are often portrayed as anti God but in reality the ancient people were just as eager to worship him as devote Jews, Christians, and the Muslims of today. The interest of the Assyrians and Babylonians in astronomy was primarily fueled by their desire to find God and learn about his plans for the universe and the mankind. In early Mesopotamia as in some other civilizations people came to the conclusion that god(s) lived in heaven which they knew as stars. The statues and images they prayed to represented the heavenly gods they believed in as today's Christians may pray to the portray of the Christ or Mary. Pre-monotheistic religions in fact were far more tolerant with people who worshiped other faiths. Jewish religion owes its existence to Mesopotamia, wherefrom Prophet Abraham traveled to Cannon bringing with him a new form of worship. The Biblical traditions connect him with the Babylonian city of Ur where the deity who resided on the moon was worshiped.
The exiled Jews in Babylon who became the driving force for Judaism and were instrumental in writing parts of the Old Testament were greatly influenced by the Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions and records. As one Jewish writer states: in Babylon Jews had access to ancient libraries and religious concepts which they did not have in Israel. In fact Jews in Babylon were doing so well that when they were free to return to Israel most chose not to, those who damned Babylon were the Zealots. In Mesopotamia Jews have lived side by side with the Assyrians since ancient times.
Comparing Assyrians to Nazi's shows a simple minded judgment which is contrary to historical facts. There were no concentration camps for the Jews in Assyria where they would be put to death as were in Germany. Instead the exiled were settled on land where they could farm, live in peace and worship their religion. Some Jewish tribes who still worship the ancient religion are said to be the descendants of the Jewish tribes exiled to Assyria. The Jews and Israel in fact were not decimated by the Assyrians but by the Romans in the first century AD, however since this is not mentioned in the Old Testament Romans are seldom vilified by the Christian writers.
Furthermore the 'Naked Archeologist' assertion that if King Sennacharib had succeeded in conquering Jerusalem Christianity and Islam would not have existed can also be interpreted as meaning God primarily cared about Jews and Jerusalem and not the mankind therefore gentile Christians are in fact deluding themselves in believing that they are saved because of their Christianity.
For further comments about the vilification of the Assyrians see:
Cruelty of Nations and the Holier than thou preaching