> Layard and his protégé, a Christian Arab from Mosul named Hormuzd Rassam ...
Hormuzd Rassam was not an "Arab". He was an Assyrian. Not many (any, ever?) "Arabs" go around sporting an ancient Iranian name for God (Hormuzd) for their first name, though it is interesting how that name somehow got adopted by the Chaldean Christian Assyrian community. And based on his bio on wikipedia, it appears his mother was in fact from a Jewish family since her father's name was Isaak Halabee (which is the Arabized variant of יצחק חליבה).
One expects more from a magazine published by the Smithsonian, and rather ironic in an article about ancient languages of that region.
Assyrian here, I agree to most of what you said, however
> appears his mother was in fact from a Jewish family since her father's name was Isaak Halabee
we have many Hormuzd [1][2], but we also have many Isaacs and Davids, I find it a weak argument to deduce that a name dictates religious adherence if said person is coming from the middle east. To me these names are as Arameans/Syriac or Assyrian Christian as they are Jewish, early Christianity takes a lot from Judaism. But such view about the names might not be shared among western Christian.
To reinforce my argument about names, due to cultural suppression, many Assyrians were not allowed to choose Assyrian or even Christian name, so they had to choose a non Islamic Arabic name(some would end up with two name, an Assyrian one and an Arabic one). An outside observer will conclude that we are Arabs, if they don't take into account forced homogenization.
we can't nor do we don't have the power to promote our culture given that we live in constant hell with no hope. we live on a day by day basis.
My nation has and still is under constant suppression and ethic cleansing by the Arab and Kurdish colonialist. I studied under both the Kurdish and Arab regimes, in both Assyrians don't exist, we are Kurd or Arab Christians.
I will let you take a guess if the Jews that lived in the region are mentioned under the Arab and Kurdish media/education system.
After looking at the author's bio, I don't think that the author of this article is particularly specialized in the Middle East. They probably have the same level of understanding of the area's ethnography as most Americans: an Arab is anyone who isn't an Israeli.
Therefore, Persians, Assyrians, Kurds, and Lawrence of Arabia are all Arabs. It's unclear where Arab Israelis fall in this taxonomy.
Assyrian here, I wouldn't blame the author too much, the journalism on this is certainly lacking.
As our land and people got colonized by turk/Arab/kurdish. Their voice dominates ours a million to one. So you will see them referring to us as Turk/Arab/Kurd Christians in their books and media. Which will lead journalists to such thing is true simply because it's so prevelant
It was only in 2004 Assyrians were recognized in Iraq, before we were Arab or Kurdish Christians.
They still refer to us as Arab or Kurdish Christians, but more commonly, they just simply call us Kuffars
[...] by searching for the names of ancient Persian kings in the parallel inscriptions [...] the names would have been pronounced approximately the same way in Old Persian and Akkadian.
Hormuzd Rassam was not an "Arab". He was an Assyrian. Not many (any, ever?) "Arabs" go around sporting an ancient Iranian name for God (Hormuzd) for their first name, though it is interesting how that name somehow got adopted by the Chaldean Christian Assyrian community. And based on his bio on wikipedia, it appears his mother was in fact from a Jewish family since her father's name was Isaak Halabee (which is the Arabized variant of יצחק חליבה).
One expects more from a magazine published by the Smithsonian, and rather ironic in an article about ancient languages of that region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuzd_Rassam#Early_life
https://www.uncomfortableoxford.com/unburying-an-archaeologi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishak_Haleva - not his grandfather but the same exact name.