Aramean-Syriac flag

Aramea
Adopted 1980

The Aramean flag, or Syriac-Aramaic flag, is the flag chosen by the Aramean people to represent the Aramean nation in the Aramean homeland and in the Aramean diaspora.

Symbolism

The Aramean flag is the flag chosen by the Arameans to represent the Aramean (Syriac) nation in the Aramean homeland and in the Aramean diaspora.[1] The original relief depicts Gilgamesh between two bull-men supporting a winged sun disk and was excavated by the Semitologist André Dupont-Sommer in the site of ancient Gozan.[2][3][4] It was adapted as a flag in the Aramean journal Bahro Suryoyo in 1980 for the first time.[5] In the flag design, the sun is replaced by a flame or torch, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. The red background was chosen because of all blood that was spilled in the Aramean genocide. The yellow color represents hope.[6]

Symbol of Aramean identity

Aramean identity is advocated by a number of Syriac Christians, most notably members of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church.

The modern Arameans are seen to be the descendants of the ancient Arameans, who emerged in the Levant during the Late Bronze Age, who formed a number of small ancient Aramean kingdoms following the Bronze Age collapse before they were conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the course of the 10th to late 7th centuries BC. They have maintained linguistic, Aramaic and cultural independence despite centuries of Arabization, Islamization as well as Turkification. They were among the first peoples to embrace Christianity during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. During Horatio Southgate's travels through Mesopotamia, he encountered indigenous Christians, adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church who claimed an Assyrian ancestry and had distinct Assyrian names, but stated that the Jacobites (members of Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church), dispersed in the region of Levant called themselves Syrians "whose chief city was Damascus".[7]

Such an Aramean identity is mainly held by a number of Syriac Christians in south-central Turkey, southeastern Turkey, western, central, northern and southern Syria and in the Aramean diaspora, especially in Germany and Sweden.[8] The most accurate term from a historical as well as ethnic perspective is Aramean which is the term used for self-identification by most members of this ethnic group. In English, they self-identify as "Syriac", sometimes expanded to "Syriac-Aramean" or "Aramean-Syriac". In Swedish, they call themselves Syrianer, and in German, Aramäer is a common self-designation.

The World Council of Arameans (Syriacs) is an advocate of the Aramean identity and an independent state in their ancient homeland of Aram. Also, the Aramean Democratic Organization, based in Lebanon has advocated for Aramean identity and Aramean nation state located in present-day central Syria.

In 2014, Israel has decided to recognize the Aramean community within its borders as a national minority, allowing most of the Syriac Christians in Israel (around 10,000) to be registered as "Aramean" instead of "Arab".[9] This decision on part of the Israeli Interior Ministry highlights the growing awareness regarding the distinctness of the Aramean identity as well as their plight due to the historical Arabization of the region.

Gallery

  1. ^ "Syriac-Aramaic People (Syria)". Crwflags.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-16. 

See also

References

  1. ↑ flag of Syriac-Aramaic People (Syria) flags, Syriac-Aramaic People (Syria)
  2. ↑ epic of Gilgamesh
  3. ↑ Relief Depicting Gilgamesh Between Two Bull-Men Supporting a Winged Sun Disk, Fr.Tell-Halaf, Syria
  4. ↑ Syrianerna – En nation i förskringring, Assad Sauma Assad, 2005
  5. ↑ Naures Atto, Hostages in the Homeland, 2011
  6. ↑ "Syrianer - en nation i förskingring, p. 24, 2004, Syrianska Riksförbundet i Sverige" (PDF). Syrianska Riksförbundet i Sverige. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Southgate, Horatio (1840). Southgate, Horatio. Narrative of a tour through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia and Mesopotamia. Tilt & Bogue.
  8. ↑ Assyrian people
  9. ↑ http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/304458
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