sentences:  Iraq's Eastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrian communities are believed to be among the oldest in the world.The Assyrian people adopted Christianity in the 1st century and Assyria in northern Iraq became the centre of Eastern Rite Christianity and Syriac literature from the 1st century until the Middle Ages.Christianity initially lived alongside Mesopotamian religion among the Assyrians, until the latter began to die out during the 4th century.