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Where Assyrians Get Their News.
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Volume VII
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This Week In Zinda
AUA At Marbella: Part 2 - "Mirage"
Good Morning Bet-Nahrain
Assyrian Representative Speaks Before Iran's Majlis In Assyrian
Iraqi Archeologists Uncover Assyrian Temple & Winged Bulls
Assyrian Man Stabs Ex-Fiancé In Chicago Area
Turks And Armenians Form A Reconciliation Commission
"His Article Betrays His Own Ignorance"
Surfers Corner
Microsoft Releases Windows XP With Native Syriac Support
The Sentimental Journey - Part I
Assyrian Surfing Posts
Assyrian Biographies Latest Issue of Nakosha Magazine
Up & "Away" With Walter Aziz
Preacher & Speaker
'The Country' & the Synod of Seleucia
Prof. Sargis Osipov
AUA AT MARBELLA
Part 2: "Mirage"
A Conference on Human Rights was scheduled for the first day of the gathering, and the lead-off speaker was Sheikh Mohammed Mohammed Ali, of the Iraqi National Congress (INC). Unfortunately, I arrived too late to makes notes of his comments and, strange as it seems, I have been unable to find anyone else who could share their notes from that meeting. During the Question-Answer period which followed, someone rhetorically asked the speaker how INC could possibly be concerned about human rights when there is no Assyrian representation on the INC executive committee. Just how sagacious was this thought?
The viability of the INC as an Iraqi "opposition" group has been open to question from the time of its creation, and that's putting it mildly. Earlier this year, a State Department official revealed the private assessment of Secretary of State Powell that "this is a feckless group of people whose dreams far exceed their capabilities. And he's not at all enthusiastic about relying on them." [New York Times, Feb. 14, 2001]
The Chairman of the INC is Ahmad Chalabi, who is frequently shuttling between London, New York and Washington. For the most part, the INC champions consist of certain hardliners in the U.S. Administration (led by Rumsfeld and Cheney), and by ardent advocates from the Jewish lobby. Steven Solarz, derisively known as "the Congressman from Ankara", and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a Jewish think-tank, consider it crucial for the U.S. to maintain opposition to Baghdad. A report from WINEP released earlier this year urges the U.S. to "provide the opposition with ample financial and political support, as well as specific equipment items such as communication gear and, starting with the Kurdish opposition in the north, weapons as appropriate." A letter addressed to President Clinton, signed by both Rumsfeld and perennial Baghdad-basher Paul Wolfowitz back on February 18, 1998, maintained that "Iraq today is ripe for a broad-based insurrection. We must exploit this opportunity." The letter suggested the "positioning of U.S. ground force equipment in the region so that, as a last resort, we have the capacity to protect and assist the anti-Saddam forces in the northern and southern parts of Iraq."
A brief digression may be in order. Unless anyone had not noticed, President G.W. Bush's Cabinet "looks like America, but without the Jews." Those words were in fact the headline of a Jerusalem Post editorial back in January. The Israeli paper complained that "in sharp contrast to the unprecedented number of American Jews holding cabinet-level posts in the outgoing administration of President Clinton …at this time it appears that none of President-elect Bush's cabinet appointments are Jewish."
Perhaps it was just a coincidence (and not a matter of "affirmative action") that the appointment of Wolfowitz as the US Deputy Secretary of Defense would soon follow. Described as a "seasoned zealot" [Kurdish Life, Winter 2001], Wolfowitz has been a Jewish fixture in senior national security posts under Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush Senior, and now Bush Junior. Following his appointment, the Jerusalem Post [Feb. 5, 2001] contentedly described him as "a strong advocate of arming the Iraqi opposition to topple Saddam Hussein."
But the biggest credibility challenge for the INC leadership is that it has never persuaded its Kurdish or Shi'ite Muslim colleagues to cooperate with a central command and to carry out a coordinated plan. Barring an unlikely change, the reluctance of these two groups (with guerilla forces) is an insurmountable burden.
The INC may have good intentions, but it does not enjoy much credibility. In pie-in-the-sky fashion, the INC "hoped to use Iran as a base for infiltrating southern Iraq and operating inside Kurdistan" [London Sunday Times, October 1, 2000]. But a Los Angeles Times article [March 129, 2001] titled "Hapless Hussein Opposition Has U.S. Looking Elsewhere" may be far more accurate in describing the disillusionment of its major sponsor. The article points out that "despite millions of dollars in U.S. aid, the leading Iraqi opposition group has proved so hapless in making use of the money, accounting for it, finding recruits for Pentagon training and preventing its own fragmentation that the State Department is searching for alternatives." It appears in fact that the INC has run into lowered expectations from the Bush administration. There will be far fewer dollars flowing in its direction and, according to the State Department, a very modest agenda of "distributing food and medicine in government-controlled areas," and sending "dozens of infiltrators into Iraq … to collect information and recruit supporters."
The fact is that the INC won't get very far in its grand designs without active Kurdish participation. According to Reuters [March 20, 2001], "Kurdish hesitancy is a critical obstacle to the INC's ambitions, because the Kurdish parties already have an experienced guerrilla force of some 10,000 fighters and their territory is the natural springboard for INC operations."
The interest of the Kurds lies in the North, and not elsewhere in Iraq. Moreover, they have been taken to the cleaners by failed American promises countless times before. It is hard to imagine Kurdish leaders giving weight to American promises, particular if it requires provocative engagement outside their own turf.
Going back to the question posed at the Conference by a well-meaning Assyrian, some may consider it far-fetched or presumptuous. The INC cannot get full-fledged commitment from the Shi'ites or the Kurds, and it is slowly sinking in irrelevance, yet the questioner may have felt that "Assyrians" should have the opportunity of stepping forward and taking another hit as "the smallest ally"? One could also ask why Assyrians would claim a place at the INC's Executive Committee table, when larger minorities have happily remained on the sideline - consider the self-described "Chaldeans" and the "Turkomans", just to name a couple?
The notion of "Assyrians in the INC" may strike some as a means of enhancing our self-importance. Others may be more wary, mindful of Woody Allen's injunction: "I wouldn't want to join a club who would accept me as a member."
Francis Sarguis
(ZNDA: Tehran) Last week Mr. Yonathan Bet-Kolia, the Assyrian representative in Iran's Parliament or Majlis, offered a speech before his Parliamentary colleagues in the Assyrian language. This was the first time in the history of Iran's Majlis since 1905 that a represented religious minority group was allowed to conduct a speech in its native language.
Mr. Bet-Kolia began his talk with a reading from Psalms 111. He then congratulated President Khatami on winning his second election, when over 92 percent of Assyrians eligible to vote went to the polls last month. Mr. Bet-Kolia briefly enumerated the educational and scientific achievements of Assyrians throughout the ancient times and the during Islamic period.
Mr. Bet-Kolia listed the following in emphasizing the significant religious and academic accomplishments of his constituents in Iran:
1. Assyrians currently live in more than 14 cities in Iran.
2. Assyrians own and worship in over ninety churches in Iran.
3. The office of the Assyrian Universal Alliance's Asia Chapter is located in Tehran.
4. Every Assyrian in Iran is bi-lingual and the literacy rate among Assyrians in Iran is one hundred percent.
5. Ninety percent of Assyrians are tri-lingual and seventy percent can speak in four languages or more.
6. There is one Assyrian professor for every 1,500 (one thousand five hundred) Assyrians living in Iran.
7. There is one Assyrian physician for every 400 (four hundred) Assyrians living in Iran.
8. There is one Assyrian engineer for every 400 (four hundred) Assyrians living in Iran.
9. There is one Assyrian university student for every 200 (two hundred) Assyrians living in Iran.
Mr. Bet-Kolia then directed the attention of the members of Majlis to the inequalities faced by Assyrians as victims of religious and ethnic discrimination at school and workplace. He expressed his regret in witnessing discrimination against Non-Moslems, including Assyrians, when applying for jobs in public and government sectors particularly in the educational areas.
Mr. Bet-Kolia also reminded his colleagues in the Majlis about the small budget passed earlier this year for the promotion of the cultural activities of the religious minorities in Iran. He then thanked them for taking into account the importance of such a budget resolution.
Permission to build new Christian centers and churches in Iran was the next item on Mr. Bet-Kolia's wish-list. Currently, no new buildings for the purpose of religious worship are permitted in Iran.
Lastly, Mr. Bet-Kolia requested that his constituents in Iran be permitted to publish books and periodicals in the Assyrian language, reminding the members of Majlis that it was the Assyrians who published and distributed the first newspaper in Iran, entitled "Rays of Light" in mid-19th Century.
Courtesy of Agence France-Presse (July 7)
(ZNDA: Badgdad) Iraq said last Friday that a team of archeologists have uncovered the remains of an Assyrian temple and statues of winged bulls dating back to the 8th century B.C.
Jaber Khalil Ibrahim, head of Iraq's archeology department, told the official INA news agency that the find was made in Nimrod, 35 kilometres (22 miles) southeast of the northern city of Mosul.
Inscriptions on the two bulls indicated the site dated back to the time of one of the most prestigious Assyrian kings, he said.
Iraq, and especially northern Beth-Nahrain, contains more than 10,000 archeological sites, most of which have still not yet been uncovered, according to official statistics.
Before the embargo imposed on Iraq in August 1990 for invading Kuwait, Iraq played host to numerous foreign archeological expeditions each year.
ASSYRIAN MAN STABS EX-FIANCE IN CHICAGO AREA
Courtesy of Chicago Tribune (July 13)
(ZNDA: Chicago) Nixon Odisho, 26, a resident of Hanover Park-Illinois, was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly stabbed his former fiancé 17 times with a steak knife, a prosecutor said last Thursday. Mr. Odisho faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated vehicular hijacking, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated domestic violence, authorities said at a court hearing.
Odisho became upset last Monday as he and the woman sat in a car in the 600 block of Lake Street in Hanover Township, Cook County Assistant State's Atty. Mike Andre said. "As she attempted to exit the vehicle, he held her and continued stabbing her," Andre said. The woman was stabbed on her hands, back, chest and legs before she could escape and was scheduled for surgery to repair damaged nerves and tendons in her hands, Andre said.
Odisho fled in the car but was arrested by a Kane County sheriff's deputy who had stopped him for a speeding violation. Kane County police said Odisho was wearing a shirt with what appeared to be dried blood on it when he was arrested.
The victim, a South Elgin woman, was treated at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates. Cunningham said she needed more than 75 stitches to her hand and will require surgery to repair nerve damage suffered as she tried to defend herself.
According to court records, Odisho was charged with attacking the same woman last year. That charge and an order of protection stemming from the case were later dropped.
Odisho's attorney, Stephen Connolly, said his client is mentally ill and is not a threat when he takes his medication, which includes lithium and Ritalin. Connolly said Odisho's family would have him committed if he is released.
Odisho faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. Judge Karen Thompson Tobin set bail at $150,000, with the requirement that Odisho be placed in a mental health facility if he makes bail.
Courtesy of Reuters (July 10); based on an article by Stephanie Nebehay
(ZNDA: Geneva) A group of prominent Turks and Armenians are establishing a reconciliation commission to promote dialogue between their peoples divided since the Genocide of the Christians in Anatolia during World War One.
"It is the first time there has been an attempt at structured dialogue between civil society in Turkey and Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora," Ilter Turkmen, a former Turkish diplomat and senior U.N. official, told the news conference. "...It is a turning point in the relations between two peoples."
A statement issued after three-day talks in Geneva said the 10-member commission hoped to foster better ties between Turkey and Armenia, which have no diplomatic relations.
"The (Turkish-Armenian) Reconciliation Commission hopes, through its efforts, to build on the increasing readiness for reconciliation among Turkish and Armenian civil societies including members of Diaspora communities," it added.
Armenians accuse Turks of genocide by the systematic slaughter of 1.5 million of their ethnic kin as the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1918.
Turkey denies the charges, saying both Turks and Armenians died in inter-ethnic violence as the Empire fought a Russian invasion of its eastern provinces, which had a high concentration of ethnic Armenians.
The issue remains a source of international tension. Ankara reacted angrily when first a House of Representatives sub-committee and then the French parliament recently recognized that genocide had occurred.
The talks, which follow recent secret meetings in Vienna, Austria, come as Turkey tries to advance its European Union candidacy.
"The Reconciliation Commission appreciates that there are serious differences between Armenians and Turks, as well as obstacles to normal relations between Armenia and Turkey," the two-page statement read.
The Commission aims to support projects in business, tourism and culture and would also make recommendations to the members' respective governments, according to the statement.
Gunduz Aktan, a former Turkish ambassador who writes for the Radikal newspaper, said: "When it comes to qualifying events 85 years ago in the Ottoman Empire, Turks around the table will not accept them as genocide.
"We certainly consider them terrible tragic events, but they do not fall within the definition of genocide accepted under international humanitarian law."
Alexander Arzoumanian, a former Armenian foreign minister who chairs the Armenian National Movement based in the capital Yerevan, said: "In Armenia, most of the population and Diaspora community consider it as genocide.
"This is one of the issues we are going to address through our work," he added. "We just made an important historic step, but we have a long way to go."
Van Krikorian, of the Armenian Assembly of America, said: "The Armenian genocide is very fundamental to who we are."
During 1915 and 1923, nearly 750,000 Assyrians and 350,000 Greeks (Pontic) perished along with one and half million Armenians living in Turkey, then Ottoman Empire.
" The Dilemma of the Assyrian Identity - According to Fred Parhad's article "Reflections on Assyrian: A Little Slow" which was published in Zinda Online Magazine (Volume VII, Issue 16, dated June 26, 2001) the root problem of the Assyrian people is their Christian identity. He further states that it is necessary for the survival of the Assyrian people that they culturally divorce themselves from the Church and embrace a non-Christian Assyrian (neo-pagan) identity.
Following Mr. Parhad's traitorous advice will only accelerate the Assyrians decline. His article betrays his own ignorance of his own identity as an Assyrian. This article is also an affront to the Assyrian people and an insult to our ancient Christian heritage. The remote ancestors of today's Assyrians were the ancient Akkadian Assyrians. They spoke a Semitic language related to yet distinct from the Aramaic language. The Neo-Aramaic that Assyrians now speak is not descended from the language spoken by the ancient Assyrians. The ancient Assyrians only used Aramaic for diplomatic purposes.
The Assyrian culture we have today has its origins in the Syriac-speaking regions on the borders of Rome and Partia during the first century AD. (The Aramaic language used in the holy liturgy is called Syriac. Modem Assyrian Aramaic is often also called Syriac.) The Syriac speakers of that time had a distinct culture from that of the ancient Assyrians, spoke a different language than they did and worshiped different gods. They were profoundly influenced by the Greek and Persian cultures. These Assyrians, due to the fact that they spoke the same language as Christ and the Apostles were among the first people to embrace Christianity. And in that as the Assyrian culture as it was being formulated at this time, it has been Christian from the very beginning.
Apart from a few early pagan inscriptions, almost all of the literature produced in Syriac is Christian. All of the surviving Syriac art (mostly decorative crosses and paintings from the Far East and India as well as Syrian Orthodox Icons) is Christian as well. Today's Assyrian culture was shaped during the reigns of King Abgar V (a contemporary of Jesus Christ) and King Abgar VIII (early 200s). These were our first Christian kings. Thus from its beginning Christianity and the cultural identity of the Assyrian people were fused into one. I believe that it is a good thing. Our Christian faith is our greatest asset. Through it and by God's grace we have endured through the centuries. Due to the gulf that separates the ancient and the modern Assyrians, many scholars refuse to call modern Aramaic speakers 'Assyrian'. Most scholars prefer to call Assyrians 'Nestorians' or 'East Syrians' and the Syrian Orthodox 'Jacobites' or 'West Syrians'.
The problem is that Syria is now the name of an Arab state and thus it is too confusing a term to use to designate Syriac Speakers. Some say that the term Assyrian as used for East Syrians was coined in the 19th Century. However it is easy to demonstrate that this accusation is false.
The word 'Assyrian' was used for Syriac speakers in the era of the Early Church Fathers. Tatian, the disciple of Justin Martyr, called himself Tatian the Assyrian while writing in the middle of the second century AD. Syriac speakers are also referred to as "Assyrians" in The Doctrine of Addai. which is an ancient account of the conversion of the Assyrians to Christianity at the preaching of the Holy Apostles Saint Thaddeus, Saint Mark and Saint Aggai. All of the great cultural accomplishments of the Assyrian Christians have been in the Church. For example, the liturgy, the missionary conquests of China, Mongolia and India, the writings of the Assyrian Church Fathers (particularly Saint Ephraim and Issac of Nineveh, although there are several others, these too are internationally famous) the Assyrian Christian literature composed in Mongolian, Sogdian and Chinese, the creation of the Syriac based alphabet of Mongolia and the writings of Bardesan, Aphrahat, Tatian, Mar Babai the Great, Narsai and several other intellectual giants. Also the translations of the Greek classics into Arabic which were translated by Assyrians are credited with sparking the Renaissance when they were discovered by Europeans.
These are great accomplishments that were done by devout Assyrian Christians and should be a source of pride for Assyrians today. From its inception, the current Assyrian culture has been Christian. Honoring the old pagan gods of the ancient Akkadian Assyrians in song or festivals dishonors the blood of our martyrs and our forefathers. Searching for an ethnic identity outside of the Christian Church is a betrayal of our culture. If Assyrians want to connect with their culture and discover their cultural identity the place to do this is in the church and in the history and writings of the Church of the East and the Syrian Orthodox Church.
Assyrians can truly show pride by supporting the Assyrian Churches and by communicating the Aramaic heritage with our fellow Christians. The Aramaic heritage is that of the Assyrian speakers of the Sacred Aramaic language that was spoken by the prophets Abraham, Daniel, Ezra, Jeremiah and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Unfortunately the only Assyrian who genuinely tried to share our Aramaic heritage with all the world was the theologically questionable George Mamisho Lamsa.
Our hope and our salvation is in our God, Jesus Christ and our Ancient Church. I believe that by God's grace and power we will endure until the second coming of Jesus Christ. I believe we will be here to greet Christ in his own language when he comes again. We must not despair or fall away but work to maintain our traditions and language. We can and we will. Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syrian Orthodox must work together in Christian love fur the preservation of our language and culture. (However, I do not believe attempts by our Roman Catholic brothers to usurp the ecclesiastical sovereignty of the Assyrian Churches represent true Christian unity. We should love one another and respect our distinct traditions especially in that we all adhere to the Nicene Creed). The Christian faith is the greatest asset of the Assyrian people and is not a liability. The threats the Assyrian people face include illiteracy, ignorance of their Christian heritage and identity and assimilation into surrounding cultures and not their adherence to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. ."
Stephen Andrew Missick
"The Assyrians under the present Kurdish rule - The Kurds fought the central government of Baghdad since 1961 attracting those disaffected with the successive central regimes to fight along their side. The rebellion was well conducted and some Assyrians and communists (among others) joined them hoping for a dawn that will eventually come by this Kurdish rebellion.
The defeat of the Baghdadi regime after the Allied actions in the Gulf war caused a vacuum in both north and south. While the south rebellion crumbled the north rebellion survived due to two factors of geographic-geopolitical nature of the north and the experience of the Kurdish fighters (among others) of decades of guerilla warfare.
The creation of the 'save haven' was a windfall for the Kurds and their allies and here the creation of a Kurdish controlled zone was realised and established. The Kurds would never have reached such achievement on their own where it not by the imposition and protection guaranteed by western muscles. In theory what was envisaged was that a sort of pseudo democratic status will be established that is diametrically opposite to the brutal regime in Baghdad. The Assyrians living under the Kurdish rule since the haven was established lacked depth and vision and did not realise that the Assyrian nation was being torn apart. The Assyrian activists under the Kurdish rule did not give the outside world their vision about the Assyrian cause as a whole but bothered with a few representations in executive and legislative bodies of this flimsy Kurdish establishment.
In fact to every educated Assyrian the Assyrian nation was partitioned in two, part under the Kurdish tribal rule and the vast part still under Arab bedouin Baghdadi rule. The current news from the eastern part of our nation are indeed gloomy, the bubble has burst and the world has collapsed around us.
Our Assyrian people are the victims of this cruel partition of our land and the current scheme befits exactly the Middle East mentality of repression of the native Christian population. Here we come to a final conclusion, that although we have activists and political activism but we still lack behind those in national liberation worldwide like the Palestinians, the Irish, the Basques to name some.
The Middle East Christian Committee MECHRIC an umbrella of 14 Middle East Christian groups in a release issued June 28 this year lamented the status of the native Christian population throughout the Middle East. Why should the Kurds not be part of that oppressive Islamic belt?"
Dr George Habash
Microsoft Inc. made available today its latest operating system Windows XP Professional Release Candidate 1 (RC1). This is the first operating system to have native Syriac support. Users can simply click on the language control (located on the task toolbar), choose Syriac, and type away using numerous applications, including Office XP (for word processing, desktop publishing, databases, spreadsheets, presentations, web design), Internet Explorer (for web browsing), Outlook Express (for writing emails), as well as many of the Microsoft accessories (Notepad, Paint, etc.). Any application that uses Uniscribe's functionality for text input and output will automatically have Syriac support, paving the way for developers to write Syriac applications. Windows XP Professional RC1 is available now from the Microsoft Web Site [www.microsoft.com]. Click on Syriac on the task toolbar and type Syriac in many applications.
Name your folders and file in Syriac! Native Syriac support means that the language is implemented at the operating system level. This allows the user, for instance, to name files and folders in Syriac (see image on right). The operating system also knows about Syriac dates and time. For example, when the user inserts an automatic date in Word XP, it will write the name of the day and the month in Syriac.
Having a hard time locating keys? The On-Screen Keyboard helps you find any letter, vowel or diacritic mark; you can also type using this tool. Because of the lack of a 'standard' Syriac keyboard layout, the user has the option of using two different keyboards, one modeled after the Arabic keyboard and the other is phonetic. The image below shows the On-Screen Keyboard used in conjunction with Notepad.
The On-Screen Keyboard helps you find Syriac keys.
Windows XP ships with one Syriac font, Estrangelo Edessa, which Windows uses as a default font. Designed for Beth Mardutho's Meltho Fonts, Estrangelo Edessa was provided to Microsoft to be included in the Windows XP distributions. The Meltho fonts package includes over 20 other fonts, available free of charge from Beth Mardutho [www.bethmardutho.org]. These fonts can be used now in Windows 2000/XP-RC1 and Office XP.
Beth Mardutho worked with Microsoft for the past four years to make this happen. Central to the success of this story is Paul Nelson of Microsoft's Complex Scripts Group. Nelson was the communication link between Beth Mardutho and Microsoft and developed much of the Syriac features inside Windows. Back in 1998, Beth Mardutho took part in a meeting with the Unicode Consortium and the International Standard Organization (ISO) when a proposal to add Syriac to the coding standard Unicode was presented. Subsequently, due to the generous contributions of Beth Mardutho's benefactors and the hard work the Meltho team, the Meltho fonts became available to the public free of charge in 2000.
Send E-Mails in Syriac!
Call For Support - Beth Mardutho is an academic institute whose goal is to globalize the Syriac language. The Institute is currently working on creating the largest digital eLibrary of Syriac books and journals on the Internet, among other projects. These projects are made possible by our generous benefactors. Become a part of bringing the Syriac language into the Third Millennium by supporting Beth Mardutho through membership. Members are entitled to a number of privileges outlined on the Institute's web site. Go to www.bethmardutho.org and click on Gifts Online. Become a member today!
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute New Jersey
Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky was born in St. Petersburg in 1893. After a year at the University of Petersburg, he left in the summer of 1914 to fight with the Tsarist army in World War I. After the February 1917 revolution he worked for the Provisional Government as a commissar on the Galician front and later in Iran's Urmia region.
To escape arrest for his anti-Bolshevik activities, Shklovsky fled to Finland in the spring of 1922, then to Berlin, where he published his book, A Sentimental Journey, in 1923. He was granted an amnesty in the fall of 1923 and returned home to settle in Moscow.
Shklovsky is considered one of the most brilliant Russian writers of the 20th century. However, it is his personal witness to the turbulent years of Assyrian experience between 1917 and 1922 that makes him an important figure.
A Sentimental Journey is an important historical document - a personal memoir of a man who became founder of Russian formalist criticism and avant-garde writing.
Zinda Magazine has carefully selected every passage pertaining to Shkolvsky's Assyrian experiences and will present them in a series of articles in the next few weeks. The majority of the book elaborates on Victor Shklovsky's other experiences, not related to Assyrians.
We expect that Shklovsky's opinion of Assyrians, whom he calls Aissors, may cause some anxiety for our readers. At best we expect that his writings on Mar Benyamin, Agha Petros, Turko-Assyrian battles, and the Great Exodus will produce responses in form of letters to the Editor and messages on our Ziggurat forum.
Our crew thanks Mr. Daniel Wolk of Univesity of Chicago for introducing this pivotal literary document to Zinda Magazine. We hope that our readers will enjoy reading Viktor Shklovsky's memoir as much as we have in preparing it for your reading enjoyment.
A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
At the War Ministry, I had previously met a commissar who was leaving for Persia; he was a Menshevik named Task, a former chairman of the Kiev Soviet. I will write a lot about him. They let me go to Persia, although they did try to keep me. But frustration had driven me to the brink, as the moon draws a somnambulist to the roof. I got on a train and set out for Persia. Then it was very simple: five days to Tiflis without changing trains and from Tifiis to Tabriz two days, also without changing. I set out. In the vicinity of Mineralnye Vody, the Chechens were already wrecking trains. No matter, we got through.
Near Baku, I saw the Caspian Sea, a cold green not like any other sea. And camels, walking with their easy gait.
Some officers traveling with me were going to the Caucasian front.
One of them, wounded in the stomach by an explosive bullet and half-castrated by it, kept singing
Boiled chickies,
Broiled chickies,
Chi-ckies also
Wants to live.
How come you're boiled?
How come you're broiled?
And so on.. . . He was about eighteen. He was by no means an educated man and he grieved the only way he knew how. And that's all.
And speaking of castration. I had been going to the hospital in Petersburg (they were taking X rays to figure out why my wound hadn't been fatal) and I saw an officer there. He too had been castrated by a wound. His fiancée had been coming to see him. She knew nothing. He hadn't been able to tell her when she came the first time and after that it kept getting harder and harder. And no one else would say anything. The wounded man asked the doctor to tell her and the doctor asked a nurse and the nurse wouldn't tell her.
And it wasn't so much the matter of telling her. The accident was simply too absurdly awful.
I arrived in Tiflis. A nice town, a poor man's Moscow. There was shooting in the streets; wildly enthusiastic Georgian troops were shooting into the air; they couldn't not shoot. The national character. I spent one night with the Georgian Futurists. Nice kids, more homesick for Moscow than "Chekhov's sisters."
The town was calm, not destroyed-true, they were eating bread of corn-but the streetcars were still running and the people become savages yet.
I set off for Tabriz. The train climbed higher and higher. Trees with dark-gold leaves clung to the mountains. The stream was either following us or running toward us. The train kept climbing higher, writhing from the effort.
In Aleksandropol we hitched on to another train and were off to Dzhulfa. We arrived-a solitary station. The turbid Araxes River along the foot of a mountain. On the other bank, small houses made of clay, with flat roofs; to me they seemed like houses with no roofs at all. It was night.
I'm writing on July 22, 1919. When I arrived from Moscow on nineteenth of this month and brought some bread (ten pounds) a close friend, this man began to weep-he wasn't used to bread. That's how it was-the houses had lost their roofs, the people somewhat lost their heads, but they had long since grown to this state of affairs.
Our car was once again uncoupled. Then a new train was made all together about four or five cars with two locomotives, one in front and one in back.
We crossed a bridge, were perfunctorily inspected by customs Persian customs officials, who were afraid of us, and the train itself, straining every fiber, began again to scramble up the heights.
Now on all sides was no longer the reddish-gold forest, but instead only red mountains and red ledges set off by snow, the snow on the peaks very close to us. The train, straining every fiber, times almost came to a complete stop-it seemed that we would back down at any moment.
Only the desert. And deserted warehouses. Goods lying about. Rolls of barbed wire. Several granaries. A dozen cars standing on the tracks. But the port was dead. This is the main port of Lake Urmia, a place supposedly with a tremendous future. You couldn't see the opposite shore. But to the left was an island called Shahi: the shahs used to hunt there.
I stayed all night there in the plywood cottage of the Regional Union. I left in the morning. The same sea and below the same piles blanched by the salt. An uncanny silence. The warehouses were being guarded by Turkish prisoners. They were more relia-ble. There were two ways of getting across the lake: either in a barge towed by a launch or simply in the launch, if it were an urgent matter. All together, there were about half a dozen steam-boats on the lake; one of them, the Admiral, was rather large- about the same size as the steamboats that go between Kronstadt and Petersburg-but with an internal-combustion engine. The steamboats had been brought from the Caspian Sea and assembled here.
I set out for Urmia in a small launch. It was about thirty-five or forty miles.
Flamingos were flying over the lake, turning pink as they flew up. The undersides of their wings are pink. The boat chugged along and cut the still, smooth waves.
A fleet had been dragged to this salt lake, which had always been deserted-deserted during the reign of the Chaldeans, during the reign of the Assyrians, always marginal; now a fleet, piles driven in, birds frightened away and all for the sake of war.
The corps supply officer traveling with me related how hard it was to feed our army. "Up to the lake, it's not so bad-the railroad, then reloading on barges. The barges really help out; in some of them, you can carry as much as five hundred tons right up to the landing piers. There are five of them on the lake; then reloading on horse or ox transport, then in the mountains reloading on camels, mules or donkeys-and so on, every foot of the way."
And so practically every camel, horse, donkey and bull in the Caucasus and Turkestan had been driven into Persia. But we didn't succeed in getting them back out.
There were about sixty thousand of us in northern Persia- about five thousand at the front, with the rest in units to handle transport and protect the routes; the route from the front to Sharafkhaneh, 240 miles, had to be protected and, as a result, the army was starving.
The launch pulled up to the pier. The cliffs were no longer red, but gray. It was deserted: only one small clay house in sight. This was Gelenzhik.
We stepped out on shore. It was desolate, like standing in front of a blank wall.
Children were wandering around almost naked, in rags reduced to tattered threads.
I didn't want to wait for a car; I requested horses, picked out some men, and we began to clatter over the rocks to Urmia.
The road broke away from the salt marsh and went across fields enclosed with clay walls. Lombardy poplars stuck out in the fields like factory smokestacks, their branches seeming to swaddle the trunk.
We rode for quite a while along an unbroken clay steppe, past shabby cemeteries with markers made of pieces of rock stood on end. Then we turned into a brick gate and rode into the city of Urmia. Red mountains were visible beyond the city wall; the sky was far above; snow sparkled on the mountains. We came to a gray wall, went through a door and followed a narrow corridor into a small courtyard. Huge grapevines with gnarled trunks, strong and thick, climbed up the walls, making a green net over the entire courtyard. At the end of the courtyard stood a one-story house with enormous windows covered with calico. I went through the dark vestibule into a room.
White walls. The ceiling was made of beams placed a foot apart. Thin boards had been placed between the beams, and woven mats were attached to these boards.
The room was flooded with diffused light passing through the calico.
Here I met Task and one other old acquaintance, a certain L., who was panicked: he had come to the East and had expected an East as gayly colored as a peacock's tail; instead he saw an East of clay and straw, and war in all its nakedness. Nowhere was the inner lining of clay and straw, and war in all its nakedness. Nowhere was the inner lining of war, its predatory essence, so clear as in the crevices of Persia. There was no enemy. There were Turks off somewhere, but they were separated from us by impenetrable passes, where a camel would flounder in snow up to his nostrils. Only with inconceivable effort could the Turks get through to us, as in fact they had done in 1914.
But that's beside the point. The point was Persia, which had already been occupied by Russian troops for ten years.
We had gone to a foreign country, occupied it, added to its gloom and violence our violence, laughed at its laws, hampered its trade, refused to let it open any factories and supported the shah.22 And for this purpose, we kept troops-kept them there even after the revolution. It was imperialism-what's more, Russian imperial-ism, which is to say, stupid imperialism. We had built a railroad to Persia, set up a fleet on Lake Urmia, built a colossal number of roads in the valleys, laid roads through passes where since the time of Adam there had been nothing but donkey trails, where the Kurds had been able to pass through the most impossible spots only by building bonfires and afterwards practically gouging out the heated rock with their fingernails.
A lot of money was spent in Persia. And it was all useless, like teaching a pig to waltz. We squeezed and choked, but found the corpse inedible.
The February revolution had not improved the situation in Persia. To begin with, we were entangled in all kinds of treaties with England: Persia was one part of the intended prey. Moreover, the revolution, while in general warding off the threat of Persia's being absorbed by us, had replaced one slow-witted, but organized, tyrannical government with several petty offshoots of the Russian tyrannical will. The subjects of the tyrannical government were themselves tyrants. If there had been a flood in Persia and it had fallen my lot to be Noah-to build an ark and to save the pure and honest, passively honest and actively honest people, I would not have had to build a big tub.
L. and I went to take a look at the town. The whole town was paved. The story of this pavement is as follows:
A certain general had ordered the Persians to pave the streets. Any property owner who refused was nailed by the ear to the door of his own house.
So naturally the town was paved. Facing the streets were the same clay walls, about the height of two men. There were low doors in the walls-no gates at all. Several mosques with low minarets and cupolas made of tiles. On one of the minarets, a stork bad built her nest. This sacred bird is never disturbed. Water runs swiftly through all the streets in irrigation ditches. At the cross-roads are graveyards-dusty, shabby and small. The gravestones
-simply pieces of rock stood on end. Few people on the streets. Persian women, covered with black shawls, occasionally went by. The edges of rough soldiers' underpants stuck out from under their shawls. Some Persian men were walking around. We saw some Aissors. Small donkeys, with loads of brick on their backs, were trotting down the street; the driver would shout, "Khabar-dar." They were carrying material for repairing the bazaar after a pogrom. When the drivers wanted to force the donkey to turn a little, they would jump off and push against his side. We were on our way to the bazaar. There were more and more people on the streets. The clay walls gave way to stalls, selling everything from gayly decorated cradles to dried, very sweet grapes and almonds. There was the entrance to the bazaar, which consisted of numerous tunnels under pointed arches pierced with holes. Along the sides, the stalls were almost empty. In the row specializing in fabrics, almost all the doors to the shops were of fresh wood that hadn't darkened yet. There had been a major pogrom here. The owners of ~the pottery stalls were sitting there matching the broken pieces left after the pogrom and fastening them together with cement and small iron braces. There were few wares, no imports and they were afraid to display what they did have. The hoofs of the donkeys ?bringing bricks faintly clattered. One row was occupied by shoe-makers. They were making boots right on the spot. In the large deep stalls at the back of the bazaar, men were twisting wool into cord and, with a round stone as model, making caps that widened at the top like mitres. Down another lane, each artisan was manipulating a small hammer and a piece of oak to make a black design on a rough red and blue cloth. A whole beehive, but the clay debris still not cleaned up were everywhere.
We watched them cooking over coals heated up with a wicker fan, baking lavash, a thin, cardboard-like bread which they make by spreading dough on the inside walls of the oven; then we went home.
That same night, L. left for St. Pete. Task left for the front. I was left alone. Our troops were the only force in Persia and I was supposed to be in charge.
And now it's July 30, 1919, and I'm writing while on guard with a rifle between my legs. It doesn't get in my way. I think I'm just as powerless now as I was then, but now I don't have any responsibility. Now I'll tell what kind of country it was that I found myself in.
Azerbaijan and part of Kurdistan were the areas occupied by our troops. A mixed population. Persians, Armenians, Tatars, Kurds, Nestorian Aissors and Jews made up the population. None of these tribes had gotten along together since time immemorial. 'When the Russians came, this changed: it got still worse.
The day after my arrival, I went to get acquainted with the army committee. It made a very painful impression on me. Abso-lutely ignorant men who had no idea what to do. The chairman had first been Comrade Stepanians, an Armenian; he had been a poor chairman and made a hopeless muddle of the committee's affairs.
Then they had elected Geobbekian, afterwards a friend of the chairman of the regional soviet. This one was worse. With him you never knew what would happen from one minute to the next; in one and the same speech, he could back the Kadets and the Bolsheviks.
He had an amusing way of stopping a speaker in the middle of his talk and saying, "I'll explain it to you, comrade," and then he'd talk a blue streak for an hour. So he was the only one who ever talked. But we had to do something about the Constituent Assem-bly. Elections had to be held in an incredibly scattered army of small detachments. The soldier chosen chairman of the elections committee, a Tolstoyan, unexpectedly turned out to be a capable man.
But the rest of the committee-may they forgive me for the bad memory-busied themselves organizing amateur theatricals.
I suppose this was understandable. Life was so boring-no newspapers, no women, just the reticence of the Persian popula-tion. Well, as a result, a sort of summer-stock theater had been formed with an incredibly summer-stock repertory.
The troupe performed in a large clay barn, dark and poorly equipped-more poorly than the convicts' theater in Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead. It was a vaudeville repertory. The soldiers flocked in. Its organizers were planning to take their show out on the road.
But in this quiet city with its clay walls and perpetually closed doors, things were not going well.
The nights rumbled with gunshots. The soldiers liked to shoot into the air. They got drunk; wine was obtained from the Aissors and the Jews and perhaps even from the Moslems.
In the frontier town of Ushnuiyeh, there was a pogrom; every-thing was smashed and pillaged. Task went out there to investi-gate; he managed to find one company that had accidentally not taken part in the pogrom and, with its help, recovered the spoils; as punishment, the regiment was left on duty at this post.
There was no fighting anywhere.
We were getting ready for the elections. The army committees were re-elected. The army was getting weaker and deteriorating.
Persia suffered as usual.
The power of the shah is insignificant in Persia. He does distrib-ute all the land and all the land in the country is his land, but these are only words. Actually the khans agree to recognize themselves as his vassals.
I won't attempt to explain this strange system, which has long since outlived its usefulness but still persists. Apparently the khans lease out the villages. Or else a strong, armed man living in the village systematically plunders it and gives a share to the khans.
The peasants are serfs in the sense that they are in the hands of a master as long as they live on his land. It's up to them to get water from the high mountains by digging irrigation ditches, so they stand up to their knees in the swiftly flowing water and roast in the sun. There's a lot of emigration: people go to Baku, to Turkestan, wherever they can-anywhere they can eat.
In the cities live the merchants, rich and, in a manner of speaking, educated; their children are taught in the French mission schools. They too have their own villages. The emergence of a bourgeoisie did not do away with serfdom.
Apparently, however, the khans already have heirs. Merchants and Armenians made the Persian revolution. It was the revolution of a minority. Detachments of thirty to forty men ranged at will over the whole country. The present governor of Urmia himself had been in such a detachment along with some local millionaires, the Manusurians brothers.
The Persians had a constitution, which they said was more liberal than Switzerland's. The governor of Urmia was a revolu-tionary-that is, a participant in the Persian revolution. He too had his own villages and serfs. True, there were Persian Cossacks in Persia, units serving the shah that were recruited from among the Persians and commanded by our instructors.
The Persian Cossacks-to be more accurate, the men who used them for their own purposes-were almost universally hated by the populace. They, however, took orders not from the governor, but from the Russian government.
Now it seemed that they took orders from no one.
During our withdrawal they tried to attack us.
Of course, no one obeyed the governor. He requested from us ten Kuban Cossacks who "would obey him." The Kurdish khans didn't obey him since they were stronger: each of them had several dozen horsemen and one of them, Sinko, had a large detachment. This was one of the mistakes of Russian diplomacy. Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, in that epoch when he was building himself a palace in the Lenkoran Valley and plotting to create a Cossack army in Armenia, decided to win one of the Kurdish chieftains over to the Russian side. The choice fell on Sinko, khan of a tribe living in the vicinity of the Kuchin Pass, which connected the district of Khoi-Dilman with the district of Urmia. Sinko was given rifles and even machine guns, which made him a constant threat to us. He helped massacre Christians and ultimately laughed at us, saying, "My hundred and forty horsemen are driving out your regiment."
The Armenians didn't obey, either, though they were loyal, but loyal because they were the aristocracy in Persia. They had a strong organization called "Dashnaktsution." It may be that in the Caucasus the "Dashnaktsution" was a Socialist party like our SR's, but in Persia it was a powerful society for self-defense.
The Aissors, Nestorian Christians, were also a kind of independ-ent state. They considered themselves direct descendants of the ancient Assyrians and spoke the Aramaic language. One branch of them had originally settled in the environs of Urmia. At one time they had occupied the whole region. The Kurds had gradually exterminated them. Now their number had been replenished by the mountain Ashurite Aissors, a savage people who had lived from time immemorial in the very center of Kurdistan-around Dzhela-merok, in the Van Province of Turkey. The Jacobites, a tribe related to them, lived in the vicinity of Mosul.
Each family lived in the mountains under the leadership of a malik, or chieftain; each village was governed by a priest; all the maliks were under the command of the Patriarch of the East and India, Mar Shimun, a black-eyed, ruddy, gray-haired Aissor. The patriarch's order is hereditary and passes from uncle to nephew. Legend traces the origin of the patriarchs from Simon, the brother of the Lord.
The Nestorians had a glorious past. When the orthodox believ-ers drove them out of Syria in the seventh century, they crossed the mountains and came to Persia, where they were joyfully welcomed as enemies of Byzantium. Here they stimulated literary activity and spread their influence to Siberia, India and especially to Tur-kestan. They were even in China, where to this day there are several completely assimilated Nestorian families.
Tamerlane drove them to the mountains of Kurdistan; that's where they were living now like savages. They're black-haired, semitic-looking and ruddy-complexioned.
Nestorian missionaries used to get as far as India; whole Chris-tian colonies appeared there. They passed through Siberia in the north; in the east they got as far as Japan. The writing which they invented was the basis of the Mongolian alphabet and apparently of the Korean. Perhaps they were the nation of Prester John, whose help the Crusaders had been expecting. Now they were a small tribe, driven into these mountains, which are indicated sim-ply with blank spots even on the most detailed German maps. The Turks whittled away the tribe, but it continued to hold its ground. Their main village was Oramar. But Oramar had been occupied by the Kurds since 1914. The Russian troops used the Aissors as a special militia; when they withdrew in 1914 and left the Aissors behind, their fate was terrible. Doctor Shedd, head of the Ameri-can mission, told me that more than forty thousand of them were massacred, stacked on pyres and burned. Those who survived took sanctuary in the American mission. But the Persians added iron filings to their bread and they died in droves. In 1916 a reconnais-sance detachment of Russian Cossacks and the special Aissor mili-tia of Aga Petros Elov decided to recapture Oramar, located in the heart of enemy territory more than 150 miles away. The road was difficult. The mules couldn't carry in any of the mountain ord-nance. The Aissors carried it in on their shoulders. The cavalry made out as best they could; the Aissors kept to the peaks of the mountains, because the idea of mountain warfare is to occupy the commanding heights. I recommend a comparison with the descrip-tion of the way the Carduchi waged war (Xenophon, Book 4).
Oramar was flanked, captured and sacked. The horses were fed with grapes, the donkeys with millet. Mar Shimun and the bishops-they were wearing turbans wrapped around their red fezzes- had attacked with bayonets and cut down the prisoners. Our Urmian consul, Nikitin, had gone on the expedition and, by the way, he told me that in an area once occupied by the Aissors, but now by the Kurds, he had found a small stone temple with no windows or decorations. It was called the Temple of Mary Mem. The Kurds hadn't destroyed this temple. Moreover, they had even spared the Christian relatives of the temple priests. This was explained by the fact that, according to legend, under this temple had been imprisoned a Great Serpent, which would come out if the temple were destroyed. Once in the lifetime of every guardian of the temple, the Serpent would show itself, but the present guardian of the temple hadn't seen it yet.
Assyrian Biographies
[ http://www.atour.com/~people/ ]
Latest Issue of Nakosha Magazine
[ www.atour.com/~aygv/nakosha/ ]
Preacher Ka/ro/za Masculine Karoza d'Oomra : Preacher of the church
Speaker Mal/la/la Masculine Mallala Gabbara: The Great Speaker
In the past year, Walter Aziz has been working diligently on an album that in his opinion, "can open the world's eyes to our music." Titled "Away" Mr. Walter's latest project marks the birth of a new music genre: "Assyrian Pop".
Powered by a new sound, a new label, and a new vision, Walter extends the boundaries of Assyrian dance music to a new rhythmic dimension. "I've never put so much work into an album as I have with this one," Walter explains. "This is my biggest project ever."
With 11 tracks on the album, no mood is left untapped. The album thrives on upbeat dance music. In "Away", traditional meets modern; East meets West. With such creative energy infused in "Lorque", "Eaman Nashqali" (When She Kisses Me) and Kouleh D'Leleh (All Night), Assyrian Pop is born.
Collaborating with other artists was yet another important aspect of this project. Young Latin sensation, Jacqui Lynn, and Assyrian star Sargon Gabriel, along with the many other International musicians and producers set "Away" apart as a global undertaking.
Walter Aziz and EastJam Records, with the help of many Assyrian organizations, are kicking off the "Away Tour: 2001" to celebrate the album's long-awaited debut. The tour will kick off in San Jose, at the Assyrian Church of the East Hall (Awana) on Friday, July 20. Walter's fans can catch the second tour stop in Turlock on July 27 at the
Assyrian Civic Club.
Zinda Magazine will post Walter's future tour dates as they become available.
And here's the best part: Everyone admitted to the "Away Tour" parties will receive the new CD for free.
Be a part of the launch of AWAY.
For more information, visit www.walteraziz.com
( 2000 B.C.)
The name of the country of Assyria derives from the city of Assur or Ashur, about 100 kilometers south of Nineveh, near today's Mosul. The city of Ashur was destroyed in 614 B.C., two years before the destruction of Nineveh. Assyrians later referred to it simply as 'the country' (matum).
The Ancient Near East, Kuhrt
(A.D. 410)
During a Church of the East's Synod in Seleucia the attending bishops agree to accept the Nicene Creed and appint only one bishop to each see. Each bishop was then to be ordained by at least three other bishops and the Church would celebrate Epiphany, Lent, Good Friday, and Easter as its official holidays. Yet the most important agreement reached was that the bishop of the twin cities of Seleucia-Ctesiphon was to become the head of all other bishops and given the title Catholicus. Mar Iskhaq (Isaac) then became the first Catholicus of the Church of the East. This paved the way for the commencement of the Patriarchy in the Assyrian church. Shah Yazdegerd I, Shah of Persia, soon approved the new organization of the Church of the East.
Professor Sargis Osipov, Assyrian linguist, dies in Tehran, Iran at age 78. He was the author of a book on Assyrian language which was not published during his lifetime.
Share your local events with Zinda readers. Email us or send fax to: 408-918-9201
Lecture/Seminar
Museum/Exhibits
July 20 SAN JOSE
WALTER AZIZ AWAY TOUR PARTY
Assyrian Church of the East Hall (Awana)
http://www.walteraziz.com
July 22 NOOSARDEL
A festival celebrating the descent of the god Tammuz to the Underworld and the end of spring in Bet-Nahrain. It is customary to sprinkle water on friends and family members, wishing for Tammuz' safe return to his beloved Ishtar.
July 27 TURLOCK
Assyrian American Civic Club of Turlock
August 7 MARTYRS DAY
A day to commemorate the Assyrian martyrs throughout history.
August 28 - Sept 3 SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
ASSYRIAN AMERICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
September 19 LONDON
A PERFORMANCE OF SUMERIAN STORIES
The Zi-Pang Trio
The Kufa Gallery
26 Westbourne Grove
Entrance Free
Contact fran@hazelton.greatxscape.net
November 8 thru
March 17, 2002 LONDON
AGATHA CHRISTI & THE ORIENT
Revealing Agatha Christie the archaeologist and how her discoveries in the Near East influenced her detective writing.
The hitherto unknown interests and talents of the great crime writer are told through archaeological finds from the sites on which she worked with her husband Max Mallowan at Ur, Nineveh and Nimrud. Important objects from these sites in the Museum's collections are combined with archives, photographs, and films made by Agatha Christie herself.
Personal memorabilia and souvenirs of travel in a more leisurely age are only some of the exhibits which range from first editions of those novels inspired by her other life to a sleeping compartment from the Orient Express, from a lethal 1930s hypodermic syringe to a priceless first millennium ivory of a man being mauled to death
Admissions £7, Concessions £3.50
West Wing Exhibition Gallery Room 28
Sat-Tue
November 17-20 SAN FRANCISCO
MIDDLE EAST STUDIES ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
Middle East Studies Association of North America Panel
"The Assyrians of Iran - From Contributions to Diaspora"
co-sponsored by the Assyrian Academic Society
& the Society for Iranian Studies
Hyatt Regency Hotel, San Francisco
Dr. Arian Ishaya - Urmia to Baquba: From the Cradle of Water to Wilderness
Dr. Eden Naby -: Zahrira d Bahra - The First Newspaper in Iran
Dr. K. Shakeri - Living in Purgatory: The Assyrians of Iran in the Twentieth Century
Mr. Ronald Thomaszadeh - Iranian Assyrians in the Azarbaijan Crisis of 1945-46
Discussant: Prof. Houshang Chahabi - political science - Boston University
Zinda Article: CLICK HERE
Wed-Fri
November 21-23 LONDON
THE NIMROD CONFERENCE
Sponsored by the British School of Archaeology in Iraq
British Museum's Clore Centre
Gt Russell St WC1
Cost To Be Determined
Contact Dept of Ancient Near East 020 7323 8315
or email: TheBSAI@aol.com, tel 01440 785244.
Coincides with Ancient Near East week at the British Museum:
"Whodunnit in Assyria. For full details contact: Sam Moorhead, Education
Department, The British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, tel. 020-7323-8432
November 24 TORONTO
FIRST UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO's CSSS SYMPOSIUM
Sponsored by Canadian Society for Syriac Studies (CSSS)
Five Lectures on the Origins of Syriac Christianity
Syriac hymns by two Church Choruses
More information to be provided in the upcoming issues
Zindamagazine would like to thank:
Walter Aziz
(California)
David Chibo
(Australia)
Carlo Ganjeh
Dr. George Kiraz
(New Jersey)
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ZINDA Magazine is published weekly. Views expressed in ZINDA do not necessarily represent those of the ZINDA editors, or any of our associated staff. This publication reserves the right, at its sole discretion, not to publish comments or articles previously printed in or submitted to other journals. ZINDA reserves the right to publish and republish your submission in any form or medium. All letters and messages require the name(s) of sender and/or author. All messages published in the SURFS UP! section must be in 500 words or less and bear the name of the author(s). Distribution of material featured in ZINDA is not restricted, but permission from ZINDA is required. This service is meant for the exchange of information, analyses and news. To subscribe, send e-mail to: z_info@zindamagazine.com.
Zinda Magazine™ Copyright © Zinda Inc., 2001 - All Rights Reserved - http://www.zindamagazine.com


Since their first collaboration in 2014 — the acoustic album El Mar — American singer-songwriter Tori Sparks and her Barcelona-based musical collaborators Calamento and guitarist El Rubio have forged their own sound, both in the studio and on the stage. Their sonic experiments have resulted in an organic fusion of musical styles that does not sound like any other band out there.
On September 14th, 2018 Tori and the band presented a concert and live recording in legendary Barcelona concert hall Luz de Gas. The night was a full house and a huge success, featuring invited artists Alba Bioque (singer) and Lena Nouart (dancer), with visuals created by Francesca Catricala "VJ Blu." Check out the report of the concert by the program "Punts de Vista" of RTVE.
The live album, titled Wait No More, was released on limited edition vinyl on April 13th: Record Store Day 2019. (The extended double CD version is coming April 26th.) This is Tori's seventh album: Her third since embracing the rock-blues-flamenco fusion that has become her signature sound, and her first recorded live. The album cover is a photo from the live recording, taken by Alexey Stradubanov (Akra Producciones). The image is a freeze-frame of the moment just before the lights go up on stage... that moment full of anticipation, that breath before the first note, when everything and anything is possible.
The vinyl version of the record contains a selection of songs from the concert, while the double CD — which will be released two weeks later, on April 26th, 2019 — contains the full repertoire of the live recording. The official concert presentation feature guest artists such as Lisa Bause (violinist, composer and co-founder of Las Migas), Alba Bioque, and other surprises. As with all Tori Sparks recordings, the event at the Auditori Can Roig i Torres will also give back to the community, in this case drawing attention to a good cause and non-profit organization: The Donation and Transplant Institute of Spain. The Madrid album release show will be on May 30th at El Perro Club. Advance tickets are on sale now.
Wait No More was recorded and mixed by Andrés Giraldo at Panaba Studio, and mastered by Yves Roussel.
Official music video for the song "Wait No More" by Tori Sparks feat. Calamento + El Rubio, from their new album Wait No More (Glass Mountain Records, 2019). Recorded live at Luz de Gas on September 14th, 2018. Filmed and edited by Kepa Gainza (Apek Films).
"There are dates that absolutely must be marked on the calendar, and the live recording of a Tori Sparks album is one of those dates.… [Tori] pulled put all the stops, displaying all her artistry and that of a band that is worth its weight in gold... The new song 'Wait' No More' was the most special moment of the impressive evening."
"The American singer Tori Sparks offered up a very special concert at Barcelona's Luz de Gas on September 14th… Listening to the record, we will undoubtedly remember the evening in which Sparks bewitched an audience that reveled in her music as if there were no tomorrow… [Sparks] has created a combination of sounds that is so natural, this artist born in Chicago but who is at the same time an authentic Barcelonian — this whole city has fallen in love with her. Sublime."


text:
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Carcoar on 16 October 1862 because William Watt resigned.

Dates

Result

William Watt resigned.

See also
Electoral results for the district of Carcoar
List of New South Wales state by-elections

References

1862 elections in Australia
New South Wales state by-elections
1860s in New South Wales

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
/* @(#)s_copysign.c 1.3 95/01/18 */
/*
 * ====================================================
 * Copyright (C) 1993 by Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
 *
 * Developed at SunSoft, a Sun Microsystems, Inc. business.
 * Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
 * software is freely granted, provided that this notice
 * is preserved.
 * ====================================================
 */

/*
 * copysign(double x, double y)
 * copysign(x,y) returns a value with the magnitude of x and
 * with the sign bit of y.
 */

#include "fdlibm.h"

#ifdef __STDC__
	double fd_copysign(double x, double y)
#else
	double fd_copysign(x,y)
	double x,y;
#endif
{
        fd_twoints ux, uy;
        ux.d = x; uy.d = y;
	__HI(ux) = (__HI(ux)&0x7fffffff)|(__HI(uy)&0x80000000);
        x = ux.d;
        return x;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
When Children Suffer Depression After Death of a Parent
More in Depression
Distinguish sadness from depression with these tips
Lauren DiMaria
Lauren DiMaria is a member of the Society of Clinical Research Associates and childhood psychology expert.
ADA & Your Rights
Depression in Kids
mrs/Getty Images
You may be concerned about your children's reaction to the death of a parent and the possibility that their grief will lead to depression. While there is no way to predict how your child will react, or how this loss will affect him, some circumstances may increase the likelihood that a child will experience depression after a parent dies.
Surviving parents and family members can take steps to ensure that your child receives the support or treatment he needs to heal.
Helping Yourself Helps Your Child
The way that you and other caregivers react to death will affect how your child reacts. As a parent or caregiver, you will need to address your own grief through outside support or counseling for the benefit of the whole family. Getting the support you need will show your child that healing is important.
Parents and caregivers who express and discuss their feelings are likely to have children who do the same, whereas families who hide their emotions may be teaching a child to be ashamed of his feelings. Keeping feelings inside is a common behavior found among depressed people.
Tell Important People in Your Child's Life
Collaborative healing efforts will provide your child with the extra support and love he needs during this difficult time. Your child's pediatrician, teachers, and friends' parents need to know about the parent's death. Reaching out to those who have daily contact with your child will increase available support.
Make an appointment with your child's pediatrician to discuss how he is coping.
Grief is a normal process and typically does not require medication or therapy. However, you may initially need to spend more time with your child and assure him that you will not leave.
Talking with your child on an age-appropriate level and encouraging questions provides a supportive environment. Here are some more suggestions for supporting your preschool and school-age children through the grieving process:
Answer any questions they have honestly, but try to keep your answers simple and brief. It's also okay to say that you don't know or that you don't have the answer right now.
Avoid using euphemisms for death, such as he's resting or sleeping forever, as this can be confusing for a child. Instead, explain that when someone dies, their body stops working. They can no longer breathe, talk, move, eat, etc.
Reinforce the fact that death is part of life—not a form of punishment.
Share any religious or spiritual believes your family has about death and dying.
Make sure the child understands that it is not their fault and they are not to blame.
Help them understand that their parent is not going to "come back," even if they are "good."
Be careful about associating death with sickness as this can cause them to become fearful about their own sicknesses.
Use books and online resources to help them understand death.
Encourage express their emotions and feelings by writing or drawing a picture.
Explain what to expect at the memorial services and allow your child to decide if he wants to attend. If your child decides to attend, ask a trusted friend or family member to be available in case they can't handle it and want to leave early.
Allow older children and teens to play a role in planning the memorial if they want. This can include gathering pictures to display or picking a favorite poem or reading for the memorial service.
Encourage your child to spend time with friends and participate in hobbies and social activities. Remind them that having fun is okay and it doesn't mean you don't miss or love your deceased parent.
Let them know that it will take time to feel better and that it's normal to experience a range of emotions, including sadness, anger, guilt, shame, and anxiety. Teens, in particular, may deal with sadness with displays of anger or reckless behavior (promiscuity or substance misuse).
Remind children how much the deceased parent loved them and do your best to talk about them, show them pictures, and share memories.
Factors That May Contribute to Depression
While a loss of a parent or caregiver is traumatic for any child, the likelihood of this turning into depression depends on four factors, according to a report in the Journal of American Psychiatry.
Researchers found that children whose parents died by suicide or an accident were at higher risk for depression than children whose parents died after developing a sudden and natural illness. Additionally, they found that children in the following situations were more likely to experience depression within two years of the loss when compared to their peers:
Past mental health illness, like depression
Feel accountable for the parent's death
Lost a mother
While these findings suggest that certain circumstances surrounding a parent's death may increase the likelihood of depression in some children, it is important to understand that not all children in these circumstances will become depressed as a result.
When It's More than Sadness
It is normal for a child to feel sad or scared when a parent dies. But if her sadness or fear continues for an extended period of time, worsens or significantly interferes with her functioning, it is important to consult your child's physician for evaluation. Seek immediate attention if your child has thoughts of suicide or self-harm.
Early identification and treatment of depression in children are important, as there is potential for short- and long-term consequences such as low self-esteem, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts and behavior.
Teen Suicide Warning Signs and Prevention
Recognizing Depression
Children who are depressed may feel hopeless, guilty, angry or misunderstood. Here are a few more signs to watch for:
Changes in sleeping habits and appetite
Withdrawal from family, friends, and hobbies that they used to enjoy
A significant drop in school performance
Avoidance of school or social activities
Vague, unexplained physical complaints, like a headache or bellyache
Difficulty concentrating and making decisions
You cannot prevent your child's loss, but you can support her through this difficult time by allowing her to grieve and by creating a safe and loving environment. Part of that support is recognizing when your child has become depressed and seeking treatment to help her heal.
Everything feels more challenging when you're dealing with depression. Get our free guide when you sign up for our newsletter.
American Academy of Pediatrics. A Child's Reaction to Death.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition: DSM-5. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2013. doi: 10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.
American Society of Clinical Oncology. Helping Grieving Children and Teenagers. 2018.
Brent D, Melhem D, Bertille MB, Donohoe D, Walker M. "The Incidence and Course of Depression in Bereaved Youth 21 Months After the Loss of a Parent to Suicide, Accident, or Sudden Natural Death." American Journal of Psychiatry. July 2009 166(7):786-794. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.08081244.
National Institute of Mental Health. How Do Children and Adolescents Experience Depression?
What to Do If Your Child Is Depressed and Having Suicidal Thoughts
How Parents Should React When Children Seem to Be Socially Withdrawn
What Is Clinical Depression?
How to Spot Depression in a Child
When Grief Comes Home for the Holidays
What Is Teen Suicidal Ideation?
How Kids View Themselves Can Contribute to Depression Vulnerability
Physical and Hormonal Changes During Puberty Can Cause Depression
Does Your Teen Seem Depressed? Here's How to Help
What Parents Should Know About Childhood Depression
How to Spot Signs of Depressive Disorders in Children
Facts, Symptoms, and Causes of Teen Depression
Can Babies Become Depressed?
Why Some People Are More Prone to Depression Than Others
Can Children Have an Adverse Effect With Depression Medication?
How You Can Help Boost Your Child's Self-Esteem

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


HOW IS THIS TOEFL BOOK DIFFERENT?
This TOEFL book is different because it uses an integrated vocabulary learning system called recycling. Recycling is simple. Each exercise is divided into four quizzes. Quiz 1, a multiple-choice vocabulary quiz, introduces ten new words. Next, you will do Quiz 2. Quiz 2 is a sentence-completion quiz based on the ten words in Quiz 1. Next, you will do Quiz 3, a spelling quiz. The speaker on the CD will say the same ten words in turn. You will then have ten seconds to spell each word by saying it and typing it. Finally, you will do Quiz 4. Quiz 4 is a 60-word typing test based on the ten new words you have been recycling through Quizzes 1, 2 and 3, plus words, phrases and idioms recycled from previous exercises.
Learn essential rhetorical strategies and a test-proven way to develop opinion-based and fact-based TOEFL essays.


text:
Aston Martin CC100 hints at future design direction
20/05/2013 - 14:16 | Aston Martin | Nithyanandh K
We brought you the teaser of an Aston Martin concept that was a part of the brand's centenary year celebrations.
The Aston Martin CC100 which celebrates the centenary year, hints at future design direction
The Aston Martin CC100 (Concept Car 100 years) is that "very special concept" which was unveiled yesterday at Nürburgring. The CC100 was driven around the famous 'Green Hell' by the firm's CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez, accompanied by Sir Stirling Moss in a 1959 DBR1.
An elated Ulrich Bez stated, "CC100 is the epitome of everything that is great about Aston Martin. It represents our fantastic sporting heritage, our exceptional design capability, our superb engineering know-how and, above all, our adventurous spirit!"
Minimalistic interior is made of carbon fibre
The one off working prototype was designed and built in a short span of six months. The car pays homage to the iconic DBR1 racer and sports a similar body style.
Aston Martin says, the CC100 leaves a hint on the brand's potential future design direction. We can see the influence of the V12 Zagato in the CC100. The concept is based on the V12 Vantage's platform.
The car's body and interior are made of carbon fibre. Though Aston Martin didn't release the weight of the car, it is claimed that the it is more than 400kg lighter than the V12 Vantage, i.e. about 1,200 kg.
Power comes from the AM11 naturally aspirated 6.0 litre V12 petrol engine which is mated to a six speed automated sequential manual gearbox. The power output was not made public but the car does 0-100 kmph sprint in just over 4 seconds and has a top whack of 290 kmph.
Aston Martin CC100 Image Gallery
Aston Martin DBX Launched In India; Price Starts From INR 3.82 Crore
Aston Martin Vantage launched in India at INR 2.86 crore [Update]
Aston Martin DB11 launched in India - In 18 Images
Aston Martin DB11 launched in India at INR 4.2 crores
Aston Martin DB11 - 2016 Auto China Live
Aston Martin DB11 - 2016 Geneva Motor Show Live


Following recent terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia, and Kuwait, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson released a statement last week urging all law enforcement officials to be vigilant and prepared as the holiday weekend approaches.
"We continue to encourage all Americans to attend public events and celebrate this country during this summer season, but always remain vigilant. 'If you see something, say something' is more than a slogan," Johnson said.
Though there are no known specific or credible threats to Westchester County, White Plains Department of Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said that the police force and all public safety assets have been significantly increased for the weekend and for the City of White Plains' annual Independence Day celebration on Thursday night.
Throughout the holiday weekend, security will be increased all over the city, including the number of uniform and plainclothes officers and mobile camera surveillance, Chong said.
"We are working very closely and cooperating with our partners in the Joint Terrorism Task Forces, which includes the FBI, the New York City Police Department, and the New York State Police," he said.
Chong also echoed Secretary Johnson's statement saying that the biggest and most important thing for law enforcement is that the public is its eyes and ears, and if anyone sees anything suspicious, they should not hesitate to say something.


text:
Q: python delete(key) couchbase causing time out I am deleting key from couchbase bucket. But it is causing time out but get(key) is working always.
default_connection=couchbase_service.get_default_connection()
default_connection.delete(key)

Exception
[Client-Side timeout exceeded for operation. Inspect network conditions or increase the timeout]
_TimeoutError_0x17 (generated, catch TimeoutError): <Key=u'foo', RC=0x17[Client-
Side timeout exceeded for operation. Inspect network conditions or increase the
timeout], Operational Error, Results=1, C Source=(src/multiresult.c,282)>

A: Is it exactly the same value of key?
Depending on your deployment, you may have some items on disk which take longer to retrieve and some in memory. The default timeout is 2.5s, which is quite long, but your disk could actually be quite slow.
I don't have enough info, but at the moment I'm guessing that may be the cause.
One tool to possibly see more info would be to turn up logging.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Attend a convention or a grand event at Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center through the reliable car services of C&S Executive Transportation. Being the number 1 in professional chauffeur services in the greater part of Houston, C&S Executive Transportation has a collection of luxury vehicles ranging from top-of-the-line sedans and minivans to mini buses and executive coaches. Our company's well-maintained vehicles can accommodate single travellers to a group of 40 people. With C&S Executive transportation, you can easily book your airport transfers and city transfers through our website.
Built in the 1980s, this convention center was named after the famous philanthropist, George Brown, who also donated a huge part of the land where the convention is currently stands. With a total space of almost 2,000,000 square feet, the George R. Brown Convention Center has been an icon in Houston where a lot of important business events happen. This convention center has more than 1,000 conference rooms, three very big exhibit halls, a 3,600-seater auditorium, and more than a hundred smaller meeting rooms. Recently another expansion has been made to connect the convention center to the closest hotel, Hilton. Now, visitors and organizers can conveniently stay at Hilton Hotel and easily access the convention center via two walkways. What is not yet undertaken but is hoped by many to be realized is to connect the convention center to Houston's underground walkway or tunnel.
Every year, a major exhibit featuring different suppliers, couturiers, caterers, events venues, and many more meet at the convention center to showcase different items used in and for weddings. This exhibit is not only exclusive for couples who want to tie the knot but also investors or start-up businesses that want to have a look around and get inspiration from the many concepts shown during the exhibit. The Bridal Extravaganza exhibit usually takes place in July.
Are you a fishing aficionado? Do you want to learn more about fishing boats? If the answers to these questions are yes, then this exhibit is custom-made for you! Every March, a group of businesses that sell fishing equipment converge in this convention center to showcase different equipment used for both commercial fishing and private fishing. The exhibit usually lasts for 5 days, where each day focus on unique themes to make each day as excited as the next. Usually the exhibit features fishing boats, fishing tackles, and fishing guides. Aside from exhibits, the show also hosts seminars on different topics about fishing.
This convention center is not exclusively used for business purposes. This center is also open for various sporting events such as wrestling, marathons, and many more.
This year the World Weightlifting Championships will be held in Houston. This century-old organized tournament is a prelude to the Summer Olympics that will be held in 2016. It features men and women weightlifters from all over the world who will battle out and try to qualify for the Olympics.
Held every January, this two-day Ironman event is sponsored by Chevron, Gatorade, and Bank of Texas. Since there are thousands of participants in this annual event, the organizers thought of making the convention center as the finish line of the race. This is to make sure that there is enough space for all the attendees and that there is enough space for the major and minor sponsors to exhibit their products. If you are interested to join, you can check out the various races offered in this event – full marathon, half marathon, 5K run, and Team Challenge. Check out their website for the qualification rules.
There are many more events and exhibits taking place at George R. Brown Convention Center. You can just name any random subject and it is surely exhibit here in Houston. From guns and knives shows to cheerleading events, all of the wholesome and the not-so take place at GRB Convention Center.
If you wish to travel down to Houston to attend an exhibit or an event, be sure to book your transfers with C&S Executive Transportation. Being with the best car services provider assures you that you will get to your destination safely and promptly. Check our website now for more details.


Austin, TX – Austin based Tequila 512 won a double gold medal and the highly coveted "Best in Show" award at the 2015 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
The highly regarded competition, now in its 15th year, is the most influential and respected spirits competition in the world. Noted journalists, distillers, beverage directors, mixologists, restaurateurs, Master Sommeliers, hoteliers, consultants and educators comprise the body of judges. The competition had a record number of entries this year, with distillers and importers submitting nearly 1600 spirits from 66 countries.
In order to receive a double gold medal, the panel of expert judges must unanimously agree a product is superior to all others. "Best in Show" winners are then selected from the double gold winners once all 41 expert judges unanimously agree on the best spirit in each category. All tastings are done through a blind tasting process with customized glassware.
"We have always been a bellwether for trends in spirits consumption and growth. Our caliber of judges, our international reputation and professional organization of the competition helps the marketplace be assured of tremendous quality control and opportunities," says competition director and spirits guru Anthony Dias Blue.
Tequila 512, which has only been on the market for two years, is the brainchild of local Austinite Scott Willis. Willis single handedly created the recipe for his tequila and designed the concept and packaging materials, all on a shoestring budget.
"What's inside the bottle has always been most important to me, so for a panel of expert judges with extremely sophisticated palates to unanimously vote our tequila the best in the world is just incredible," said Scott Willis, President and Founder of Tequila 512. "We worked hard to create what we thought was the perfect tequila, so for these guys to say it's the best they've tasted is amazing."
Tequila 512 Blanco is triple distilled, 100% Agave premium tequila; a full and complex tequila with hints of sweetness, spice, pepper and an extremely smooth finish. It is made using the finest estate grown blue agave in the central lowlands outside the village of Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico. The agave piñas are roasted in traditional stone ovens and slowly fermented before distillation. The tequila is filtered for 24 hours, which helps to smooth and mellow the flavor. An oxygenation process is used to enhance the texture, creating a soft, velvety feel. Both processes are implemented without removing the delicate characteristics of the agave.


One day I was asked if I was able to make the Ziggy boat name logo and put it on a sailboat as a boat name. I immediately started searching for the Ziggy logo. Brought back memories of my childhood when I looked in the newspaper everyday for the latest comic strip. I found the logo and imported in to my illustration program. From there I was able to make vectored lines that I would need to cut each color of the Ziggy logo. Then I placed te logo over the photograph that my customer supplied me. After a little bit of photo-shopping and moving the letters in a perspective view, I was able to make it look like the boat name was already completed.
I sent the proof and the estimate of how much it would cost to continue designing with proofs and cut the graphics, travel and install. The customer replied back with the go ahead and a 50% deposit.
Later that day I went to the boat to take measurements and to see exactly what I was contending with. I saw that there was a better place for me to place the logo. I explained that I would cut the blue stripping and put the boat name in between the stripping. I also explained that I would use the same color stripping that was on the boat to really tie it together. Without further explaining the boat owner told me he trusted my judgment and to do what i do best.
I went back to the shop and ordered the same blue that was on the boat. I had the yellow and started prepping the file so that when the vinyl comes in the next day I would be able to get right to work. The next day the blue came in and I went to print. I also went ahead and printed his port name as a freebee.
The next day I was back and completed the job within just three days. The customer was ecstatic when he came back from work. The Ziggy boat name was placed on both sides of his boat.


text:
Atina Home
Tradition & Culture
photo © Louise Shapcott
The Old Iron Works – La Ferriera in Rosanisco Atina
In 1850 the Bourbon King Ferdinand II commissioned a new iron works to be built in Atina. Its purpose was to extract iron from the ore mined in the nearby area of Monte Meta. There have been mines situated in this area of the Val di Comino since ancient times. The area was first mined by the Pelasgians, followed by the Etruscans and then the Samnites. Indeed many bloody battles were fought in this valley to ensure the possession of these precious mines. Thus historically the mines gave Atina great wealth and hence the name of "Atina Potens". The master blacksmiths of Atina were renowned for their skills in metalwork and especially in forging of weaponry for Roman legions of the Imperial age.
In 1778 an iron works had been built by the King of Naples near the Melfa springs in the Valle di Canneto near Settefrati. This was designed to produce iron and cast iron to be used to make armaments for his formidable Navy. The works were powered by the natural force of the water of the River Melfa. However the position of the site proved to be inconvenient, as the works were situated at a height of more than 1000 metres and the communication routes were poor. This was worsened by inclement weather during the winter months when there were periods of intense cold and snow. In addition, the quality of the iron ore from the mines was of a poor quality and by 1798 the site was abandoned.
In around 1850 new deposits of limonite and haematite were discovered in the mountains near to the towns of San Donato, Alvito and Campoli. So King Ferdinand commissioned a new Iron Works, with the latest modern equipment. This was to be built in the hamlet of Rosanisco, situated close to the right bank of the River Melfa and close to the new Sferracavalli road that linked with the Strada Regia di San Germano, today's town of Cassino. The building of the Ferriera was designed by the engineer Giovanni Rossi of "Ponti e Strade" and construction commenced in 1855. La Ferriera was officially opened in June 1858 became known locally as La Magona.
The new huge blast furnaces for smelting iron ore were able to operate at very high temperatures. Each stood 13 metres high and 2.80 metres in diameter. Water from the nearby river was channeled into a small reservoir where there were sluice gates to open, close or adjust the flow. The flowing water turned a water wheel which was used to create a current to drive an air turbine to ventilate the furnaces. The foundry was able to produce up to 3100 kg of good quality raw iron a day. Every two years a furnace was totally dismantled, cleaned and repaired. Another furnace was utilised in its place.
However these were turbulent times and 1860 saw the fall of the House of Bourbon and the Kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicilies, and the dawning of the Unification of Italy. Consequently the iron works was closed down and the site was left abandoned and was plundered, as were the local mines.
In 1878, the Visocchi family, who already owned and ran a Paper Mill or Cartiera in lower Atina, purchased the old iron works. They sold the furnaces and much of the equipment to fund other new projects. They installed a 4-volt dynamo connected to the water wheel which they hoped would produce hydro-electrical energy to power a paper factory. The experiment, however, was not a great success.
The Iron Works Today and La Ferriera Winery
In 1947 the property was purchased by the Mancini family of Atina, and today it has been transformed into a winery. The entrance leads to a spacious courtyard surrounded by buildings which were once utilised as warehouses to store raw materials, as workshops, administrative offices and accommodation for the some of the workers. In the centre of the courtyard stands an ancient poplar tree.
Today you can still see the remains of one of the old furnaces which is supported by four pillars. It has an archway with a carved keystone which bears the Ferriera's coat of arms. The furnace is draped with a colourful curtain of vines and creepers. It measures 13 metres in height by 2.80 metres in diameter.
The Cabernet and Syrah varieties of grape are cultivated in the vineyards of the estate of Colle Alto in lower Atina, in the beautiful Val di Comino. In some of the old buildings of the Iron Works modern equipment has been installed for the production of wine with controlled temperature and an inert atmosphere in order to obtain a good extraction. The wine is aged in barrels made of a type of oak with maturing on the lees, and finally in the bottles. There is a giant VAT for blending their vintage wine, made from 80% Cabernet, 20% Syrah and it holds 3280 litres. La Ferriera specializes in the production of quality red wines with the designation of origin Atina Cabernet DOC.
It is possible to visit La Ferriera and sample some of its quality wines.
There are Guided Tours available in Italian, English and Spanish for groups of minimum 4 people.
For more information contact Valeria Tel: 347-2454138
La Ferriera
Via Ferriera, 743, Rosanisco, 03042 Atina FR
MORE ABOUT ATINA
Atina Home Page
Comune di Atina Offical Website
Wine – Atina Cabernet DOC
Atina's Cannellini Beans – Fagioli Cannellini DOP
Val di Comino Local Produce
Where To Stay In Atina
Where To Eat in Atina
THE VAL DI COMINO
Description of the Val Di Comino
Montattico
Pescolsolido
NATIONAL PARK OF ABRUZZO LAZIO AND MOLISE
Facebook Group – We Love Atina and The Val Di Comino
Surnames of Atina
My Family From Atina
Little Italy in Clerkenwell
Website © Louise Shapcott 2017 – 2019 All Rights Reserved


text:
What We Are Reading: September 2021
By Nirmal Dass, Alexander Riley
Northwestern Europe's early development owes much to the Carolingian dynasty, which led Germanic society into Christendom from the dead end of paganism. It set the stage for the lush flowering of knightly culture, with its ideals of chivalry, courtesy, and courtly love, which established the Western habit of mind.
This Western ethos is rooted in classic literary works, and chief among these is the Old Saxon epic poem The Heliand, dating from the early ninth century and likely commissioned by Louis the Pious, the son of Charlemagne. The subject matter is the life of Christ, wherein loyalty, honor, courage, faith and love are defined. Its apt title, The Heliand ("The Savior"), is not original but added by the first editor in 1830.
At nearly 6,000 lines in length, the poem survives in six manuscripts, two nearly complete, one of which dates from the 10th century. Although the author is not known, we are told that he was a well-known master-poet and monk at the famed monastery of Fulda in what is now Germany. Though it appears to have been popular in its day, The Heliand remains largely unknown in the English-speaking world because of poor translations.
The first, published in 1966 by Mariana Scott,...
Black Power and the 1619 Project
Alexander Riley
My Debt to Mike Adams
Surviving Suffering in a World of Pain
Annie Holmquist


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