They regard themselves as heirs to an ancient Mesopotamian tradition that produced early legends of creation, a great flood and a boy in a basket, set adrift in a river and rescued. But those traditions have virtually vanished from widespread public awareness, they say, eclipsed by later biblical stories.
Their history is rife with massacres -- including attacks by the Ottoman Turks and Kurds in the early 20th century that wiped out much of their population. But their problems have been overshadowed, they say, by the Armenians who suffered alongside them.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday February 20, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 61 words Type of Material: Correction
Eastern Catholics -- An article in Monday's California section incorrectly characterized the predominant religion among Chaldeans as Roman Catholic. The Chaldean Catholic Church, like other Eastern or Uniate Catholic faiths, acknowledges the supremacy of the pope, but has a distinct liturgy and different practices than the Roman Catholic Church.
After losing their empire and wandering stateless for more than 2,600, years they were promised a homeland, they believe, by the League of Nations after World War I. But the promises were betrayed, they say, their interests cast aside.
Now many of the world's remaining Assyrian Christians, several thousand of whom live in Southern California, fear they will become an afterthought again as the United States prepares for a possible war against Iraq, where nearly half their compatriots live.
In the drive to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Assyrian spokesmen say, the United States must stay engaged long enough to ensure that whatever regime comes next protects the country's ethnic and religious minorities.
Otherwise, "at the end of the day, all of the other people in Iraq are Muslims, and they will discriminate against us and try to get rid of us," said Carlo Ganjeh, U.S. secretary for the Assyrian Universal Alliance. "This is the sad reality of the Mideast."
More than two millenniums ago, their ancestors created one of the world's great empires, covering much of what is now Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Among the earliest peoples to convert to Christianity, they claim inventions including the wheel, the Zodiac and fractions. But today, with their people scattered in 40 countries, Assyrians are one among many peoples who survive from the ancient days of the Middle East, half forgotten by the world.
"I don't know anybody who's ever heard of Assyrians," said Anil Varani, 20, youth group vice president of the Assyrian American Assn. of Southern California. In the 13 years since she emigrated from Iran, she has usually told others that she's Babylonian -- a related people at least vaguely familiar to more Americans, she says.
