Z E N D A  M A G A Z I N E
[renamed Zinda Magazine in 1999]

Kanoon II  27, 6746                   Volume II                       Issue 49            January 27, 1997

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       A Weekly Online Publication of the ZENDA Assyrian Newsagency

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                      T H I S   W E E K   I N   Z E N D A
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The Lighthouse............................. Rogation of the Ninevites
Good Morning Bet-Nahrain............ Earthquakes Rock Bet-Nahrain
Surfs Up....................................... "...the vapidity of our conventions."
Surfers Corner.............................. More on Assyrian Names
News Digest................................. 800-Year-Old Assyrian Church in Syria
                                                    Uday May Be Paralyzed
News Bits..................................... Iranian Ship Rescued Near Italy
                                                     Baghdad Has Sold Over M10 Barrels of Oil
Calendar of Events........................ Dr. Fuller's Lecture: U./Missouri
Entracte........................................ No Entries!
Intelligentsia.................................. Classes, Lectures & Meetings
Assyrian Surfing Posts................... Sumerian Beer
Pump up the Volume..................... Doubt & Courage
Back to the Future......................... Esarhadon Captures Memphis
                                                     Alphonse Mingana's Collection
Literatus....................................... A Boy's Wish
This Week in History..................... General Agha Potrous d'Baz
Bravo............................................ Stefan Maul:  English Translation
The Directory................................ News Sources
Bshena.......................................... Sweden, Holland, Canada, California...
Salute............................................ Firas and Adrin
 
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                  THE   L   I   G   H   T   H   O   U   S   E
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                             BAOUTA'S NINEWAYE
                                               or
                  THE ROGATION OF THE NINEVITES
 

Baouta’d Ninevaye or the Rogation of the Ninevites commemorates the repentance of the people of Nineveh at the preaching of Jewish Prophet, Jonah.  In the Old Testament section of the Bible the story of Jonah is written as a prophetic teaching.  The historical Johah was one of the twelve minor Jewish prophets who lived sometimes during the reign of the Jewish king, Jeroboam II (783-743 BC).

Jonah’s story is one of the most familiar stories of the Old Testament: God instruct Jonah to go to Nineveh and condemn Assyrians for their “wickedness.”  Instead Jonah runs away.  He boards a ship bound for Spain, but the ship encounters a storm.  The passengers cast Johah into the sea and he is then swallowed by a great fish, traditionally thought to be a whale. After three days in the belly of the fish, Johah is coughed up and travels to Nineveh.  The Ninevites repent and God withholds his judgment against a non-Israelite nation, hence demonstrating concern for all humans.

For Assyrians the Rogation of Ninevite has both a nationalistic and spiritual significance:  In this way Assyrians were always reminded of Nineveh throughout the history until the ruins of Nineveh were discovered in early half of the 19th Century.  Assyrians were also reminded of their importance in the history of the Church and spiritual development of Judeo-Christian tradition, for the Ninevites symbolized the longing of all humans for a universal God.

Traditionally, during the three days of Baouta (fasting) a young man or woman would abstain from all food and water.  At the end of the fasting period he or she would partake of three handfuls of parched barley, mixed with a like amount of salt, and then sleep.  Throughout Bet-Nahrain, Assyrians have concocted different recipe's for such salty mixture or "pookhon" as it's called.  While sleeping with a great desire to replenish his or her thirst, the dreamer was certain to visit a lover, bringing cool water from a deep well.  The bearer of  the life-giving drink would then be pursued as the future "bar-zowga" or mate.

Baouta d’Ninevaye or the Rogation of Ninevites is an important Assyrian tradition which must be noted for its historic and spiritual significance.

ZENDA
 

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     G  O  O  D    M  O  R  N  I  N  G    B  E  T - N  A  H  R  A  I  N
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EARTHQUAKES ROCK NORTHERN BET-NAHRAIN
 

(ZNRU: Ankara) Two earthquakes measuring 3.8 and 5.5 on the Richter scale shook northern Bet-Nahain in Turkey and Syria last Wednesday evening. Five people were injured and a number of homes were damaged near the Syrian-Turkish border. An earthquake shook Beirut at about the same time and a Lebanese seismologist said it measured 5.7 on the Richter scale. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in Lebanon. In Turkey the quakes was felt in Diyarbakir, Mardin and Adana.  Nearly 40 houses were damaged in Denizli province in   central-western Turkey. Earthquakes measuring around five on the Richter scale are powerful enough to cause heavy damage in such populated areas of Bet-Nahrain.

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                      S   U   R   F   S     U   P   !
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"Please try to be brief and to to the point when you report news and other matter so that people won't waste time in reading the Zenda!  Also, you should include some thing related to engineering, etc. Best Wishes for 1997."

Dr. Sam Haddad
California

**************
 

"Thank you for reprinting a most interesting passage from William Daniel's 'Assyrians of Today:  Their Problem and a Solution.'

Daniel is a widely respected Assyrian thinker, and many of his social observations are especially astute.  Unfortunately, notwithstqanding the promise in the title of this essay, Daniel does not really have any magic to offer as a 'Solution'.  On the other hand, his comments about the ostentation and self-delusion practiced by many Assyrians, whether it is in their "annual Convention", or at other events, is right on the mark.

It is difficult to understand the airs that are put on by holding annual conventions in expensive hotels, where some of our Assyrian women like to flaunt the latest in expensive fur fashions.  Never mind about any awareness of any issue which besets the Assyrians and which should be the principal preoccupation of any convention.

I have heard our conventions described as propitious 'meat markets', and one can make the argument that it is better for young, single people to be looking over one another at one of our Conventions instead of a cocktail bar in Podunk, USA.

But there is no excuse for the vapidity of our conventions. We feature no educational programs, no panels to discuss our history, or the U.S. political system (and how to make it work for us).

The method of conducting 'convention business' is primitive, to put it charitably.  Elections are poorly organized.  There is no system in place to enable candidates to speak on the issues, and to answer questions, WELL IN ADVANCE OF THE VOTING.

It seems to me that each Federation election seems to be a contest between a couple of 'power blocs'.  It is unclear why either of these blocks would ever have any beneficial result for our general welfare. Instead, the so-called power blocs tend to be dedicated to the perpetuation of power.  In this sense, there is little difference between the so-called mainstream groups which can be seen attending the Federation Convention, or the Bet Nahrain group in Ceres (which never changes 'Chairman', no matter how many elections take place).

Other than self-aggrandizement, there is evidence of very little else about the 'common good', either in discussions or in programs.  Lots of talk, indeed, just as Daniel bemoaned.

When are some younger Assyrians going to take over, and bring some fresh perspective to the Federation?"

Francis Sarguis
Santa Barbara, California

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                  S  U  R  F  E  R  S      C  O  R  N  E  R
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"Shlama Amookhn,

Thank you for reply  and few suggestions, but I am still looking for a LIST of Assyrian names/phrases that have very nice meanings. For example what is the meaning of the name of Assyrian King Abgar/Abkar/Aogar(O' Gar) or Sargon.  I found a  list of names and their meanings in the internet under http://www.zelo.com/firstnames/,  but they were  not Assyrian names. Do you know of any Assyrian site that has compiled a similar list.  Thanks again."

Best regards,
Sam Kosa
San Diego, California

[For a complete list of ancient Assyrian names and their meanings see K.L. Tallqvist's "Assyrian Personal Names." Copies of this book can be ordered from Nabu Books:  P.O. Box 59422, Chicago, Illinois 60659, U.S.]

 
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             AN 800-YEARS-OLD ASSYRIAN CHURCH DISCOVERED IN SYRIA

(ZNDA: St. Louis) Recent excavations at Tell Tuneinir in Syria have unearthed a contemporaneous mosque and a church.  Inscriptions, art, and architecture provide important clues to the multi-ethnic community that flourished at Tuneinir during the 13th century AD. The church is especially significant because of its evidence for the Aramaic-speaking congregations of ancient Bet-Nahrain. According to a report by Michael and Neathery Fuller of St. Louis Community Collge in Missouri a cistern was discovered west of the church in 1994, filled with domestic and functional refuse used in daily church functions by the Assyrian priest. In great abundance are discarded animal bones and eggshells, evidence of the diet and availability of certain foods during the 9th to the 11th centuries at Tuneinir. Tentative interpretations of the inscriptions found have been made by Ibrahim Nanno (Hasake office of the Department of Antiquities), Archbishop Matta Roham (Syrian Orthodox Church) and Archmandrite Gerarkis Athneil (Assuri Christian Church). Two identical inscriptions from loci 305022 and 305024 were written in the Estangela or Edessean Syriac script. For a more complete report of this excavation visit http://fv.stlcc.cc.mo.us/mfuller/tuneinir/.  See this week's CALENDAR OF EVENTS for Dr. Fuller's lecture at St. Louis Community College, Kansas City, Missouri.
 

             SADDAM'S SON MAY BE PARARLIZED, 600 ARRESTS TO DATE

(ZNMN: Baghdad)  More than a month after he was machine-gunned while sitting in his Prosche in Baghdad, the eldest son of Saddam Hussei- Uday Hussein, 32- still has not been pictured standing.  There are suggestions that he may have been wounded more seriously than first reported, possibly paralyzed.  Last week, Uday was engaged to a 16-year-old Iraqi girl from his home town of Tikrit.  A leading Iraqi opposition figure in Syria reports that so far nearly 600 suspects, including 20 high-ranking military officials, have been arrested.

 
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                      N   E   W   S       B   I   T   s
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(ZNRU)

ROME- About 100 illegal Iranian, possibly Christian immigrants, were rescued from a ship that was sinking off the coast of southern Italy Friday in the latest emergency to strike a tide of economic refugees desperate to start a new life in the West.

BAGHDAD- Iraq has exported a total of 10.1 million barrels of crude oil through its Gulf oil terminal since starting limited oil exports in mid-December, the ruling Baath party newspaper al-Thawra said Thursday.
 

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         C   A   L   E   N   D   A   R     OF     E   V   E   N   T   S
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Thru Mar 10        Art & Empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British
                     Museum
            National Gallery of Victoria
            Melbourne, Australia
            Admission: $10.00

Thru Apr 6        The Ain Ghazal Exhibit
                    Smithsonian Institute
                    Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
                  Washington D.C.
             AAA of Southern CA      (818) 506-7577

Jan 27            "Early Christian/Muslim Dynamics at Tuneinir, Syria"
            A Phi Alpha Theta Presentation
            by Dr. Michael Fuller
            St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley
            Room 106, University Center
            University of Missouri-Kansas City
            3:00 pm
                Free and Open to the Public

Feb 6             "The rise and fall of Assyria"
            Gallery Talk by Paul Collins
            11:30 a.m.
 
            "Ideas of the past in the ancient Near East"
             Lecture by Paul Collins
            1:15 p.m.

            The British Museum
            Great Russell Street
            London WC1B  3DG,
            U.K.
            Tel: +44 171 636 1555
            http://www.british-museum.ac.uk
            Recorded information +44 171 580 1788
 

Feb 9            The Last Ziggurats:  An Art Exhibition by Hannibal Alkhas
            Awana of the Assyrian Church of the East
            680 Minnesota Road
            San Jose, California
            3:00 pm

Mar 12              Guardians of the Gate:  The Assyrian Winged Colossi
                    Lecturer:  A. Harrak
                    Near and Middle Eastern Civilization
                    University of Toronto
                    St. George campus
                    Toronto, Canada
                    8:00 p.m

April 9             Recent Excavations at Gordion, Turkey:
                    An Achaemenid Persian Imperial Town in Central Anatolia
                    Lecturer:  T.C. Young, Jr.
                    Royal Ontario Museum
                    Toronto, Canada
                    8:00 p.m

Aug 28            Assyrian American National Convention
            Detroit, Michigan
 
 
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                         I N T E L L I G E N T S I A
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Thursdays        Nineveh Choir under the direction of Maestro Nebu Issabey
            BETA:  20000 Almaden Road
            San Jose, California
            8:00 pm

Fridays              Assyrian Educational & Cultural Club at
                     Modesto Junior College
                     1:00 pm
                     Founders Hall 108
                     Modesto, U.S.A.

Saturdays            Nisibis School
                     10:30-1:30
                     The Church of the East
                     Toronto, Canada

SUNDAYS              Assyrian Boy Scouts
                     Assyrian American Association of Southern California
                     Assyrian Club
                     5901 Cahuenga Blvd
                     North Hollywood, California
                     9:30am  to 12:30pm
                     Contact Sargon Gewargis @ fishtale@juno.com
                     (818) 891-3705 after 7:30 pm

                     Assyrian Student Union
                     California State University, Northridge
                     Assyrian American Association of Southern California
                     Assyrian Club
                     5901 Cahuenga Blvd
                     North Hollywood, California
                     6:00pm
                     Contact Sargon Gewargis @ fishtale@juno.com
                     (818) 891-3705 after 7:30 pm

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       A  S  S  Y  R  I  A  N     S  U  R  F  I  N  G     P  O  S  T  S
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Which came first bread or beer?  Visit this week's Surfing Post:

         http://s-kanslia-3.hut.fi/SumerianBeer.html
 

Note:  Visit www.nineveh.com for the latest schedule of online guests on Nineveh Cafe- a chat room for the Assyrian Internet surfers.

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                     P  U  M  P    UP THE   V O L U M E
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        English        Modern Assyrian

        Doubt            Poo/sha/kha        [M]
        Courage        Lvee/voo/ta(tha)      [F]
___________________________________________________________________________
F = Feminine     M = Masculine      P = Plural
 
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                B  A  C  K     TO THE      F  U  T  U  R  E
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B.C. (663)  Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, following the course of Nile river, enters the Egyptian city of Memphis and occupies it.
 
<<The Arts of Assyria, Parrot>>
 

A.D. (1924) Alphonse Mingana, an Assyrian scholar (1878-1937) begins his travels through Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran to collect manuscripts for Dr. Edward Cadbury of Selly Oak Colleges, England.  In five years the Syriac collection alone, with its 662 manuscripts, became the third largest collection of its kind in the West, after those of British Library and the Vatican Library.

<<Alphonse Mingana, Samir>>

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                    L    I    T    E    R    A    T    U    S
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A Boy's Wish

as inscribed on an ancient tablet found in Syria
 
 
 

Thus speaks Enlil-Iddin son of Ishtar-Iddin of Babylon
Be it known to you that I have been a very good boy all year
Do not believe my sister if she writes to you
that I am not or that I broke the oil jar
She broke the oil jar herself
I have been a very good boy all year
May it please you to bring me a new ball
and a Gilgamesh costume
and a jar of clover honey
Do not bring me any more clothes or school tablets like last year

<< Archeological Diggings Magazine, January 1995, also see Nineveh Magazine, Vol 19, #4 >>

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           T  H  I  S    W  E  E  K     I  N    H  I  S  T  O  R  Y
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February 2, 1932:  dies, Assyrian General Agha Petrous d'Baz in France.

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                            B     R    A     V     O
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Höchstdotierter deutscher Förderpreis
an Heidelberger Prof. Dr. Stefan Maul

http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~it5/maul.htm
 

Prof. Dr. Stefan Maul, Assyriologist from Heidelberg, Germany, has recieved the 1997 Leibniz Award worth three million German Marks. Professor Peter Ulmer, rector of Heidelberg University, congratulated the 37-years-old researcher and described the award as a very gratifying academic honor for the scholar of Ruprecht-Karl University.  Stefan M. Mauler was born in 1958 in Aachen. For a short time he was a visiting professor in Paris. He then went to Heidelberg as Professor of Assyriology.   Professor Maul's works include: "Herzberuhigungsklage" in 1988 and "Zukunftsbewaeltigungsklagen" in 1994, both studies of ancient prayers and  rituals to help a patient back to psychological well-being.
 
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                         the   D I  R  E  C  T  O  R  Y
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ZNAD (Assyrian Democratic Organization)
ZNAM (Archeology Magazine)
ZNAP (Associated Press International)
ZNBN (Bet-Nahrain Inc/ KBSV-TV "AssyriaVision")
ZNDA (Zenda: zenda@ix.netcom.com)
ZNMN (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNNQ (Nabu Quarterly)
ZNNV (Nineveh Magazine)
ZNRU (Reuters)
ZNSJ (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNTM (Time Magazine)
ZNUP (United Press International)
ZNUS (US News & World Report)

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             W   E   L   C   O   M   E     T O     Z   E   N   D   A
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Zenda welcomes our new on-line subscribers from:

CORPORATE ACCOUNTS
            Lucent Technologies
            Peregrina Publishing Co
UNIVERSITY ACCOUNTS
            University of Houston
PERSONAL ACCOUNTS
            Hesperia, California
            Holland
            Sweden
            Toronto, Canada
            San Jose, California
            ... and Serena
 
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                     S     A     L     U     T     E
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Zenda wishes to thank the following individuals & organizations whose
contributions appear in this issue:

            Firas Jatou            Chicago, Illinois
            Adrin Takhsh        Berlin, Germany
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