The following Letter is from Dr. Simo Parpola, Assyriologist, to Kelley Ross, by Dr.
Parpola.
| Dear Dr. Ross, Two comments occasioned by your article, "Note on the modern Assyrians," which was brought to my attention by the Assyrian community of Los Angeles. 1. The way the ancient Assyrians treated their enemies (p. 3) did not differ significantly from the way enemies were treated in the contemporary world. Just read Deut. 7, 12, and 20-21 to remind you of what the Lord God wanted the Israelites to do to the people inhabiting the promised land, or Book 6 of Josephus' Jewish Wars for a sample of atrocities committed by the Romans. Brandmarking the ancient Assyrians as a particularly 'brutal' people was current a hundred years ago, when attitudes towards the Assyrians were still largely conditioned by the Bible and by an inadequate understanding of the cuneiform sources. Today we have a more balanced view of the things, and the focus of current research has long been on the cultural and intellectual achievements of the Assyrians, which are considerable. 2. Nobody denies the Jewish background of Christianity (p. 4). However, there are features in primitive Judaism and early Christianity that cannot be explained without reference to Assyrian religion and royal ideology, which continued to exert significant influence on Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman religions (including Gnosticism, primitive Christianity and Judaism) through late Antiquity. I have published several carefully documented articles and books on these subjects in recent years. You can dismiss my work as 'baseless and totally ahistorical,' but I would like to remind you that, with no first-hand knowledge of the primary sources, you are totally unqualified to express any serious opinion in the matter. I do not know the reasons which led you to start this crusade of yours against Assyrians who take pride in their past, but I am alarmed by the lack of critical judgment displayed by you. Do you really believe that you, a layman in matters Assyrian, are competent to tell a nation the ultimate truth about its history? I can only hope that you show better discernment in your own trade. Believe me, the Assyrians can read the secondary literature on Assyria assembled by you as well as you, and many of them know more about these things than you do. Sincerely, Simo Parpola Professor of Assyriology, University of Helsinki Director, State Archives of Assyria Centre of Excellence |
Editorial Note:
Dr. Parpola has written the following books:
Assyrian Prophecies
by Simo Parpola, Julian Reade (Editor)
Hardcover Textbook - January 1997
Assyrian Prophecies
by Simo Parpola, Julian Reade (Editor)
Paperback - January 1997
Collations to Neo-Assyrian Legal Texts from Nineveh
by Simo Parpola
Paperback - 1979
List price: $19.00
Correspondence of Sargon II Pt. III : Letters from Babylonia and the Eastern Provinces
by Sargon, Andreas Fuchs (Editor), Simo Parpola (Editor)
Paperback - 2001
Correspondence of Sargon II Pt. III : Letters from Babylonia and the Eastern Provinces
by Sargon, Andreas Fuchs (Editor), Simo Parpola
Hardcover - 2001
The Correspondence of Sargon Second, Pt. 1 : Letters from Assyria and the West
by Simo Parpola (Editor)
Hardcover Textbook - May 1987
List price: $58.00
The Correspondence of Sargon Second, Pt. 1 : Letters from Assyria and the West
by Simo Parpola (Editor)
Paperback - May 1987
List price: $43.00
The Correspondence of Sargon the Second Pt. II : Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces
by Giovanni B. Lanfranchi (Editor), Simo Parpola (Editor)
Hardcover Textbook - February 1991
List price: $62.00
The Correspondence of Sargon the Second Pt. II : Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces
by Giovanni B. Lanfranchi (Editor), Simo Parpola (Editor)
Paperback - February 1991
The Hellsinki Atlas of the Near East in the Neo-Assyrian Period
by Simo Parpola, Michael Porter (Editor)
Paperback - May 2001
Neo-Assyrian Treaties & Loyalty Oaths
by Simo Parpola (Editor), Kazuko Watanabe (Editor)
Hardcover Textbook - July 1988
List price: $50.00
Neo-Assyrian Treaties & Loyalty Oaths
by Simo Parpola (Editor), Kazuko Watanabe (Editor)
Paperback - July 1988
List price: $31.00
One God or Many? : Concepts of Divinity in the Ancient World
by Barbara Nevling Porter, John Baines, Stephen A. Geller, H. S. Versnel, Simo Parpola
Paperback - September 2000
The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
by Simo Parpola (Editor)
Paperback - June 2000
References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources
by Simo Parpola (Directed By), Martti Nissinen
Paperback - July 1998
The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh
by Simo Parpola
Paperback - April 1997
Lowest price on 03/01/2002: $25.00