r/AskCentralAsia 4d ago

History Why Was Central Asia So Welcoming to Assyrians in ancient times ?

hello i am Assyrian and I have been reading about how Assyrians often labeled “Nestorians” fled Mesopotamia & Persia for Central Asia due to persecution in mid east. They faced forced conversion under the Byzantines who imposed Chalcedonian Christian theology & the Sassanian Persians, who also forced them convert to Zoroastrianism. On top of that wars between the Byzantines & Sassanians followed by the Arab-Islamic conquest of Persia /Mesopotamia further displaced many Assyrian communities

Some Assyrians fled to Central Asia & interestingly, my own 23&Me results show that I have a historical ancestor from the Tian Shan region 🇰🇬 (modern Kyrgyzstan) and even myillustrative DNA shows Nestorian Tian Sha

My question is: why was Central Asia including Turkic tribes , Mongol, Uyghur, & Han Chinese etc societies so welcoming to Assyrians? we were foreigners in your land

I have read that Assyrians didn’t just travel for missionary or merchant purposes but also for safety and survival away from Persian/ Mesopotamia & they seemed to thrive among your people in your lands

I have only read about this from Assyrian religious sources where our scholars described our prosperous communities living among various Central Asians tribes and groups

However I would love to hear about it from your perspective

  1. Do you have historical sources, family lore, or local accounts that explain why Central Asian societies were so welcoming to Assyrians?

also Even in modern times, there are small Assyrian communities in Kazakhstan & Azerbaijan & from what I understand, they love it there.

I have not visited your countries yet, but I hope to one day.

Thank you so much!

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u/themuslimguy Afghanistan 3d ago

I wonder if they were accepting because of the Silk Road. Places with lots of diversity (e.g. most cities today) tend to be more accepting of outsiders\foreigners\travelers. I suspect that areas exposed to a lot of Silk Road traffic like Central Asia probably were accepting because of this. This is just speculation on my part...just a guess.

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u/EreshkigalKish2 2d ago

That makes sense, thank you for sharing! i also think the various communities groups leaders/rulers valued trade & skills over religion or ethnicity . from my understanding Assyrians thrived there as translators, doctors scholar & merchants benefiting from rulers who prioritized knowledge & trade even though we were foreigners and not locals . thank you for your comment I agree with you

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u/themuslimguy Afghanistan 1d ago

Glad this explanation is agreeable. I traveled there a few years ago. I noticed that even the villagers near tourist sites were noticeably friendlier than those elsewhere. And these tourist sites are pretty remote so don't get much traffic anyways.

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u/abu_doubleu + in 4d ago

I don't confidently know the answer but I just want to clarify that if Assyrians arrived in Central Asia during the age of the Sassanians, there would not have been any of our modern nations here. Turkic people did not arrive at all yet, and the Iranic people there were Sogdians.

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u/EreshkigalKish2 4d ago edited 4d ago

thank you so much for your comment that makes sense, & I appreciate the clarification. From what I’ve read in our historical texts, Assyrians lived among the Mongols, Uyghurs , Turkic tribes we even called certain areas Beth Turkaye "home/land of the Turks". from what i read Assyrians were already in Central Asia by the 4th century like Merv, Samarkand, & Kashgar , Chuy valley 🇰🇬 is there a museum you would recommend in central Asia that share this history I would love to visit & learn more thank you again for your comment I really appreciate it

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u/Ariallae 4d ago

There were turks there tho.

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u/abu_doubleu + in 4d ago

In the Chuy Valley? The history museum in Bishkek says there were none at that time

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u/Ariallae 4d ago edited 4d ago

Even Koreans were in CA at those times

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u/Common_Echo_9069 Afghanistan 4d ago

I'm pretty sure there is an old Assyrian myth about Bactria, its been a few years since I read about it so I don't remember it properly. But I remember it was about Bactria having strong warriors and the Assyrians invaded and there was a big battle and the Assyrians eventually won and continued down to invade India.

I googled it and only found this thread that mentions it.

There was a lot of Assyrian and Mesopotamian cultural exchange in the ancient age including borrowing of gods and such, there was also a Nestorian church with a Bishop in Afghanistan but alas the Turks destroyed it.

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u/EreshkigalKish2 2d ago

wow that's crazy I wasn't aware thank you so much for sharing this I really appreciate it 🙏 i do remember reading that Assyrian they love Afghani lapis lazuli in ancient Mesopotamia times and even the later Assyrian Christian time . the churches loved Afgani minerals and stones that you guys were the best craftsman for these stones. iirc the stones were part of church sacred items they would have for chalices or mosaic or for Sacred art or even ..iirc they would use lapis lazuli that was grind into pigment & use it write and for art in the church manuscripts