Assyriology (from Greek Ἀσσυρίᾱ, Assyriā; and -λογία, -logia) is the archaeological, historical, and linguistic study of ancient Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) and as related cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers the Akkadian sister-cultures of Assyria and Babylonia, together with their cultural predecessor; Sumer. The large number of cuneiform clay tablets preserved by these cultures provide an extremely large resource for the study of the period. The region's (and the world's) first cities such as Ur are archaeologically invaluable for studying the growth of urbanization.

Scholars need a good knowledge of several languages: Akkadian and its major dialects and Sumerian, aided by such languages as Biblical Hebrew, Hittite, Elamite and Aramaic for comparative purposes, and the knowledge of writing systems that use several hundred core signs. There now exist many important grammatical studies and lexical aids. Although scholars can draw from a large corpus of literature, some tablets are broken, or in the case of literary texts where there may be many copies, the language and grammar are arcane. Moreover, scholars must be able to read and understand modern English, French, and German, as important references, dictionaries, and journals are published in those languages.

Eleanor Robson is a Reader in History and Philosophy of Science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, vice-chair of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

Robson is the author or co-author of several books on Mesopotamian culture and the history of mathematics. In 2003, she won the Lester R. Ford Award of the Mathematical Association of America for her work on Plimpton 322, a clay tablet of Babylonian mathematics; contrary to previous theories according to which this tablet represented a table of Pythagorean triples, Robson showed that it could have been a collection of school exercises in solving quadratic equations. She has also been widely quoted for her criticism of the U.S. Government's failure to prevent looting at the National Museum of Iraq during the Iraq War in 2003.

Song In (in hangul 송인, in hanja 宋仁) was a civil official in the mid-Goryeo era who became the intermediary founder of the Jincheon Song clan. His highest post was munha pyeongjangsa (문하 평장사). This was the highest government position in the period. Song In was responsible for administration, judicial affairs and economy in the district.

As he performed meritorious deeds during the King, he was conferred with Chanhwagongsin and Jincheonbaek. Baek was a position of politicians who were responsible for administration, judicial affairs and economy in the district. As the government created him Jincheonbaek, his family started regarding Jincheon as their origin. Hence, the family origin became Jincheon Song.

When he was in the position of Sangsanbaek, he tried to be just and fair in all the administrative affairs and strived to enhance the welfare of his people. He also focused on education for the youth and courtesy for people, which made his district famous for most excellent behaviors in the nation. After that, the people have long paid tribute to his feats.

Culture of the Assyrian people.

Throughout the years, Assyrians celebrate many different kinds of traditions within their communities, with the majority of the traditions being tied to religion some way. Some include feasts (Syriac: hareh) for different patron saints, the Nineveh Rogation (ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܝܐ), Ascension day (Syriac: Kaalu d-Sulaqa), and the most popular, the Kha b-Nisan (ܚܕ ܒܢܝܣܢ). Some of these traditions have been practiced by the Assyrians for well over 1,500 years.

The Simele massacre (ܦܪܡܬܐ ܕܣܡܠܐ: Premta d-Simele) was the first of many massacres committed by the Iraqi government during the systematic targeting of Assyrian of Northern Iraq in August 1933. The killing spree that continued among 63 Assyrian villages in the Dohuk and Mosul districts, led to the deaths of an estimated 3,000 Assyrians.

August 7 officially became known as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory for the Simele massacre, as it was declared so by the Assyrian Universal Alliance in 1970. In 2004, the Syrian government banned the Assyrian political organization and the Assyrian community of Syria from commemorating the event, and threatened arrests if any were to break the ban.

Matthew Wolfgang Stolper is Professor of Assyriology and the John A. Wilson Professor of Oriental Studies in the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. He received a B.A. from Harvard in 1965, an M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1967, and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1974.

Professor Stolper's earlier interests were centered on Babylonian legal texts, but his most current work involves the Persepolis Fortification Project. He and a team of student employees are currently racing to document the Persepolis Fortification Archive, a collection of Achaemenid administrative records from Persepolis written mostly in Elamite (though a Greek and, surprisingly, an Old Persian tablet have been discovered). The project's official website can be found at [1].

His publications are numerous, including: "The šaknu of Nippur", "The Kasr Archive", "Babylonian Evidence for the End of the Reign of Darius I: A Correction", "A Note on Yahwistic Personal Names in the Murašû Texts", "A Late-Achaemenid Lease from the Rich Collection", "Yet Another Iranian Loanword in Late Babylonian: Babyl. mašǎ̄ka < Ir. *važ̵ ā̆ka", Fifth Century Nippur: Texts of the Murašûs and from Their Surroundings", "Some Ghost Facts from Achaemenid Babylonian Texts", "The Governor of Babylon and Across-the-River in 486 B. C.", "Review: Iranians in Babylonia", "A Paper Chase after the Aramaic on TCL 13 193", etc.