Thread: Your Avatar

Gentlemen,

What does your avatar convey?

Years ago, I started a similar thread asking our members to explain the message behind their avatar. Since then, we have had many new members with interesting avatars. So I thought why not one more round?

My avatar is the image of the ancient Assyrian god Ashur. The god Ashur is also the symbol of the Assyrian nation. I am a full-blooded Assyrian, so what better avatar for me? Assyrian-American, I should say, and proud of it, and proud of having worn the American Army uniform in Vietnam.

The Assyrian empire flourished in Mesopotamia, in what is the present day Iraq. It was the land between the Tigress and the Euphrates rivers. Assyria's capital was the city of Nineveh, where the present day Mosul is located, in northern Iraq. At present, Iraqi forces combined with the Kurdish Peshmerga and the American Special Forces are preparing to take the city back from ISIS in the coming months.

The Assyrian empire, which at its height conquered many surrounding lands, fell to the combined forces of the Babylonians (who flourished at one time or another in the southern part of the present-day Iraq) and the Medes (the early Persians), in 612 B.C. In the following centuries, many Assyrians remained in their ancestral homeland, retaining their nationality, language and culture, with some scattering throughout the Middle East. Later, Assyrians accepted Christianity. So all present-day Assyrians are Christians.

We Assyrians speak the Aramaic language, the modern version of it, I should note. I speak it. Aramaic is also the language Christ spoke. Herbrew, Persian and Arabic are based Aramaic, the language of my ancestors.

So that's all about my avatar.

Gentlemen, what about your avatar? What does it say?