YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. Yerevan State University (YSU) with the sponsorship of Armenian National Commission on Issues of UNESCO published a text-book "Classic Assyrian" by YSU Oriental Studies Faculty lecturer Arman Hakobian. As Noyan Tapan was informed at YSU, this is the first text-book of classic Assyrian published in the former USSR area. Starting from the 13th century the Assyrian language hasn't been used as a spoken language and by now it has been used as the church language of Assyrian Orthodox, East Assyrian and some other churches. It is taught in the great universities and theological seminaries of the world. For centuries Armenians have had active cultural and religious contacts with Assyrians, in consequence of which several dozens of Assyrian words penetrated the Armenian language. The first Armenian translation of the Bible was also done from the Assyrian language. The works of Armenian classic authors were also translated into Assyrian. In spite of all this, the classic Assyrian has been never taught in Armenia. Only in 2004 a special course of studies was organized on A.Hakobian's initiative at YSU for lecturers teaching Arab and Hebrew languages, the goal of which was to train them for teaching classic Assyrian. This year the classic Assyrian has been also included in the YSU Oriental Studies Faculty magistracy curriculum.

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