Romanization of Syriac in the context of "Mongolian script"

The Maphrian (Syriac: ܡܦܪܝܢܐ, romanized: maphryānā or maphryono), is the second-highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, right below that of patriarch. The office of a maphrian is a maphrianate. There have been three maphrianates in the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church and one, briefly, in the Syriac Catholic Church.

The first maphrianate, called the Maphrianate of the East or the Maphrianate of Tagrit, was established in 628 to give the Syriac Orthodox Church an ecclesiastical hierarchy in the Sasanian Empire and lands outside the control of the Roman Empire. The seat of the bishop was initially at Tagrit and he ranked second in the hierarchy after the Patriarch of Antioch. Initially he used the title catholicos in direct opposition to the rival Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon of the Church of the East. The title "maphrian" first came into use around 1100. In 1156 the seat of the maphrian was moved to Mosul. The Maphrianate of the East was abolished in 1860 as a result of a decreasing number of Syriac Orthodox outside of the region of Ṭur ʿAbdin. By then it had been a merely titular see for a long time.

Maronites (Arabic: الموارنة, romanized: Al-Mawārinah; Syriac: ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ, romanized: Mārōnōye) are a Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally resided near Mount Lebanon in modern Lebanon. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the pope and the rest of the Catholic Church.

The Maronites derive their name from Saint Maron, (350-410 AD.), a monk whose teachings spread throughout the Northern Levant becoming the basis of the Maronite tradition. The spread of Christianity was very slow in the Lebanese region; in the 5th century AD in the highlands they were still pagan. St. Maron sent the apostle Abraham of Cyrrhus known as the "Apostle of Lebanon" with a mandate to convert the pagan inhabitants of Mount Lebanon to Christianity. After their conversion, the inhabitants of the region renamed the Adonis River to the Abrahamic River in honor of the Saint who preached there.

Mardin (Kurdish: مێردین, romanized: Mêrdîn; Arabic: ماردين, romanized: Mārdīn; Syriac: ܡܪܕܝܢ, romanized: Mardīn; Armenian: Մարդին) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris River.

In February 2000, the Turkish Ministry of Culture placed Mardin and its surrounding cultural landscape on the country’s Tentative List for UNESCO World Heritage nomination.

Sinjar (Arabic: سنجار, romanized: Sinjār; Kurdish: شنگال, romanized: Şingal, Syriac: ܫܝܓܪ, romanized: Shingar) is a town in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located about five kilometers south of the Sinjar Mountains. Its population in 2013 was estimated at 88,023, and is predominantly Yazidi.

The Mor Hananyo Monastery (Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܚܢܢܝܐ‎, romanised: Dayro d-Mor Hananyo), also called Monastery of Saint Ananias, Deyrulzafaran (Arabic: ديرالزعفران, romanised: Dayr al-Za'farāncode: ara promoted to code: ar ) or Dayro d-Kurkmo (Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܟܘܪܟܡܐ), and in Turkish, Deyrulzafaran Manastırı, commonly known in English as the Saffron Monastery, is one of the most renowned monasteries of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Located about 3 km (1.9 mi) east of Mardin, Turkey, in the Syriac cultural region Tur Abdin, it has served as a spiritual, cultural, and intellectual centre of Syriac Orthodox Christianity for centuries. From 1166 to 1932, it functioned as the Patriarchal See of Antioch, housing 53 patriarchs and metropolitans in its burial chambers.

Beginning as a temple to the Assyrian sun‑god Šamaš, the site was converted into a monastery in the Christian era. Over the centuries it endured repeated attacks by Mongols, Turks, and Kurds, during which the monastery, its artworks, and many manuscripts were abused and destroyed. Despite this, the monastery survives and today is headed by its abbot Mor Filüksinos (Philoxenos) Saliba Özmen.

Nineveh Plains (Classical Syriac: ܦܩܥܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ, romanized: Pqaʿtā ḏ-Nīnwē, Modern Syriac: ܕܫܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ, romanized: Daštā d-Ninwe; Arabic: سهل نينوى, romanized: Sahl Naynawā; Kurdish: ده‌شتا نه‌ینه‌وا, romanized: Deşta Neynewa) is a region in Nineveh Governorate in Iraq. Located to the north and east of the city Mosul, it is the only Christian-majority region in Iraq and have been a gathering point for Iraqi Christians since 2003. Control over the region is contested between Iraqi security forces, KRG security forces, Assyrian security forces, Babylon Brigade and the Shabak Militia.

The plains have a heterogenous population of Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Christians belonging to different churches: the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic, the Syriac Orthodox church, and the Syriac Catholic church. Arabs, Kurds, Yazidis, Shabaks and Turkmens, and includes ruins of ancient Assyrian cities and religious sites, such as Nimrud, Dur-Sharrukin, Mar Mattai Monastery, Rabban Hormizd Monastery and the Tomb of Nahum.

Duhok (Kurdish: دهۆک, romanized: Dihok; Arabic: دهوك, romanized: Dohūk; Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܘܗܕܪܐ, romanized: Beth Nohadra, Lishanid Noshan: דוהוך, romanized: Dohok) is a city in Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the capital city of Duhok Governorate.

The Great Zab or Upper Zab (Arabic: الزَّاب الْكَبِيْر, romanized: ez-Zâb el-Kebîr; Kurdish: Zêy Badînan or Zêyê Mezin; Turkish: Zap; Syriac: ܙܒܐ ܥܠܝܐ, romanized: zāba ʻalya) is an approximately 400-kilometre (250 mi) long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and joins the Tigris in Iraq south of Mosul. During its course, the river collects water from many tributaries and the drainage basin of the Great Zab covers approximately 40,300 square kilometres (15,600 sq mi). The river and its tributaries are primarily fed by rainfall and snowmelt – as a result of which discharge fluctuates highly throughout the year. At least six dams have been planned on the Great Zab and its tributaries, but construction of only one, the Bekhme Dam, has commenced but was halted after the Gulf War.

The Zagros Mountains have been occupied since at least the Lower Palaeolithic, and Neanderthal occupation of the Great Zab basin has been testified at the archaeological site of Shanidar Cave. Historical records for the region are available from the end of the third millennium BCE onward. In the Neo-Assyrian period, the Great Zab provided water for irrigation for the lands around the capital city of Nimrud. The Battle of the Zab – which ended the Umayyad Caliphate – took place near a tributary of the Great Zab, and the valleys of the river provided shelter for refugees from the Mongol conquest of Iraq. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Great Zab basin saw frequent uprisings of local Kurdish tribes striving for autonomy.