The Assyrian people were Christianized in the 1st to 3rd centuries , in Roman Syria and Roman Assyria . They were divided by the Nestorian Schism in the 5th century , and from the 8th century , they became a religious minority following the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia . They suffered a genocide at the collapse of the Ottoman Empire , and today to a significant extent live in diaspora
genocide
Assyrian genocide
History of the Assyrian people