Alqosh ܐܲܠܩܘܿܫ ألقوش[1]
Town
Entry way sign, spelling "I ♡ Alqosh"
Alqosh
Coordinates:36°43′56″N43°5′43″E / 36.73222°N 43.09528°E /36.73222; 43.09528
Country	Iraq
Governorate	Nineveh Governorate
District	Tel Kaif District[2]
Founded	1500 BC
De-facto control	Kurdistan Region[3]
Population
• Total	c.4,600
Time zone	GMT +3
• Summer (DST)	GMT +4

Alqosh (Syriac:ܐܲܠܩܘܿܫ,^[4][5][6]Jewish Babylonian Aramaic:אלקוש,Arabic:ألقوش,^[1] alternatively spelledAlkosh,Alqoš, orAlqush) is a town in theNineveh Plains of northernIraq, a sub-district of theTel Kaif District situated 45 km north of the city ofMosul.

The inhabitants of Alqosh areAssyrians who since the 18th century now mostly adhere to theChaldean Catholic Church.^[7][8][9]During the Iron Age, the Alqosh plain appears to have been home to the small regional kingdom of Qumāne, but was subsequently annexed by Assyria.^[10]

The town of Alqosh is set at the foot of a mountain known asṭūrəd-‘Alquš meaning “the mountain of Alqosh”. In the vicinity, there are thekahfa/kāfa smōqa (the red cave), guppəd-naṭōpa (the cave of dripping),guppəd-māya (the cave of water),guppəd-saṭāna (the cave of Satan),guppa mgurəgma (the thundering cave), and a valleyšwīṯəd-ganāwe (the bed of thieves) at the foot of Alqosh mountain.^[11][12]

Behind the mountain there is also the site ofBezqin, known inClassical Syriac sources as ܒܙܩܝܢbizqīn^[13] and pronounced by modern Alqosh asbisqin, containing the remains of an orchard and aSyriac Orthodox monastery, which may have originally been part of theChurch of the East, and containing springs. After theSimele Massacre this was left and came to be ruined by vandals, and most of the ancient trees cut down or burnt.^{[14][15][16][17]}

The Assyrian people had gradually converted fromMesopotamian Religion to Eastern Rite Christianity between the 1st and 5th centuries AD. The importance of Alqosh for theAssyrian Church of the East arose from its proximity to theRabban Hormizd Monastery, named after its seventh-century founderRabban Hormizd (Rabban means "monk"), who is venerated as a saint in the churches descended from theAssyrian Church of the East.

The monastery, built on the mountain slope, was originally built to defend the Assyrians against Muslim armies, and largely fortified over time.^[18] It became a centre of learning for the Church of the East not far from another centre but of theSyriac Orthodox Church. It was the burial place of the patriarchs of the Church of the East from the late fifteenth century and was their seat from the time of Shimun VI (1503–1538) until the end of the series of patriarchs known as the Eliya line.^[19] Isolated and cut off by snow from Alqosh in winter, it never became their permanent residence,^[17] and its line of patriarchs is commonly described as the Mosul line or as resident in Alqosh.^[20] Today, the monastery continues to be venerated as a symbol of Assyrian and Christian resistance against those who have tried to attack it, especially following theFall of Mosul and theWar in Iraq (2013–2017).^[18]

In theschism of 1552, the abbot of the monastery,Yohannan Sulaqa, was elected irregularly to the post of patriarch by several bishops who were dissatisfied with the restriction of patriarchal succession to members of a single family. By tradition, a patriarch could be ordained only by someone of archiepiscopal (metropolitan) rank, a rank to which only members of that one family were promoted. For that reason, Sulaqa travelled to Rome, where, presented as the new patriarch-elect, he entered communion with the Catholic Church, was ordained by the Pope, and recognized as patriarch of the "Church of Mosul and Athura". He and his successors (who eventually formally broke communion with Rome) took up residence further east. This schism gave rise to theChaldean Catholic Church, in opposition to what historians call the traditionalist wing of the Church of the East, that which officially adopted the nameAssyrian Church of the East.^[21][22]

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the "legitimist" Alqosh patriarchal line from which Sulaqa broke away in 1552, drew closer to Rome, especially during the 58-year reign of Eliya XI/XII Denkha (1722−1778), who sent several letters to Rome, some with professions of faith in line with Catholic teaching, but no formal papal recognition followed.^[23][24] However, it was a member of the family from whom the "legitimate" traditionalist patriarchs were chosen,Yohannan Hormizd (1760–1838) who, having considered himself a Catholic since 1778, was chosen as patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in 1830.^[25][24]

Austen Henry Layard, who visited the area in 1847, reported that by "a very ancient tradition" the village contains the tomb of the prophetNahum, whoseOld Testament book begins with: "An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh."^[26] WhileJerome located the birthplace of Nahum inGalilee, Layard considered the Alqosh tradition had some weight in spite of the lack of inscriptions or ancient remains.^[27]Iraqi Jews made pilgrimage to the site duringShavuot, and "He who has not made the pilgrimage to Nahum's tomb has not yet known real pleasure" was a common saying.^[28] When Jews were expelled from Iraq or voluntarily emigrated toIsrael in 1948, the Jewish custodian entrusted the care of the building to a local Chaldean Catholic.^[29] A survey conducted in 2017 determined that the structure was in danger of collapse, and in the following year work began on stabilizing it.^[30][31]

• 1401 – the town was attacked and sacked byTimur (Tamerlane).^[24]
• 1508 – Alqosh was attacked by Pasha ofBaghdad Bar Yak (Murad Bey).^[24]
• 1831 – theSoran Emirate attacked Alqosh, killing nearly 300 villagers.^[32]
• 1828 – Mosa Pasha, the governor ofAmadiya, approached Alqosh and set fire to theRabban Hormizd Monastery.^[33]
• 1832 –Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz attacked Alqosh, killing over 600 of its inhabitants.^[33]
• 1840 – Resoul Beck, Mira Koor's brother, repeated the attack.^[33]
• 1843 – the Rabban Hormizd Monastery was attacked by theKurds, and 1000 manuscripts may have been destroyed.^[32]
• 2014 – TheIslamic State came close to Alqosh, and almost all of the people fled; however, many men and youths did not leave Alqosh due to a desire to protect their town. ISIL failed to take the town after the intervention of thePeshmerga and local Assyrian militia known asDwekh Nawsha.^[34]

According to a CAPNI Organization report in January 2023, the residents of the Alqosh town were allAssyrian Christians, whereas in the broader Alqosh subdistrict,Yazidis made up 80% of the population.^[35] The town's residents abide by a rule where they are only allowed to sell their properties to other Assyrians originally from the village, which has managed to sustain their demographics up to now; typically, the men of the village are in charge of protecting it from outsiders.^[36]

In March 2020,Shlama Foundation reported that the town had a population of 4,567: 1,015 families of Chaldean Catholic denomination, the remainder being Assyrian Church of the East and Syriac Orthodox.^[37]

According to the Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organization, most of the inhabitants areAssyrians, with a smaller percentage ofYazidis.^[38] In 1913, the town of Alqosh, was according to Joseph Tfinkdji inhabited by 7,000 Chaldean Catholics.^[39] Many have emigrated since the 1970s. It is estimated that at least 40,000 "Alqushnaye" immigrants and their 2nd and 3rd generation descendants now live in the cities ofDetroit,Michigan, the western suburb ofFairfield inSydney,Australia andSan Diego,California.

In February 2010, the attacks against Assyrian people in northern Iraq forced 4,300 to flee from Mosul to theNineveh Plains. A report by the United Nations stated that 504 Assyrians at once migrated to Alqosh. Many Assyrians of all denominations from Mosul and Baghdad since the post-2003 Iraq war have fled to Alqosh for safety. The town's population in 2020 is estimated to be roughly 4,600.^[40]

In 2014 the mayor of Alqosh, Faiz Jahwareh, was detained and replaced byKurdistan Democratic Party memberLara Zara, only to be reinstated after protests by Alqosh residents.^[41] Jahwareh was again detained and replaced by the Kurdish regional government in July 2017 on the basis of corruption charges that were dismissed by the Iraqi Federal Court.^[42][43]

Alqosh has asemi-arid climate (BSh) with extremely hot and dry summers, and cool wet winters.

• Hirmis Aboona (1940–2009), historian
• Joseph VI Audo (1790–1878), Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church 1847–1878
• Toma Audo (1854–1918), Archbishop ofUrmia
• Paul II Cheikho (1906–1989), Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church 1958–1989
• Yohannan Hormizd (1760–1838), Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church 1830–1838
• Emil Shimoun Nona (1967– ), Archbishop of Mosul 2009–2015, Eparch ofChaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney 2015–
• Toma Tomas (1924–1996),Assyrian nationalist andcommunist guerilla fighter
• Yousef VI Emmanuel II Thomas (1852–1947), Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church (1900–1947)

• Assyrians in Iraq
• Assyrian homeland
• Disputed territories of Northern Iraq
• Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq
• List of Assyrian settlements

• Frazee, Charles A. (2006) [1983].Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453–1923. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0521027007.
• Addai Scher,Notice sur les manuscrits syriaques conservés dans la bibliothèque du couvent des Chaldéens de Notre-Dame-des-Semences, Journal Asiatique Sér. 10: 8, 9 (1906). This may be found online atGallica by searching for "Journal Asiatique". An English translation of the first portion is attertullian.org

Media related toAlqosh at Wikimedia Commons

• alqosh.net
• alqush.com
• Alqosh: Vestiges Of Assyria (images of Alqosh)

• Assyrian communities in Iraq
• Populated places in Nineveh Governorate
• 15th-century BC establishments
• Historic Jewish communities in Iraq
• Nineveh Plains

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