Baqofah

Baqofa (also, Baqofah or Bakofa or Bakopa or Baqopa) (Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܩܘܦܐ‎, Běţ Ợopa) is an Assyrian village in Assyria, northern Iraq located near Batnaya. Most of its inhabitants are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The village's Aramaic name may derive from "Beth Qopa" or "Beth Qofa", signifying either the "House of Rods" or "Place of the Skull." The town has been uninhabited since August 2014, after an ISIS attack led to its resident flee for Iraqi Kurdistan.

History

The area is believed to have been settled for thousands of years, dating back to the Assyrian Empire era; in 1852, an archaeological dig uncovered artifacts with Cuneiform script. The earliest historical reference to the village dates to the 7th century, in Life of Rabban Hormizd the Persian. Notable historical events have included devastating raids by Mongols in 1436 and 1508, an attack by Persian king Nader Shah in 1743, and an attack launched under order of the Kurdish governor of Rawandz in 1833. An 1852 document indicated that in 1850 approximately families residing in the village attended its single church.