Mount Alfaf
mountain in Iraq
Mount Alfaf (Syriac: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܐܠܦܦ, ṭūrāʾ Alfaf), also known as Mount Maqlub (جبل مقلوب in Arabic), is a mountain in the Nineveh Plains region in northern Iraq. The mountain lies 30 km to the northeast of Mosul and some 15 km from Bartella. The largest town on the mountain is Merki, which is inhabited by Assyrians of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
The mountain is famous for the Mar Mattai Monastery which lies close to its southern summit. There exist a number of hermitages that date back to the 4th and 5th century AD, the most important of which are:
Mar Mattai hermitage, where according to Syriac tradition, Sara, sister of Mar Behnam, was miraculously cured of leprosy by Mar Mattai.
Bar Hebraeus hermitage which was occupied by Bar Hebraeus during his lifetime.
The spy's hermitage which lies at the top of the mountain and was used as a sentry to warn the occupants of the monastery of bandits.
The public source identifies “Mount Alfaf” as mountain in Iraq. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Mount, Alfaf and mountain.
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Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6919347.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mount Alfaf” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.