Welcome To Tel Keppe
Tel Keppe:
Tel Keppe (or TalKayf as it's known by the Arab
Muslims of Iraq) used to be the largest Chaldean town in Iraq.
It is located less than 8 miles North East of Mosul (Nineveh) in northern
Iraq. Actually, Tel Keppe is now considered a suburb of Mosul. Currently,
only around 5,000 Chaldeans live in it, while over 100,000 of its natives
live in Baghdad-Iraq, San Diego-CA, and Detroit-MI. Unfortunately, forced
by discriminatory practices in Iraq, the majority of its natives are now
living in Detroit, MI away from their fathers' homeland in Mesopotamia.
The name, Tel Keppe, is of Aramaic origin and is made of two syllables; "Tel" which means "hill" and "Keppe" which means "stones" i.e. Hill of Stones. Her name comes from its location over a ruined suburb of Nineveh, capital of old Assyria. Hence, the reason why Tel Keppe was never mentioned as a separate town from Nineveh by the Assyrians. The first time her name was mentioned was at the end of the fifth century BC. (i.e. after the fall of Nineveh to the Chaldean-Medes alliance in 612 BC) by Zenfonenus, the Commander of the Greek army's campaign in northern Mesopotamia in 401 BC.
Unfortunately, due to the presence of the only cemetery over the hill that make up Tel Keppe, it has been difficult to excavate the Assyrian ruins of this suburb of Nineveh. However, so far what had been able to be excavated is the water irrigation canals that were built by Assyrian King Senhareeb (705- 681 BC) to irrigate the land around Tel Keppe. Also, an excavation by the Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities succeeded in finding vases dating to 2000 years BC, and other items even much older and of a prehistoric time. In addition to that, several old ruins of churches and monasteries dating to early Christianity were found in Tel Keppe. Currently, Tel Keppe has 5 old churches and one large new one.
Tel Keppe gained fame in Iraq due to the impressive role played by
her children who were the first Chaldeans migrating from northern Iraq
to Baghdad around mid 19th century. They were the first
Iraqis to use steam ships on the Tigris river, in addition to being the
first who introduced the concept of "modern days hotels" in Iraq. Their
role in taking the Iraqi society from its backward tribal state into a
civil and urban one was striking. Actually, the first Iraqi newspaper dealing
with women's issue, that of "Arabian Woman" (Fatat al-Arab), was published
by the Tel Keppian, Maryam Narmy, in 1937 at a time when the Muslim population
of Iraq had no experience with "public women" let alone with a female journalist
fighting for women's rights. Actually, many Tel Keppians chose journalism as
their way of educating the
rest
of the Iraqi population with current political and social issues.
Disasters of Tel Keppe
As was the case with most of the Chaldean
towns around Nineveh, Tel Keppe had its share of the savage attacks of
the Mongols, Persians, and the Kurds. In 1436, Tel Keppe was attacked
by the Mongols, and again in 1508, both attacks resulted in the death of
hundreds of its children and the destruction of many of its churches and
the burning of its crops. So was the fate of the other Chaldean towns of
Tel Esqof, Elqosh and its Rabban Hirmizd Monastery.
In 1743, the Persian King Nader Shah attacked Tel Keppe, Karamles, Bakhdida, Bartilla and other Suraya towns savagely. His destructive acts resulted in the death of many thousands and the destruction of their churches and crops. Those who were able to survive did so by fleeing to the mountains.
The Kurdish governor of Rawandows, Merkor, whose legendary hatred for Christians and Chaldeans is still vividly remembered by all Chaldeans, left no Chaldean town without demonstrating in it his savagery. In 1833, Merkor attacked Tel Keppe and Elqosh and killed thousands of its inhabitants, kidnapped their women and children, and burned and destroyed what he can not take with him.
Tel Keppians in the US:
The presence of TelKeppians in the United States span a hundred years, however, the largest migrations were those during the last 30 years when TelKeppians started leaving Iraq en masse due to discrimina
tion and Iraq's turbulent politics. In their new homeland, and true to their fame as honest and hardworking people, the Tel Keppians were quick to establish and acquire large and successful businesses. Having been free from the control of corrupt and prejudicial Iraqi governmental agencies, those businesses quickly developed into an economic empire.
Actually, that economic power manifested itself when President Bill Clinton became, and in 1996, the first American President to ever meet with an immigrant Middle Eastern community. With that the Chaldeans of Iraq, led by the Tel Keppians, became that First Middle Eastern community to be recognized by an American President. Also, during Mr. Clinton presidency, his wife, the First Lady, Hillary Rhodium-Clinton, was hosted twice by the Tel Keppians of Detroit.
After the Gulf War, the Tel Keppians led the Chaldeans in the United States in mounting a widely publicised campaign to lift the economic sanctions which was imposed on their original homeland, Iraq. Also, large sums of donations were collected and sent to the needy in Iraq without discriminating whether the recipients were Arabs or Chaldeans, Moslems or Christians. With that campaign, the Tel Keppians proved their true noble character of forgiving the insults and discrimination against them by the Iraqi government as well as by those ignorant among the Arab Muslims.
Names of Famous Tel Keppians:
1. Chaldean Patriarch
Joseph II Marouf (1667-1713).
2. Author and
explorer, Mary Terez Assmar, born in 1806. Published her memoir "Babylonian
Princess" in English in 1844.
3. Poet Toma
Taqteq, died in 1860.
4. Fr. Shemoel
Jamil (1847-1917), who was in charge of all Chaldean monasteries.
5. Journalist
Maryam Narmy, born in 1890. Published first Iraqi women's issues "Arabian
Woman" newspaper in 1937.
6. Yousif Malik,
one of the leaders of the Assyrian movement in Iraq during the
1930's. Author of "The British Betrayal of the Assyrians". Died in 1957
in Lebanon after being forced into exile by the Iraqi government which
also stripped him off his Iraqi citizenship.
7. Joseph Hirmis
Jammo, author of "Nineveh's Ruins or History of TalKayf" published in 1937.
8. Journalist
Alexander Marouf.
9. Rofael Babu
Ishaq, born in 1893 and author of "History of Iraqi Christians". Died in
1964.
10. Journalist
Hanna Yatoma.
11. Journalist
Joseph Antone.
12. Journalist
Zareef Jabero.
Current Famous Tel Keppians:
1. Mar Emannuel
Dalee: Patriach of the Chaldean Church of the East.
2. Mar Gabrial
Kassab: Bishop of Australia for the Chaldean Church of the East.
3. Mar Ramzi Garmo: Archbishop of Tehran - Iran for the Chaldean Church of the East.
4. Mar Ibrahim Ibrahim: Bishop
of the Chaldean Church for the Eastern United States.
5. Mar Sarhad Jammo: Bishop of the Chaldean Church for Western United States
Click
here for more information on Mar Ibrahim Ibrahim and Mar Sarhad Jammo
Chaldeans of TelKeppe Desert Iraq for promise of Metro Detroit (with photos)
Click
Here For A Photo And Articles In Arabic
Click Here for Weather in TelKeppe, Beth Nahreen