Elkosh

Elkosh was the home town of the prophet Nahum, the Hebrew prophet whose entire book is the oracle of Nineveh's coming destruction: "The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite" (Nahum 1:1). The location of Elkosh has been debated since antiquity — early Christian tradition placed it at Alqosh in northern Iraq (where Nahum's reputed tomb is still venerated), while other traditions locate it in Galilee or southern Judah. The 7th-century BCE prophet wrote between the fall of Thebes (663 BCE) and the fall of Nineveh (612 BCE) — a relatively short window when his message of inevitable Assyrian collapse was simultaneously bold and prophetic.