A diocese of Chaldea. It corresponds to the ancient Diocese of Maalta, formerly a suffragan of Adiabene or Arbela. Some Nestorian bishops are mentioned from the fifth to the seventh century (Chabot, "Synodicon orientale", 676). It was reunited with the dioceses of Akra and Amadia until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the province was divided into three dioceses: Amadia, Zakho, and Akra-Zehbar. Zakho dates from 1859. Today Zakho is a province of the vilayet of Mossul. The city has 2500 inhabitants, 1500 of whom are Jews and 100 Christians. It is situated on an island formed by the Little Khabour. The diocese comprises 3500 Catholics 10 resident priests, 5 religious of the Congregation of St. Hormisdas, 15 parishes or stations, 20 churches and chapels, and 1 primary school.
Revue de l'Orient chretien, I, 448; CUINET, La Turguie d'Asie, II (Paris, 1894), 836-38; Missiones catholicae (Rome, 1907), 811.