Chaldea
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| Ancient Mesopotamia |
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| Euphrates · Tigris |
| Cities / Empires |
| Sumer: Uruk · Ur · Eridu |
| Kish · Lagash · Nippur |
| Akkadian Empire: Akkad |
| Babylon · Isin · Susa |
| Assyria: Assur · Nineveh |
| Dur-Sharrukin · Nimrud |
| Babylonia · Chaldea |
| Elam · Amorites |
| Hurrians · Mitanni |
| Kassites · Urartu |
| Chronology |
| Kings of Sumer |
| Kings of Assyria |
| Kings of Babylon |
| Language |
| Aramaic |
| Sumerian · Akkadian |
| Elamite · Hurrian |
| Mythology |
| Enûma Elish |
| Gilgamesh · Marduk |
Chaldea, "the Chaldees" of the KJV Old Testament, was a Hellenistic designation for a part of Babylonia, mainly around Sumerian Ur, which turned into an independent kingdom under the Chaldees. Known as "Ur of the Chaldees," it went on war campaigns against foreign dynasties ruling southern Mesopotamia, mainly the Akkadians and the Babylonians. It turned into a Babylonian colony in the early days of Hammurabi, but remained in a special position in relation to other cities ruled by Babylon in that region. One early such reference is to the impending sack of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II (Habakkuk 1:6). The Hebrew name for ancient Chaldeans was כשדים (Kaśdim).
The 11th dynasty of the Kings of Babylon (6th century BC) is conventionally known to historians as the Chaldean Dynasty. Their kingdom in the southern portion of Babylonia lay chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates. Though the name came to be commonly used to refer to the whole of Mesopotamia, Chaldea proper was the vast plain in the south formed by the deposits of the Euphrates and the Tigris, extending to about four hundred miles along the course of these rivers, and about a hundred miles in average width.
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[edit] The Land
Chaldea as the name of a country is used in two different senses. In the early period it was the name of a small territory in southern Babylonia extending along the northern and probably also the western shores of the Persian gulf. It is called in Assyrian "mat Kaldi"—that is, "land of Chaldea"—but there is also used, apparently synonymously, the expression "mat Bit Yakin." It would appear that Bit Yakin was the chief or capital city of the land; and the king of Chaldea is also called the king of Bit Yakin, just as the kings of Babylonia are regularly styled simply king of Babylon, the capital city. In the same way, the Persian gulf was sometimes called "the Sea of Bit Yakin, instead of "the Sea of the Land of Chaldea."
It is impossible to define narrowly the boundaries of this early land of Chaldea, and one may only locate it generally in the low, marshy, alluvial land about the estuaries of the Tigris and Euphrates, which then discharged their waters through separate mouths into the sea. In a later time, when the Chaldean people had burst their narrow bonds and obtained the ascendency over all Babylonia, they gave their name to the whole land of Babylonia, which then was called Chaldea.
[edit] The People
The Chaldeans were a Semitic people. Their original seat was Arabia, whence they migrated at an unknown period into the country of the sea-lands about the head of the Persian gulf. They seem to have appeared there at about the same time that the Arameans and the Sutu appeared in Babylonia. Though belonging to the same Semitic race, they are to be differentiated from the Aramean stock; and Sennacherib, for example, is careful in his inscriptions to distinguish them. When they came to possess the whole land their name became synonymous with Babylonian, and, though conquerors, they were speedily assimilated to Babylonian culture.
The language used by the Chaldeans was Semitic Babylonian, the same, save for slight peculiarities in sound and in characters, as Assyrian. In late periods the Babylonian language ceased to be spoken, and Aramaic took its place. One form of this widespread language is used in Daniel and Ezra, but the use of the name Chaldee for it, first introduced by Jerome, is a misnomer.
[edit] History
The Chaldeans, settled in the relatively poor country about the head of the Persian gulf, early coveted the rich cities and richly cultivated lands of the more favored Babylonians to the north of them. They began a running fire of efforts to possess themselves of the country. These efforts varied much. On the one hand, Chaldean communities were formed in several parts of Babylonia by the simple and peaceful process of immigration. On the other hand, Chaldean agitators were ever ready to participate in rebellions against Assyrian authority, hoping that the issue might make them the rulers of the independent kingdom. Such a man was Merodach-Baladan, who was king of Babylonia several times, being deposed by the Assyrians, but always succeeding in seizing the reins of power again.
Methods similar to those which he pursued triumphed in the end, and the new empire, which began with the reign of Nabopolassar in 625 B.C. (see Babylonia), was Chaldean, though there is no positive proof that its founder was himself of pure Chaldean blood.
When the Chaldean empire was absorbed into the Persian, the name Chaldean lost its meaning as the name of a race of men, and came to be applied to a class. The Persians found the Chaldeans masters of reading and writing, and especially versed in all forms of incantation, in sorcery, witchcraft, and the magical arts. They quite naturally spoke of astrologists and astronomers as Chaldeans. It therefore resulted that Chaldean came to mean astrologist. In this sense it is used in the Book of Daniel (Dan. i. 4, ii. 2 et seq.), and with the same meaning it is used by the classical writers (for example, by Strabo).
[edit] Politics
Chaldean influence was felt in Babylonian politics. Several 9th and 8th century BC Babylonian kings were of Chaldean origin. The Chaldeans formed some of the strongest resistance to Assyrian rule. King Marduk-apal-iddina II resisted the Assyrians in the times of Sargon II and the early years of Sennacherib. King Mushezib-Marduk was king just before Sennacherib's sack of Babylon in 689 BC.
When Babylonia finally reestablished its independence, it was under the Chaldean Dynasty of king Nebuchadnezzar, after having defeated Assyria and Egypt at Charchamesh. After the conquest of Babylonia by the Persians, the Chaldeans disappear as an independent nation.
[edit] "Chaldean" astrologers and mathematicians
Roman and later authors used the name Chaldeans in particular for astrologers and mathematicians from Babylonia.
[edit] External links and references
This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.
