Chaldea

Chaldea (from Greek Χαλδαία, Chaldaia; Akkadian māt Kaldu),^[1]^[2] "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.

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 mât 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", besides "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 under the Chaldean dynasty was called Chaldea.

The People

The Kaldu were a Semitic people. They appear in the country of the sea-lands about the head of the Persian gulf at about the same time that the Arameans and the Sutu appeared in Babylonia.^{[citation needed]} Though probably of Aramaean stock, they were differentiated from other Arameans due to their geographic location; 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.^{[citation needed]}

The language of the Kaldu was Babylonian, the same, save for slight peculiarities in sound and in characters, as the Assyrian language of Niniveh.^{[citation needed]} In the late Assyrian Empire, Babylonian ceased to be spoken, and Aramaic took its place. One form of this widespread language is used in Daniel and Ezra.

The Chaldeans were traditional allies of the Elamites and Iranians in their struggle against the Assyrians. ^[3]

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Important Kaldu cities were Bit-Yâkin (the original homeland at the Persian Gulf), Bit-Dakuri, Bit-Adini, Bit-Amukkani, and Bit-Shilani. King Ukinzir (Greek: Chinzeros) conquered Babylonia, ruling 731-729, but was again defeated by Tiglath-Pileser III. During the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727), Babylonia sees significant influx of Kaldu settlers.

Merodach-Baladan of Bit-Yâkin gained the support of the Elamites and was king of Babylonia several times between 721 and 710, being deposed by the Assyrians, but always succeeding in seizing the reins of power again. In 702, he once more campaigned against Sennacherib before being finally defeated at Kish. King Mushezib-Marduk was king just before Sennacherib's sack of Babylon in 689 BC.

It was only under Nabopolassar in 625 that the Kaldu attained lasting control over Babylon, after having defeated Assyria and Egypt at Karchemish, founding the Chaldean dynasty, which lasted until 539 and the rise of the Achaemenid Empire.

When the Chaldean empire was absorbed into the Achaemenid, 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.^{[citation needed]} Thus, in Greek, "Chaldean" came to acquire the meaning of "astrologer" (e.g. in Strabo). In this sense it is also used in the Book of Daniel (Dan. 1:4, 2:2ff.).

References

^ Ptolemy 5.19
^ Myers, Allen C. (1987). "Chaldea". The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-2402-1.
^ Chaldeans at Iranica, (Muhammad Dandamayev)

External links

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[1] Ptolemy 5.19

[2] Myers, Allen C. (1987). "Chaldea". The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-2402-1.

[3] Chaldeans at Iranica, (Muhammad Dandamayev)

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