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Chald a

People's Dictionary of the Bible

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Chaldæa (kal-dç'ah). An ancient country on both sides of the river Euphrates, and bordering on the Persian Gulf. It had an estimated area of 23,000 square miles. In later times it included a territory about 450 miles long by 100 to 130 miles wide. It occupied the southern portion of the great Mesopotamian plain, the most fertile part of that country. It was divided into Northern and Southern Chaldæa, each having four important cities. In later times the "land of the Chaldæans" was applied to all Babylonia, and to the whole of the empire over which the Chaldæans ruled. The chief features of the country were the rivers, for on all sides it is a dead level, broken now only by solitary mounds, old ruins, marshes, and streams. The summers are hot, the winters rainy, and seldom colder than 30° F. Wheat, millet, barley, dates and fruits of all kinds were abundant. Its fertility and productions were proverbial in ancient times. Chaldæa is noticed in Scripture as the native country of Abram, Genesis 11:31; its people attacked Job, Job 1:17, and it was the term by which the empire of Nebuchadnezzar was sometimes called. Originally it was the district in the south of the "land of Shinar" where Nimrod built four cities. Genesis 10:10. Among the four great kingdoms or empires on the Euphrates, secular historians usually place the Chaldæan as the first in order or earliest, lasting for about ten centuries, from b.c. 2300 to about b.c. 1300; the Assyrian empire next, lasting about six and a half centuries, from b.c. 1270 to b.c. 625; the Babylonian empire third in order, continuing from about b.c. 625 to b.c. 538; and the Medo-Persian fourth. After its subjugation, in b.c. 1300, Chaldæa held an insignificant place in history for over six centuries, but recovered in b.c. 625, and established a new kingdom, known as the Babylonian empire. For further notices see Babylon, Assyria, and Nineveh.