Chaldeans

Chaldea<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea#cite_note-FOOTNOTE.27.27EB.27.271878-1">[1]</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/kælˈdiːə/</a>) or Chaldaea<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea#cite_note-FOOTNOTE.27.27EB.27.271911804-2">[2]</a> was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_races" class="mw-redirect" title="Semitic races">Semitic</a> nation between the late 10th and mid-6th centuries BC, after which its peoples were absorbed into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonia" title="Babylonia">Babylonia</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea#cite_note-3">[3]</a> It was located in the marshy land of the far southeastern corner of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia" title="Mesopotamia">Mesopotamia</a> and briefly came to rule <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon" title="Babylon">Babylon</a>.

During a period of weakness in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Semitic_languages" title="East Semitic languages">East Semitic</a> speaking kingdom of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonia" title="Babylonia">Babylonia</a>, new tribes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Semitic_languages" title="West Semitic languages">West Semitic</a>-speaking migrants<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea#cite_note-4">[4]</a> arrived in the region from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Levant" class="mw-redirect" title="The Levant">the Levant</a> between the 11th and 9th centuries BC. The earliest waves consisted of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suteans" title="Suteans">Suteans</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arameans" title="Arameans">Arameans</a>, followed a century or so later by the Kaldu, a group who became known later as the Chaldeans or the Chaldees. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible" title="Hebrew Bible">Hebrew Bible</a> uses the term כשדים (Kaśdim) and this is translated as Chaldaeans in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septuagint" title="Septuagint">Septuagint</a>, although there is some dispute as to whether Kasdim in fact means Chaldean. These migrations did not affect the powerful kingdom of Assyria to the north, which repelled these incursions.

The short-lived 11th dynasty of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_Babylon" class="mw-redirect" title="Kings of Babylon">Kings of Babylon</a> (6th century BC) is conventionally known to historians as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Babylonian_Empire#Neo-Babylonian_dynasty" title="Neo-Babylonian Empire">Chaldean Dynasty</a>, although the last rulers, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonidus" title="Nabonidus">Nabonidus</a> and his son <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belshazzar" title="Belshazzar">Belshazzar</a>, were known to be from Assyria.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea#cite_note-5">[5]</a>

These nomad Chaldeans settled in the far southeastern portion of Babylonia, chiefly on the right bank of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphrates" title="Euphrates">Euphrates</a>. Though for a short time the name later commonly referred to the whole of southern Mesopotamia in Hebraic literature, this was a misnomer, as Chaldea proper was in fact only the plain in the far southeast formed by the deposits of the Euphrates and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigris" title="Tigris">Tigris</a>, extending about four hundred miles along the course of these rivers, and averaging about a hundred miles in width.

The region that the Chaldeans eventually made their homeland was in relatively poor southeastern Mesopotamia, at the head of the Persian Gulf. They appear to have migrated into southern Babylonia from The Levant at some unknown point between the end of the reign of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninurta-kudurri-usur_II" title="Ninurta-kudurri-usur II">Ninurta-kudurri-usur II</a> (a contemporary of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiglath-Pileser_II" title="Tiglath-Pileser II">Tiglath-Pileser II</a>) circa 940 BC, and the start of the reign of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk-zakir-shumi_I" title="Marduk-zakir-shumi I">Marduk-zakir-shumi I</a> in 855 BC, although there is no historical proof of their existence prior to the late 850s BC.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea#cite_note-19">[19]</a>

For perhaps a century or so after settling in the area, these semi-nomadic migrant Chaldean tribes had no impact on the pages of history, seemingly remaining subjugated by the native Akkadian speaking kings of Babylon or by perhaps regionally influential <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramean" class="mw-redirect" title="Aramean">Aramean</a> tribes. The main players in southern Mesopotamia during this period were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonia" title="Babylonia">Babylonia</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria" title="Assyria">Assyria</a>, together with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elam" title="Elam">Elam</a> to the east and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaeans" class="mw-redirect" title="Aramaeans">Aramaeans</a>, who had already settled in the region a century or so prior to the arrival of the Chaldeans.

The very first historical attestation of the Chaldeans occurs in 852 BC,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea#cite_note-20">[20]</a> in the annals of the Assyrian king <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalmaneser_III" title="Shalmaneser III">Shalmaneser III</a>, who mentions invading the southeastern extremes of Babylonia and subjugating one <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mushallim-Marduk&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Mushallim-Marduk (page does not exist)">Mushallim-Marduk</a>, the chief of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amukani&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Amukani (page does not exist)">Amukani</a> tribe and overall leader of the Kaldu tribes,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea#cite_note-21">[21]</a> together with capturing the town of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baqani&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Baqani (page does not exist)">Baqani</a>, extracting tribute from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adini&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Adini (page does not exist)">Adini</a>, chief of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bet-Dakkuri&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bet-Dakkuri (page does not exist)">Bet-Dakkuri</a>, another Chaldean tribe.

Shalmanesser III had invaded Babylonia at the request of its own king, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk-zakir-shumi_I" title="Marduk-zakir-shumi I">Marduk-zakir-shumi I</a>, the Babylonian king being threatened by his own rebellious relations, together with powerful Aramean tribes. The subjugation of the Chaldean tribes by the Assyrian king appears to have been an aside, as they were not at that time a powerful force, or a threat to the native Babylonian king.

Important Kaldu regions in southeastern Babylonia were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bit-Y%C3%A2kin&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bit-Yâkin (page does not exist)">Bit-Yâkin</a> (the original area the Chaldeans settled in on the Persian Gulf), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bet-Dakuri&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bet-Dakuri (page does not exist)">Bet-Dakuri</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bet-Adini&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bet-Adini (page does not exist)">Bet-Adini</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bet-Amukkani&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bet-Amukkani (page does not exist)">Bet-Amukkani</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bet-Shilani&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bet-Shilani (page does not exist)">Bet-Shilani</a>.

Chaldeans

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