Chaldea
From Wikinfo
Chaldea was a nation in the southern portion of Babylonia, Lower Mesopotamia, lying chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates, but commonly used to refer to the whole of the Mesopotamian plain. The Hebrew name is כשדים, Kaśd�m/Kaśd�n, which is usually rendered "Chaldeans" (Jeremiah 50:10; 51:24,35).
Chaldea was a vast plain formed by the deposits of the Euphrates and the Tigris, extending to about 400 miles along the course of these rivers, and about 100 miles in average width.
The Chaldeans were a Semitic people of Arabian origin who settled in southern Mesopotamia in the early part of the first millennium BC. During the period of Assyrian domination of Babylonia, the Chaldeans formed some of the strongest resistance to Assyrian rule, and several kings of the period were of Chaldean origin. When Babylonia finally reestablished its independence, it was under a Chaldean dynasty, that of Nabopolassar. After the conquest of Babylonia by the Persians, the Chaldeans disappear as a separate people.
Roman and later authors used the name Chaldeans in particular for astrologers and mathematicians from Babylonia.[[de:Chald�er]][[fr:Chald�e]][[pt:Cald�ia]]
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Chaldea" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldea, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
