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CHALDEA

The region in southern Babylonia bordering on the Persian Gulf. After a Chaldean dynasty came to power over all of Babylonia in 626 b.c.e., the term Chaldea (Akk. Kaldû; Heb. kaśdîm) became synonymous with “Babylonia.”

Land and People

This marshy region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers bordering on the Gulf was called the “Sea-Lands” by the Assyrians and Babylonians in the 2nd millennium b.c.e., but in the 1st millennium “Land of the Chaldeans,” after the tribes that lived there. The Greek name (gḗ Chaldaíōn, Chaldaí, Chaldaíoi) follows Akk. Kaldû, but the Hebrew (kaśdîm, ʾereṣ kaśdîm; cf. Aram. kaśdāy) does not. While there is no satisfactory explanation for this, the one most frequently suggested is that the Hebrew form reflects an earlier Akkadian *kašdu. (The Hebrew ś would thus represent Akkadian š prior to the assimilation of š to l before d, as commonly occurs in later Akkadian). However, this postulated form *kašdu remains unattested in cuneiform texts.

The Chaldeans were part of a heterogeneous and politically-fragmented Babylonian population that also included Aramean tribal groups and the native inhabitants of traditionally semi-independent cities. There were three major Chaldean tribes: Bīt-Dakkūri, Bīt-Amukāni, and Bīt-Yakīn, and two minor, Bīt-Šaʾalli and Bīt-Šilāni. The Bīt-Dakkūri and the Bīt-Amukāni lived along the central and lower Euphrates, the former settling south of Borsippa and the latter just above Uruk, while the Bīt-Yakīn were active along the Persian Gulf itself, from Ur to the marshlands that stretched eastward to Elam. The designation of Abraham’s home as “Ur of the Chaldeans” (Gen. 11:28, 31; 15:7; Acts 7:4) reflects this latter association.

In the Bible the term “Chaldean” is used in two senses. In most contexts it occurs as a synonym for “Babylonian”; however, in Daniel it is a technical term for practitioners of traditional Babylonian sciences, i.e., astrologers, magicians, and diviners (Dan. 2:2, 4).

History

There are two major periods of Chaldean history: the first during which Babylonia and its diverse peoples were overshadowed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire; the second after the breakdown of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in which Babylonia was united under a Chaldean dynasty.

Assyrians first encountered the Chaldean tribes as they tried to stabilize trade routes to the south during the early 1st millennium. However, whenever the Assyrians left the south alone for any substantial length of time the Chaldean tribes rivaled other Babylonians for control of Babylonia; each of the three major Chaldean tribes was able to put a king on the throne during the first half of the 8th century.

Probably the greatest Chaldean of this earlier period of Chaldean history was Marduk-apla-iddina II (biblical Merodach-baladan) of the Bīt-yakīn. He fought with the Assyrians during the reigns of Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, and Sennacherib, and was able to take power in Babylon at least twice during the latter half of the 8th century. Merodach-baladan took refuge in Elam more than once, and the Elamites often lent their support against the Assyrians. In Isa. 39:1-8 = 2 Kgs. 20:12-19 Merodach-baladan is said to have sent an embassy to Hezekiah to request Judah’s aid against the Assyrians as well; this was perhaps occasioned by a general spirit of revolt throughout the Assyrian Empire after the death of Sargon II.

The second period of Chaldean history begins after the death of Assurbanipal of Assyria. The Chaldeans under Nabopolassar were able to revolt successfully and capture Babylon in 626. Nabopolassar then allied with the Medes to overthrow the Assyrian Empire; the great Assyrian city of Assur fell in 614 and Nineveh, the capital, in 612. Nabopolassar’s son, Nabû-kudurri-uṣur II (Nebuchadnezzar, 605-562) campaigned westward into Syria and Palestine and defeated the Egyptians, Babylonia’s rivals for control of that region, at Charchemish in 605.

Nebuchadnezzar is most noted in the Bible for bringing about the end of the kingdom of Judah (2 Kgs. 24–25; 2 Chr. 36). In 605 during Nebuchadnezzar’s western campaign, Jehoiakim of Judah initially submitted to Nebuchadnezzar. Judah later defected to the Egyptians, and Nebuchadnezzar was provoked to attack Jerusalem in 597, taking Jehoiakim’s successor, Jehoiachin, and other leading citizens back with him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar then placed Mattaniah (throne name Zedekiah) on the throne of Judah, but Judah rebelled under his rule too. Jerusalem was finally sacked by the Babylonians in 587, and even more Judahites were taken into exile.

Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful and successful ruler who rebuilt Babylon and brought political and economic prosperity to Babylonia. After his death, the empire declined. Nebuchadnezzar’s son Amêl-marduk (Evil-merodach, 2 Kgs. 25:27-30), and his successors, Neriglissar (Nergal-sharezer, Jer. 39:3) and Labāši-marduk, reigned only a few years between them. Nabonidus (556-539), with his son Belshazzar as co-regent, restored some stability, but could not prevent Babylon’s eventual fall to the Persians under Cyrus the Great in 539.

Bibliography. J. A. Brinkman, A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158-722 b.c. AnOr 43 (Rome 1968); Prelude to Empire: Babylonian Society and Politics, 747-626 b.c. Occasional Publications of the Babylonian Fund 7 (Philadelphia, 1984); J. Oates, Babylon, rev. ed. (London, 1986); H. W. F. Saggs, Babylonians (London, 1995); The Greatness That Was Babylon, rev. ed. (London, 1988).

Tawny L. Holm

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CHALDEA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)