Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/619

 CHALDAEI. Anlua, and included in the wider extent of Baby- lonia. The same view is txJcen by Strabo (zvi. p. 739), who speaks of one tribe of Chaldaeans (<pvy ri T&v XoXSalwy), who lived near the Arabians, and on the so-called Persian Sea: this district he considered part of Babylonia (x^^ ''^^ Bo^vAvWos). That this idea prevailed till a late period is clear, since Strabo (xvi. p. 767) calls the marshes near the jonction of the Enphrates and Tigrisr^ %ri «rar& XoXSofovs, and Pliny (vi. 31) lAcns Ghaldaici, while the bist author in another place extends them almost to the sea, where he states that they were caosed by the Enlaeus and the Tigris. In the E^m. Magnnm («. v, *Aaavpia) is a remarkable no- tice to the effect that Assyria, which is the same as Babylonia, was first called 'Ev^pdris, bat after- wards XaXieda, From these statements we are justified in believing that at some period of ancient history, there was a district called Chaldaea, in the southern end of Babylonia, near the Persian Gulf and Arabia Deserta, tiiough we have ne certain clue to what period of history this name should be as- signed. The name probably was lost, on Babylon becoming the great ruling dtj, and, therefore, not unnaturally imposing its name upon the country of which it was the chief town. [Babylon.] [V.] CHALDAEI (XoA8(ubi), a people who dwelt in Babylonia, taken in the most extensive sense, as ex- tending firom above Babylon to the Persian Gulf, who appear before on the stage of history imder different and not always reconcileable aspects. 1. The Chaldaeans would seem to be the inha- bitants of Chaldaea Proper, a district in the S. of Babylonia, extending along the Persian Gulf to Arabia Deserta. They were a people apparently in character much akin to the Arabs of the adjoining districts, and living, like them, a wandering and predatoiy life. As such they are described in Job (L 17), and if Orchoe represent the Ur from which Abraham migrated (now probably Warka), it would be rightly termed ** Ur of the Cbaldees;" while it is not impossible that the passage in Isaiah (xxiii. 13), not till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness," may have reference to a period when their habits became more settled, and they ceased to be a mere roving tribe. 2. The name came to be applied without dis- tinctio), or at least with little real difference, to the inhabitants of Babylon and the subjects of the Babylonian empire. So in 2 Kings (xxv. 1^4), Kebuchadneszar is called King of Babylon, but his army are called Chaldees; in Isaiah (xviLl9) Ba- bylon is termed ** the glory of kingdoms, the beauty ti the Chaldees* excellency;" in Isaiah (xxiii. 18), the country is called '* the land of the Chaldaeans;" and in Dan. (ix. i.), Dareius is king " over the realm of the Chaldaeans.'* Agreeably with this view Pliny calls Babylon, ^ Chaldaicarum gentium caput." It has been a great question whence the Chaldaeans came, who about the time of Nebuchad- nezzar play so important a part in the history of the worid: anid it has been urged by many modem writers, that some time previous to the reign of that prince, there must have been a conquest of Babylonia by some of the northern tribes, who, tmder the Tarious names of Carduchi, Chalybes, and Chaldaei, occupied the mountainous region between Assyria and the Euxine. We cannot, however, say that we have been convinced by these arguments, which, as the advocates of these views admit,are notbasedupon CHALDONE. 601 any authentic history. No Chaldaean immigration is any where mentioned or alluded to; while, if there was, as seems most likely, a considerable tribe bear- ing the name of Chaldaeans at a very early period in S. Babylonia, it b much more natural to suppose that they gradually became the rulmg tribe over the whole of Babylonia. The language of Cicero is defi- nite as to his belief in a separate and distinct na- tion: " Chaldaei non ex artis sed ex gentis vocabulo nominati" (deDiv, i. 1). 3. They were the name of a particular sect among the Babylonians, and a branch of the order of Baby- lonian Magi. (XoXSoibi y4pos MiiyMi^, Hesych.) In Dan. (iL 2) they appear among " the magicians, sorcerers, and astrok)gers," and speak in the name of the rest {Dan, ii. 10). They are described in Dan. (v. 8) as the " king's wise men." From the pursuit of astronomy and astrology and magical arts, which are ever in early times nearly connectedf it came to pass that with many ancient writers, and especially with those of a later period, the name Chaldaeans was applied, not only to the learned men of Babylon (as in Cic. de Div, I c; Strab. xv. p. 508; Diod.il. 29), but to all impostors and ma- gicians who, professing to interpret dreams, &c., played upon the credulity of mankind. (Joseph. B. /. IL 7. § 3 ; Appian. Syr. c. 58 ; Curt. i. 10, V. 1 ; Jnv. vi. 553 ; Cat. JL JR, v. 4, &c.) There were two principal schools at Borsippa and Orchoe for the study of astronomy, whence the learned Chaldaeans of those places were termed Borsippeni and Orchoeni. (Strab. xvi. p. 739.) (Ideler, iiber d. Stemkuiut d. Chald&er; Winer, BibL Beat Worterbuch, art. Chaidaer; Ditmar, iiber die Vaterland d. Chaidaer.) [V.] CHALDAICI LAC US (Plin. vi. 23, 27; tA ti| rh Kar^ XaA.5afovr, Strab. xvi. p. 767), a wide ex- tent of marsh land near the junction of the Eu- phrates and Tigris. It is not clear from the descriptions of ancient authors what extent they gave these marBhes. According to Oncsicritus (Strab. XV. p. 29) the Euphrates flowed into the Chaldaean Sea; according to Pliny (vi. 27) it was the Tigris which mostly contributed to form these stagnant waters. It is clear, however, that Pliny's view on the subject was very indistinct, for he says previously (vi. 23) that they comprehended the lake which the Eulaeus and Tigris make near Charax. At the present time nearly all the land above and below the junction of the Tigris and Enphrates is for great part of the year an unhealthy swamp. [V.] CHALDONE PROMONTORIUM, placed by Pliny (vi. 28) on the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf, near its northern extremity: between a salt river, which once formed one of the mouths of the Euphrates, and his "flumen Achenum." He de- scribes the sea off this promontory as " voragini similins quam mari per 50 millia passuum orae." It corresponded in situation with the bay of Koneit or Graen (al. Grane) harbour, where Niebuhr places the modem tribe of the Beiu Kkaledj a name nearly identical with the Chaldone of Pliny (Forster, Arci- bittf vol.i. p. 49, 50). It is further determined by modem survey, minutely corroborating the classical notices. " The ' locus ubi Euphratis ostium fuit,' is D' Anville's ancien lit de VEvphr<Ue ; the *■ Fiumen Salsum,' is Core Bochian^ a narrow salt-water chan- nel, laid down for the first time in the East India Company's Chart, and separating a large low isknd, off the mouth of the old bed of the Euphrates, from
 * ^ Behold the land of the Chaldees: tliia people was