Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/386

332 of the moon at Harran, to which the Sabeans performed frequent pilgrimages as late as the rise of Islamism.

I think it is clear from the above that the Chaldeans must have existed as a distinct people before the time of Chesed, Nahor's son, (Gen. xxii. 22,) who is regarded by some as the progenitor of the Chasdira or Chaldeans. Ainsworth's idea is that "Chesed only united the scattered tribes of a pre-existing race, or else, by founding a dynasty, created a nation for the land of Ur, which existed in the first years of Abraham, and was only emphatically distinguished by the Hebrews as 'Ur in the land of the Chaldees,' subsequently to the times both of Abraham and Chesed." This view is confirmed by a passage in the Lookâté, the old Syriac MS. referred to in a former chapter, which states that "in the time of Nahor, Terah's father, the books and learning of the Chaldeans, their sorcery and witchcraft, were taken into Egypt." The idea of a Chaldean dynasty, separate from that of Babylon, is also supported by the following additional quotation from the same author: "In his time, [Terah's,] Hesron [?] his brother warred with Kesrones king of Babel and slew him, and took the empire from Babel. In his time also reigned the first king of the Assyrians, whose name was Boolsan, [or Boolasan,] and he built many cities."