Chaldean
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Chaldean can refer to an ancient people of lower Mesopotamia and their culture, or a contemporary Christian people living mostly in Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran.
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Historical references
- Chaldea, "the Chaldees" of the King James Version of the Old Testament, was a Hellenistic designation for a part of Babylonia. According to Josephus, Chaldeans were known in Hebrew as kasdim (כשדים), which, in time, came also to mean "sorcerers". One such reference is to the impending sack of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II (Hab 1:6).
- The 11th dynasty of the Kings of Babylon (6th century BC) is conventionally known to historians as the Chaldean Dynasty.
- Chaldean mythology is a generalized term used to refer to all the mythologies of ancient Sumer, Assyria and Babylonia.
- Chaldean language in old references may refer to the Urartian language, also known as Vannic, that was the official language of Urartu, spoken in northeastern Anatolia in the 9th–6th centuries BCE. It is thought to be descended from the same language as Hurrian. However, Biblical Aramaic also used to be referred to as 'Chaldean' or 'Chaldee'.
- The Chaldean Oracles played a role in Hellenistic mystery religions of the first centuries BC and AD.
- Roman and medieval authors used the name 'Chaldeans' in particular for astrologers and mathematicians of Babylonia.
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Contemporary references
- Modern Chaldeans, are a traditionally Aramaic-speaking, Christian people from Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran.
- Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a modern Aramaic language. Chaldean script is sometimes used to refer to the Aramaic alphabet or Syriac alphabet.
- Chaldean is a name applied to Eastern Catholic Assyrians (Syriacs), see Chaldean Catholic Church.
- Chaldean Syrian Church of the East is the name most often used by the Assyrian Church of the East in India.
