Chal·dea /kælˈdiə/
 古王國名


 Chaldea
      n 1: an ancient region of Mesopotamia lying between the Euphrates
           delta and the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Desert;
           settled in 1000 BC and destroyed by the Persians in 539
           BC; reached the height of its power under Nebuchadnezzar
           II [syn: Chaldaea]
      2: an ancient kingdom in southern Mesopotamia; Babylonia
         conquered Israel in the 6th century BC and exiled the Jews
         to Babylon (where the Daniel became a counselor to the
         king) [syn: Babylonia, Chaldaea]


 Chaldea
    The southern portion of Babylonia, Lower Mesopotamia, lying
    chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates, but commonly used of
    the whole of the Mesopotamian plain. The Hebrew name is Kasdim,
    which is usually rendered "Chaldeans" (Jer. 50:10; 51:24,35).

      The country so named is 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
    breadth. "In former days the vast plains of Babylon were
    nourished by a complicated system of canals and water-courses,
    which spread over the surface of the country like a network. The
    wants of a teeming population were supplied by a rich soil, not
    less bountiful than that on the banks of the Egyptian Nile. Like
    islands rising from a golden sea of waving corn stood frequent
    groves of palm-trees and pleasant gardens, affording to the
    idler or traveller their grateful and highly-valued shade.
    Crowds of passengers hurried along the dusty roads to and from
    the busy city. The land was rich in corn and wine."

      Recent discoveries, more especially in Babylonia, have thrown
    much light on the history of the Hebrew patriarchs, and have
    illustrated or confirmed the Biblical narrative in many points.
    The ancestor of the Hebrew people, Abram, was, we are told, born
    at "Ur of the Chaldees." "Chaldees" is a mistranslation of the
    Hebrew _Kasdim_, Kasdim being the Old Testament name of the
    Babylonians, while the Chaldees were a tribe who lived on the
    shores of the Persian Gulf, and did not become a part of the
    Babylonian population till the time of Hezekiah. Ur was one of
    the oldest and most famous of the Babylonian cities. Its site is
    now called Mugheir, or Mugayyar, on the western bank of the
    Euphrates, in Southern Babylonia. About a century before the
    birth of Abram it was ruled by a powerful dynasty of kings.
    Their conquests extended to Elam on the one side, and to the
    Lebanon on the other. They were followed by a dynasty of princes
    whose capital was Babylon, and who seem to have been of South
    Arabian origin. The founder of the dynasty was Sumu-abi ("Shem
    is my father"). But soon afterwards Babylonia fell under Elamite
    dominion. The kings of Babylon were compelled to acknowledge the
    supremacy of Elam, and a rival kingdom to that of Babylon, and
    governed by Elamites, sprang up at Larsa, not far from Ur, but
    on the opposite bank of the river. In the time of Abram the king
    of Larsa was Eri-Aku, the son of an Elamite prince, and Eri-Aku,
    as has long been recognized, is the Biblical "Arioch king of
    Ellasar" (Gen. 14:1). The contemporaneous king of Babylon in the
    north, in the country termed Shinar in Scripture, was
    Khammu-rabi. (See BABYLON; ABRAHAM; AMRAPHEL.)



 Chaldea, as demons, or as robbers