CHALD..ANS (kal-cle'ans), (Heb. kas dim') is the name which is found appropriated in parts of the Old Testament to inhabitants of Babylon and subjects of the Babylonian king dom.
(1) Inhabitants as Subjects of Babylonia. In 2 Kings xxv, where an account is given of the siege of Jerusalem in the reign of Zedekiah, by Nebuchadnezzar, the latter monarch is ex pressly designated 'King of Babylon,' while his troops in general are spoken of as 'Chaldees,' 'the army of the Chaldees.' In Isaiah xiii :to, Babylon is called 'the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency ;' and in xxiii: 13 of the same book the country is termed 'the land of the Chaldxans.' So in Daniel ix :1, 'In the first year of Darius, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chal dxans.' Ptolemy uses the term XaMata, Chal drea, for that part of Babylonia which, lying on the southwest, borders on Arabia Deserta. Strabo speaks to the same effect, and Pliny terms Baby lon Otaldaicarum gentium carat, the head of the C'haldxan nations. The origin and condition of the people who gave this name to Babylonia have been subjects of dispute among the learned. Probably, however, they were the same people that are described by Greek writers as having originally been an uncultivated tribe of mountain eers, placed on the Carduchian Mountains. in the neighborhood of Armenia, whom Xenophon describes as brave and fond of freedom (Cyrop.
i :31; Anab. iv :3, 4, 7, 8, 25). In Habakkuk (i :6-to) the Chaldxans are spoken of in corre sponding terms: 'Lo, I raise up the Chaldxans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs; they are ter rible and dreadful ; their horses are swifter than leopards and more fierce than evening wolves •, their horsemen shall spread themselves ; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.' They are also mentioned in Job i :17: 'Chaldxans fell upon the camels (of Job) and carried them away.' These passages show not only their warlike and preda tory habits, but, especially that in Job, the early period in history at which they were known.
As in all periods of history hardy and brave tribes of mountaineers have come down into the plains and conquered their comparatively civi lized and effeminate inhabitants, so these Arme nian Chaltheans appear to have descended on Babylon, made themselves masters of the city and the government, and eventually founded a dominion, to which they gave their name, as well as to the inhabitants of the city and the country tributary to it, infusing at the same time young blood and fresh vigor into all the veins and mem bers of the social frame. What length of time
the changes herein implied may have taken can not now be ascertained.
(2) Kingdom of Babylon. Of the kingdom of Babylon, Nimrod (Gen. x :8, sq.) was the founder and first sovereign. The next name of a Babylonian monarch is found in Gen. xiv:t, where 'Amraphcl, king of Shinar,' is cursorily men tioned. (See AMRAPHEL.) A long interval oc curs, till at last, in 2 Kings xx :12, 13, the name of another is given: 'Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon,' it appears 'sent letter and a present unto Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things ; there was nothing in his house, nor in his dominion that Hezekiah shewed them not.' On becoming acquainted with this fact, the prophet Isaiah announced that the treasures of the kingdom would be plundered and taken to Babylon, along with the descendants of Hezekiah, who were to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. The friendly act which passed between these two kings took place in the year B. C. 713. About a hundred years later the prophets Jeremiah and Habakkuk speak of the invasion of the Chaldean army.
(3) Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar now appears in the historical books and in Ezra v :12, is described as 'the king of Babylon, the Chal dxan, who destroyed this house (the Temple) and carried the people away into Babylon.' How ex tensive and powerful his empire was, may be gathered from the words of Jeremiah (xxxiv:1) : 'Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem.' The result was that the city was sur rendered, and the men of war fled, together with Kin Zedekiah, but were overtaken in the plains Jericho ericho and completely routed. The Israel itish monarch was carried before Nebuchadnez• zar, who ordered his eyes to be put out, after he had been compelled to witness the slaughter of his sons. He was then bound in fetters of brass and conveyed a captive to Babylon.