CHA1.NEH, the fourth of Nimrod's cities (Gen. x. to), and probably not different from the Calno of Is. x. 9, or the Canneh of Ezek. xxvii. 23. Accord ing to the Chaldee translation, with which Eusebius and Jerome agree, this is the same place that was subsequently called Ctesiphon. It lay on the Tigris, opposite Seleucia, and was for a time the capital of the Parthians. This ancient opinion respecting Chalneh is rendered probable by the circumstance that the city named Ctcsiphon was in the district called by the Greeks Chalonitis (Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 26, 27 ; Polyb. v. 45). Ammianus Marcelli nus (xxiii. 6, 23) states that it was the Persian king Pacorus (who reigned from A.D. 71 to 107) who changed the name of the city to Ctesiphon ; but that name must have been more ancient, as it is mentioned by Polybius. In the time of the prophet Amos, Calneh appears to have constituted an in dependent principality (Amos vi. 1, 2); but not long after it became, with the rest of Western Asia, a prey to the Assyrians (Is. X. 9). About 15o years later, Calnch was still a considerable town, as may be inferred from its being mentioned by Ezekiel (xxvii. 23) among the places which traded with Tyre. The site of Ctesiphon, or Cal neh, was afterwards occupied by El-MadaM, i. e., the (two) cities, of which the only remains are the ruins of a remarkable palace called Tauk-kesra (see cut 162), some mounds of rubbish, and a con siderable extent of massive wall towards the river. The ruined palace, with its broken arch, although it stands on low ground, is a most conspicuous object, and is seen at a considerable distance, in ascending the river, in varied and striking points of view, in consequence of the serpentine course of the stream in this part.—J. K.
Addendum.—Sir Henry Rawlinson, and some other writers on the geography of Babylonia, have endeavoured of late to identify Calneh with )Vija. In the Talmud it is stated that Calnch is called Nopher. Now there can be no doubt that Niffes was one of the most ancient sites in Babylonia.
It is situated on the borders of an extensive marsh between the Tigris and Euphrates, about fifty miles south-east of the ruins of Babylon. ' The present aspect of Niffer is that of a lofty platform of earth and rubbish, divided into two parts by a wide chan nel. Nearly in the centre of the eastern portion are the remains of a brick tower of early construc tion, the debris of which constitutes a conical mound rising seventy feet above the plain' (Loftus, Chal. and Szesian. p. Too, sq.) There are other mounds and traces of ruins around this principal one. The site was explored by Layard, and after wards examined by Loftus ; but no remains of any importance were discovered (Layard's 'Wee. and Bab., 556, sq.) The arguments of Rawlinson are not sufficient to establish the identity of Niffer and Calneh. Jerome distinctly affirms that Calneli was called Ctesiphon in his time (Ad Amos, 6 ; Bochart, Opp. i. 238); and Rawlinson himself has shewn that Niffer is an ancient name found on Babylonian monuments (Herodot. i. 447).—J. L. P.