CALDEA. - Hebr.: Kašdim, ’ères Kašdim; Septuagint: Χαλδαίοι, Χαλδαία; Vulgate: Chaldei and terra Chaldaeorum; in cuneiform texts: Kasdu and later Kaldu.
Geographically, C. Mesopotamia (v.) lying between Babylonia (v.) to the north and the Persian Gulf to the south: the inscriptions often reduce this extent, since the shores of the Persian Gulf are known by the special name of Bit-Jakin. Later, approximately in the ninth century B.C., the name C. came to comprise the entire Babylonian region.
The Bible likewise displays the same uncertainty in defining its boundaries. Gen. 11:28, 31 seems to understand this region in the restricted sense. Indeed, several small states with a non-Semitic population still existed. The other books of the Bible generally assume that this name is identical with that of Babylonia.
Greek authors generally confuse the names of C., Babylonia, and also Assyria. The political and religious history and the biblical “Chaldean relations” are those of Babylonia and Assyria (v.). It should be emphasized that Ur of C. is Abraham (v.).
The ethnic name Chaldeans serves to designate: 1) A Semitic-Aramaic race that entered southern Babylonia around 2000 B.C. and advanced northward, coming into contact, in war and peace, with the Assyrian people, which, with the help of the Medes (v.), defeated it in 612 B.C. 2) In the book of Dan. (2:2; 4:10; 3:8, 48; 4:4; 5–7), the word assumes a special meaning: that of scientists, astronomers, and astrologers. The same is true among Greek and Roman writers. In Dan., however, the term also serves to designate the people of Aramaic race (cf. 1:4; 5:30; 9:1). 3) The same word serves to designate the Chaldean Christians (v. CALDEI).
The “Chaldean period” is a period that recurs every eighteen years from the lunar eclipse, discovered by the Babylonian-Chaldean astronomers. “Chaldean language” was the name given until the last Aramaic language (v.). The name derived from Dan. 2:4, in which the speech of the Chaldeans is given in Aramaic. For another meaning V. URARTU.