CHALANNE (Hebr. Kalnèh). — In Gen. 10:10 it is the fourth city of the southern tetrapolis of Mesopotamia, which constituted the kingdom of Shinar (Šinʿār), founded by Nimrod. According to a gloss of the Septuagint on Is. 10:9, tower of Babel (v.) is said to have been built here.
It is uncertain whether it is to be identified with Nippur, southeast of Babylon, or rather with the Sumerian Kal-mn. According to St. Jerome, Eusebius, the Targum, and others, it was situated northeast of Babylon, where Ctesiphon later arose, called by Pliny (Nat. Hist., VI, 26) the capital of Chalonitis. The Chalane (Hebr. Kalnèh) of Am. 6:2 and the Calano (Hebr. Kalnèh) of Is. 10:9 may be one and the same with the C. of Genesis, but more probably reference is made to the Syrian Kullani of the cuneiform inscriptions, east of Antioch, conquered by Tiglath-pileser (740 B.C.).