Chaldees

1 definition found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Chaldees
     or Chaldeans, the inhabitants of the country of which Babylon
     was the capital. They were so called till the time of the
     Captivity (2 Kings 25; Isa. 13:19; 23:13), when, particularly in
     the Book of Daniel (5:30; 9:1), the name began to be used with
     special reference to a class of learned men ranked with the


     magicians and astronomers. These men cultivated the ancient
     Cushite language of the original inhabitants of the land, for
     they had a "learning" and a "tongue" (1:4) of their own. The
     common language of the country at that time had become
     assimilated to the Semitic dialect, especially through the
     influence of the Assyrians, and was the language that was used
     for all civil purposes. The Chaldeans were the learned class,
     interesting themselves in science and religion, which consisted,
     like that of the ancient Arabians and Syrians, in the worship of
     the heavenly bodies. There are representations of this priestly
     class, of magi and diviners, on the walls of the Assyrian
     palaces.