The Chaldeans
625-539 BC
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The Fall of the Assyrians
• After the fall of Assyrian power in Mesopotamia,
the last great group of Semitic peoples
dominated the area.
• Suffering mightily under the Assyrians, the city of
Babylon finally rose up against its hated enemy,
the city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian
empire, and burned it to the ground.
• The chief of the Babylonians was Nabopolassar;
the Semites living in the northern part of
Mesopotamia would never gain their
independence again.
The Final Attack At Babylon
• Nabopolassar rebelled
against the Assyrians in a
series of attacks moving
upstream along the Tigris
and Euphrates River
• In 626 BC Nabopolassar
won the last battle
outside of Babylon
• This was the last attack
the Assyrians would
make against the
Babylonians
Nabopolassar
• Nabopolassar rose in
revolt against the
Assyrian Empire (which
had ruled Babylon for the
previous 200 years), after
the last effective Assyrian
king, Ashurbanipal died
some time between 631
BC and 627 BC.
Following his successful
revolt, he took on the title
of King of Babylonia for
twenty years.
Location
• Chaldea was a nation in the southern portion of
Babylonia, Lower Mesopotamia, lying chiefly on the right
bank of the Euphrates, but commonly used to refer to the
whole of the Mesopotamian plain.
• The country so named is a vast plain formed by the
deposits of the Euphrates and the Tigris, extending to
about 400 miles along the course of these rivers, and
about 100 miles in average breadth.
• In former days the vast plains of Babylon were nourished
by a complicated system of canals and water-courses,
which spread over the surface of the country like a
network.
We Now Rule…
• The Chaldeans now ruled all of
Mesopotamia, and the former Assyrian
possessions of Aram, Phoenicia, Israel,
Edom and parts of Arabia, while the
• The Medes took control of the former
Assyrian colonies in Iran, Asia Minor and
the Caucasus.
Babylon, the City of
1 Million People
• Babylon was the world's richest city at the time.
It had its own police force and postal system.
Huge brick walls encircled the city. The walls
were so wide that two chariots could pass each
other on the road on top. Archers guarded the
city from towers built into the walls.
• In the city center, there were palaces and
temples. An immense ziggurat stood 300 feet or
90 meters in the air. At sunrise, its gold roof
could be seen for miles.
The Chaldeans
• The Chaldean Empire was
one of several empires that
had Babylon as its capital.
In time the Chaldeans
called themselves the
Babylonians.
• They were one of the first
people to come up with
ideas that shaped our
modern understanding of
mathematics, and they
beliefs formed the basis of
what we now call
astronomy
The Chaldeans Warrior
• Like the Assyrians, the Chaldeans were
warriors who conquered many different
people
• Chaldeans fought with a motive, they
wanted their land, their freedom, and
revenge back
• Their way of life turned more into policing
and protecting the riches of their city
Nebuchadnezzar
• The Chaldeans' most
famous ruler was
Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled
for 40 years to control the
western territory of the
Assyrian Empire and who
had built the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon, one of
the Seven Ancient Wonders
of the World.
• He also conquered
Jerusalem and forced the
Hebrews to move to
Babylon.
• Babylon literature, arts,
economy and a Golden Age
rose under his reign
Babylon
• Nebuchadrezzar,
extended the empire's
boundaries as far west
as Syria and Palestine.
The Chaldeans called
themselves
Babylonians because
most Chaldeans were
of Babylonian descent.
Their capital, Babylon,
was a city of nearly one
million people.
To Please The People
• To please the people,
Nebuchadrezzar built a
beautiful street near the
palace. It was paved with
limestone and marble, and
lined by walls of blue
glazed tile.
• Every spring, thousands of
people lined the streets to
see a procession of a gold
statue of the god Marduk.
• The Chaldeans believed
this would make their crops
grow. They also thought
that it would keep the
empire's peace.
The Fall to Persia
• Babylon was a great
civilization for many
years. As the time
passed, Chaldeans
began to lose their power,
though.
• They found it hard to
control the people that
they had conquered.
• Then, in 539 B.C., the
Persians coquered the
Chaldens. Mesopotamia
had just become another
part of the vast Persian
Empire.
Chaldeans No More
• When the Babylonian Empire was absorbed into
the Persian Empire, the name "Chaldean" lost its
meaning as the name of a race of men, and
came to be applied only to a social class.
• The Persians found the Chaldeans masters of
reading and writing, and especially versed in all
forms of incantation, in sorcery, witchcraft, and
the magical arts.
• They quite naturally spoke of astrologists and
astronomers as Chaldeans. It therefore resulted
that Chaldean came to mean astrologist.
The Chaldeans
• Fall of Assyria and the Great Chaldean
Empire (Babylonian Empire) - YouTube