Ur of the Chaldees
Ur Kaśdim, commonly translated as Ur of the Chaldees, is a city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the birthplace of the Israelite and Ismaelite patriarch Abraham. In 1862, Henry Rawlinson identified Ur Kaśdim with Tell el-Muqayyar, near Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. In 1927, Leonard Wool…
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in central-southern Mesopotamia. A small Amorite-ruled state emerged in 1894 BC, which contained the minor administrative town of Babylon. It was merely a small provincial town during the Akkadian Empir…
Full Answer
What is Ur of the Chaldees in the Bible?
Ur Kaśdim (Hebrew: אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים ʾur kasdim), commonly translated as Ur of the Chaldees, is a city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the birthplace of the Israelite and Ismaelite patriarch Abraham.
Is the Ur of the Chaldees at Muqayyar?
In 1878 C. F. Keil could state, based on epigraphic evidence found at al-Muqayyar by Taylor and others, that the Ur of the Chaldees was not to be found in northern Mesopotamia but “most likely at the ruins of al-Muqayyar because the phonetic pronunciation of the Assyrian ideographic name for this place is said to be Uruu.”
Where is Ur of the Chaldees (Ur Kasdim)?
Another possible location for Ur of the Chaldees (Ur Kasdim) is the ancient Assyrian and Seleucid city Edessa, now called Şanlıurfa. According to some Jewish traditions, this is the site where Abraham was cast into a furnace by Nimrod as punishment for his monotheistic beliefs, but miraculously escaped unscathed.
What is the origin of the word Chaldees?
The Septuagint Greek used the word Χαλδαίων, or Chaldaion, from which Chaldees is derived. The Book of Jubilees states that Ur was founded in 1688 Anno Mundi (year of the world) by 'Ur son of Kesed, presumably the offspring of Arphaxad, adding that in this same year wars began on Earth.
What does Chaldeans mean in the Bible?
Definition of Chaldean 1a : a member of an ancient Semitic people that became dominant in Babylonia. b : the Semitic language of the Chaldeans. 2 : a person versed in the occult arts.
Where is Ur of the Chaldeans today?
IraqUr was a city in the region of Sumer, southern Mesopotamia, in what is modern-day Iraq.
What is the significance of the city of Ur in the Bible?
Mentioned in the Bible as the hometown of Abraham, Ur around 2000 B.C. was the center of a wealthy empire that drew traders from as far away as the Mediterranean Sea, 750 miles to the west, and the Indus civilization—called Meluhha by ancient Iraqis—some 1,500 miles to the east.
Why are they called Chaldeans?
When a portion of the Church of the East became Catholic in the 17th Century, the name given was 'Chaldean' based on the Magi kings who were believed by some to have come from what once had been the land of the Chaldean, to Bethlehem.
What is Ur of the Chaldeans known for?
Ur Kasdim (Hebrew: אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים ʾūr Kaśdīm), commonly translated as Ur of the Chaldeans, is a city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the birthplace of the Israelite and Ishmaelite patriarch Abraham.
What is the Chaldean race?
Ethnic and cultural categorization can be a choice. Chaldeans are a Catholic ethno-religious community that hails from northern Iraq. While they speak a version of Aramaic in their villages, most Chaldeans in Iraq know Arabic.
Are Babylonians and Chaldeans the same?
To sum up, Babylonia is sometimes called Shinar or the land of Babylon, but usually it is called the land of the Chaldeans. Its inhabitants are a few times referred to as Babylonians, but usually as Chaldeans.
Is Abraham a Chaldean?
The Bible states that Abraham was raised in “Ur of the Chaldeans” (Ur Kasdim). Most scholars agree that Ur Kasdim was the Sumerian city Ur, today Tall al-Muqayyar (or Tall al-Mughair), about 200 miles (300 km) southeast of Baghdad in lower Mesopotamia.
Who were the Chaldeans descendants of?
The ancient Chaldeans seem to have migrated into Mesopotamia sometime between c. 940–860 BCE, a century or so after other new Semitic arrivals, the Arameans and the Suteans, appeared in Babylonia, c. 1100 BCE. They first appear in written record in the annals of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III during the 850s BCE.
What color were Chaldeans?
Black peopleTop reviews from the United States Yes, the CHALDEANS were indeed Black people. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.
Is Chaldean Arab?
While the Assyrians generally insist on their ethnic difference from Arabs, many Chaldeans have tended to assimilate into Arab identity. Their sectarian name and the title of their spiritual head, 'Patriarch of Babylon', hark back to pre-Islamic Iraq.
Who are the modern day Chaldeans?
Chaldeans are Aramaic-speaking people indigenous to Iraq. They have a history that spans more than 5,500 years, dating back to Mesopotamia, known as the cradle of civilization. The area encompasses present day Iraq.
What is Ur of the Chaldees called?
According to T.G. Pinches and A.T. Clay, some Talmudic and medieval Arabic writers identified Ur of the Chaldees with the Sumerian city of Uruk, called Erech in the Bible and Warka in Arabic. Both scholars reject the equation.
Who built the city of Ara of the Chaldees?
And 'Ur, the son of Kesed, built the city of 'Ara of the Chaldees, and called its name after his own name and the name of his father.". (Jubilees 11:3).
What is the name of the city in the Bible that was the birthplace of Abraham?
Ur of the Chaldees. Ur Kaśdim ( Hebrew: אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים ʾur kaśdim ), commonly translated as Ur of the Chaldeans, is a city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the birthplace of the Israelite and Ishmaelite patriarch Abraham. In 1862, Henry Rawlinson identified Ur Kaśdim with Tell el-Muqayyar, near Nasiriyah in southern Iraq.
Where did the Chaldeans settle?
In 1927 Leonard Woolley identified Ur Kaśdim with the Sumerian city of Ur (founded c. 3800 BC), in southern Mesopotamia, where the Chaldeans settled much later (around the 9th century BC); Ur lay on the boundary of the region later called Kaldu (Chaldea, corresponding to Hebrew Kaśdim) in the first millennium BCE.
Where did Abram leave his native land?
In Genesis 12:1, after Abram and his father Terah have left Ur Kaśdim for the city of Haran (probably Harran ), God instructs Abram to leave his native land (Hebrew moledet ). The traditional Jewish understanding of the word moledet is "birthplace" (e.g. in the Judaica Press translation ). Similarly, in Genesis 24:4–10, Abraham instructs his ...
What does Moledet mean?
Nevertheless, this interpretation of moledet as meaning "birthplace" is not universal. Many Pentateuchal translations, from the Septuagint to some modern English versions, render moledet as "kindred" or "family".
Where is Ur Kasdim?
According to A.S. Issar, Ur Kasdim is identified with the site of Urkesh – the capital of the Hurrian Kingdom, now in northeastern Syria. It is further hypothesized that the Biblical travel of Abraham's kin from Urkesh to Harran in order to reach Canaan is much more reasonable than a travel from the Sumerian city of Ur.
Who did God choose to bring out of Ur of the Chaldeans?
In Genesis 15:7, God identifies Himself to Abram: “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”. In Nehemiah 9 the Israelites confess their sins and recount the history of Israel: “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham” ...
Where did the Chaldeans rule?
Depending upon the time period, the territory of the Chaldeans varied, but it would have included the lower part of the Fertile Crescent, extending from the upper edge of the Persian Gulf northwest to the area of the city of Babylon. The Chaldeans ruled Babylon for a while. The exact boundaries of their territory are not clear.
What does the name Ur mean?
Many scholars believe that Ur is not the name of a city but simply a word that means “land. ”. If this is the case, then Ur of the Chaldees is simply the land of the Chaldees. Chaldea was in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. Depending upon the time period, the territory of the Chaldeans varied, but it would have included the lower part ...
Where is Ur located?
The site that is most commonly suggested is a city on the Euphrates River, about 150 miles northwest of the Persian Gulf. The Septuagint (an Ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) simply calls Ur ...
What is the point of the story of Abram?
The point of the story is that God called Abram out of an area of civilization and prosperity. Ur of the Chaldees, the place where he lived, would have had ample water and land for pasturing and would have been active with commerce. It was “the place” to be. God called him away from that to a place that was unknown to him.
Where is the Ur of the Chaldees of Abraham?
Now that it has been demonstrated that placing the Ur of the Chaldees of Abraham in southern Mesopotamia has little to recommend it, we may turn to the book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price for further evidence. From this book it becomes clear (1:1) that Abraham’s ancestors [35] resided in the land of the Chaldees and that Abraham was to be offered as a sacrifice by the priest of Pharaoh on an altar at Potiphar’s Hill in the plain of Olishem (1:10), which was in the land of Ur of the Chaldees (1:20).
Where is the Ur of the Chaldees?
Before the turn of this century, there were three prevailing scholarly opinions, each supported by one or more Classical, Jewish or Moslem source, concerning the location of the Ur of the Chaldees: (1) at modern Urfa on the Balikh River within the great western bend of the Euphrates, (2) at a site west of the Tigris River and between Hatra and Nisibis [Turkish text here], and (3) in southern Mesopotamia, usually at Tell (Arabic for a ruin mound) al-Muqayyar.
What is the name of the tell?
First, the ancient name of the tell, Uri (m), is similar in sound to the Hebrew ‘ ur, rendered in English as Ur.
Where is the Kassites?
This would place the Kassites, one of the possibilities for the Hebrew kasddīm, somewhere north of Mesopotamia at the time of Abraham, definitely a long distance from the Uri (m) of southern Mesopotamia, and possibly within the northern parts of the area delineated above.
Where is Ur in the Bible?
For instance, the Interpreters Bible, 1:13–14, states, “Ur of the Chaldeans [of Abraham] is the city of Ur [i (m)] in southern Babylonia,” and cites Woolley’s book Ur of the Chaldees published in 1930. [18]
Where does the word "kasddim" come from?
This English form is not derived from the original Hebrew word in Genesis, kasddīm, but takes its form from the Greek word xaldaioi found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, commonly called the Septuagint. In fact, the Hebrew kasddīm need not be the Kaldū of the first millennium B.C. at all.
Where is the Ur of Abraham?
[19] The Ur of Abraham is to be located in northwest Syria or the area immediately across the border in southern Turkey, and not in southern Mesopotamia.
