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Historical Background
The name Chaldean (pronounces Kal-de'an) stems from one
of the ancient groups which inhabited the land presently
known as Iraq. In ancient times this area was called
Mesopotamia, 'the land between two rivers.' An advanced
civilization flourished in this region long before that of
Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
Many tribes desired this Fertile Crescent. Since the
time of the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans,
it has been a land of many firsts and enormous contributions
to civilization. This is where Sargon the Great of Akkad
organized the world's first empire, where the Gilgamesh Epic
unfolded, where the Towers of Babylon were constructed, where
Abraham came from the Ur of the Chaldeans, where Hammurabi
developed the first code of laws, and where the Chaldean
king, Nebuchadnezzar, built the famous Hanging Gardens of
Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Other
contributions included the discovery of the wheel, use of
bronze weapons and horse-drawn chariots, highly developed
irrigation systems and aqueducts long before the Roman
Empire, a sophisticated culture in art, music, architecture,
philosophy and literature, an advanced math system using
zeros and a decimal system, time instruments and a calendar,
astronomy, medicine, the world's first libraries and
hospitals, commerce and recordkeeping systems, and an
alphabet and language, Aramaic, which became the 'lingua
franca' of the ancient world.
![[A picture of the Lion of Babylon]](../../Images/lion.jpg)
The Lion of Babylon
The symbol of the city of Babylon of Mesopotamia which was ruled by the
Chaldean Kingdom (625-538 B.C.)
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