[Did the Chaldeans Really Disappear]
By Habib Hannona
from chaldeansonline.net
This article was published in July 2000 issue of alMuntada Magazine of Detroit, Michigan as a response to a letter by a group calling itself "Assyrian Progressive Party" in which it attacked the Chaldean national identity.
This what Assyrian Progressive Party said in brief
The "New path..historic communiqué" issued by the Assyrian Progressive Party claimed the following points:
1.
All members of the Church of the East in its Nestorian and Orthodox branches and all those other splinters including the Catholics are Assyrians.
2.
All the original people of Iraq disappeared or got dissolved in the following migration waves..except the Assyrians. That there were no Chaldeans left. Nor was their name used prior to the split of the Church of the East. That there is no relationship between today’s Chaldeans and those of antiquity. That all those who call themselves Chaldeans, especially their intellectuals, are history perjurers or revisionists, and among them is Fr. Sarhad Jammo who was accused of “the suspicious thing is that Fr. Sarhad Jammo perjured and changed the Church history”.
This is my response
I do not want to list all the historical documents that prove the existence of the Chaldeans and their continuation throughout history,
events that impacted their role in their country did not only affect them but all the Christians, including the Assyrians and other people.
The sword that killed those Christians from the Persian rulers and the repressive laws of the Muslim Abbasid Khalifs forced thousands to change their religion and ethnicity and forced others to migrate to far distant places. Those laws and killings did not exclude the Assyrians, but impacted every person who believed in Christianity.
I will not talk in detail about the history of the Chaldeans of antiquity, for that’s known to everyone who has knowledge of history. However, here is a summary of their contributions to mankind civilization: It’s a known fact that the people of Mesopotamia were a mixture of groups of Semitic origin (except the Sumerians), however, with time those groups developed their own cultural, historical, and geographical characteristics that distinguished it from other groups and with that gave them their own national names. Hence, the Assyrians where in the north, Chaldeans in the south and Babylonians in the middle. However, from one historical period to another, one of those names became the dominant one, when one of those groups became the dominant ruling power. In any case, what we are interested here is: what’s the relation of the Chaldeans of today with the Chaldeans of yesterday and what’s their relations with the Assyrians specifically? Did the Chaldeans really disappear and got dissolved in other groups? Let us answer this by stating the following facts:
The Chaldeans lived in the southern part of Beth Nahrain (Mesopotamia) and the shores of the Chaldean Gulf (today’s Arab Gulf) and its islands, however, the Chaldeans never developed a major empire like the Akkadians or the Assyrians till early seventh century BC, specifically the period (626-539 BC), the reign of the Chaldean Empire whose area during the reign of King Nabuchadnesser (605-562 BC) the entire Middle East. Prior to this empire, the Chaldeans had their own strong kingdoms e.g. Kingdom of Beth Yaqeen, or that of Beth Daqoree or that of Gumbulo ..etc., and those were in existence since eleventh century BC and they were mentioned in the Assyrian documents.
As to the Chaldeans role in mankind civilization, then as an example the Greek sources say:
“the Chaldeans and since Nabo-nasser (747 BC) recorded with accuracy the movements of starts and planets that were known at that time, and the Greek astronomers and mathematicians relied on the Chaldean astronomy and learned from it”
Actually, the “Sixty system” that’s used currently e.g. sixty minutes ..etc. was invented by the Chaldeans 30 centuries ago, as well as the time units: day, month, year as well as the Lunar and Solar calendars. All that was invented by the Chaldeans. Actually one of their impressive discoveries was their conclusion that the Sun, Earth, moon and five other planets are one solar system connected together, and this is a fact that the world did not realize till 2000 years later. The archeologist Edward Kebeira says:
“The Chaldeans reached an advanced level in the sciences of Algebra, geometry, and astronomy. The astronomer Naburimani who lived in Babylon 500 BC and the scientist Kidannu had major roles in advancing the science of astronomy and deserve to have their names be added to those of Gallileo, Kepler, and Copernikos. For Kidannu and in 367 BC was able to calculate the solar year within an accuracy of only 4 minutes and 30 second to the calculation that today science has reached.”
Another archeologist, Mr. Langdon, said “the Chaldeans were the first who created the Zodiac system and were able to calculate the Sun’s movements and locations with a high degree of accuracy since the seventh century BC. They also made tabulations for for the following hundreds of years”
Here is also what Mr. George Roux says:
“ The Chaldeans and since 8th century BC were able to calculate the square root and cubic root for numbers with an accuracy that’s not different than what we know today”.
It’s also important to note that Pythagoras deduced his theory from one that the Chaldeans discovered 1000 years before him. As to the Chaldeans hydrological genius one can only look at the Hanging Gardens as a proof. As to the Chaldean art, we here quote the philosopher and historian Pline:
“The Chaldeans deserve the honor of excellence for exceeding others in arts, painting, and science. Actually, the Babylonian cloth was famous among the Persians, Greeks and Romans”.
Hence, whose Fathers are with such profound history, with such impressive achievements and glorious heritage should have the right to be greatly proud of it.
As to the Chaldean presence in the Assyrian land, then that fact was not “invented or created” by the Chaldean intellectuals, but was stated by the Assyrian Kings themselves starting from King Assur Nasserpal (884-859 BC) and ending with King Assur Banipal (668-627 BC). It was stated in their own documents or was written by their commands. Those are undisputed documents that exist in international museums which proves that close to 470,000 Chaldeans were settled in Assyria during the period of (745-612 BC). Here is a list of them:
1. King Tiglath Pelasser III (745-727 BC) attacked three Chaldean kingdoms (Beth Shelani, Beth Sha’ly, and Beth Yaqeen) and arrested more than 155,000 Chaldeans and resettled them in Assyria. [Ref. Michael Roaf “Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia”, Oxford, 1990, p. 179]
2. In the year 721 BC, Sargon II arrested 90,580 Chaldeans from Beth Yaqeen kingdom and resettled them in what’s currently southern Turkey and northern Syria. From the Kingdom of Gumbulo he arrested 160,490 Chaldeans and resettled them in Assyria. [Ref. Three documents found in Sargon’s palace in Khorsabad (II, V, XII of Inscription V, Pavement. Ref. D. Luckenbill “Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia”. Chicago. 1927 p. 33-35, p.48-52, and Winkler’s “Keilschrifttexte Sargona” Vol. II p.36F ).
3. In the year 705 BC, King Senharreb attacked the Chaldeans and occupied 75 cities and 420 villages and arrested 208,000 Chaldeans and resettled them in Assyria. [Ref. Cylinder in British Museum no. BM 113, 203. Ref.: Sennacherib Prism, Col 1, Lines 20-64 & Luckenbill, p. 134, and Sidney Smith “The First Campaign of Sennacherib”]. There is actually a detailed account of Sennacherib’s campaigns against the Chaldeans in (H. Rassam Cylinder) as well as in (Bellino Cylinder) which are dated 700 BC. Both are at the British Museum. What’s important in those cylinders is the assertion that Sennacherib arrested thousands of Chaldeans and resettled them in Assyria to be used to complete building his Father’s new capital “Dur Shorkeen” (Khorsabad) as well as for digging water canals.
4. King Asserhadoon (680-669 BC) also attacked the kingdoms of Beth Dakkory and Gumbulo and arrested a huge number of their people. The records of those campaigns exist in British Museum under No. K 3082 VAT 3458).
5. As to King Assur Banipal (668-627 BC) he recorded impressive details about his campaigns against the Chaldeans in many of his documents (exist currently in British Museum in London). We don’t have the space to state all of them, however, we will chose an example in Cylinder A, Rassam Cylinder. It’s number in the British Museum is K 8537 and document K3402 which is part of Koyonguk Collection (See G. Smith “Ashurbanipal” third column, lines 27-127). King Assur Banipal says:
” in my fifth campaign I moved towards Elam by the command of the Gods, and then controlled Elam fully by the power of Assur and Ishtar and during my return I took my army towards the Chaldean Gumbulo kingdom. Its king Dunanu son of Bel Akesha who put his trust in Elam. I occupied his country and his capital Shapibel which is located in the middle of the water I elevated it with the earth. As to the people I slaughtered them like sheep, as to their nobles and all members of the royal family and many of the people of Gumbulo along with cows, horses, and donkeys I took them with me to Assyria. I returned safe to Nineveh and entered it with great feast and with me many prisoners.” (No. 886, p. 334).
Here, we wonder and ask “where did all those Chaldeans whose numbers were in hundreds of thousands who were used to build or repair Dur Shorekken or Nineveh as well as water canals were settled?” Isn’t it logical to deduce that the majority of them were settled close to those two cities? Isn’t the area from Telkeppe to Elqosh, Batnaya, Baqofa and Telesqef is the area that’s most probable to resettle them? Wasn’t Beth Shab-ye (west of Karamles) one of the biggest prison camps of the Assyrians?
Those Chaldean prisoners had a large impact on the Assyrian society demographically and culturally which forced the Assyrian King Sennacharib to declare Aramaic (the language of the Chaldeans) to become the official language of the State after the majority of the Assyrian people started speaking that language.
After the downfall of the Assyrian State and the emergence of the Chaldean one, the Assyrian counties became an open field for the Chaldeans. There are actually documents that prove the continuous presence of the Chaldeans in Assyrian, even after the fall of both States. The Greek historian Xenophone wrote in 401 BC in his book “Anabas, Book IV, Chapter III” details about the passage of the Greek Battalion (Battalion of the 10,000) the Nineveh area and northern Iraq after its return from Persia back to Greece, that it faced an armed group made of Chaldeans, Armenians, and Mardenians that prevented the Greek battalion from passing the Zab river, and here he says:
“during the day’s break, we saw on the other side of the river a heavily armed force mounting horses which stopped us from passing and going to Armenia. Those were Chaldeans, Armenians, and Mardenians..”
Xenophone also says in another place:
“what’s well known about the Chaldeans is that they are men of war more than any other people”.
It’s clear from the above quotation that Chaldeans had a strong presence in Assyria and specifically in Nineveh area.
Yousif Malek also says in his book “The Ravages of Mandate” quoting Xenophone “it’s clear that during his time 401 BC the Chaldeans were living in the same area they currently occupy in Mosul”.
The Chaldean migrations was not limited to only during the Assyrian era, but was followed by new ones during later reigns (the Persian during the “40 years persecution”, the Muslim Khalifs, and during the Mongols). Actually, the first of those migrations happened during the “40 years persecution” (339-379 AD) during the era of Shapour II who declared a war against the Christians under the pretext that they were loyal to the Christian Roman Empire which forced many of the people of the valleys (mostly Chaldeans) to escape that persecution by migrating to the mountains as well as to west Euphrates in Syria and Lebanon and the island of Cyprus which was under the Roman rule (ref. Aubery Vine, “The Nestorian Church”, London, 1937, p. 81).
As to during the Muslim Caliphs era, the Christians faced many problems due to the oppressive laws that limited their activities and undignified them as well as over taxing them. Actually, some of those Caliphs declared wars against the Christians to completely uproot them especially, Hajjaj bin Yousif alThaqafi who was nicknamed as “The Butcher”. He was one of the governors under the Caliph Abdul Malik bin Marwan (646-705 AD). Also, during the reign of Caliphs alMamoon (813-833 AD) and Mutwakel (846-861 AD) and alMuqteder (908-932 AD) and alQader (991-1031 AD). Those repressive acts forced many to change their religion and become Muslims so they could escape that persecution as well as the heavy taxes. Many were also forced to migrate north to the remote villages. Ebn alNadeem (died in 999 AD) talks in his book “Index” about the people of the city of Huran which falls on the river Khabour in current days Turkey by calling them Chaldeans. Again, Aubrey Vine in his book “Nestorian Church” says:
“during the reign of Caliph alMamoon a big migration by the people of Baghdad took place taking them all the way to Senope on the Black Sea. The Roman Empror Toflees met them with a lot of respect and generosity and issued decrees to ease their stay”.
As to the repression during the Mongols, especially Sultan Gazan Khan (1295-1303 AD) and Kherbenda Khan (1306 AD) and Temorling (1400 AD), then that was so vast and extensive. Fr. Anstas alKarmly in his book “History of Baghdad” says:
“The ravages that the Christians faced during the reign of the Mongolian Gazan were so extensive that not enough ink will suffice to describe them”.
Vine also says:
“the inhumane laws decreed by the Mongols forced many of the Christian notables to escape and the Christian people to be shattered across the villages and mountains of Turkey and Iran”.
Yousif Ganima in his book “Tour of the Yearned” says:
“the Nestorians left Baghdad and Basra and all of Iraq’s towns except Mosul and its surroundings and took shelter in the mountains of Kurdistan and Persia”.
As to the presence of the Chaldeans in Cyprus, here is what D’Avril wrote in his book “The Chaldean Christians”, page 39:
“In Nicosia is a Nestorian migrant community which was led by Archbishop Tarsos. In 12 Februray, 1222 Pope Henrys III sent a letter to the patriarch of Jerusalem and the Bishops of Cesaria and Beth Lahm asking his missionaries to convince the Nestorians of Cyprus to join the Latin Bishop of Nicosia. However, that plan did not succeed due to the joining of forces by the Greek and the Chaldean laymen who fought strongly those priests who were inclined to join Rome”
The above quotation is also repeated by the historian J. Hackett in his book “A history of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus”, London 1901. Page 351. The presence of the Chaldeans in Cyprus was also confirmed by the traveler Jack De Fernon when he visited Cyprus in 1333 AD.
What we mentioned so far is but a small number of the historical documents that can not be second guessed that proves that the Chaldeans had a wide distribution from among their Assyrian brothers in Assyria to Turkey, Syria, and Cyprus. That is even after the downfall of both the Assyrian and Chaldean states.
I am not here attempting to defend the Chaldeans, but to state the facts as were written in the Assyrian Kings documents as well as many other sources that prove that Chaldeans were forced to migrate from their original homelands and their settlement in Assyria. There is neither “perjury nor history revision” as the Assyrian Progressive Party (APP) claims (we thank God that’s not in our nature to do that). We are only stating facts of events as they happened and were recorded. We leave it to the reader to reach his or her own conclusions.
We never deny that many who call themselves Chaldeans today are actually Assyrians in origin. This is a fact. Also, and by the same token many who call themselves Assyrians today are actually Chaldeans in origin from those Chaldeans who were settled in Assyria. Hence, we have to concur that the Chaldean and Assyrian blood was mixed and no one can really distinguish between who’s really a Chaldean and who is an Assyrian. The only thing that distinguish them is their religious affiliation and their dialect which after all was a result of divisive factors as well as geographical distance which in any case got nothing to do with ethnic or blood descent.
As to the alliance between the Chaldeans and the Medians and their “plotting” (as APP claims) to destroy Nineveh in 612 BC, I here feel really disappointed for such a remark for that alliance happened due to the oppressive and inhume policies that the Chaldeans were treated with by the Assyrian Kings, especially the Sargonite Dynasty (721-627 BC). That policy which included destructions, killings, and forced migration. I hope APP (Assyrian Progressive Party) will read the details of the military campaign of Sargon II against the Chaldean kingdoms and Babylon to make sure of my above description. As to APP’s remark “those who dig a well for their brothers fall in it” I believe it’s more accurate to say “the starter is always the more oppressor”. We hoped neither that nor this took place.
As to APP’s claims that “all the members of the Church of the East in its Nestorian and Orthodox halves as well as all those who splintered from them, including the Catholics, are from Assyrian origins”, then my reply is: the Church of the East before its division into several groups was not restricted to only Assyrians, but included different other people and races, which included Assyrians, Chaldeans, Arabs, Persians, Indians, and Mongols. There is no one that can prove that it was only the Assyrians that survived from all that repression and killings, while all other groups disappeared due to the sword and assimilation.
As to APP’s remark that “the Chaldean name was first introduced by Pope Ogeen IV in 1444 AD on the Nestorians of Cyprus who joined Rome”, then the question that begot and answer is “Why were they called Chaldeans and not Assyrians or Phoenicians or Latin or simply Cypriot Catholics? The answer is because Bishop Temthawos was without a doubt one of those Chaldeans of Cyprus who requested in an official document he presented to the Athlatran Council in September 7, 1445. The Pope used “Chaldean” at the request of Temathawos and his followers. Actually, Chaldean as an ethnic designation for a people was used in Cyprus two centuries prior to the reign of Catholicism. (Check the references of Hackett, D’Avril, Vernon which confirmed that fact. Those historians are westerns, hence, not connected in any way or shape with the Chaldeans).
As to APP’s accusation to Fr. Dr. Sarhad Jammo of being a perjurer and a church history revisionist, then that was a lot of unfair statement to a renowned symbol of our Eastern Church. What Fr. Jammo meant when he said “based on a letter written by Mar Eleya, Patriarch of Babylon.. which earmarked a new advanced stage of self awareness and a return to the origins” was meant to mean the historical depth of Babylon and its holy status for all the people of Mesopotamia from Assyrians and Chaldeans and reminding them of their history and heritage and their achievements which were always linked with this ever lasting city. For Seleucie-Ctesiphon, center of the Church of the east, which is close to Babylon got nothing to do with our history’s achievements during the time of our states (Assyrian, Babylonian, and Chaldean). Seleucie-Ctesiphon is Persian and does not represent any form of national awareness in the mind of our Church members. It’s from that understanding did Fr. Sarhad made his remark and assessment as to the reason why the patriarch was called “Patriarch of Babylon”.
I hope the Assyrian Progressive Party is more fair in evaluating the efforts of our intellectuals, for “attacking others” is not one of their values.
Thank you,
Habib Hannona
