or Babylonia, the country lying on both sides of the Euphrates,
of which Babylon was the capital; and extending southward to the Persian
Gulf, and northward into Mesopotamia, at least as far as Ur, which is
called Ur of the Chaldees. This country had also the name of Shinar. See
BABYLON.
CHALDEAN PHILOSOPHY claims attention on account of its very high
antiquity. The most ancient people, next to the Hebrews, among the
eastern nations, who appear to have been acquainted with philosophy, in
its more general sense, were the Chaldeans; for though the Egyptians
have pretended that the Chaldeans were an Egyptian colony, and that they
derived their learning from Egypt, there is reason to believe that the
kingdom of Babylon, of which Chaldea was a part, flourished before the
Egyptian monarchy; and that the Egyptians were rather indebted to the
Chaldeans, than the Chaldeans to the Egyptians. Nevertheless, the
accounts that have been transmitted to us by the Chaldeans themselves,
of the antiquity of their learning, are blended with fable, and involved
in considerable uncertainty. There are other circumstances,
independently of the antiquity of the Chaldean philosophy, which render
our knowledge of it imperfect and uncertain. We derive our acquaintance
with it from other nations, and principally from the Greeks, whose
vanity led them to despise and misrepresent the pretended learning of
barbarous nations. The Chaldeans also adopted a symbolical mode of
instruction, and transmitted their doctrines to posterity under a veil
of obscurity, which it is not easy to remove. To all which, we may add
that, about the commencement of the Christian æra, a race of
philosophers sprung up, who, with a view of gaining credit to their own
wild and extravagant doctrines, passed them upon the world as the
ancient wisdom of the Chaldeans and Persians, in spurious books, which
they ascribed to Zoroaster, or some other eastern philosopher. Thus, the
fictions of these impostors were confounded with the genuine dogmas of
the ancient eastern nations. Notwithstanding these causes of
uncertainty, which perplex the researches of modern inquirers into the
distinguishing doctrines and character of the Chaldean philosophy, it
appears probable that the philosophers of Chaldea were the priests of
the Babylonian nation, who instructed the people in the principles of
religion, interpreted its laws, and conducted its ceremonies. Their
character was similar to that of the Persian magi, and they are often
confounded with them by the Greek historians. Like the priests in most
other nations, they employed religion in subserviency to the ruling
powers, and made use of imposture to serve the purposes of civil policy.
Accordingly, Diodorus Siculus relates, that they pretended to predict
future events by divination, to explain prodigies, and interpret dreams,
and to avert evils, or confer benefits, by means of augury and
incantations. For many ages, they retained a principal place among
diviners. In the reign of Marcus Antonius, when the emperor and his
army, who were perishing with thirst, were suddenly relieved by a
shower, the prodigy was ascribed to the power and skill of the Chaldean
soothsayers. Thus accredited for their miraculous powers, they
maintained their consequence in the courts of princes. The principal
instrument which they employed in support of their superstition, was
astrology. The Chaldeans were probably the first people who made regular
observations upon the heavenly bodies, and hence the appellation of
Chaldean became afterward synonymous with that of astronomer.
Nevertheless all their observations were applied to the sole purpose of
establishing the credit of judicial astrology; and they employed their
pretended skill in this art, in calculating nativities, foretelling the
weather, predicting good and bad fortune, and other practices usual with
impostors of this class. While they taught the vulgar that all human
affairs are influenced by the stars, and professed to be acquainted with
the nature and laws of their influence, and consequently to possess a
power of prying into futurity, they encouraged much idle superstition,
and many fraudulent practices. Hence other professors of these
mischievous arts were afterward called Chaldeans, and the arts
themselves were called Babylonian arts. Among the Romans these impostors
were so troublesome, that, during the time of the republic, it became
necessary to issue an edict requiring the Chaldeans, or mathematicians,
(by which latter appellation they were commonly known,) to depart from
Rome and Italy within ten days; and, afterward, under the emperors,
these soothsayers were put under the most severe interdiction.
The Chaldean philosophy, notwithstanding the obscurity that has rendered
it difficult of research, has been highly extolled, not only by the
orientals and Greeks, but by Jewish and Christian writers: but upon
recurring to authorities that are unquestionable, there seems to be
little or nothing in this branch of the barbaric philosophy which
deserves notice. The following brief detail will include the most
interesting particulars. From the testimony of Diodorus, and also from
other ancient authorities, collected by Eusebius, it appears, that the
Chaldeans believed in God, the Lord and Parent of all, by whose
providence the world is governed. From this principle sprung their
religious rites, the immediate object of which was a supposed race of
spiritual beings or demons, whose existence could not have been
imagined, without first conceiving the idea of a supreme Being, the
source of all intelligence. The belief of a supreme Deity, the fountain
of all the divinities which were supposed to preside over the several
parts of the material world, was the true origin of all religious
worship, however idolatrous, not excepting even that which consisted in
paying divine honours to the memory of dead men. Beside the supreme
Being, the Chaldeans supposed spiritual beings to exist, of several
orders; gods, demons, heroes: these they probably distributed into
subordinate classes, agreeably to their practice of theurgy or magic.
The Chaldeans, in common with the eastern nations in general, admitted
the existence of certain evil spirits, clothed in a vehicle of grosser
matter; and in subduing or counteracting these, they placed a great part
of the efficacy of their religious incantations. These doctrines were
the mysteries of the Chaldean religion, imparted only to the initiated.
Their popular religion consisted in the worship of the sun, moon,
planets, and stars, as divinities, after the general practice of the
east, Job xxxi, 27. From the religious system of the Chaldeans were
derived two arts, for which they were long celebrated; namely, magic and
astrology. Their magic, which should not be confounded with witchcraft,
or a supposed intercourse with evil spirits, consisted in the
performance of certain religious ceremonies or incantations, which were
supposed, by the interposition of good demons, to produce supernatural
effects. Their astrology was founded upon the chimerical principle, that
the stars have an influence, either beneficial or malignant, upon the
affairs of men, which may be discovered, and made the certain ground of
prediction, in particular cases; and the whole art consisted in applying
astronomical observations to this fanciful purpose, and thus imposing
upon the credulity of the vulgar.
of which Babylon was the capital; and extending southward to the Persian
Gulf, and northward into Mesopotamia, at least as far as Ur, which is
called Ur of the Chaldees. This country had also the name of Shinar. See
BABYLON.
CHALDEAN PHILOSOPHY claims attention on account of its very high
antiquity. The most ancient people, next to the Hebrews, among the
eastern nations, who appear to have been acquainted with philosophy, in
its more general sense, were the Chaldeans; for though the Egyptians
have pretended that the Chaldeans were an Egyptian colony, and that they
derived their learning from Egypt, there is reason to believe that the
kingdom of Babylon, of which Chaldea was a part, flourished before the
Egyptian monarchy; and that the Egyptians were rather indebted to the
Chaldeans, than the Chaldeans to the Egyptians. Nevertheless, the
accounts that have been transmitted to us by the Chaldeans themselves,
of the antiquity of their learning, are blended with fable, and involved
in considerable uncertainty. There are other circumstances,
independently of the antiquity of the Chaldean philosophy, which render
our knowledge of it imperfect and uncertain. We derive our acquaintance
with it from other nations, and principally from the Greeks, whose
vanity led them to despise and misrepresent the pretended learning of
barbarous nations. The Chaldeans also adopted a symbolical mode of
instruction, and transmitted their doctrines to posterity under a veil
of obscurity, which it is not easy to remove. To all which, we may add
that, about the commencement of the Christian æra, a race of
philosophers sprung up, who, with a view of gaining credit to their own
wild and extravagant doctrines, passed them upon the world as the
ancient wisdom of the Chaldeans and Persians, in spurious books, which
they ascribed to Zoroaster, or some other eastern philosopher. Thus, the
fictions of these impostors were confounded with the genuine dogmas of
the ancient eastern nations. Notwithstanding these causes of
uncertainty, which perplex the researches of modern inquirers into the
distinguishing doctrines and character of the Chaldean philosophy, it
appears probable that the philosophers of Chaldea were the priests of
the Babylonian nation, who instructed the people in the principles of
religion, interpreted its laws, and conducted its ceremonies. Their
character was similar to that of the Persian magi, and they are often
confounded with them by the Greek historians. Like the priests in most
other nations, they employed religion in subserviency to the ruling
powers, and made use of imposture to serve the purposes of civil policy.
Accordingly, Diodorus Siculus relates, that they pretended to predict
future events by divination, to explain prodigies, and interpret dreams,
and to avert evils, or confer benefits, by means of augury and
incantations. For many ages, they retained a principal place among
diviners. In the reign of Marcus Antonius, when the emperor and his
army, who were perishing with thirst, were suddenly relieved by a
shower, the prodigy was ascribed to the power and skill of the Chaldean
soothsayers. Thus accredited for their miraculous powers, they
maintained their consequence in the courts of princes. The principal
instrument which they employed in support of their superstition, was
astrology. The Chaldeans were probably the first people who made regular
observations upon the heavenly bodies, and hence the appellation of
Chaldean became afterward synonymous with that of astronomer.
Nevertheless all their observations were applied to the sole purpose of
establishing the credit of judicial astrology; and they employed their
pretended skill in this art, in calculating nativities, foretelling the
weather, predicting good and bad fortune, and other practices usual with
impostors of this class. While they taught the vulgar that all human
affairs are influenced by the stars, and professed to be acquainted with
the nature and laws of their influence, and consequently to possess a
power of prying into futurity, they encouraged much idle superstition,
and many fraudulent practices. Hence other professors of these
mischievous arts were afterward called Chaldeans, and the arts
themselves were called Babylonian arts. Among the Romans these impostors
were so troublesome, that, during the time of the republic, it became
necessary to issue an edict requiring the Chaldeans, or mathematicians,
(by which latter appellation they were commonly known,) to depart from
Rome and Italy within ten days; and, afterward, under the emperors,
these soothsayers were put under the most severe interdiction.
The Chaldean philosophy, notwithstanding the obscurity that has rendered
it difficult of research, has been highly extolled, not only by the
orientals and Greeks, but by Jewish and Christian writers: but upon
recurring to authorities that are unquestionable, there seems to be
little or nothing in this branch of the barbaric philosophy which
deserves notice. The following brief detail will include the most
interesting particulars. From the testimony of Diodorus, and also from
other ancient authorities, collected by Eusebius, it appears, that the
Chaldeans believed in God, the Lord and Parent of all, by whose
providence the world is governed. From this principle sprung their
religious rites, the immediate object of which was a supposed race of
spiritual beings or demons, whose existence could not have been
imagined, without first conceiving the idea of a supreme Being, the
source of all intelligence. The belief of a supreme Deity, the fountain
of all the divinities which were supposed to preside over the several
parts of the material world, was the true origin of all religious
worship, however idolatrous, not excepting even that which consisted in
paying divine honours to the memory of dead men. Beside the supreme
Being, the Chaldeans supposed spiritual beings to exist, of several
orders; gods, demons, heroes: these they probably distributed into
subordinate classes, agreeably to their practice of theurgy or magic.
The Chaldeans, in common with the eastern nations in general, admitted
the existence of certain evil spirits, clothed in a vehicle of grosser
matter; and in subduing or counteracting these, they placed a great part
of the efficacy of their religious incantations. These doctrines were
the mysteries of the Chaldean religion, imparted only to the initiated.
Their popular religion consisted in the worship of the sun, moon,
planets, and stars, as divinities, after the general practice of the
east, Job xxxi, 27. From the religious system of the Chaldeans were
derived two arts, for which they were long celebrated; namely, magic and
astrology. Their magic, which should not be confounded with witchcraft,
or a supposed intercourse with evil spirits, consisted in the
performance of certain religious ceremonies or incantations, which were
supposed, by the interposition of good demons, to produce supernatural
effects. Their astrology was founded upon the chimerical principle, that
the stars have an influence, either beneficial or malignant, upon the
affairs of men, which may be discovered, and made the certain ground of
prediction, in particular cases; and the whole art consisted in applying
astronomical observations to this fanciful purpose, and thus imposing
upon the credulity of the vulgar.