|
|
|
|
|
ChaldeansSee Chaldean for disambiguation. Chaldeans are a Semitic people from Northern Iraq and Southern Turkey, related to the Assyrians of the same area. Historically they centered around the village of Tel Keppe (or Tal Kayf), located near Mosul, Iraq. They pre-date the Islamic conquest of the region, being descended from the original inhabitants of Mesopotamia. They speak a language known as Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, which is rooted in ancient Aramaic and has an alphabet close to that of Hebrew and Arabic. Some 120,000 people speak this language in Iraq, with another 70,000 speakers living in the United States. Chaldeans are Christian, with the majority belonging to the Chaldean Catholic Church, and were one of the first peoples to be converted to that religion by St. Thomas in 33 A.D. All belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church until 1552, when missionaries from Rome reunited their rite with the Pope. Those who remained with the Orthodox church refer to themselves as Assyrian. The total population of Chaldeans is estimated at 1.5 million worldwide. There are today some 350,000 living in the United States, with 250,000 Chaldean Catholics and the remainder belonging the Assyrian Church. Major populations of Chaldeans are found around Detroit and San Diego, while Assyrians are concentrated around Chicago. Elsewhere in the world, an estimated 100,000 Chaldeans live around Baghdad, Iraq. Around 3,000 remain in Tel Keppe.
The Chaldeans are Catholic Assyrians. Their church is part of the Church of the East, and is also known as the Chaldean Church of Babylon or the Chaldean Catholic Church. Chaldeans make up 25% of the total worldwide Assyrian population. In Iraq there are an estimated 800,000 Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs living mostly in the North of the country. They speak Assyrian which is also known as Syriac Aramaic. The ancient Assyrians employed Arameans as scribes who used the Phoenician alphabet. This is why it was sometimes mistakenly thought that the language was Aramaic when in fact it was Assyrian. Assyrian evolved from Akkadian, which was greatly influenced by Sumerian.
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|