Editing Chaldea (section)

==Legacy==
The term Chaldean was still in use at the time of [[Cicero]] (106–43 BC) long after the Chaldeans had disappeared. In one of his speeches he mentioned "Chaldean [[astrologers]]",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0019:text=Mur.:chapter=11&highlight=chaldean|title=M. Tullius Cicero, For Lucius Murena, chapter 11|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> and he spoke of them more than once in his ''[[De Divinatione]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Divinatione/1*.html|title=LacusCurtius • Cicero — De Divinatione: BookI|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> Other classical Latin writers who speak of them as distinguished for their knowledge of astronomy and astrology are [[Pliny the Elder]], [[Valerius Maximus]], [[Aulus Gellius]], [[Cato the Elder]], [[Lucretius]], and [[Juvenal]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://alatius.com/ls/index.php?l=Chaldaeos|title=Lewis and Short|website=alatius.com}}</ref> [[Horace]]  in his ''[[Carpe diem]]'' ode speaks of the "Babylonian calculations" (''Babylonii numeri''), the [[horoscope]]s of astrologers consulted regarding the future.<ref>Horace, Odes 1.11</ref>

In the [[late antiquity]], a variant of Aramaic that was used in some books of the [[Bible]] was misnamed as ''Chaldean'' by [[Jerome of Stridon]].{{sfn|Gallagher|2012|p=123-141}} That inaccurate usage continued down the centuries in [[Western Europe]], and it was still customary during the nineteenth century, until the misnomer was corrected by scholars. In [[West Asian]], Greek and Hebraic sources, however, the term for the language spoken in Mesopotamia was commonly "Assyrian" and later also "Syriac".{{sfn|Nöldeke|1871|p=113-131}} Accordingly, in the earliest recorded "Western" mentions of the Christians of what is now [[Iraq]] and nearby countries, "Chaldean" is used with reference to their language. In 1220/1, [[Jacques de Vitry]] wrote that "they denied that [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]] was the [[Catholic Mariology#Mother of God|Mother of God]] and claimed that [[Christ (title)|Christ]] existed in two persons. They consecrated [[Bread#Leavening|leavened bread]] and used the 'Chaldean' (Syriac) language".{{sfn|Baum|Winkler|2003|p=83}} In the fifteenth century the term "Chaldeans" was first applied specifically to [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] living in [[Cyprus]] who entered a union with [[Holy See|Rome]], and no longer merely with reference to their language but the name of [[Chaldean Catholic Church|a new church]].

===Impact on Assyrian identity===
After an absence from history for many years, the name was revived during the formation of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]]. The church was not founded and populated by the long extinct Chaldean tribes of southeastern Mesopotamia, but founded in northern Mesopotamia by a breakaway group of ethnic [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] who had been members of the [[Church of the East]] before entering communion with Rome.<ref>George V. Yana (Bebla), "Myth vs. Reality" JAA Studies, Vol. XIV, No. 1, 2000 p. 80</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Angold|first1=Michael|title=The Cambridge History of Christianity|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-81113-2|edition=1. publ.}}</ref>

The naming by Rome is believed to be due to a misinterpretation of the term ''Ur Kasdim'', the supposed north Mesopotamian birthplace of Abraham in Hebraic tradition as ''Ur of the Chaldees'', and a reluctance to use the earlier terms, such as Assyrians, East Assyrians, East Syrians and Nestorians, due to their connotations with the Church of the East and [[Syriac Orthodox Church]].<ref>Biblical Archaeology Review May/June 2001: Where Was Abraham's Ur?.</ref> In modern times, Chaldea has been associated with attempts to declare Chaldeans as a separate ethnicity from Assyrians, through the belief that their descent is based in southern Babylonia. While some religious leaders of the Chaldean Catholic Church and activists in the West have advocated for a separate identity based on this notion, historians and international organizations generally treat Chaldeans as ethnic Assyrians, owing to genetic, linguistic, geographic, and modern historical factors. 

However, across the rest of Mesopotamia (particularly the North) after Chaldea fell, the terms "[[Assyrian people|Assyrian]]", and its derivative ''Syrian'' remained the common [[Ethnic group|ethnic]] term for the [[Aramaic]]-speaking inhabitants. These were used by the people themselves and their Persian, Armenian, Arab, Greek, Georgian and Kurdish neighbours both before and after the advent of Christianity in Iraq, Northeast Syria, Southeast Turkey and Northwest Iran. The [[Assyrian continuity]] in these regions is well documented.{{sfn|Baum|Winkler|2003|p=112}}<ref>{{cite book|author1=Michael Angold|author2=Frances Margaret Young|author3=K. Scott Bowie|title=The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 5, Eastern Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xUV-nMxNGsC|date=17 August 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-81113-2|page=527}}</ref>