Chaldees
   or Chaldeans, the inhabitants of the country of which Babylon
   was the capital. They were so called till the time of the
   Captivity (2 Kings 25; Isa. 13:19; 23:13), when, particularly in
   the Book of Daniel (5:30; 9:1), the name began to be used with
   special reference to a class of learned men ranked with the
   magicians and astronomers. These men cultivated the ancient
   Cushite language of the original inhabitants of the land, for
   they had a "learning" and a "tongue" (1:4) of their own. The
   common language of the country at that time had become
   assimilated to the Semitic dialect, especially through the
   influence of the Assyrians, and was the language that was used
   for all civil purposes. The Chaldeans were the learned class,
   interesting themselves in science and religion, which consisted,
   like that of the ancient Arabians and Syrians, in the worship of
   the heavenly bodies. There are representations of this priestly
   class, of magi and diviners, on the walls of the Assyrian
   palaces.