Akademik

   Semitic-speaking tribal peoples in southern Mesopotamia. The name comes from the Babylonian term for their region, mat kaldu. Together with Aramean tribes, they entered Babyloniabetween 1000 and 900 B.C. The main tribes were the BitYakin, Bit Amukanni, and Bit Dakkuri, all occupying their own territory and having their own rulers. They were prosperous, profiting from the maritime gulf trade that passed through their land. The term Chaldean was from then on also used to denote Babylonia, until well into the Roman period.