Ca'lah. (completion, old age). One of the most ancient cities of Assyria.
Gen_10:11. The site of Calah is
probably market by the Nimrud ruins. If this be regarded as ascertained,
Calah must be considered to have been, at one time, (about B.C. 930-720), the
capital of the empire.
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Calah
kā´la (כּלח, kālaḥ; Χάλαχ,
Chálach, also Chálak or Kálach; in
Assyrian Kalh̬u, Kalh̬a, Kalh̬i, Kalah̬):
The name of one of the great cities of Nimrod (Gen_10:11),
or rather, Asshur (text), which formed, with Nineveh, Resen between Calah and
Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir (probably lying more to the North), Asshur's great
fourfold capital. The meaning of the name is unknown, but if a Sumerian
etymology be accepted, some such signification as “Holy Gate” (Ka-lah̬)
or the like - a parallel to Ka-dingira = Bâb-îli,
“Gate of God” (see BABEL; BABYLON) - might be regarded as possible.
1. Date of the City's
Foundation
As Nineveh is mentioned by H̬ammurabi, who
reigned about 2000 bc, it is clear that that city was already, in his time, an
important place; and the passage in Gen_10:11
implies, though it does not actually prove, that Calah was of about the same
period.
2. Early References to the
City
The Assyrian king Aššur-naṣir-âpli
(circa 885 bc) states that Calah was made (probably = founded) by Shalmaneser
(I) circa 1300 bc, but this is possibly simply an indication that he rebuilt
it. Later on, the site seems to have become neglected, for Aššur-naṣir-âpli
states that, the city having fallen into ruin, he rebuilt it, and it thereafter
became practically the capital of the country, for he not only reërected or
restored its shrines and temples - the temple of Ninip, with the god's image;
the temple of “the Lady of the Land,” and the temples of Sin, Gula, and Enlil -
but he also received tribute there. Among his other works may be mentioned the
water-channel Pati-ḥengala, and the plantations, whose
fruits, apparently, he offered to the god Assur (Asshur), and the temples of
the city. It also became a favorite place of residence for the later kings of
Assyria,' who built palaces, and restored the city's temples from time to time.
3. Its Position
Calah occupied the roughly triangular tract formed
by the junction of the Greater Zab with the Tigris, which latter stream in
ancient times flowed rather closer to the western wall than it does now, and
would seem to have separated the small town represented by Selamiyeh from the
extensive ruins of Calah, which now bear the name of Nimroud. The main
ruins are situated on a large, rectangular platform on the bank of the old bed
of the Tigris.
4. The Temple-Tower
The most prominent edifice was the great
Temple-tower at the Northwest corner - a step-pyramid (ziq-qurat)
like the Bah towers, constructed of brick faced with stone, and rising, in
stages, to a height of circa 126 ft., probably with a sanctuary at the top (see
BABEL, TOWER OF). A long vault occupies the basement-stage of this structure,
and caused Sir A. H. Layard, its discoverer, to regard it as the probable
traditional tomb of Ninus, under whose shadow the tragedy of Pyramis and Thisbe
took place. Ovid (Metam. iv.98) describes the tomb of Ninus as having
been situated “at the entrance of Nineveh,” and, if this be correct, Calah must
have been regarded as the southern portion of that great city, which, on a
preaching journey, may well have taken three days (Jon_3:3)
to traverse, provided Khorsabad was in reality its northern extremity.
5. The Temples and Palaces
The platform upon which the temple-tower of Calah
was situated measures circa 700 x 400 yds., and the portion not occupied by
that erection afforded space for temples and palaces. In the center of the East
side of this platform lie the remains of the palace of Aššur-naṣir-âpli,
the chambers and halls of which were paneled with sculptured and inscribed
slabs, the principal doorways being flanked with finely carved winged and
human-headed lions and bulls. In the Southeast corner are the remains of the
palace of Esarhaddon, built, at least in part, with material taken from the
palace of Tiglath-pileser IV, which was situated in the South portion of the
platform. The remains of this last are, as a result of this spoliation,
exceedingly meager. The Southwest corner of the platform contains the remains
of the last palace built on the site - a very inferior erection constructed for
Aššur-êtil-îlāni (circa 626
bc).
6. The Temple of Ninip
One of the temples on this platform was that
dedicated to Ninip, situated at the Southwest corner of the temple-tower. The
left-hand entrance was flanked by man-headed lions, while the sides of the
right-hand entrance were decorated with slabs showing the expulsion of the evil
spirit from the temple - a spirited sculpture now in the Nimroud Gallery of the
British Museum. On the right-hand side of the entrance was an arch-headed slab
with a representation of King Aššur-naṣir-âpli
in low relief, standing in the usual conventional attitude. Before it stood a
stone tripod altar, implying that Divine honors were paid to this king. (Both
these are now in the British Museum.) The remains of another temple were found
to the East of this, and there are traces of further buildings at other points
of the platform.
7. The Sculptures of Aššur-naṣir-âpli
The slabs from Aššur-naṣir-âpli's
palace show this king's warlike expeditions, but as descriptive lettering is
wanting, the campaigns cannot be identified. Notwithstanding this disadvantage,
however, they are of considerable importance, showing, as they do, incidents of
his various campaigns - the crossing of rivers, the march of his armies, the
besieging of cities, the reception of tribute, the life of the camp and hunting
the lion and the wild bull. The reliefs from the temples, which are much larger
and finer, show the king engaged in various religious ceremonies and ritual
acts, and are among the most striking examples of Assyrian of sculpture. When
looking at these works of art, the student's thoughts go back with thankfulness
to those Assyrians who, through the generations, cared for and preserved these
monuments, though the vandalism of Esarhaddon in dressing off the slabs of
Tiglath-pileser IV to carve his own bas-reliefs thereon will ever be regretted.
8. The City Walls
The site is described as being 14 miles South of
Kouyunjik (Nineveh) and consists of an enclosure formed of narrow mounds still
having the appearance of walls. Traces of no less than 108 towers, the city's
ancient defenses, are said to be visible even now on the North and East, where
the walls were further protected by moats. The area which the walls enclose -
about 2, 331 x 2,095 yards - would contain about 1,000 acres.
Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains, and Nineveh
and Babylon, still remain the standard works upon the subject, and his Monuments
of Nineveh gives the most complete collection of the sculptures found. See
also George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries, and Rassam, Asshur and the
Land of Nimrod.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Calah
One of the most ancient cities of Assyria. “Out of that land he [i.e.,
Nimrod] went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah,
and Resen” (Gen_10:11, R.V.). Its site
is now marked probably by the Nimrud ruins on the left bank of the Tigris.
These cover an area of about 1,000 acres, and are second only in size and
importance to the mass of ruins opposite Mosul. This city was at one time the
capital of the empire, and was the residence of Sardanapalus and his successors
down to the time of Sargon, who built a new capital, the modern Khorsabad. It has
been conjectured that these four cities mentioned in Gen_10:11 were afterwards all united into one and called
Nineveh (q.v.).
Source:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary