Chaldea

Chaldea (Kasdān, or poetically ʿAǧam) is a historical region of the Continent on the eastern shores of the White Sea and north of the Sea of Reeds. It receives its name from the Chaldeans, a loose complex of sedentary (ḥaḍarī) and nomadic (badawī) peoples.[1] The historical center of the region is Secunda (Šaqunda), dubbed “city of nightingales and home of roses” (šahr-i bulbul u manzil-i gul).[2]

Much of Chaldaean history, especially during the Years of Salt, has been wrapped up in a constant give and take with the Empire of the White Sea.

  1. The Chaldeanate world, of course, represents the shared history of the Arabs and Persians: a constant back-and-forth between the nomads of the hardscrabble wilderness and the city-dwellers of the coastlands and river valleys. The trajectory is evident: the world of the ayyām al-ʿarab and the great Sasanian kings → the Baghdad of the Alf layla wa-layla → the Balkans-to-Bengal Persianate cosmopolis of Istanbul, Isfahan and Agra → an age of fezzes and three-piece suits under the domination of the Great Powers. ↩︎

  2. Secunda’s charm is Umayyad through and through: golden mosaics and covered markets. Think Damascus or Córdoba. ↩︎