Calneh () was a city founded by Nimrod, mentioned twice in the Hebrew Bible ().''Jewish Encyclopedia'', ''s.v.'' "Calneh"
A. S. Yahuda, "Calneh in Shinar" ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' 65.3 (September 1946:325-327). The verse in Genesis reads: : :"And the beginning of his kingdom was

Babel Babel is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for the city of Babylon and may refer to: Arts and media Written works Books *Babel (book), ''Babel'' (book), by Patti Smith * Babel (2012 manga), ''Babel'' (2012 manga), by Narumi Shigematsu * Babel (20 ...

, and

Erech Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...

, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of

Shinar Shinar (; Hebrew , Septuagint ) is the name for the southern region of Mesopotamia used by the Hebrew Bible. Etymology Hebrew שנער ''Šinʿar'' is equivalent to the Egyptian ''Sngr'' and Hittite ''Šanḫar(a)'', all referring to southern M ...

" ( KJV) Historical scholarship proposed candidate locations for the city of "Calneh", but it is now considered most likely, in a suggestion going back to

W.F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891– September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars." ...

(1944), that the word did not in origin refer to a city but has been corrupted from an expression meaning "all of them". In the

Revised Standard Version The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. This translation itself is a revision of the Ameri ...

, the English translation of the verse reads: :''The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar.'' Calneh ("''Chalanne''") was identified with

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭 ''tyspwn'' or ''tysfwn''; fa, تیسفون; grc-gre, Κτησιφῶν, ; syr, ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢThomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modi ...

in Jerome's ''Hebrew questions on Genesis'' (written ca. 390), following

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christia ...

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary The ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', better known as ''Easton's Bible Dictionary'', is a reference work on topics related to the Christian Bible, compiled by Matthew George Easton. The first edition was published in 1893, and a revised edition ...

silently follows Sir Henry Rawlinson in interpreting the Talmudic passage Joma 10a identifying Calneh with the modern

Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. Akkadian language, Akkadian: '' ...

, a lofty mound of earth and rubbish situated in the marshes on the east bank of the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

, but 30 miles distant from its present course, and about 60 miles south-south-east from

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

. A second Calneh is mentioned in the

Book of Amos The Book of Amos is the third of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the second in the Greek Septuagint tradition. Amos, an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto ...

, and some have also associated this place with ''Calno'' which is mentioned in similar terms in the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...

. (, ) This is identified by some archaeological scholars as Kulnia, Kullani or Kullanhu, modern ''Kullan-Köy'', between Carchemish on the Euphrates River and Arpad near

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

in Northern Syria, about ten kilometers southeast from Arpad. ''Canneh'', mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel 27:23 as one of the towns with which Tyre carried on trade was associated with Calneh by A.T. Olmstead, ''History of Assyria''. Xenophon mentioned a ''Kainai'' on the west bank of the Tigris below the Upper Zab.Xenophon, '' Anabasis'' ii.4, noted in this connection by I J. Gelb, "Calneh" ''The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures'' 51.3 (April 1935:189-191) p. 189 note 2.

References

{{Reflist Torah cities Nimrod