Their language fell into disuse, and grew to be a learned tongue studied by the priests and the literati; their Cushite character was lost, and they became, as a people, scarcely distinguishable from the Assyrians.

After six centuries and a half of submission and insignificance, the Chaldaeans, however, began to revive and recover themselves--they renewed the struggle for national independence, and in the year B.C.625 succeeded in establishing a second kingdom, which will be treated of in a later volume as the fourth or Babylonian Monarchy.

Even when this monarchy met its death at the hands of Cyrus the Great, the nationality of the Chaldaeans was not swept away.
We find them recognized under the Persians, and even under the Parthians, as a distinct people.

When at last they cease to have a separate national existence, their name remains; and it is in memory of the successful cultivation of their favorite science by the people of Nimrod from his time to that of Alexander, that the professors of astronomical and astrological learning under the Roman Emperors receive, from the poets and historians of the time, the appellation of "Chaldaeans." LIST OF AUTHORS AND EDITIONS QUOTED IN THE NOTES.
ABULPHARAGIUS, Chronicon Syriacum, ed.

J.Bruno, Lipsim, 1789.
Agathangelus, Historia Regni Tiridatis, in C.Muller's Fragm.