Who were the Chaldeans?

The note argues that the term Chaldean, as it appears in Classical sources, was not only a byname for Babylonian, as is commonly thought. In fact, the word was confused with a profession of scholar-priests known in Akkadian as kalû, so that “the Chaldeans” could refer to both Babylonians in general and to a group of temple scholars specialized in astronomy.

“‘Chaldean’ as kalû?,” in Nouvelles assyriologiques brèves et utilitaires, vol. 2022, no. 1 (April 2022), pp. 82–84, entry no. 39. Link.