calneh Summary and Overview

fort, one of the four cities founded by Nimrod (Gen. 10:10). It is the modern Niffer, a lofty mound of earth and rubbish situated in the marshes on the left, i.e., the east, bank of the Euphrates, but 30 miles distant from its present course, and about 60 miles south-south-east from Babylon. It is mentioned as one of the towns with which Tyre carried on trade. It was finally taken and probably destroyed by one of the Assyrian kings (Amos 6:2). It is called Calno (Isa. 10:9) and Canneh (Ezek. 27:23).

CAL'NEH (fortified place?), a city of Chaldaea founded by Nimrod. Gen 10:10; Am 6:2; probably the same as Calno, Isa 10:9, and Canneh, Eze 27:23. Some have proposed to locate Calneh at Ctesiphon, or Kileh-Shenjhat, on the Tigris, 40 miles below Nimroud. Rawlinson and others, however, place ancient Asshur at Kileh-Sherghat, and identify Calneh with Niffer. The ruins at Niffer are 60 miles north-west of Warka, and on the east side of the Euphrates, but 30 miles from the present course of the river. They are conceded to be of very great antiquity, and are divided into nearly equal groups by a deep ravine or channel, 120 feet wide, apparently the dry bed of a river which once ran through the town. Inscriptions found in the mounds indicate that the ancient name of the city was Nijnir, probably the Nojiher of the Talmud, and hence the Calneh of Genesis.

or Calno (Genesis 10:10). One of Nimrod' s original seats meaning "the fort of the god Anu" (worshipped afterwards at Babylon) in the land of Shinar, i.e. Babylonia. proper, extending to the Persian gulf, now Niffer. The place where the tower of Babel was built, according to the Septuagint and Arab tradition, taken by Assyria in the eighth century B.C. (Amos 6:2). "Is not Calno as Carchemish?" i.e., it was no more able to withstand me than Carchemish. Isaiah 10:9 Isaiah 10:60 miles S.E.E. of Babylon, in the marshes on the left bank of the Euphrates, towards the Tigris. Elsewhere CANNEH (Ezekiel 27:23).