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•CALAH one of the most ancient cities of Assyria. “Out of that land he [i.e., Nimrod] went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, and Resen” (Genesis 10:11, R.V.). Its site is now marked probably by the Nimrud ruins on the left bank of the Tigris. These cover an area of about 1,000 acres, and are second only in size and importance to the mass of ruins opposite Mosul. This city was at one time the capital of the empire, and was the residence of Sardanapalus and his successors down to the time of Sargon, who built a new capital, the modern Khorsabad. It has been conjectured that these four cities mentioned in Genesis 10:11 were afterwards all united into one and called Nineveh (q.v.).
•CALAMUS the Latin for cane, Hebrew Kaneh, mentioned (Exodus 30:23) as one of the ingredients in the holy anointing oil, one of the sweet scents (Cant. 4:14), and among the articles sold in the markets of Tyre (Ezekiel 27:19). The word designates an Oriental plant called the “sweet flag,” the Acorus calamus of Linnaeus. It is elsewhere called “sweet cane” (Isaiah 43:24; Jeremiah 6:20). It has an aromatic smell, and when its knotted stalk is cut and dried and reduced to powder, it forms an ingredient in the most precious perfumes. It was not a native of Palestine, but was imported from Arabia Felix or from India. It was probably that which is now known in India by the name of “lemon grass” or “ginger grass,” the Andropogon schoenanthus. (See CANE.)
•CALCOL (1 Chronicles 2:6), sustenance, the same probably as Chalcol (1 Kings 4:31), one of the four sages whom Solomon excelled in wisdom; for “he was wiser than all men.”
•CALEB a dog. (1.) One of the three sons of Hezron of the tribe of Judah. He is also called Chelubai (1 Chronicles 2:9). His descendants are enumerated (18-20, 42-49).
(2.) A “son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah” (1 Chronicles 2:50). Some would read the whole passage thus: “These [i.e., the list in ver. 42-49] were the sons of Caleb. The sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah, were Shobal, etc.” Thus Hur would be the name of the son and not the father of Caleb (ver. 19).