CALAH

(Caʹlah) [vigor].

A city founded by Nimrod in Assyria and originally part of “the great city” composed of Nineveh, Calah, Resen and Rehoboth-Ir, the latter three places apparently being “suburbs” of Nineveh. (Gen. 10:9-12) Calah appears as Kalhu on Assyrian cuneiform texts, and during the period of the Assyrian Empire it became one of the three principal cities of the realm, along with Nineveh and Asshur. Calah was situated at the NE angle of the junction of the Great Zab River with the Tigris, about twenty miles (32.2 kilometers) S-SE of Nineveh. The present modern town now found on the site is called Nimrud, thereby preserving the name of the ancient founder of the city.

Assyrian texts state that Calah was rebuilt by Emperor Shalmaneser I of the latter half of the second millennium B.C.E. Then, in the ninth century, Ashurnasirpal II claims to have restored the city from a decayed condition and made it his capital, building massive walls fortified with scores of towers, a royal palace and temples, including a ziggurat tower some 126 feet (38.4 meters) high. Research indicates that the city covered an area of 884 acres (358 hectares) and contained, not only palaces, temples and houses, but also gardens and orchards, watered by a canal dug from the Zab River. The banquet provided by Ashurnasirpal at the completion of his new capital is stated to have included all the city’s residents plus visiting dignitaries, to a total of 69,574 persons.

When excavated, the ruins of Calah produced some of the finest examples of Assyrian art, including colossal winged man-headed lions and winged bulls, many huge bas-reliefs that lined the palace walls, and also a rich find of beautifully carved ivory objects. An excellently preserved statue of Ashurnasirpal was uncovered, as well as the so-called “Black Obelisk” of Shalmaneser III, which names King Jehu of Israel as paying tribute to Assyria.—See SHALMANESER No. 1.

Calah enjoyed great prominence for about 150 years during the peak of the Assyrian power but suffered desolation along with the other royal cities of the realm with the downfall of the empire. Xenophon, in the fifth century B.C.E., found the city deserted.—Compare Isaiah 30:30-33; 31:8, 9.