CALACHE´NE
CALACHE´NE (
Καλαχηνὴ,
Strab. xi. p.529, xvi. p. 735), a district of Assyria, probably the same as that called by Ptolemy Calacine (
Καλακινὴ, Ptol. 6.1.2).
It appears from Strabo (
xvi. p.735) to have been in the vicinity of Ninus (Nineveh), and it has therefore been supposed by Bochart and others to have derived its name from Calach, one of the primeval cities attributed to Nimrod or his lieutenant Ashur.
The actual situation of Calach has been much debated; the latest supposition is that of Colonel Rawlinson, who is inclined to identify it with the ruins of
Nimrud. Ptolemy appears to consider it adjacent to the Armenian mountains, and classes it with Arrapachitis, Adiabene, and Arbelitis.
It is not impossible that it may be connected with another town of a similar name, Chalach, to which the Israelites were transported by the King of Assyria (2
Kings, 17.6, 18.11); and Boeliart has even supposed the people called by Pliny Classitae ought really to be Calachitae. (Rawlinson,
Comment. on Cuneiform Inscr. Lond. 1850.)
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