CHELLEANS, CHELLIANS kĕl’ ĭ ənz (Χέλεοι). Identification uncertain.

According to Judith 2:23 these people lived N of the Ishmaelites, but the latter is such a broad, inclusive term that the location must remain somewhat uncertain. If the author intended a particular northern group of Ishmaelites, the Chelleans may be connected with modern el-Khalle (ancient Cholle) between Palmyra and the Euphrates River. Some scholars locate them somewhere to the N of the Ishmaelite tribes who lived in E Pal. next to the Arabian Desert. Still others suggest that they may simply be the inhabitants of the town Chelous (q.v.).