| Kingdom of Edom | |||||
| Kingdom | |||||
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The region around 830 BCE. Edom is shown in yellow on this map
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| Capital | Not specified | ||||
| Political structure | Kingdom | ||||
| History | |||||
| - | Established | c. 11th Century BC | |||
| - | Conquered by theSeleucid Empire | c. 200 BC | |||
| Tanakh |
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Edom (/ˈiːdəm/[1] or /ˈiː.dʌm/;[2] Hebrew: אֱדוֹם, Modern Edom Tiberian ʼĔḏôm ; "red";Assyrian: Udumi; Syriac: ܐܕܘܡ) or Idumea (Greek: Ἰδουμαία, Idoumaía; Latin: Idūmaea) was a Semite-inhabited historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judeaand the Dead Sea mostly in the Negev. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom,[3] and in classical antiquity the cognatename Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region. The name Edom means "red" in Hebrew, and was given to Esau, the elder son of the Hebrew patriarchIsaac, once he ate the "red pottage", which the Bible used in irony at the fact he was born "red all over".[4] The Torah, Tanakh and New Testament thus describe the Edomites as descendants of Esau.
Contents
[hide]History[edit]
Archaeological references[edit]
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| The name 'ydwma' ('Aduma') which was translated into "Edom" in hieroglyphs |
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The Edomites may have been connected with the Shasu and Shutu, nomadic raiders mentioned in Egyptian sources. Indeed, a letter from an Egyptian scribe at a border fortress in the Wadi Tumilat during the reign of Merneptah reports movement of nomadic "shasu-tribes of Edom" to watering holes in Egyptian territory.[5] The earliest Iron Age settlements—possibly copper mining camps—date to the 9th century BC. Settlement intensified by the late 8th century BC and the main sites so far excavated have been dated between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. The last unambiguous reference to Edom is an Assyrian inscription of 667 BC; it has thus been unclear when, how and why Edom ceased to exist as a state, although many scholars point to scriptural references in the Bible, specifically the historical Book of Obadiah, to explain this fact.[3]
Edom is mentioned in Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions in the form "Udumi" or "Udumu"; three of its kings are known from the same source:Ḳaus-malaka at the time of Tiglath-pileser III (c. 745 BC), Malik-rammuat the time of Sennacherib (c. 705 BC), and Ḳaus-gabri at the time of Esarhaddon (c. 680 BC). According to the Egyptian inscriptions, the "Aduma" at times extended their possessions to the borders of Egypt.[6] After the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians, Edomites settled in the region of Hebron. They prospered in this new country, called by the Greeks and Romans "Idumaea" or "Idumea", for more than four centuries.[7] Strabo, writing around the time of Christ, held that the Idumaeans, whom he identified as of Nabataean origin, constituted the majority of the population of Western Judea, where they commingled with the Judaeans and adopted their customs.[8]