IDUMAEA, the Greek equivalent of Edom (o ), a territory which, in the works of the Biblical writers, is considered to lie S.E. of the Dead Sea, between the land of Moab and the Gulf of Akaba. The apparently theophorous name Obed-Edom (2 Sam. vi. io) shows that Edom is the name of a divinity.
The early history of Edom is obscure ; Egyptian references to it are few, and do not give us much light regarding its early inhabitants. In the early records of the Pentateuch, the country is often referred to by the name of Seir, the general name for the whole range of mountains on the east side of the Jordan-Araba depression south of the Dead Sea. These mountains were occu pied, as early as we can find any record, by a cave-dwelling abo riginal race known as Horites, who were smitten by the much discussed king Chedorlaomer (Gen. xiv. 6) and according to Deut. ii. 22 were driven out by the Semitic tribes of Esau's descendants. The Horites are to us little more than a name, though the discovery of cave-dwellers of very early date at Gezer in the excavations of 1902-1905 has enabled us to form some idea as to their probable culture-status and physical character.
The occupants of Edom during practically the whole period of Biblical history were the Bedouin tribes which claimed descent through Esau from Abraham, and were acknowledged by the Israelites (Deut. xxiii. 7) as kin. That they intermarried with the earlier stock is suggested by the passage in Gen. xxxvi. 2, naming, as one of the wives of Esau, Aholibamah, daughter of Zibeon the Horite (corrected by verse 20). Among the pecu liarities of the Edomites was government by certain officials known as o•p5v, which the English versions (by too close a reminiscence of the Vulgate dukes) translate "dukes." The now naturalized word "sheikhs" would be the exact rendering. In addition to this Bedouin organization there was the curious insti tution of an elective monarchy, some of whose kings are cata logued in Gen. xxxvi. and i Chron. i. These kings reigned at some date anterior to the time of Saul. No deductions as to their chronology can be based on the silence regarding them in Moses's song, Exodus xv. 15. There was a king in Edom (Num. xx. 14) who refused passage to the Israelites in their wanderings.
In later times by the constant westward pressure of the eastern Arabs, which (after the restraining force of the great Mesopo tamian kingdoms was weakened) assumed irresistible strength, the ancient Edomites were forced across the Jordan-Araba de pression, and with their name migrated to the south of western Palestine. In 1 Maccabees v. 65 we find them at Hebron, and this is one of the first indications that we discover of the cis-Jordanic Idumaea of Josephus and the Talmud.
Josephus used the name Idumaea as including not only Goba litis, the original Mount Seir, but also Amalekitis, the land of Amalek, west of this, and Akrabatine, the ancient Acrabbim, S.W. of the Dead Sea. Jerome describes Idumaea as extending from Beit Jibrin to Petra, and ascribes the great caves at the former place to cave-dwellers like the aboriginal Horites. Ptolemy's account presents us with the last stage, in which the name Idumaea is entirely restricted to the cis-Jordanic district, and the old trans-Jordanic region is absorbed in Arabia. (R. A. S. M.; X.)