Middle East Kingdoms

Edom (Udumi)

The kingdom was supposedly founded by a branch of the early Israelites, taking in the territory centered around Mount Seir from the Brook of Zered to the Sinai Peninsula (the Negev desert and the Arabah Valley, near the Dead Sea and in modern Jordan). The border between Edom and its Moabite neighbour to the north was the Wadi Zered, while the kingdom's capital was at Bozrah (modern Buseirah in Jordan), a pastoral city to the south-east of the Dead Sea. The name Edom has a connection with the colour red, with 'red rock' after the region's reddish sandstone perhaps being the favourite reason. To the later Assyrians the state was Udumi, while in Latin it was Idumea.

It seems the Edomites and the Moabites remained in Canaan while the Israelites emigrated to Egypt in the seventeenth century BC, and both kingdoms fought against their return four hundred years later. Edomite succession was apparently not hereditary. Instead it may have been elective (the practise is not unknown in ancient Syria and Canaan).

While the Canaanite occupants of Palestine to the south-west are usually accepted as the source for the Hyksos invaders of Egypt in about 1700 BC, Edom has been put forward as an alternative candidate. Some scholars refuse to believe Edom existed as a state at all, while there is little evidence of a settled society before the eleventh century BC.

c.1700 BC

According to the Bible, the Edomites under Esau displace the apparently primitive Horites to claim their kingdom, probably absorbing the previous population into their own. Mount Seir is identified with a Horite leader of the same name, and the area may have been of religious importance to them. The following clans form the new Edomite nation: Timnah, Alvah, Jetheth, Aholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram.

c.1700 BC

Esau

Son of Isaac.

c.1680? BC

Eliphaz?

c.1660? BC

Teman I

c.1640? BC

Bela ben-Be'or

Ruled from the city of Dinhabah.

c.1610? BC

Jobab / Yovav ben-Zerach

Son of Zerah and great-grandson of Esau. Ruled from Bozrah.

c.1580? BC

Husham / Chusham

Ruled from the city of Temani.

c.1560? BC

Hadad ben-Bedad

Ruled from the city of Avith.

c.1540? BC

Samlah / Smlah

Ruled from the city of Masrekah.

c.1520? BC

Saul

Ruled from the city of Rehoboth.

c.1480? BC

Baal-hanan / Ba'al hana ben-Akhbor

c.1460? BC

Hadar

Ruled from the city of Pau / P'ai.

1453 - c.1200 BC

Egypt reasserts its authority in the region by conquering territory in the Levant, and while Edom may or may not be in its line of conquest, it seems possible that it becomes a client state.

Chiefs of Edom

By around 1200 BC, during the chaos prevalent throughout the eastern Mediterranean coastal region, Egyptian control of the Levant had weakened considerably. It seems that the Edomites regained a degree of self-governance under a new 'dynasty' of chiefs, although whether there was any relation between them is unknown. In fact, almost nothing is known of them, other than through the Bible. When the Israelites returned from Egypt, the king of Edom refused them access via his territory, but did not fight them. However, both sides prepared for a conflict they knew was coming.

c.1200 BC

Timnah?

Fought the returning Israelites.

Aliah

Jetheth

Oholibamah

Elah

Pinon

Kenaz

Teman II

Mibzar

fl c.1015 BC

Magdiel?

Defeated by Saul of Israel.

c.1015? BC

The Edomites are defeated by the Israelite king, Saul, and are probably made vassals.

fl c.975 BC

Iram?

Defeated by David of Israel. Last independent king of Edom.

c.975? BC

Forty years after Saul's victory, Edom is defeated by King David and fall directly under the rule of the kingdom of Israel. Governors are placed in control of the former kingdom.

c.975? BC

Hadad

Prince of Edom. Escaped to Egypt.

c.928 BC

When the kingdom of Israel divides, Edom becomes a dependency of Judah.

fl 853 BC

?

Governor? Allied to the king of Samaria.

853 BC

The governor or chief of Edom is a member of an alliance of states which also includes Ammon, Arvad, Byblos, Damascus, Egypt, Hamath, Kedar, and Samaria. Together they fight Shalmaneser III of Assyria in a battle which consists of the largest known number of combatants to date, and is the first historical mention of the Arabs from the southern deserts. Despite claims to the contrary, the Assyrians are defeated, since they do not press on to their nearest target, Hamath.

c.847 BC

The king (or governor) of Edom, together with Jehoshaphat of Judah and Joram of Samaria, form a coalition which attempts to retake Moab by force, but despite some initial gains, the attempt is unsuccessful.

846/843 BC

Edom rebels against Jehoram of Judah. The rebellion is put down but Edom is never completely subdued, and occasional flare-ups continue to occur.

Five kings of Edom are recorded by the Assyrians. All are known only by the Assyrian translations of their Edomite names.

fl c.745 BC

Kaus-malaka

At the time of Tiglath-Pileser III.

fl c.740 BC

Aiarammu

At the time of Tiglath-Pileser III.

fl c.735 BC

Shalman

At the time of Tiglath-Pileser III.

724 BC

Assyria conquers Edom. Two years later Moab, Philistia, Judah, and Edom rebel against Assyrian overlordship. The rising is apparently put down,

fl c.700 BC

Malik-rammu / Melek Ram

At the time of Sennacherib.

fl c.680 BC

Kaus-gabri / Kaus Geber

At the time of Esarhaddon.

612 BC

Babylonia takes control of the region following the fall of Assyria.

587/586 BC

After the conquest of Judah by Babylonia, the Edomites are allowed to settle in Hebron, which the later Romans call Idumea.

Idumaea (Edom)

Following the Babylonian conquest of the Levant, the Edomites settled in Hebron, which the Romans called Idumea. The Edomites remained here, and prospered, for more than four centuries, independent from 539 BC to around 275 BC, when they probably fell under Egyptian control, followed by Seleucid and Roman rule. By the second century BC they possibly made up the majority population of western Judea.

c.165 BC

Idumaea gains its freedom from Seleucid rule, probably at the same time as Judea achieves its own independence. This mirrors the rise of the Nabataean kingdom elsewhere in the former Edomite territory.

160s BC

Gorgias

160 - 109 BC

?

109 BC

Idumaea is drawn into the Maccabaean kingdom. Hasmonaean governors are subsequently appointed to administer the region.

c.100 - 78 BC

Antipas

Governor of Idumaea.

78 - 43 BC

Antipater

Father of Herod the Great of Judea. Governor of Idumaea.

c.43 - 35 BC

Joseph ben Antipater

Son. Governor of Idumaea.

37 BC

Under Roman rule, the Idumaean king of Judea, Herod the Great, is granted the authority to appoint the governor of Idumaea, usually a relative.

? - 30? BC

Costobarus

Brother-in-law of Herod the Great. Governor of Idumaea.

28 BC

Costobarus is accused of treason by his wife and is presumably executed by Herod. Idumaea is drawn directly under Judean control.

4 BC

Rome assumes direct control of the region.

AD 66

The Idumaeans benefit from the First Jewish Uprising, having governors of its own appointed from the revolutionary government in Judea.

c.66 - 68

Niger the Peraean

66 - 68

Joshua ben Saphas ha-Kohen

66 - 68

Eleazar ben Hananiah

AD 68 - 135

The uprising is crushed by Rome and the governors removed. The Idumaean people disappear from historical records following the uprisings, although the regional name of Idumaea is still in use for a time.