Midian (; ; , ''Madiam'';

Taymanitic Taymanitic was the language and script of the oasis of Taymāʾ in northwestern Arabia, dated to the second half of the 6th century BC. Classification Taymanitic does not participate in the key innovations of Proto-Arabic, precluding it from b ...

: 𐪃𐪕𐪚𐪌 ''MDYN''; ''Mīḏyān'') is a geographical region in

West Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...

, located in northwestern

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. mentioned in the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

William G. Dever William Gwinn Dever (born November 27, 1933, Louisville, Kentucky) is an American archaeologist, Biblical scholar, historian, semiticist, and theologian. He is an active Biblical scholar, scholar of the Old Testament, and historian, specialized ...

states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

, on the east shore of the

Gulf of Aqaba The Gulf of Aqaba () or Gulf of Eilat () is a large gulf at the northern tip of the Red Sea, east of the Sinai Peninsula and west of the Arabian Peninsula. Its coastline is divided among four countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. ...

on the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

", an area which contained at least 14 inhabited sites during the Late Bronze and early Iron Ages. According to the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

, the Midianites were the descendants of

Midian Midian (; ; , ''Madiam''; Taymanitic: 𐪃𐪕𐪚𐪌 ''MDYN''; ''Mīḏyān'') is a geographical region in West Asia, located in northwestern Saudi Arabia. mentioned in the Tanakh and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was ...

, a son of

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

and his wife

Keturah Keturah (, ''Qəṭūrā'', possibly meaning "incense"; ) was a wife (1917 Jewish Publication Society of America translation). "And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah...." and a concubine (1917 Jewish Publication Society of A ...

: "Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah" (

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

25:1–2,

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

). Traditionally, knowledge about Midian and the Midianites' existence was based solely upon Biblical and classical sources, but in 2010 a reference to Midian was identified in a

Tayma Tayma (; Taymanitic: 𐪉𐪃𐪒, , vocalized as: ) or Tema is a large oasis with a long history of settlement, located in northwestern Saudi Arabia at the point where the trade route between Medina and Dumah (Sakakah) begins to cross the Na ...

nitic inscription dated to before the 9th century BC.

Land or tribal league?

Some scholars have suggested that the name "Midian" does not refer to geographic places or to a specific tribe, but to a confederation or "league" of tribes brought together as a collective for worship purposes.

Paul Haupt Hermann Hugo Paul Haupt (25 November 1858 in Görlitz – 15 December 1926 in Baltimore, Maryland) was a Semitic scholar, one of the pioneers of Assyriology in the United States. He studied at the universities of Berlin and Leipzig. In 1880 he b ...

first made this suggestion in 1909, describing Midian as a "cultic collective" () or an amphictyony, meaning "an association () of different tribes in the vicinity of a

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

Elath Elath (; ; , Ἀηλά, Αἴλανα, Αἰλανίτης, Αἰλανή, Ἐλάνα, Αἴλανον, Αἰλάς, Αἰλάθ, Αἰλών, Ἡλάθ, Αϊλά), or Eloth, was an ancient city mentioned in several places in the Hebrew Bible on ...

, on the northern tip of the

was suggested as the location of the first

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

, with a second sanctuary located at

Kadesh Qadesh, Qedesh, Qetesh, Kadesh, Kedesh, Kadeš and Qades come from the common Semitic root "Q-D-Š", which means "sacred." Kadesh and variations may refer to: Ancient/biblical places * Kadesh (Syria) or Qadesh, an ancient city of the Levant, on ...

. Later writers have questioned the identified sanctuary locations but supported the thesis of a Midianite league. George Mendenhall suggests that the Midianites were a non- Semitic confederate group, and William Dumbrell maintains the same: Otherwise, the land of Midian roughly corresponds to what is now the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

Tabuk Tabuk may refer to: *Tabuk, Kalinga, the capital city of Kalinga province of the Philippines *Tabuk Province, a province of Saudi Arabia **Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, capital city of the province ** Tabuk Regional Airport *Expedition of Tabuk, a military ...

Metallurgy

The area of

Timna valley The Timna Valley (תִּמְנָע, ) is located in southern Israel in the southwestern Arava/ Arabah, approximately north of the Gulf of Aqaba and the city of Eilat. The area is rich in copper ore and has been mined since the 5th millenniu ...

contains large deposits of copper that had been mined from the prehistoric times onward. Copper was mined here by the Egyptians during the reign of Pharaoh

Seti I Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek language, Greek) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom of Egypt, New Kingdom period, ruling or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and th ...

at the end of the 14th century BCE.

Religion

It is uncertain which deities the Midianites worshipped. Given their apparent religio-political connection with the Moabites they are thought to have worshipped a multitude, including

Baal-peor Numbers 31 is the 31st chapter of the Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Pentateuch (Torah), the central part of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), a sacred text in Judaism and Christianity. Scholars such as Israel Knohl and Dennis T. Olso ...

and

Ashteroth Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar. Astarte was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity ...

. According to

Karel van der Toorn Karel van der Toorn (born 8 March 1956 in The Hague) is a Dutch scholar of ancient religions. From 2006 to 2011 he was chairman of the Board at the University of Amsterdam, where he was a professor from 1998 until he became the chairman. Van der ...

, " the 14th century BC, groups of Edomites and Midianites worshipped

Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...

as their God"; this conclusion relies on identifying the Midianites with the

Shasu The Shasu (, possibly pronounced ''šaswə'') were Semitic-speaking pastoral nomads in the Southern Levant from the late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age or the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. They were tent dwellers, organized in clans ru ...

. Scholars have noted the Midianite connections to metallurgy at Timna. Large amounts of Midianite ceramic ware has been discovered at these mining sites. An Egyptian temple of

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

at Timna (Site 200) was first discovered during Beno Rothenberg's excavations. :"Rothenberg’s excavation of Site 200 revealed a number of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions including those of: Seti I, Ramesses II, Merneptah, Seti II, and Queen Twosret of the Nineteenth Dynasty, as well as Ramesses III, Ramesses IV, and Ramesses V of the Twentieth Dynasty (pp. 163–166)." The site also continued in use during the Midianite occupation in the area, which is usually dated to terminal Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age. The Midianites transformed the Hathor mining temple into a desert tent-shrine. In addition to the discovery of post-holes, large quantities of red and yellow decayed cloth with beads woven into it, along with numerous copper rings/wire used to suspend the curtains, were found all along two walls of the shrine. Beno Rothenberg, the excavator of the site, suggested that the Midianites were making offerings to Hathor, especially since a large number of Midianite votive vessels (25%) were discovered in the shrine. However, whether Hathor or some other deity was the object of devotion during this period is difficult to ascertain. A small bronze snake with a gilded head was also discovered in the naos of the Timna mining shrine, along with a hoard of metal objects that included a small bronze figurine of a bearded male god, which according to Rothenberg was Midianite in origin. Michael Homan observes that the Midianite tent-shrine at Timna provides one of the closest parallels to the biblical

Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

In scriptures

In the Bible

Figures Five Kings of Midian Slain by Israel

Midian was the son of Abraham. Abraham's great-grandson

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, after being thrown into a pit by his brothers, was sold to either Midianites or

Ishmaelites The Ishmaelites (; ) were a collection of various Arab tribes, tribal confederations and small kingdoms described in Abrahamic tradition as being descended from and named after Ishmael, a prophet according to the Quran, the first son of Abraha ...

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

spent 40 years in self-imposed exile in Midian after killing an Egyptian. There, he married

Zipporah Zipporah is mentioned in the Book of Exodus as the wife of Moses, and the daughter of Jethro (biblical figure), Jethro, the priest and prince of Midian. She is the mother of Moses' two sons: Eliezer and Gershom. In the Book of Chronicles, two of ...

, the daughter of Midianite priest

Jethro Jethro is a male given name meaning "excellence". It is derived from the Hebrew word ''Yithrô''. People named Jethro * Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns (1920–1989), mandolin player in satirical country music duo Homer and Jethro * Jethro Frankli ...

(also known as

Reuel Reuel or Raguel (; ), meaning "God shall pasture" or more specifically " El shall pasture" (as a shepherd does with his flock) is a Hebrew name associated with several biblical and religious figures. Biblical figures Biblical persons with this ...

). Jethro advised Moses on establishing a system of delegated legal decision-making. Moses asked Hobab, the son of Reuel, to accompany the Israelites travelling towards the

Promised Land In the Abrahamic religions, the "Promised Land" ( ) refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God in Abrahamic religions, God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally ...

because of his local knowledge, but Hobab preferred to return to his homeland. A number of scholars have proposed that the biblical description of devouring fire on Mount Sinai refers to an erupting volcano in the land of biblical Midian identified as

Hala-'l Badr Ḥalā-'l Badr (or Hala-'l Bedr / Hallat al-Badr, in , meaning "crater of the full moon") is a volcano in northwestern Saudi Arabia at 27.25° N, 37.235° E. The volcano has traditionally been classified as a parasitic cinder cone (or scoria-cone ...

in northwestern Saudi Arabia. During the Baal-Peor episode, when Moabite women seduced Israelite men, Zimri, the son of a Simeonite chief, got involved with a Midianite woman called

Cozbi Cozbi or Kozbi (, tr. ''Kozbī'') is mentioned in in the Hebrew Bible as " hedaughter of Zur", a prominent Midianite, and a wife or concubine of the Israelite Zimri, son of Salu. The Lord objected to the mixing of the Israelite people with the ...

. The couple were speared by

Phinehas According to the Hebrew Bible, Phinehas (also spelled Phineas, ; , ''Phinees'', ) was a priest during the Exodus. The grandson of Aaron and son of Eleazar, the High Priests (), he distinguished himself as a youth at Shittim with his zeal again ...

. War against Midian followed.

Numbers 31 Numbers 31 is the 31st chapter of the Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Pentateuch (Torah), the central part of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), a sacred text in Judaism and Christianity. Scholars such as Israel Knohl and Dennis T. Olso ...

reports that all but the virgin females were slain and their cities burned to the ground. Some commentators, for example the

Pulpit Commentary The ''Pulpit Commentary'' is a homiletic commentary on the Bible first published between 1880 and 1919

and

Gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

's ''Exposition of the Bible'', note that God's command focused on attacking the Midianites and not the Moabites, and similarly Moses in

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

directed that the Israelites should not harass the Moabites. A modern-day movement, the Phineas Priesthood, has interpreted this story as a prohibition against

miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is marriage or admixture between people who are members of different races or ethnicities. It has occurred many times throughout history, in many places. It has occasionally been controversial or illegal. Adjectives describin ...

, despite the Midianites being closely related to the Israelites as descendants of Abraham, and Moses being married to a Midianite. During the time of the

Judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

, Israel was oppressed by Midian for seven years until

Gideon Gideon (; ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites is recounted in of the Book of Judges in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible. Gideon was th ...

defeated Midian's armies.

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

speaks of camels from Midian and

Ephah Ephah (, ''ʿĒp̄ā'', Septuagint Γαιφα, ''Gaipha'') was one of Midian's five sons as listed in the Hebrew Bible. Midian, a son of Abraham, was the father of Ephah, Epher, Enoch, Abida, and Eldaah by his wife KeturahGenesis 25:4. These ...

coming to "cover your land", along with the gold and frankincense from

Sheba Sheba, or Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdoms in pre-Islamic Arabia, South Arabian kingdom that existed in Yemen (region), Yemen from to . Its inhabitants were the Sabaeans, who, as a people, were indissociable from the kingdom itself f ...

. This passage, taken by the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

as a foreshadowing of the

Magi Magi (), or magus (), is the term for priests in Zoroastrianism and earlier Iranian religions. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Per ...

's gifts to the infant

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, has been incorporated into the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

liturgy.

In the Quran

The people of Midian are mentioned extensively in the

. The word 'Madyan' appears 10 times in it. The people are also called (). The lands of Midian are mentioned in sura

Al-Qasas Al-Qasas (, ; The Story) is the 28th chapter (''sūrah'') of the Qur'an with 88 verses ('' āyāt''). According to Ibn Kathir's commentary, the chapter takes its name from verse 25 in which the word Al-Qasas occurs. Lexically, qasas means to ...

(The Stories), verses 20–28, of the Quran as the place where Musa (Moses) escaped upon learning of the chiefs conspiring to kill him. Surah 9 ( Al-Tawbah), verse 70 says "Has not the story reached them of those before them? – The people of

Nūḥ Nūḥ (, “Noah”) is the seventy-first chapter (''surah'') of the Quran and is composed of 28 verses ('' ayat''). It is centered around the Islamic prophet Nūḥ and his complaint about his people rejecting all warnings Allah gave them t ...

(

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

ʿĀd ʿĀd (, ') was an ancient tribe in pre-Islamic Arabia. 'Ad is best known for being mentioned two dozen times in the Quran, often in conjunction with Thamud. Recently, it has been shown that 'Ad was a tribe that existed two millennia ago in the W ...

and

Thamud The Thamud () were an ancient tribe or tribal confederation in pre-Islamic Arabia that occupied the northwestern Arabian Peninsula. They are attested in contemporaneous Mesopotamian and Classical inscriptions, as well as Arabic ones from the e ...

, the people of Ibrahim (Abraham), the dwellers iterally, comradesof Madyan (Midian) and the cities overthrown Lūṭ (Lot (biblical person)">Lot) preached">Lot_in_Islam">Lūṭ<.html" ;"title="Lot_in_Islam.html" ;"title=".e. the people to whom Lot in Islam">Lūṭ (Lot (biblical person)">Lot) preached to them came their Messengers with clear proofs. So it was not Allah who wronged them, but they used to wrong themselves." In Surah 7 (Al-A'raf, Al-ʾAʿrāf), Madyan is mentioned as one of several peoples who were warned by prophets to repent lest judgment fall on them. The story of Madyan is the last, coming after that of Lot preaching to his people (referring to the destruction of the Cities of the Plain). Madyan was warned by the prophet Shuʿaib to repent of practicing polytheism, using false weights and measures and lying in wait along the road. But they rejected Shuʿaib, and consequently were destroyed by a tremor (''rajfa'', v. 91).

Abdullah Yusuf Ali Abdullah Yusuf Ali (; 14 April 1872 – 10 December 1953) was an Indian-British barrister who wrote a number of books about Islam, including an exegesis of the Qur'an. A supporter of the British war effort during World War I, Ali received the C ...

in his commentary (1934) writes, "The fate of the Madyan people is described in the same terms as that of the Thamūd in verse 78 above. An earthquake seized them by night, and they were buried in their own homes, no longer to vex Allah's earth. But a supplementary detail is mentioned in

uran Uran is a coastal town in Raigad District's Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It lies to the east of Mumbai across the Dharamtar Creek. Uran is primarily a fishing and agriculture village, which has developed into the spec ...

26:189, 'the punishment of a day of overshadowing gloom,' which may be understood to mean a shower of ashes and cinders accompanying a volcanic eruption. Thus a day of terror drove them into their homes, and the earthquake finished them." Excavations at the oasis of

Al-Bad' Al-Badʿ ( ) is a town in Tabuk Region, Saudi Arabia. It is west of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, between Tabuk and the Red Sea Coast. Located at 28° 41' N and 35° 18' E, it lies on the border of the Hejaz, and was in antiquity in Southern Midian. Al-Bad ...

, identified as the city of Midian mentioned in classical and Islamic sources, have uncovered evidence of an occupation spanning from the 4th millennium BC.

Pottery

Midianite pottery Midianite pottery, also known as Qurayya ware is a ware type found in the Hejaz (northwestern Saudi Arabia), southern and central Jordan, southern Canaan and the Sinai, generally dated to the 13th-12th centuries BCE, although later dates are also ...

, also called Qurayyah Painted Ware (QPW), is found at numerous sites stretching from the southern

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

to NW Saudi Arabia, the

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

; Qurayyah in NW Saudi Arabia is thought to be its original location of manufacture. The pottery is bichrome / polychrome style and it dates as early as the 13th century BC; its many geometric, human, and animal motifs are painted in browns and dark reds on a pinkish-tan slip. "Midianite" pottery is found in its largest quantities at metallurgical sites in the southern Levant, especially Timna. Because of the Mycenaean motifs on Midianite pottery, some scholars including George Mendenhall, Peter Parr, and Beno RothenbergRothenberg, "Egyptian Chariots, Midianites from Hijaz/ Midian (Northwest Arabia) and Amalekites from the Negev in the Timna Mines: Rock drawings in the Ancient Copper Mines of the Arabah – new aspects of the region's history II," ''Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies'', newsletter no. 23 (2003), p. 12. have suggested that the Midianites were originally

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples were a group of tribes hypothesized to have attacked Ancient Egypt, Egypt and other Eastern Mediterranean regions around 1200 BC during the Late Bronze Age. The hypothesis was proposed by the 19th-century Egyptology, Egyptologis ...

who migrated from the Aegean region and imposed themselves on a pre-existing Semitic stratum. The question of the origin of the Midianites still remains open.

Midian Mountains

The Midian Mountains () are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

in northwestern Saudi Arabia. They are considered to be either contiguous with the Hijaz Mountains to the south, or a part of them. The Hijaz are treated as part of the Sarawat range, ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

''. File:Al Haql R01.jpg,

Haql Ḥaql () or Ḥaqal () is a city in the northwest of Saudi Arabia near the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, adjacent to Aqaba across the Jordanian border. The coasts of Egypt, Israel, and Jordan can be seen from Haql. Haql is a small city and it is ...

on the coast of the

between the Syrian region and

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

and

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

s, with the mountains in the background File:T E Lawrence and the Arab Revolt 1916 - 1918 Q59657.jpg, 1908 image of a mountain associated with

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

and

Lawrence of Arabia Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat and writer known for his role during the Arab Revolt and Sinai and Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the First W ...

, from Tabuk File:ربيع شغب 1434هـ - panoramio.jpg,

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Clines, David and John Sawyer, eds. "Midian, Moab and Edom: The History and Archaeology of Late Bronze and Iron Age Jordan and North-West Arabia". ''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', Supplement Series, No. 24. Sheffield Academic Press, 1983. * *

External links

Archaeology of Timna

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20051024234638/http://www.gemsinisrael.com/e_article000002707.htm Spring of Harod – ''Ma'ayan Harod''
Midianite Pottery: The designer import of the ancient world
* جبال مدين (Arabic Wiki) {{Qur'anic people