Midian: Difference between revisions

'''Midian''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɪ|d|i|ən}}; {{lang-he|מִדְיָן}} ''Mīḏyān''; {{lang-ar|مَدْيَن|Madyan}}; {{lang-grc-gre|Μαδιάμ}}, ''Madiam'';{{Efn | Also {{lang|grc|Μαδιανίτης}} for "Midianite".}} [[Taymanitic]]: 𐪃𐪕𐪚𐪌 ''MDYN'') is a geographical region in [[West Asia]] mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible|Tanakh]] and [[Quran]]. [[William G. Dever]] states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest [[Arabian Peninsula]], on the east shore of the [[Gulf of Aqaba]] on the [[Red Sea]]",<ref>{{citation |last= Dever |first= W. G. |author-link= William G. Dever |title=Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.]] |date=2006 |isbn= 978-0-8028-4416-3 |page=34}}</ref> an area which contained at least 14 inhabited sites during the [[Bronze Age|Late Bronze]] and [[Iron Age|early Iron Ages]].{{sfn|Graf|2016|p=428}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Luciani |first=Marta |title=Archaeology in the Land of Midian: Excavating the Qurayyah Oasis |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |date=November–December 2023 |volume=49 |issue=4 |url=https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/article/archaeology-in-the-land-of-midian-excavating-the-qurayyah-oasis/}}</ref>

Traditionally, knowledge about Midian and the Midianites' existence was based solely upon Biblical and classical sources,<ref>{{cite book |last=Bryce |first=Trevor |author-link=Trevor R. Bryce |date=2009 |title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire |page=472 |url= |location=[[London]], [[United Kingdom]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-39485-7 }}</ref> but in 2010 a reference to Midian was identified in a [[Tayma|Taymanitic]]nitic inscription dated to before the 9th century BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Une première mention de Madyan dans un texte épigraphique d'Arabie |journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_2017_num_161_1_96407 |last1=Robin |first1=Christian |issue=1 |volume=161 |pages=363–396 |last2=Al-Ghabban |first2=Ali |doi=10.3406/crai.2017.96407 |year=2017 |s2cid=246891828 |language=fr}}</ref>

{{quoteblockquote|We believe that Haupt's proposal is to be adopted, and that Midian, rather than depicting a land, is a general term for an amorphous league of the [[Late Bronze Age]], of wide geographical range, who, after a series of reverses, the most prominent of which are recorded in {{bibleverse||Judges|6–7|HE}}, largely disappeared from the historical scene...<ref>

Midian was the son of [[Abraham]].<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|25:1–2|HE}}</ref> Abraham's great -grandson [[Joseph (Hebrew Bible)|Joseph]], after being thrown into a pit by his brothers, was sold to either Midianites or [[Ishmaelites]].<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|37:28|HE}}</ref>

The Midian Mountains ({{lang-ar|جِبَال مَدْيَن|Jibāl Madyan}}) are a [[mountain range]] in northwestern [[Saudi Arabia]]. They are considered to be either contiguous with the [[Hijaz Mountains]] to the south,<ref name="GhazanfarFisher2013">{{cite book |last1=Ghazanfar |first1=Shahina A. |last2author-link=FisherShahina A. Ghazanfar |first2url=Martinhttps://books.google.com/books?id=uc_tCAAAQBAJ&q=Midian |title=Vegetation of the Arabian Peninsula |last2=Fisher |first2=Martin |date=2013-04-17 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |chapter=4 |pages=71–94 |isbn=978-9-4017-3637-4 |location=[[Sultan Qaboos University]], [[Muscat]], [[Oman]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?idpages=uc_tCAAAQBAJ&q=Midian71–94 |datechapter=2013-04-174}}</ref> or a part of them.<ref name="Scoville1979">{{cite book |last=Scoville |first=Sheila A. |title=Gazetteer of Arabia: a geographical and tribal history of the Arabian Peninsula |volume=2 |chapter=3 |page=288 |publisher=Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AH8YAQAAMAAJ&q=midian |isbn=0-7614-7571-0 |year=2006}}</ref> The Hijaz are treated as part of the [[Sarawat Mountains|Sarawat range]], ''[[sensu lato]]''.<ref name="Mandal1990">{{cite book |last=Mandal |first=Ram Bahadur |title=Patterns of Regional Geography: World regions |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |chapter=VI: A Regional Geography |page=354 |isbn=8-1702-2292-3 |location=[[New Delhi]], [[India]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWwCHWwgKt0C&q=sarawat+mountains&pg=PA354 |year=1990 }}</ref><ref name="Nasr2013">{{cite book |last=Nasr |first=Seyyed Hossein |author-link=Hossein Nasr |title=Mecca the Blessed, Medina the Radiant: The Holiest Cities of Islam |publisher=[[Tuttle Publishing]] |chapter=1: The Holiest Cities of Islam |isbn=978-1-4629-1365-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4RvQAgAAQBAJ&q=sarat+mountains |year=2013}}</ref>