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…scene...<ref>

It is uncertain which deities the Midianites worshipped. Through their apparent religio-political connection with the [[Moabites]]<ref>{{bibleverse||Numbers|22:4, 7|HE}}</ref> they are thought to have [[Polytheism|worshipped a multitude]], including [[Baal-peor]] and [[Astarte|Ashteroth]]. According to [[Karel van der Toorn]], "By the 14th century BC, groups of Edomites and Midianites worshipped [[Yahweh]] as their God;" this conclusion is based on identification between Midianites and the [[Shasu]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Karel van der |last=Toorn |title=Family Religion in Babylonia, Ugarit, and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life |location=Leiden |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |page=283}}</ref>

An Egyptian temple of [[Hathor]] at [[Timna Valley|Timna]] continued to be used during the Midianite occupation of the site (terminal late Bronze Age / early Iron Age); the Midianites transformed the Hathor mining temple into a desert tent-shrine.<ref>{{cite book |title=Unearthing the Wilderness: Studies on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age |last=Avner |first=Uzi |publisher=Peeters |year=2014 |isbn=978-90-429-2973-9 |pages=103–162 |editor-last=Tebes |editor-first=Juan Manuel |chapter=Egyptian Timna – Reconsidered |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9g1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103}}</ref> 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]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Beno |last=Rothenberg |title=Timna: Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines |location=London |publisher=[[Thames and Hudson]] |date=1972}}</ref> 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 gilded head was also discovered in the [[Cella|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 is one of the closest parallels to the biblical [[Tabernacle]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Michael M. |last=Homan |title=To Your Tents, O Israel!: The Terminology, Function, Form, and Symbolism of the Tents in the Bible and the Ancient Near East |journal=Culture and History of the Ancient Near East |volume=12 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |date=2002 |page=118}}</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>