Midian

This article is about a region or people referred to in the Bible and Quran. For other uses, see Midian (disambiguation).
"Jabal Hubaysh, Saudi Arabia" redirects here. For the Yemeni mountain, see Jabal Hubaysh, Yemen.
Midian
Arabic: مَدْيَن, romanized: Madyan
‹See Tfd›Greek: Μαδιάμ, translit. Madiam
Hebrew: מִדְיָן, romanized: Mīḏyān
Above: Shuaib Caves in Al-Bada'a, region of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia Below: Map
Above: Shuaib Caves in Al-Bada'a, region of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia


Below: Map
Location of Midian

Midian (/ˈmɪdiən/; Hebrew: מִדְיָן Mīḏyān; Arabic: مَدْيَن, romanized: Madyan; ‹See Tfd›Greek: Μαδιάμ, Madiam;[a] Taymanitic: 𐪃𐪕𐪚𐪌 MDYN) is a geographical region in West Asia mentioned in the 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",[1] an area which contained at least 14 inhabited sites during the Late Bronze and early Iron Ages.[2][3]

According to the Book of Genesis, the Midianites were the descendants of Midian, a son of Abraham and his wife Keturah: "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 25:1–2, King James Version).[4]

Traditionally, knowledge about Midian and the Midianites' existence was based solely upon Biblical and classical sources,[5] but in 2010 a reference to Midian was identified in a Taymanitic inscription dated to before the 9th century BC.[6]


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  1. ^ Dever, W. G. (2006), Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., p. 34, ISBN 978-0-8028-4416-3
  2. ^ Graf 2016, p. 428.
  3. ^ Luciani, Marta (November–December 2023). "Archaeology in the Land of Midian: Excavating the Qurayyah Oasis". Biblical Archaeology Review. 49 (4).
  4. ^ "Genesis 25:1–2". Bible Gateway. King James Version.
  5. ^ Bryce, Trevor (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. p. 472. ISBN 978-0-415-39485-7.
  6. ^ Robin, Christian; Al-Ghabban, Ali (2017). "Une première mention de Madyan dans un texte épigraphique d'Arabie". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (in French). 161 (1): 363–396. doi:10.3406/crai.2017.96407. S2CID 246891828.