Midian

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

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
Greek: Μαδιάμ, translit. Madiam
Hebrew: מִדְיָן, romanized: Mīḏyān
Above: Shuaib Caves in Al-Bada'a, region of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia


Below: Map

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).

Traditionally, knowledge about Midian and the Midianites' existence was based solely upon Biblical and classical sources, but more recently a reference to Midian has been identified in a Taymanitic inscription dated to before the 9th century BC.

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