Civilizations & archaeology

Edom

from 14th century BCE to 6th century BCE

Edom was an ancient kingdom in the southern Levant, in the arid, mountainous land south of the Dead Sea, in what is now southern Jordan and the Negev in Israel. Its people, the Edomites, are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as descendants of Esau and as neighbours and often enemies of Israel and Judah. Archaeology has shown that copper mining and smelting at sites such as Khirbet en-Nahas and Feynan was important to its economy, and that a stronger state emerged around the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. Edom was a vassal of Assyria and later of Babylon. Nabataean Arabs later moved into the region, and its people in the later period became known as Idumeans.

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This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.