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IDUMEA

(Gk. Idoumaía, Idouméa)

Designation used in the Hellenistic age for the territory stretching north to south from the southern portion of the Judean hill country to the northern part of the Negeb, and east to west from the Judean desert to the Philistine cities of Gaza and Ashdod. Its major cities included Hebron, Marisa, Adora, and Betabris. The population of the region included many Edomites, driven from their ancestral lands by the incursion of the Arabic Nabateans. It may well be from these peoples that the land derives its name (Gk. “of the Edomites,” or perhaps a Hellenistic form of Semitic ʾdm, “earth”). Other inhabitants of the region included Arabs, Jews, Sidonians, and Nabateans.

Idumea was conquered by John Hyrcanus in 129 b.c.e., and its native population was forced to undergo circumcision and Judaization (1 Macc. 4:36-59; 2 Macc. 10:1-8). Soon after, the Idumeans were incorporated into the Hasmonean Empire. Alexander Janneus appointed an Idumean named Antipater as governor of the region, and he was succeeded by his son, also named Antipater. This Antipater urged the Hasmonean Hyrcanus II to contend with his brother Aristobulus II for the high priesthood (Josephus Ant. 14.8). He was also the father of Herod the Great, who was appointed king of Judea by the Roman senate in 39 b.c.e.

Idumea served as an important power base for Herod throughout his reign. After his death in 4 b.c.e., when his kingdom was divided Idumea fell to the ethnarch Archelaus (Ant. 17.319; BJ 2.93-98), who ruled until 6 c.e. Between 41 and 44 c.e., it was part of the kingdom of Agrippa I (Ant. 19.25; BJ 2.215). Between 6 and 41 c.e., and after 44 c.e., it was ruled by the Roman procurators as part of the province of Syria.

At the outbreak of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (67 c.e.), Idumea was assigned its own commanders (BJ 2.566). John of Gischala used Idumean soldiers in his attempt to wrest control of Jerusalem from the other rebel factions (BJ 4.224, 228-354). Idumea suffered greatly during the war, and its population was decimated. After the defeat of the rebels, Idumea was incorporated into the Roman province of Judea. Soon after, it ceases to appear in contemporary records.

Bibliography. I. Ephʾal, The Ancient Arabs (Leiden, 1982); A. Kasher, Jews, Idumeans, and Ancient Arabs (Tübingen, 1988).

Anthony J. Tomasino

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IDUMEA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)