Idumaeans

The Idumaeans were the inhabitants of a Hellenistic administrative district in Palestine, located south of Judaea and west of the Jordan. While parts of this territory’s population stood in more or less direct continuity with the Iron Age kingdom of Edom, others were of Arabic, Phoenician, or Judaean origin. There is some evidence for indigenous Idumaean social structures, but as a dependent territory the region was prone to cultural change that could at times be enforced, such as the use of the Greek language after the Seleucid conquest, and the practice of circumcision when Idumaea became subject to the Hasmonaean kingdom of Judaea in 108 bce. This transition proved to be particularly influential as Idumaea was never again decoupled from Judaea. With Herod, an Idumaean gained the Judaean throne, and in the Jewish War, Judaeans and Idumaeans fought side by side against Rome. Perhaps as a result of this amalgamation, a recognizably Idumaean identity fades from view after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 ce.