[7] More recent excavations show that the process of Edomite settlement in the southern parts of Judah and parts of the Negev down to Timna had started already before the destruction of the kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar II in 587/86 BC, both by peaceful penetration and by military means and taking advantage of the already-weakened state of Judah.

[20] Edom[5]in hieroglyphs The Edomites may have been connected with the Shasu and Shutu, nomadic raiders mentioned in Egyptian sources.

[24] The existence of the Kingdom of Edom was asserted by archaeologists led by Ezra Ben-Yosef and Tom Levy, by using a methodology called the punctuated equilibrium model in 2019.

According to the results of the analysis, the researchers thought that Pharaoh Shoshenk I of Egypt (the Biblical "Shishak"), who attacked Jerusalem in the 10th century BC, encouraged the trade and production of copper instead of destroying the region.

Tel Aviv University professor Ben Yosef stated "Our new findings contradict the view of many archaeologists that the Arava was populated by a loose alliance of tribes, and they’re consistent with the biblical story that there was an Edomite kingdom here.

[28] Strabo, writing around the time of Jesus, held that the Idumaeans, whom he identified as of Nabataean origin, constituted the majority of the population of western Judea, where they commingled with the Judaeans and adopted their customs,[29] a view not necessarily shared by modern scholarly works.

According to biblical narrative, at the time of King Amaziah of Judah (838 BC), Selah was its principal stronghold,[39] Eilat and Ezion-Geber its seaports.

When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king; the name of his city was Avith.

[41]The Hebrew word translated as leader of a clan is aluf, used solely to describe the dukes of Edom and Moab in the Torah.

Nothing further is recorded of the Edomites in the Tanakh until their defeat by King Saul of Israel in the late 11th century BC (1 Samuel 14:47).

An Edomite prince named Hadad escaped and fled to Egypt, and after David's death he returned and tried to start a rebellion but failed and went to Syria (Aramea).

Amaziah attacked and defeated the Edomites, seizing Selah, but the Israelites never subdued Edom completely (2 Kings 14:7; 2 Chronicles 25:11–12).

In the time of Nebuchadnezzar II the Edomites may have helped plunder Jerusalem and slaughter the Judaeans in 587 or 586 BCE (Psalms 137:7; Obadiah 1:11–14).

[53] Although the Idumaeans controlled the lands to the east and south of the Dead Sea, their peoples were held in contempt by the Israelites.

Compared to the neighboring Moabites and Ammonites, the name "Edom" completely disappeared from the area east of Arabah.

[52] According to ostraca from sites in Idumaea, i.e. southern Judah after the fall of the kingdom to the Babylonians, dating mainly to the 4th century BCE, a diverse population of Arabs, Edomites as well as Judeans and Phoenicians inhabited the area during the late Persian period.

However, there is evidence for cultural continuity between the Iron Age Edom and Idumea, based on settlement patterns and religious practices[clarification needed].

[95] Under Herod the Great, the Idumaea province was ruled for him by a series of governors, among whom were his brother Joseph ben Antipater and his brother-in-law Costobarus.

[100] By 66 CE, during the First Jewish–Roman War, the Zealot leader Simon bar Giora attacked the Jewish converts of Upper Idumaea and brought near complete destruction to the surrounding villages and countryside in that region.

[102] According to Josephus, during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE by Titus, 20,000 Idumaeans, under the leadership of John, Simon, Phinehas, and Jacob, joined the Zealots as they besieged the Temple.

[99] After the Jewish–Roman wars, the Idumaean people disappear from written history, though the geographical region of "Idumea" is still referred to at the time of Jerome.

[43] Josephus, when referring to Upper Idumaea, speaks of towns and villages immediately to the south and south-west of Jerusalem,[104] such as Hebron (Antiq.

13.9.1, Wars 1.2.5), the latter being a principal city of Idumaea after the influx of Idumaeans into the Hebron Hills, shortly after the demise of the kingdom of Judah and the Judean exile in the 6th-century BC.

[107] The Gospel of Mark states that the Idumeans joined Judeans, Jerusalemites, Tyrians, Sidonians and east Jordanians in meeting Jesus by the Sea of Galilee.

Qaus's popularity during the Persian and Hellenistic periods appears, according to Tebes, to have forced the purportedly pro-Yahwist authors of the Book of Chronicles to portray several Edomite persons as 'pious Levites'.

[116] Victor Sasson describes an Edomite text that parallels the Book of Job, which provides insight on the language, literature, and religion of Edom.

[117] Khirbat en-Nahas is a large-scale copper-mining site excavated by archaeologist Thomas Levy in what is now southern Jordan.

The scale of mining on the site is regarded as evidence of a strong, centralized 10th century BC Edomite kingdom.