Midian (/ˈmɪdiən/; Hebrew: מִדְיָן Mīḏyān; Arabic: مَدْيَن, romanized: Madyan; Ancient Greek: Μαδιάμ, Madiam;[a] Taymanitic: 𐪃𐪕𐪚𐪌 MDYN) is a geographical region in West Asia mentioned in the Tanakh 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",[1] an area which contained at least 14 inhabited sites during the Late Bronze and early Iron Ages.

[citation needed] Later writers have questioned the identified sanctuary locations but supported the thesis of a Midianite league.

George Mendenhall suggests that the Midianites were a non-Semitic confederate group,[10] and William Dumbrell maintains the same: We believe that Haupt's proposal is to be adopted, and that Midian, rather than depicting a land, is a general term for an amorphous league of the Late Bronze Age, of wide geographical range, who, after a series of reverses, the most prominent of which are recorded in Judges 6–7, largely disappeared from the historical scene...[11]The area of Timna valley contains large deposits of copper that had been mined from the prehistoric times onward.

[16] The site also continued to be used during the Midianite occupation in the area, which is usually dated to terminal Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age.

[18] In addition to the discovery of post-holes, large quantities of red and yellow decayed cloth with beads woven into it, along with numerous copper rings/wire used to suspend the curtains, were found all along two walls of the shrine.

[27] During the Baal-Peor episode, when Moabite women seduced Israelite men, Zimri, the son of a Simeonite chief, got involved with a Midianite woman called Cozbi.

[35][36][37][38] The lands of Midian are mentioned in sura Al-Qasas (The Stories), verses 20–28, of the Quran as the place where Moses escaped upon learning of the chiefs conspiring to kill him.

Madyan was warned by the prophet Shuʿaib to repent of practicing polytheism, using false weights and measures and lying in wait along the road.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali in his commentary (1934) writes, "The fate of the Madyan people is described in the same terms as that of the Thamūd in verse 78 above.

But a supplementary detail is mentioned in [Quran] 26:189, 'the punishment of a day of overshadowing gloom,' which may be understood to mean a shower of ashes and cinders accompanying a volcanic eruption.

"[41] Excavations at the oasis of Al-Bad', identified as the city of Midian mentioned in classical and Islamic sources, have uncovered evidence of an occupation spanning from the 4th millennium BC.

[44] The pottery is bichrome / polychrome style and it dates as early as the 13th century BC; its many geometric, human, and animal motifs are painted in browns and dark reds on a pinkish-tan slip.