Tamudæi

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Tamudæi was an Arabian town mentioned by Pliny. Thamud (Arabic: ثَمُوْد, romanized: Ṯamūd) were an ancient Arabian tribe

Variants

• Tamudæi (Pliny.vi.32)
• Thamud (Arabic: ثَمُوْد, romanized: Ṯamūd)

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Tamar = Tamudæi (Pliny.vi.32).

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions Arabia....Next come the Hemnatæ, the Aualitæ, the towns of Domata and Hegra, the Tamudæi⁴⁹, with the town of Badanatha, the Carrei, with the town of Cariati⁵⁰, the Achoali, with the town of Foth, and the Minæi, who derive their origin, it is supposed,⁵¹ from Minos, king of Crete, and of whom the Carmæi are a tribe.

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9 Their district is still called Thamud, according to Ansart.

50 Still called Cariatain, according to Ansart.

51 A ridiculous fancy, probably founded solely on the similarity of the name.

Thamud town

Thamud (Arabic: ثمود) is a town in northeastern Yemen. It is located at around 17°18′0″N 49°55′0″E.

Thamud Arabian tribe

Thamud (Arabic: ثَمُوْد, romanized: Ṯamūd) were an ancient Arabian tribe or tribal confederation that occupied the northwestern Arabian peninsula between the late-eighth century BCE, when they are attested in Assyrian sources, and the fifth century CE, when they served as Roman auxiliaries.

History

The Kingdom of Thamud was the first existing kingdom on the Arabian peninsula, according to Assyrian and Roman sources. Arabian tradition holds that the Thamud kingdom was destroyed by God. It had no written law, but the tribal leader played the role of ruler. The Thamud are mentioned in contemporary Mesopotamian, Classical, and Arabian sources, including in inscriptions in a temple erected in the 160s for the god ʾlhʾ, by the Thamud themselves. It is possible that multiple unrelated groups took on the name of Thamud; they probably spoke Old Arabic. The Thamud are not specially connected to the Thamudic scripts, an aggregate term for understudied writing systems of Ancient Arabia.

The Quran mentions the Thamud as an example of an ancient polytheistic people who were destroyed by God for their sins. According to the Quran and the Islamic exegetical tradition, the Thamud were an early Arab tribe who rejected the message of the prophet Salih. When they cut the hamstring of a female camel that God had sent down for them, despite the prophet's warnings, they were annihilated, except for Salih and his followers.