Tihamah or Tihama ( ar, تِهَامَةُ ') refers to the
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
coastal plain of the
Arabian Peninsula from the
Gulf of Aqaba to the
Bab el Mandeb
The Bab-el-Mandeb (Arabic: , , ) is a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Name
The strait derives its name from the dangers attendin ...
.
Etymology
Tihāmat is the
Proto-Semitic language
Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical reconstructed proto-language ancestral to the Semitic languages. There is no consensus regarding the location of the Proto-Semitic ''Urheimat''; scholars hypothesize that it may have originated in the Levant (m ...
's term for '
sea'.
Tiamat (or
Tehom, in masculine form) was the ancient Mesopotamian god of the sea and of chaos. The word appears in the Hebrew Bible as
təhōm (
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...
1:2), meaning "primordial ocean, abyss".
History
Era of Muhammad
During the era of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...
, many military expeditions took place here including the
Battle of Hamra al-Asad and caravan raids. Beginning in January 623
CE, some of the Muslims resorted to the tradition of raiding the Meccan caravans that traveled along the eastern coast of the
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
from
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...
to the
Syrian region
Syria (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other s ...
.
While at Ḥamra' al-Asad (), Muhammad made an agreement with
Mabad al-Khuzaah Mabad al-Khuzaah was a companion of Muhammad who helped him during the Invasion of Hamra al-Asad at Tihamah, in which Mabad pledged not to conceal anything from him. Mabad was then sent to Mecca to spread false information. In Mecca, Mabad met wit ...
at Tihamah, in which Mabad pledged not to conceal anything from him. Mabad was then sent to Mecca to dissuade
Abu Sufyan ibn Harb from fighting.
In Mecca, Mabad met with Abu Sufyan and exaggerated that Muhammad had gathered a great force to fight Abu Sufyan. Abu Sufyan and his companions were planning a massive and decisive attack on
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
to finish off the Muslims once and for all. Hearing Mabad's talk of the great military strength of Muhammad, Abu Sufyan retreated from his plan of an immediate attack on the Muslims. In this fashion Muhammad successfully managed to prevent the massive onslaught the Meccans were planning.
Geography
The region is sometimes subdivided into two parts, ''Tihāmat Al-
Ḥijaz'' (; northern part) and ''Tihāmat ʿ
Asīr'' (; southern part).
The Yemeni part ( ar, تِهَامَة ٱلْيَمَن, Tihāmat Al-Yaman) is an extension of ''Tihamat ʿAsir''.
The plain is constricted and attains its greatest widths () south of
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
and Mecca.
The cities of
Yanbu,
Jeddah and
Al Qunfudhah
Al Qunfudhah (), also known as Kunfuda, is a Saudi city in the Tihamah region on the coast of the Red Sea. Its population is the fourth largest in Makkah Province, the area of the governate is estimated at 5,195 km², which occupies about 3.65 ...
are located in the Hijazi part of the Tihamah. The
Asiri-
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast an ...
i part of the Tihami plain includes the cities of
Jizan and
Al Hudaydah. The temperatures in Tihamah are probably some of the hottest on earth. ''Tihamah'' in Arabic means severe heat and lack of wind.
Flora
The extensive sandy coastal plain (the Tihamah) is a hot and inhospitable area parallel to the Red Sea, and most of it, north of
Zabid
Zabid ( ar, زَبِيد) (also spelled Zabīd, Zabeed and Zebid) is a town with an urban population of around 52,590 people on Yemen's western coastal plain. It is one of the oldest towns in Yemen, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since ...
(Yemen), is devoid of trees. However, in a few places there is dense shrub composed almost exclusively of ''
Acacia ehrenbergiana
''Vachellia flava'', synonym ''Acacia ehrenbergiana'', is a species of drought-resistant bush or small tree, commonly known as salam in Arabic. It is found in the Sahara, the northern Sahel, parts of East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ...
'' and it may be assumed that this was originally the dominant natural vegetation of the Tihamah. ''
Salvadora persica'' occurs in thickets, and there are odd trees of ''
Balanites aegyptiaca'' and colonies of wild doum palm (''
Hyphaene thebaica
''Hyphaene thebaica'', with common names doum palm (Ar: دوم) and gingerbread tree (also mistakenly doom palm), is a type of palm tree with edible oval fruit. It is a native to the Arabian Peninsula and also to the northern half and western pa ...
''), as well as planted date palms (''
Phoenix dactylifera'').
Archaeology
Over sixteen
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
ic
menhirs were discovered by Edward Keall, director of the
Royal Ontario Museum's Canadian Archaeological Mission near the village of
Al-Mutaynah () in the Tihami area. The stones were made of
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...
and weighted up to . Three of the upright stones measured around tall with one fallen being over in length. Copper tools suggested to date to the same era as the construction of the stones were dated to around 2400 to 1800 BCE. An even more archaic
lithic
Lithic may refer to:
*Relating to stone tools
**Lithic analysis, the analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts
**Lithic core, the part of a stone which has had flakes removed from it
**Lithic flake, the portion of a rock removed to ...
industry was found along with pottery
sherds that were dated between 1200 and 800 BCE.
See also
*
Al Harrah, Saudi Arabia
The ''Ḥarrat al-Shām'' ( ar, حَرَّة ٱلشَّام), also known as the Black Desert, is a region of rocky, basaltic desert straddling southern Syria and the northern Arabian Peninsula. It covers an area of some in the modern-day Sy ...
*
Idrisid Emirate of Asir
*
Kingdom of Hejaz
*
List of battles of Muhammad
*
Najahids
*
Najd
Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the ...
*
Rasulids
*
Sulaymanids
The Sulaymanids () were a sharif dynasty from the line of the Muhammad's grandson Hasan bin Ali which ruled around 1063–1174. Their centre of power lay in Jazan in currently Saudi Arabia, Southern Arabia back then since 1020 where
they soon ...
*
Sarat Mountains
** '
Asir Mountains
The Asir Mountains ( ar, جِبَال عَسِيْر, '; ('Difficult')) is a mountainous region in southwestern Saudi Arabia running parallel to the Red Sea. It comprises areas in the Asir Region of Saudi Arabia, however it also generally inc ...
**
Fifa Mountains
The Fifa Mountains or Faifa Mountains ( ar, جِبَالُ فَيْفَاءَ, Jibāl Fayfāʾ) are located in the vicinity of the town of Faifa' in Jazan Province, southwest Saudi Arabia.
Description
They are as high as and they cover an ...
**
Hijaz Mountains
The Hijaz Mountains ( ar, جِبَال ٱلْحِجَاز, Jibāl al-Ḥijāz ()) or "Hejaz Range" is a mountain range located in the Hejazi region of western Saudi Arabia. The range runs north and south along the eastern coast of the Red Sea, ...
***
Midian Mountains
Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{Middle Eastern megaliths
Megalithic monuments in the Middle East
Geography of Saudi Arabia
Landforms of Saudi Arabia
Plains of Asia
Historical regions in Saudi Arabia
Historical regions
Tiamat