Ei eee ee 
Manes 
ON PETRA, THE ROCK-HEWN CAPITAL OF IDUMMA. 143 
Ishmael, the son of Abraham, who now constitute the 
nomadic tribes, and whose territory extends through Arabia 
Petrzea, and the table-land east of the Jordan Arabah valley. 
Hsau, the son of Isaac, married into the family of Ishmael, 
and settled in Mount Seir (Gen. xxxvi. 8), which ultimately 
became the possession of his descendants; and thus was 
established a double family relationship between the nomadic 
descendants of Ishmael and the more settled inhabitants of 
Mount Seir. Thus we may, with much certainty, refer the 
early history of Petra (then called “ Selah”) to the time of 
Esau, or of his immediate descendants, the Dukes of Hdom, 
about B.c. 1700. The Edomites were doubtless at first Mono- 
theists, worshipping the God of Abraham; but Assyrian 
inscriptions belonging to the seventh or eighth century 8.c., 
together with those of Safa, afford evidence that at a later 
period the Arabs, including probably the Hdomites, were 
polytheists, and erected statues to their gods. An Assyrian 
inscription recounting the return of Hassar-haddon from an 
expedition into the Arabian Desert, states that the Arab 
King X. arrived at Nineveh with numerous presents, petition- 
ing humbly for the restoration of their gods, and so effectually 
that the monarch restored the images, together with the Arab 
Princess Tabura, who had been captured, and who returned 
to her own country along with her gods. The deities ulti- 
mately became so numerous (being, probably, chiefs of dis- 
tinction) that on the authority of Le Bon, when the images 
were collected together in the ancient temple of Mecca called 
the Kaaba, the very Pantheon of Arabia, they amounted, in 
the time of Mahomet, to three hundred and sixty in number, 
collected from various tribes, thus constituting a bond of unity 
between all the Arabian populations, which became of great 
service to Mahomet in his work of unification. The Kaaba 
still remains. ‘Tradition carries its foundation back to the 
time of Abraham, the father of the race; and Mahomet, 
when preaching the doctrine of the One God, had only to 
point out to the Arabs that it was the God of Abraham, the 
founder of the Kaaba, whom he proclaimed. 
The transition from the worship of the Invisible God to 
that of the heavenly hosts, especially of the sun, is easy 
amongst an untutored people. ‘There is reason to believe 
that at a very early period the worship of Baal was general 
throughout Edom and Moab.* Amongst the most ancient of 
* Baal signifies “ Lord,” and, according to Prof. Robertson Smith, is not 
a proper name; but is applicable to the God of any tribe or locality.—Con- 
temporary Review, April, 1887. 
