IDUMEA. 
deposit of Eastern wealth. The troops of Antigonus (b.c. 301), in a sudden attack 
on the city, found there large quantities of frankincense and myrrh, with five hundred 
talents of silver. Even the Roman conquest, by giving greater security to the country, 
largely augmented its commerce. One great road stretched from Ailah to Petra, and 
thence to Damascus. Another from Petra stretched to the west of the Lake Asphaltites, 
to Jerusalem, Askelon, and the general coast of the Mediterranean. The incursions of 
the Desert tribes were kept at bay by Roman stations, and in some instances by Roman 
towns founded along the road. 
Though the region was remarkably mountainous, the palm-groves, and the romantic 
beauty of the country, were well known to the Roman poets, with whom, however, 
Idumea was a general name for Palestine, 
“ Primus Idumeas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas.” ViRG. G. iii. 
In the fifth century, Palestina Tertia comprehended the countries east and south 
of the Dead Sea. On the erection of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem at the Council 
of Clialcedon, the three Palestines formed its territory. 1 
But a formidable change was to break down at once the religion and the prosperity 
of the land. a.d. 630, Mahomet invaded the country. 2 The formation of the Mahometan 
kingdoms of Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, destroyed the traffic of Idumea. The roads 
were neglected, the population perished, and the land was abandoned to the savage 
and the'wilderness. 3 In the twelfth century, the Crusaders under Baldwin I. made 
expeditions through the interior; but in 1183, they were finally expelled by Saladin. 4 
From this period Petra was unknown to Europeans for six centuries. At length 
Volney, in his Syrian narrative (about 1785), told, as an Arab rumour, that on the 
south of the Dead Sea there were more than thirty ruined towns. In 1806, Seetzen 
passed round the south end of the Dead Sea, but without reaching Edom. In 1812, 
Burckhardt explored the Wady Mousa (Yalley of Moses). The country has been 
since largely explored by Laborde, Robinson, and other intelligent travellers. 
1 Reland, quoted by Robinson, ii. 563. 5 Abulf. Ann. Mobam. i. 171. 
3 Ritter, Gesch. 209. 4 Gauf. Yinisauf, quoted by Robinson, ii. 568. 
