Tihamah is the Red Sea coastal plain of the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb.
Etymology
Tihāmat is the Proto-Semitic language's term for '
sea'.
Tiamat was the ancient
god of the sea and of chaos. The word appears in masculine form in the
Hebrew language Bible as
Tehom (Genesis 1:2), meaning "primordial ocean, abyss".
History
Era of Muhammad
During the era of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad, many military expeditions took place here including the Battle of Hamra al-Asad and caravan raids. Beginning in January 623
Common Era, some of the Muslims resorted to the tradition of raiding the Meccan caravans that traveled along the eastern coast of the
Red Sea from
Mecca to the Syrian region.
While at Ḥamra' al-Asad (حَمْرَاء ٱلْأَسَد), Muhammad made an agreement with Mabad al-Khuzaah 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.
Geography
The region is sometimes subdivided into two parts,
Tihāmat Al-Hejaz (تِهَامَة ٱلْحِجَاز; northern part) and
Tihāmat ʿAsīr (تِهَامَة عَسِيْر; southern part).
The Yemeni part () is an extension of
Tihamat ʿAsir.
The plain is constricted and attains its greatest widths, , south of
Medina and Mecca.
The cities of
Yanbu,
Jeddah and
Al Qunfudhah are located in the Hijazi part of the Tihamah. The Asiri-
part of the Tihami plain includes the cities of
Jizan and
Al Hudaydah.
Climate
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 (Yemen), is devoid of trees. However, in a few places there is dense shrub composed almost exclusively of
Vachellia flava 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), as well as planted
(
Phoenix dactylifera).
Archaeology
Over sixteen
were discovered by Edward Keall, director of the Royal Ontario Museum's Canadian Archaeological Mission near the village of
Al-Mutaynah (ٱلْمُتَيْنَة) in the Tihami area. The stones were made of
granite 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 industry was found along with pottery
that were dated between 1200 and 800 BCE.
See also
Notes
Citations
Further reading
External links
