IDUMAEA ĭd’ yŏŏ me’ ə. Grecized form of Heb. אֱדֹ֔ום, mentioned in connection with the crowds who followed Jesus (Mark 3:8). The Graeco-Roman province carved out of southern Pal. after the Alexandrian conquest contained more than had the ancient Edom. The new boundaries included the deserts of the Negev and the Shephelah as well as the sites of Lachish and Hebron. Because they had aided Nebuchadnezzar in his conquest of the Jewish state they are the subjects of some of the bitterest prophetic invective in the OT (Lam 4:21; Ezek 25:12; 35:3; Obad 10ff., et al.). Edom was overthrown by the Nabataean Arabs about 300 b.c. who made the red rockhewn city of Petra their capital. Herod the Great was appointed governor of Idumaea by Alexander Jannaeus after it was conquered by the Jews first under Judas Maccabaeus in 165 b.c. and finally by John Hyrcanus in 126 b.c. Because of this subjection of his country Herod considered himself a Jew.