Editing Thamud (section)

==Pre-Islamic sources==
===Ancient Near East===
The word Thamud appears in the ''[[Annals of Sargon II|Annals]]'' of the [[Assyria]]n king [[Sargon II]] (r. 722—705 BCE), inscribed at [[Dur-Sharrukin]].{{sfn|Eph'al|1982|p=36}} As the "Ta-mu-di", the peoples are mentioned together with the [[Ephah]], the "Ibadidi", and the "Marsimani" as part of "the distant desert-dwelling Arabs who knew neither overseers nor officials and had not brought their tribute to any king". Sargon defeated these tribes, according to his ''Annals'', and had them forcibly deported to [[Samaria]].{{sfn|Eph'al|1982|p=105}} Historian Israel Eph'al questions the plausibility of Sargon's account, as the briefness of Sargon's account seems to be at odds with the fact that such a campaign deep into Arabia would have been one of the longest wars in Assyrian history, and because no mention of plunder is provided. Eph'al instead speculates that the Thamūd and other Arab tribes may have made arrangements with Sargon to trade in Samaria, which Assyrian historians embellished as submission.{{sfn|Eph'al|1982|pp=105–107}}

A surviving letter from [[Nabonidus]], a sixth-century BC king of Babylon, includes an order that a "Te-mu-da-a Ar-ba-a-a", apparently "Thamudi Arab", be given several [[Talent (measurement)|talents of silver]]. This individual was probably a merchant or official in service of the Babylonian court.{{sfn|Eph'al|1982|p=189}}

===Greek and Roman===
Thamud is also mentioned in several accounts of [[Hellenic historiography|Greek historiography]]. Portions of [[Agatharchides]]'s (fl. 2nd century BCE) ''On the Erythrean Sea'' that survive in later quotations mention that the Thamud Arabs then inhabited a "stony and large shore" of the Arabian coastline, south of the [[Gulf of Aqaba]].{{sfn|Retsö|2003|pp=297–299}}{{sfn|Macdonald|2015|p=46}} In ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'', [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus]], a 1st-century BCE Greek historian, mentions Thamūd in his description of the "Arabian Gulf" (the Red Sea): "This coast, then, is inhabited by Arabs who are called Thamudeni; but the coast next to it is bounded by a very large gulf, off which lie scattered islands which are in appearance very much like the islands called the [[Echinades]]". The coast being referred to lies just prior to Yemen.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LacusCurtius • Diodorus Siculus — Book III Chapters 35–48 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3C*.html |access-date=2 May 2024 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=E. H. Warmington |first=M. A. |url=http://archive.org/details/greekgeography0000ehwa |title=Greek Geography |date=1934 |publisher=London & Toronto |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>

In a somewhat muddled passage, [[Pliny the Elder]], a Roman historian of the first century CE, appears to locate the Thamūd at the unidentified inland town of "Baclanaza". [[Ptolemy]], who lived in the second century, wrote that the "Thamuditai" tribe inhabited the Red Sea coastline, and that the "Thamoudenoi" tribe lived in inland northwestern Arabia—either or both may be references to the Thamūd—while his contemporary [[Uranius (geographer)|Uranius]] believed that the Thamūd neighbored the [[Nabateans]].{{sfn|Macdonald|2015|pp=46–47}} The Thamūd also joined the Byzantine armies as [[auxilia]]ries, and the ''[[Notitia Dignitatum]]'' mentions two units of Thamūd warriors serving the Byzantine Empire, one in Egypt and the other in Palestine.{{sfn|Hoyland|2001|p=69}}

===Pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions===
The Thamūd are infrequently mentioned in contemporary indigenous Arabian sources, although two [[Safaitic]] inscriptions carved some time between the first century BCE and the fourth century CE refer to "the year of the war between Gšm and the tribe of Thamūd [''snt ḥrb gšm ʾl ṯmd'']".{{sfn|Macdonald|2015|p=47}} An important exception is a temple at [[al-Ruwāfa]] in northwestern Saudi Arabia, built by the Thamūd themselves in the 160s CE.{{sfn|Macdonald|2015|p=49}} The temple inscriptions, known as the [[Ruwafa inscriptions]] (composed bilingually in [[Ancient Greek]] and [[Nabataean Aramaic]]) state that it was constructed by a priest named Šʿdt of the "Thamūd of Robathū" for [[Ilah|ʾlhʾ]], apparently the patron deity of the tribe, with the Roman government's support.{{sfn|Macdonald|2015|pp=54–56}} Robathū is likely the ancient name of modern al-Ruwāfa.{{sfn|Macdonald|2015|p=54}} The Thamūd in question were Roman auxiliary troops, as the inscription states explicitly:

<blockquote>
For the well-being of the rulers of the whole world... [[Marcus Aurelius|Marcus Aurelius Anthoninus]] and [[Lucius Verus|Lucius Aurelius Verus]], who are the conquerors of the Armenians. This is the temple that was built by the tribal unit of Thamūd, the leaders of their unit, so that it might be established by their hands and be their place of veneration forever... with the support of [[Quintus Antistius Adventus|Antistius Adventus]], the governor.{{sfn|Hoyland|2001|pp=68–69}}
</blockquote>

===Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry===
Thamud is mentioned in [[pre-Islamic Arabic poetry]]. Though they may have survived as late as the fourth century CE, they are already referred to by the poets as a long-lost tribe. For the poets, the name of Thamud was an attestation of the transience of all things.{{sfn|Hoyland|2001|p=224}} One poem attributed to [[Imru' al-Qais]] observes and compares a site of massacre to the peoples of Thamud.{{Sfn|Mackintosh-Smith|2019|p=29}}

Another poem, attributed to [[Umayya ibn Abi as-Salt]], a contemporary of [[Muhammad]], describes the story of the camel and Thamud. In Umayya's account, there is no Salih. Instead, the camel is killed by a certain "accursed Aḥmar", and the camel's foal stands upon a rock and curses Thamud, leading to the tribe's annihilation except for a single lame woman who is spared to spread the message of the destruction.{{sfn|Sinai|2011|p=407}} The authenticity of the poem is disputed.{{sfn|Sinai|2011|pp=407–410}}