Editing Thamud (section)

===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}}