Location and Possible Connection with Edom

The various ancient texts indicate that the Shasu were indigenous to Canaan. However, it is difficult to discern the specific region they inhabited. The following places, or perhaps tribal lands, associated with the Shasu are all unknown:

• S‘rr (Sarara?)

• Rbn (Labana?)

• Psps (Payspays?)

• Smt (Samath/Samata?)

• Yhw3 (Yahwe?)

• Wrbwr (Arbel/Turbir?)

Giveon suggests that S‘rr should be seen as biblical Seir, located in the territory of ancient Edom (Giveon, Les Bédouins, 79–80). However, Rainey and Notley equate this to a northern location in the Lebanese Beqa’a mentioned in the Amarna Letters (EA 371) as Sehlalu (URUŠe-eh-la-li; Rainey and Notley, Sacred Bridge, 103). Another text dating to the time of Rameses II mentions the Shasu in connection with a “mountain of S‘rr” (Giveon, Les Bédouins, 100). The biblical text mentions Edomite Seir numerous times in connection to hills and mountains (e.g. Gen 14:6; 36:8; Deut 1:2; 2:1).

A reference to the Shasu in Papyrus Anastasi VI, dating to the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah (1213–1203 bc), includes a reference to place called ’A-du-ma, which Giveon interpreted as a reference to biblical Edom (Giveon, Les Bédouins, 132). The passage states: “We have completed the transfer of the Shasu tribes of ’A-du-ma (Edom?) past the fortress ‘Merneptah-hotep-her-Ma‘at, life, prosperity, and health,’ which is in Tjeku to the pools of Per-Atum of ‘Merneptah-hotep-her-Ma‘at,’ which are in Tjeku, in order to keep them alive and in order to keep their cattle alive” (Papyrus Anastasi VI, lines 51–57; Giveon, Les Bédouins, 130–34; translation adapted from Rainey and Notley, /Sacred Bridge 103).

The Hebrew word Edom (אדום, 'dwm) means “red” (see Gen 25:30) and as a toponym refers to the southeastern fringes of Canaan or northwestern Arabia, which are characterized by reddish sandstone. The name Edom may be reflected in the 13th-century Egyptian name ’Aduma. If this is the case, the passage suggests that at least some of the Shasu tribes were from this area. Moreover, numerous personal names were recorded on the walls of the Karnak temple (dating to Ramesses II) and Medinet Habu (the mortuary temple of Ramesses III, who reigned from 1184–1153 bc) that feature the theophoric element qs (e.g. Q-s-n-r-m), the name of the primary Edomite deity Qos (see Simons, Handbook, 157–58, 164–69; see also Kelley, “Toward a New Synthesis,” 257, n. 8). Oded suggests that these names may have been clan names of the Shasu (Oded, “Egyptian References,” 49). In either case, the inscriptions demonstrate that the Egyptians were familiar with the inhabitants of what would later become biblical Edom by the early 13th century bc.