Excerpt from A Prize Poem: Recited in the Theatre, Oxford, June IV, MDCCCXLV The capital of that portion of Arabia which is thence called Petraea, - occupies a mountain-hollow in the rocky region known to the readers of Scripture by the name of seir; a territory which extends from the north-eastern extremity of the Arabian gulph to the south of the Dead Sea; and which the Almighty assigned to the Edomites, or the descendants of Esau. It is twice mentioned in the Bible by the equivalent Hebrew name selah, or the Roe/c and thenceforward, (namely, from the seventh or eighth cen tury before our zera, ) it obtains no further notice for four hundred years. During this interval, the N abathaaans, or descendants of N ebaioth, the eldest son of Ishmael, had expelled the Edomites from their ancient stronghold, and driven them northward; where their territory was recog nised for a few centuries under the Hellenized name of Idumaea. Then it was that one portion of the prophecy concerning the descendants of Esau obtained its fulfil ment: they faded from the world's eye, and ceased to be a nation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.