Raamah
Raamah is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Arabia in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Known today as Najran. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Raamah appears in Genesis 10:7 as a son of Cush and grandson of Ham in the Table of Nations, alongside Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, and Sabteca. Raamah's sons are listed as Sheba and Dedan, peoples who became prominent in Arabian trade. The name Raamah also appears in Ezekiel 27:22, where the merchants of Raamah and Sheba are described as trading with Tyre in the finest spices, precious stones, and gold. This commercial portrait places Raamah squarely within the lucrative Arabian incense and luxury goods trade that connected southern Arabia to the Mediterranean world. The association of Raamah with both the Cushite genealogy and Arabian commerce reflects the ancient interconnections between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula across the Red Sea. Raamah's descendants Sheba and Dedan became among the most frequently mentioned Arabian peoples in Scripture, appearing in prophetic oracles and wisdom literature. The genealogical and commercial references together paint Raamah as a prosperous trading people inhabiting the southern Arabian Peninsula.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Raamah is tentatively identified with Najran in southwestern Saudi Arabia or with a location in the vicinity of Ma'in in Yemen, both regions associated with the ancient incense trade. Some scholars connect it with the Sabaean city of Ragmat (Ragmatum) mentioned in South Arabian inscriptions. The broader region of southwestern Arabia has yielded extensive archaeological evidence of ancient kingdoms, including the Sabaean, Minaean, and Qatabanian civilizations, which controlled the production and trade of frankincense and myrrh. Inscriptions, temples, and irrigation systems such as the famous Marib Dam attest to the sophistication of these societies. The specific identification of Raamah remains uncertain, but its association with the spice trade aligns well with the archaeological profile of the region.
Verse Appearances (1)
Ezek
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]