| abstract | - Hor Haggidgad (Hebrew: חֹר הַגִּדְגָּד, Ḥōr Hag-Giḏgāḏ, 'cave of the Gidgad') is one of the stops of the Israelites on the Exodus journey. It is mentioned in Book of Numbers 33:32-33 as a place where the Israelites stopped during the Exodus, probably meaning 'cave of GidGad/GudGod'. it is called Gudgodah in Deuteronomy 10:7. Its location is uncertain but has been identified as possible near Wadi Hadahid or Wadi Ghadhaghedh in the Eastern Sinai although some see this as etymologically impossible. Hor Haggidgad could be the cleft in the rock of the mountain entering Petra At the time of the Exodus it was a city, in the land of Edom but probably not yet a major city. In subsequent years it dominated the caravan trade up and down the Arabah from the Sead Sea to Elat at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba and became the fortress of the land of the Nabateans. Most of its rock cut tombs date from that period. Famed for their good works they built aqueducts,water channels, lines of wells, cisterns and other very sophisticated means of keeping the desert habitable Petra is also mentioned in Egyptian campaign accounts and in the Amarna letters as the place of the Apiru brigands and raiders who engaged in a war of conquest against the Egyptian govenors of Caanan.
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