מדיין

The Avvim (or Avvites) were an ancient people who inhabited the region of Gaza before being destroyed and displaced by the Caphtorim (generally identified with Cretans or Philistines) who came from Caphtor (Deuteronomy 2:23). A remnant of the Avvim appears to have survived in the village of Avva within the territory of Benjamin (Joshua 18:23). The Avvites are also mentioned as one of the foreign peoples settled in Samaria by the Assyrians after the fall of the northern kingdom, where they worshipped their own deities Nibhaz and Tartak (2 Kings 17:31). They represent one of the pre-Philistine inhabitants of the southwestern coastal plain.