THEMA (ebr. Tēma'; gr. Θαψάν). — Name of an Ishmaelite tribe (Gen. 25, 15; I Par. 1, 30) and of the district inhabited by them, in northern Arabia, on the borders of the Syrian desert and west of the Gulf of Elath (Is. 21, 14; Ier. 25, 23).
The name also occurs in the Assyrian texts of the inscriptions of Theglathpalasar; it has survived in the oasis of Teima, four days’ journey southwest of el-Gōf and halfway between Damascus and Mecca. The Themaites were well known as caravaners and raiders (Iob 6, 19). An Aramaic stele dating from the sixth century B.C. has been discovered in the oasis of T.