Amalekites, a Bedouin tribe, who, according to Arabian traditions, lived in very early times near the Persian gulf, but were gradually driven westward by the Assyrians. When they were first known by the Israelites, they inhabited the peninsula of Sinai and its neighborhood to the north, thus controlling the routes across the isthmus of Suez. They are mentioned as defeated by the four kings, and again as harassing the march of the Israelites out of Egypt. They were afterward defeated at Rephidim, but in turn vanquished the Israelites near Hormah, where they had the Canaanites as allies. They are mentioned several times after this, but no longer as powerful; and they seem to have been almost exterminated by Saul and David.