Ham. These Adites were probably the people of Atlantis or Ad-lantis.
"They are personified by a monarch to whom everything is ascribed, and
to whom is assigned several centuries of life." ("Ancient History of the
East," Lenormant and Chevallier, vol. ii., p. 295.), Ad came from the
northeast. "He married a thousand wives, had four thousand sons, and
lived twelve hundred years. His descendants multiplied considerably.
After his death his sons Shadid and Shedad reigned in succession over
the Adites. In the time of the latter the people of Ad were a thousand
tribes, each composed of several thousands of men. Great conquests are
attributed to Shedad; he subdued, it is said, all Arabia and Irak. The
migration of the Canaanites, their establishment in Syria, and the
Shepherd invasion of Egypt are, by many Arab writers, attributed to an
expedition of Shedad." (Ibid., p. 296.)

Shedad built a palace ornamented with superb columns, and surrounded by
a magnificent garden. It was called Irem. "It was a paradise that Shedad
had built in imitation of the celestial Paradise, of whose delights he
had heard." ("Ancient History of the East," p. 296.) In other words, an
ancient, sun-worshipping, powerful, and conquering race overran Arabia
at the very dawn of history; they were the sons of Adlantis: their king
tried to create a palace and garden of Eden like that of Atlantis.

The Adites are remembered by the Arabians as a great and civilized race.
"They are depicted as men of gigantic stature; their strength was equal
to their size, and they easily moved enormous blocks of stone." (Ibid.)
They were architects and builders. They raised many monuments of their
power; and hence, among the Arabs, arose the custom of calling great
ruins "buildings of the Adites." To this day the Arabs say "as old as
Ad." In the Koran allusion is made to the edifices they built on "high
places for vain uses;" expressions proving that their "idolatry was