diff --git a/mlx/ops.cpp b/mlx/ops.cpp
index 549d26512..32af8a078 100644
--- a/mlx/ops.cpp
+++ b/mlx/ops.cpp
@@ -622,6 +622,13 @@ std::vector<array> split(
 
 std::vector<array>
 split(const array& a, int num_splits, int axis, StreamOrDevice s /* = {} */) {
+  auto ax = axis < 0 ? axis + a.ndim() : axis;
+  if (ax < 0 || ax >= a.ndim()) {
+    std::ostringstream msg;
+    msg << "Invalid axis " << axis << " passed to split"
+        << " for array with shape " << a.shape() << ".";
+    throw std::invalid_argument(msg.str());
+  }
   auto q_and_r = std::ldiv(a.shape(axis), num_splits);
   if (q_and_r.rem) {
     std::ostringstream msg;
diff --git a/python/tests/test_ops.py b/python/tests/test_ops.py
index 5588ebd62..66e683303 100644
--- a/python/tests/test_ops.py
+++ b/python/tests/test_ops.py
@@ -1027,6 +1027,9 @@ class TestOps(mlx_tests.MLXTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(y.tolist(), [[3, 4]])
         self.assertEqual(z.tolist(), [[5, 6]])
 
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            mx.split(a, 3, axis=2)
+
         a = mx.arange(8)
         x, y, z = mx.split(a, [1, 5])
         self.assertEqual(x.tolist(), [0])