مدونة عارف العوضي: History of Dilmun

Introduction

Dilmun was the first name of Bahrain Island and the east coast of Saudi Arabia. Dilmun has a great history which we must know about it. Let us go through that history and learn how our grand grand fathers spent their life in very active and dynamic way and faith as well.

Dilmun or sometimes called Telmon is the old name of Bahrain. The first mention of Dilmun land was found in Sumerian cuneiform mud tablets dated to the end of fourth millennium BC in Uruk city. Uruk was the largest settlement in south of Mesopotamia about 3200B.C. Figure1 shows the location of Uruk city.

Figur 1, location of old Uruk city. It is located to the south of Iraq near Basra city. (Photo from

www.zionministry.com/PlanofGod/Chapt2.html)

Dilmun was described as "the place where the sun rises" , "the Land of the Living" and the place of hero to flood and this is as per Sumerian creation myth.

Dilmun is also described in the epic stors of Enki and Ninhursag as the place where Creation occurred. Enki was originally chief God of the city of Eridu, but later spread throughout Mesopotamia and Ninhursag was the earth and mother-god, one of the seven great deities of Sumer. Eridu was the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia, founded c 5400 BCE

Also Ninlil, the Sumerian goddess of air and south wind had her home in Dilmun. It is also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh who was an historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, he lived about 2700 B.C. So as we understand Dilmun land was not only a land for living like any other place in the world but it was considered as a sacred land.

The first great hero of world literature, Gilgamesh the king of Uruk, traveled to Dilmun to search for the secret of eternal youth. He found it deep in the waters of the Persian Gulf, off Bahrain, but lost it when the flower which restored the youth of those who sought it, was stolen by a snake, lurking in a pool as Gilgamesh returned to his kingdom.

The exact location of Dilmun is unclear, it might be associated with the islands of Bahrain, Eastern province of Saudi Arabia, Qatar till Oman. Sargon II, king of Assyria in the eighth century BC, asserted that he had occupied the area stretching 'from Bit-Yahkin on the shore of the salt Sea as far as the border of Dilmun'.

In an inscription of king Lugalannemundu of Adab (c.2400 BC) eight lands are listed which the king claims control over: the Cedar Land, Elam, Marhashi, Gutium, Subir, Martu, Sutium and Eanna. The last seven names are in geographic order from south-western Iran up through Assyria and Syria and then down into southern Mesopotamia itself. So "the Cedar Land" would be to the east of Elam in south-western Iran. According to myth Utu, the Sumerian sun-god "rises from the land of aromatics and cedar." And lastly in a Dumuzi lament there is the line: "The cedar, the consecrated of Hashur, The shade of Dilmun". When we add all of this together we can conclude the followings:

1)The Cedar Lands are to the east of Elam (and Sumer),

2)Dilmun is the place where the sun rises,

3)Utu (the sun) rises from the "Land of aromatics and cedar",

4)The cedar is the "shade of Dilmun"

So it is clear that Dilmun was to the east and was a land full of cedar. It was either in southern Iran, Baluchistan or even possibly the Harrapan/Indus valley civilization- Indus valley was located between Iran border with Pakistan to somewhere north of India. How do we reconcile the Paradise-Dilmun of myth with the later historical Dilmun?

In early antiquity Dilmun the term may have been used to describe a land to the east of Mesopotamia. Later the same name was used to describe a closer land that was a trading partner (Bahrain island).

The Mesopotamian texts described Dilmun as situated at the 'mouth' of two bodies of water. The Sinai peninsula, shaped as an inverted triangle indeed begins where the Red Sea separates into two arms - the gulf of Suez on the west, and the Gulf of Elat (which is now called Gulf of Aqaba) on the east.

The texts spoke of mountainous Dilmun. The Sinai peninsula is indeed made up of a high mountainous southern part, a mountainous central plateau, and a northern plain (surrounded by mountains), which levels off via sandy hills to the Mediterranean coastline. Sargon of Akkad claimed that he reached as 'washed his weapons' in the Mediterranean; 'the sea lands' - the lands along the Mediterranean coast - 'three times I encircled, Dilmun my hand captured'. Sargon II, king of Assyria in the eighth century BC, asserted that he had conquered the area stretching 'from Bit-Yahkin on the shore of the salt Sea as far as the border of Dilmun'. The name 'Salt Sea' has survived to this day as a Hebrew name for the Dead Sea and this is another confirmation that Dilmun lay in proximity to the Dead Sea.

The evidence about Neolithic human cultures in Dilmun comes from flint tools and weapons. From later periods, cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals, pottery and even correspondence between rulers throw light on Dilmun. Written records mentioning the archipelago exist in Sumerian, Akkadian, Persian, Greek, and Latin sources.

Delmun can be divided into four historical periods as follows:

Formative Dilmun (3200 - 2200 BC):

It is in this period that the earliest mention of name "Dilmun" occurs in Mesopotamian inscriptions.

Early Dilmun (2200 - 1600 BC):

This was the Golden Age of Dilmun during which it reached the peak of its prosperity and influence. Dilmun controlled the trading routes between Indus valley and Mesopotamia in which the Economy of the country grown up which reflected on Dilmun people life through building fortified cities, magnificent temples and thousands of burial mounds.

Middle Dilmun (1600 - 1000 BC):

Mesopotamia was under Kassite rule at this time. The correspondence between rulers, cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals and pottery on display is all evidence of interaction between Dilmun and Mesopotamia.

Late Dilmun (1000 - 330 BC):

This period was marked by the decline of the copper trade which was the mager trading product of Dilmun, so long controlled by Dilmun, and the switch to a less important role in the new flourishing trade of incense and spices.

Dilmun and Trading

Dilmun was a trade partner of Mesopotamian civilizations, source of raw material, copper, and trading port where merchandise can be imported and exported from and to Mesopotamia and the Indus valley Civilization trade route. As such Dilmun associated with Sumer in culture and trade by supplied it with certain desired species of woods. Dilmun men toiled in dark and dusty mines, digging out the copper and gemstones for which Dilmun was famous.

In another Sumerian text, Dilmun was described as a blessed, prosperous land dotted with great dwellings, to which the countries of the entire civilized world known to Sumerians brought their goods. A number of cuneiform economic documents excavated in Uruk the biblical Uruk of chaldees one of the most important cities of Sumer, speak of ivory and objects made of ivory as being imported from Dilmun to Urak. It is expected that the ivory was imported to Dilmun from ancient Indus civilization as this area was rich in ivory.

The commerce business consisted of wide range of products such as timber and precious woods, ivory, lapis lazuli, gold, and luxury goods such as carnelian and glazed stone beads, pearls from the Persian Gulf, shell and bone inlays, were among the goods sent to Mesopotamia in exchange for silver, tin, woolen textiles, olive oil and grains. Copper ingots, certainly, bitumen, which occurred naturally in Mesopotamia, may have been exchanged for cotton textiles and domestic fowl, major products of the Indus region that are not native to Mesopotamia.

Weapons and implements also were part of trading, these includes Spear and lance heads and arrow heads, Knifes, Swords and Dirks, Blade axes and celts, Socketed axes, Maces, Razors, Chisels, Saws, Sickle blade, Tubular drills, Fish hooks and other different types of tools.

One of the fact which was found that the weights and measures used at Dilmun were in fact identical to those used by the Indus, and were not those used in Southern Mesopotamia and this shows the strong trade relation between Dilmun and Indus valley.

Dilmun also was famous with its agricultural areas due to artesian waters which provided the ancient world with highly prized onions and dates. But the collapse of the Indian civilization in the 8 centuries BC was eventually conducive to the collapse of Delmon civilization.

One of the early sites discovered in Bahrain talking about that the, king of Assyria Sennacherib (707–681 BC), attacked northeast Arabia and captured the Bahrain island. However, The last mention of Dilmun came on 567 BC during the Neo-Babylonian dynasty. As shown in the below figure the New-Babylonian empire border was from North of Persian gulf extended through Iraq to Syria, Palestine and ending at east of red sea coast. The area occupied by the empire curved, this could be because of availability of water and agricultural areas.

The name of Dilmun fell from use after the collapse of Neo-Babylon in 538 BC. In that time the Macedonian Greek Alexander the great was about to add Bahrain – which they called it Tylos – and the Arabian peninsula as well to his empire but he passed away in 323 BC when he stopped with his army in Persian cost in their way back from Indus valley before he able to achieve his dream. The name Tylos was there until the coming of Islam.

The Neo-Babylonian Empire in 540 BC.

Photo from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Babylon

Al-Aali Tombs

Bahrain, one of the smallest countries in the world, contains a graveyard that dates back to pre-history and contains 300,000 tombs. The largest and most splendid temple surviving in Western Asia is at Barbar area.

The French archaeologist teams, Pierre Lumpar, said the people of Delmon used to build their tombs during their lifetime, adding that these tombs used to take the shapes of towers.

During unearthing archaeologist found eight large cemeteries including between 170-200 tombs including Royal tombs dates back to the third millennium BC which is still exist, these royal tombs extending under the current village which is built between the tombs. A British excavation team carried out drilling and digging works at Sa'ar site and the excavators could unveiled 70 houses. Chief of the archaeologists team in the downtown of al-Bamam Island, Kham Faraj, said, "We believe this grave is for a royal family from the Delmon age because it is the largest grave discovered so far."

He explained that the grave contains "three circular walls to protect the main grave. There are three smaller graves, which we think belong to members of the royal family." Faraj added that the new discovery will help in a better understanding for the ancient civilization of Delmon. Another collective grave was also discovered at the same site which includes 4,000 graves including 39 for children and adolescents.

In addition to that archaeologists also discovered two bronze swords as well as skeletons and sculptures and stamps made of bronze or pottery and other artifacts.

This made the archaeologist to believe that at that time the island (Bahrain) was used as a collective grave since ancient times.

Al-Aali tombs, thousands of tombs hidden under them a lot of Dilmunian life secrets.

Photo From

http://www.crystalinks.com/dilmun.html

The End

These informations are very interested, it shows us how the old Bahrain peoples were active in their life.

I guess there are still a lot of secrets about Dilmun’s people life and relation with other unions which archeologist have not yet discovered.

References from web.

مدونة عارف العوضي

الأربعاء، 6 أبريل 2011

History of Dilmun

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