Dilmun: Trade, Mythology, Evidence, Tombs | Middle East And North Africa

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DILMUN

Dilmun-era tombs in Bahrain

Dilmun (Dillum) was ancient Semitic-speaking, city-state and trade center believed to be centered mainly on the island of Bahrain that thrived from around 3200 B.C. to 1200 B.C. It was described in Sumerian literature as the city of the gods. Archeologists have found temples and settlements believed to be Dilmun, dated to 2200 B.C.

Dilmun is one of the world’s oldest known trading centers. It was a major port on sea routes between Mesopotamia and India. Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions all refer to it. Excavations on the island of Bahrain reveal rich burial mounds from the Dilmun period (ca. 4000 to 2000 B.C.). Scholars believe the monuments on the island indicate that residents, in addition to farming, earned money from the East-West trade and that other cities on the gulf coast survived similarly. [Source: Helen Chapin Metz, Persian Gulf States: A Country Study, Library of Congress, 1993]

The Dilmunites were a maritime people who controlled Persian Gulf trade. Andrew Lawler wrote in Archaeology magazine: “ By 2000 B.C., Dilmunites were leaving their homeland to become seagoing merchants and establish a powerful trading network that eventually stretched from India to Syria. Mesopotamian clay tablets refer to ships from Dilmun bringing wood, copper, and other goods from distant lands. [Source: Andrew Lawler, Archaeology February 11, 2013 /=]

Websites on Mesopotamia: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Mesopotamia sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; International Association for Assyriology iaassyriology.com ; Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago isac.uchicago.edu ; University of Chicago Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations nelc.uchicago.edu ; University of Pennsylvania Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations (NELC) nelc.sas.upenn.edu; Penn Museum Near East Section penn.museum; Ancient History Encyclopedia ancient.eu.com/Mesopotamia ; British Museum britishmuseum.org ; Louvre louvre.fr/en/explore ; Metropolitan Museum of Art metmuseum.org/toah ; Ancient Near Eastern Art Metropolitan Museum of Art metmuseum.org; Iraq Museum theiraqmuseum ABZU etana.org/abzubib; Archaeology Websites Archaeology News Report archaeologynewsreport.blogspot.com ; Anthropology.net anthropology.net : archaeologica.org archaeologica.org ; Archaeology in Europe archeurope.com ; Archaeology magazine archaeology.org ; HeritageDaily heritagedaily.com; Live Science livescience.com/

Historical Evidence of Dilmun

Much about Dilmun remains a mystery. Most of what is known about is based on inscriptions found in tablets and stelae unearthed in Mesopotamia and burial mounds found in Bahrain. The inscriptions refer to Dilmun as a land to east. The burial mounds have a variety of objects from different lands—Mesopotamia, Arabia, Iran and the Indus Valley—but no definitive proof links them with the Mesopotamian descriptions of Dilmun.

The word Dilmun is come from Akkadian, the early Semitic language of Babylon. No inscriptions identifying Dilmun have been found on Bahrain. The first reference to it comes from a tablet excavated at Uruk in southern Iraq:. It reads: “Zuizudra, the King, having prostrated himself in front of An and Enlil, they granted him eternal life as to a god, They settled him in a land overseas, in Dilmun, where the sun rises.

Based on textual evidence, Dilmun was located in the Persian Gulf, on a trade route between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilisation, and embraced Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the coastal regions of present-day eastern Saudi Arabia close to the sea and to artesian springs. At its height, it controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. Some scholars have theorized that the Sumerians regarded Dilmun as a sacred place, but there is no ancient textual evidence to back this up. Dilmun was mentioned by the Mesopotamians as a trade partner, a source of copper, and a trade entrepôt. It was among the lands conquered by King Sargon of Akkad and his descendants. The Sumerian tale of the garden paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for the Garden of Eden story. [Source: Wikipedia]

Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: The physical location of Dilmun was disputed for many decades, although it always assumed to be somewhere in the vicinity of the Arabian Gulf. Alexis Boutin, associate professor of anthropology at Sonoma State University, said “based on archaeological work done in the 1940s and 1950s by folks including Peter Cornwall, Geoffrey Bibby, and P.V. Glob (and since carried on by archaeologists primarily from Denmark, France, and Bahrain), the location of Dilmun is now known to have been centered on Bahrain, although it seems to have extended to parts of Kuwait, eastern Saudi Arabia, and Qatar as well.” [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, April 7, 23, 2019]

Dilmun — the Garden of Eden?

In the mythology of ancient Sumeria , Dilmun is described as an Eden-like place of milk and honey. This gave birth to the idea that maybe it was the site of the Garden of Eden. Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: Dilmun was first mentioned in the 3rd millennium B.C. It came to the attention of Assyriologists and explorers in the 19th century, when cuneiform texts were recovered and translated. The most famous of these was the Epic of Gilgamesh, which includes the ancient Mesopotamian flood story that likely inspired the biblical story. Dr. Dr. Boutin told me that these texts describe Dilmun “as a place with paradise-like qualities, especially noted for its sweet (i.e., fresh) waters.” [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, April 7, 23, 2019]

Dilmun copper bull head

Because of this, “some people even thought it may have been the location of the original Garden of Eden.” For a while, though, scholars weren’t even sure that this potential Garden of Eden was a civilization at all. Boutin told me that because of the thousands of burial mounds carpeting Bahrain, some 19th century scholars thought that it had served as a necropolis for ancient Mesopotamians. “This theory, however, was later disproven by excavations that revealed that Bronze Age urban and commercial centers on Bahrain were an important part of the Dilmun polity.” As for its mythical garden and sweet-smelling waters, those have yet to be discovered.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, a legend about a Sumerian king with a Noah-like flood story, Dilmun is referred to as a paradise for immortals blessed by the god of sweet water. One passages goes:

The land of Dilmun is holy,
the land of Dilmun is pure...
In Dilmun the raven utters no cry...
the wolf snatches not the lamb...
Let tour furrowed fields and acres
yield you their grain;
Let your city become the dock-yard-house of the land.

Dilmun in the Sumerian Myth Enki and Ninhursanga

The myth of the Sumerians gods Enki and Ninhursanga goes: “Pure are the cities — and you are the ones to whom they are allotted. Pure is Dilmun land. Pure is Sumer — and you are the ones to whom it is allotted. Pure is Dilmun land. Pure is Dilmun land. Virginal is Dilmun land. Virginal is Dilmun land. Pristine is Dilmun land. He laid her down all alone in Dilmun, and the place where Enki had lain down with his spouse, that place was still virginal, that place was still pristine. He laid her down all alone in Dilmun, and the place where Enki had lain down with Ninsikila, that place was virginal, that place was pristine. [Source: J.A. Black, G. Cunningham, E. Robson, and G. Zlyomi 1998, 1999, 2000, Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford University, piney.com]

“In Dilmun the raven was not yet cawing, the partridge not cackling. The lion did not slay, the wolf was not carrying off lambs, the dog had not been taught to make kids curl up, the pig had not learned that grain was to be eaten. When a widow has spread malt on the roof, the birds did not yet eat that malt up there. The pigeon then did not tuck the head under its wing. No eye-diseases said there: "I am the eye disease." No headache said there: "I am the headache." No old woman belonging to it said there: "I am an old woman." No old man belonging to it said there: "I am an old man." No maiden in her unwashed state ...... in the city. No man dredging a river said there: "It is getting dark." No herald made the rounds in his border district. No singer sang an elulam there. No wailings were wailed in the city's outskirts there.

Ninsikila said to her father Enki: "You have given a city. You have given a city. What does your giving avail me? You have given a city, Dilmun. You have given a city. What does your giving avail me? You have given ....... You have given a city. What avails me your giving?" "You have given ......, a city that has no river quay. You have given a city. What does your giving avail me?... (Enki answered Ninsikila:) "When Utu steps up into heaven, fresh waters shall run out of the ground for you from the standing vessels on Ezen's shore, from Nanna's radiant high temple, from the mouth of the waters running underground." "May the waters rise up from it into your great basins. May your city drink water aplenty from them. May Dilmun drink water aplenty from them. May your pools of salt water become pools of fresh water. May your city become an emporium on the quay for the Land. May Dilmun become an emporium on the quay for the Land."

“"May the land of Tukric hand over to you gold from Harali, lapis lazuli and ....... May the land of Meluha load precious desirable cornelian, mec wood of Magan and the best abba wood into large ships for you. May the land of Marhaci yield you precious stones, topazes. May the land of Magan offer you strong, powerful copper, dolerite, u stone and cumin stone. May the Sea-land offer you its own ebony wood, ...... of a king. May the 'Tent'-lands offer you fine multicoloured wools. May the land of Elam hand over to you choice wools, its tribute. May the manor of Urim, the royal throne dais, the city ......, load up into large ships for you sesame, august raiment, and fine cloth. May the wide sea yield you its wealth."

The city's dwellings are good dwellings. Dilmun's dwellings are good dwellings. Its grains are little grains, its dates are big dates, its harvests are triple ......, its wood is ...... wood.) At that moment, on that day, and under that sun, when Utu stepped up into heaven, from the standing vessels on Ezen's shore, from Nanna's radiant high temple, from the mouth of the waters running underground, fresh waters ran out of the ground for her. The waters rose up from it into her great basins. Her city drank water aplenty from them. Dilmun drank water aplenty from them. Her pools of salt water indeed became pools of fresh water. Her fields, glebe and furrows indeed produced grain for her. Her city indeed became an emporium on the quay for the Land. Dilmun indeed became an emporium on the quay for the Land. At that moment, on that day, and under that sun, so it indeed happened.”

Dilmun Trade

Dilmun Clay coffin

Many goods that traveled through the Persian Gulf went through the island of Bahrain. There was an early Bronze Age trade network between Mesopotamia, Dilmun (Bahrain), Elam (southwestern Iran), Bactria (Afghanistan) and the Indus Valley. Based on Mesopotamian texts, Dilmun was a major trading partner with Mesopotamia, particularly Meluhha (the Indus civilization) and Magan (Oman).

"Persian Gulf" types of circular, stamped (rather than rolled) seals associated with Dilmun have been found at Lothal in Gujarat, India, and Failaka, as well as in Mesopotamia, This is regarded as fairly firm evidence that long-distance sea trade involving Dilmun took place.. What was traded is less known but is believed to have included 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, which were traded with Mesopotamia in exchange for silver, tin, woolen textiles, olive oil and grains. Copper ingots from Oman and bitumen from Mesopotamia is likely to have been exchanged for cotton textiles and domestic fowl from the Indus region as examples these as trade goods have been found. The weights and measurements used at Dilmun were identical to those used by the Indus, but different from those used in southern Mesopotamia. [Source: Wikipedia]

The Sumerians established trade links with cultures in Anatolia, Syria, Persia and the Indus Valley. Similarities between pottery in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley indicate that trade probably occurred between the two regions. The Sumerians traded for gold and silver from Indus Valley, Egypt, Nubia and Turkey; ivory from Africa and the Indus Valley; agate, carnelian, wood from Iran; obsidian and copper from Turkey; diorite, silver and copper from Oman and coast of Arabian Sea; carved beads from the Indus valley; translucent stone from Oran and Turkmenistan; seashell from the Gulf of Oman. Raw blocks of lapis lazuli are thought to have been brought from Afghanistan by donkey and on foot. Tin may have come from as far away as Malaysia but most likely came from Afghanistan, Turkey or Europe.

Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Dilmun

Dilmun was its height from around 2200 to 1600 B.C. when it dominated the western Persian Gulf and controlled the Al-Hasa oasis in eastern Saudi Arabia and inland areas in present-day Kuwait and Iraq. Dilmun began to decline around 1600 B.C. as trade between Mesopotamia and India declined. It was subsequently taken over by the Babylonians and Assyrians. By 600 B.C. it had been completely absorbed by the Neo-Babylonians. An Assyrian monument inscription dated to 709 B.C. reads: “King of Dilmun, who lives like a fish 30 double-hours away in the middle of the Sea of the Rising Sun.” An inscription from a century later lists Dilmun among the provinces of Assyria. The main Dilmun sites in Bahrain are Qal’at al-Bahreyn, now occupied by a Portuguese fort, and Saar, named after a nearby village;

In 2017, archaeologists reported fining found a 3,500-year-old jewelry workshop Failaka — now part of Kuwait. According to Archaeology magazine: “Suddenly, around 1730 B.C., the Dilmun trade network collapsed. Cities and temples were abandoned, leading to a period scholars know little about. Now, a team led by researchers from Denmark’s Moesgaard Museum has uncovered fragments of semiprecious stones not native to the island and likely imported from India and Pakistan. “The presence of carnelian and jasper on Failaka indicates that shipping through the Gulf had picked up [a few hundred years later],” says Flemming Højlund, senior scientist and curator at the museum. “It indicates that Dilmun had emerged again as a political entity.” [Source: Marley Brown, Archaeology magazine, May-June 2017]

The Qatar Peninsula was close enough to the Dilmun civilization (ca. 4000 to 2000 B.C.) in Bahrain to have felt its influence. A harsh climate, lack of resources, and frequent periods of conflict, however, seem to have made it inevitable that no settlement would develop and prosper for any significant length of time before the discovery of oil. [Source: Helen Chapin Metz, Persian Gulf States: A Country Study, Library of Congress, 1993 *]

Dilmunites and Even Earlier People on Failaka Island

The inhabitants of Dilmun built cut stone temples laid in unique geometrical configurations. Over 400 undeciphered symbols have been found on their seals, some are remarkably similar to undeciphered Indus Valley symbols. Dilmunites produced beautiful pottery, stone vessels, stelae and sculpture with evocative and lifelike human figures. Some of their pottery looks a lot like pottery found in Mesopotamia. They also collected fine pieces from Mesopotamia, Arabia, Iran and the Indus Valley.

Andrew Lawler wrote in Archaeology magazine: “The oldest settlement on Failaka was long thought to have been founded in about 1800 B.C. by the Dilmunites,. But on Failaka’s southwest corner, a team from Denmark’s Moesgård Museum has uncovered evidence that Mesopotamians arrived at least a century before the Dilmunites. The finds are centered on a recently unearthed Mesopotamian-style building typical of those found on the nearby Iraqi mainland dating from around 2000 B.C. The structure was later partially covered by a Dilmunite temple.” [Source: Andrew Lawler, Archaeology February 11, 2013 /=]

“There the Danish team excavated an ostrich egg, a shell ladle of Indian manufacture, and pottery similar to that found in what is today Pakistan. These discoveries attest to a vibrant mercantile business run by Mesopotamians themselves, rather than Dilmunite middlemen. The most telling artifacts were four cylinder seals of the type used by scribes to identify Mesopotamian traders and their goods during the end of the third millennium B.C. These seals, found within the building, demonstrate the port’s importance during this first era of global trade. “This is not just a fishing village,” says team director Flemming Hojlund. Instead, the team’s work suggests that Mesopotamians, far from being passive consumers of foreign goods brought by distant seafarers, were active participants in the sea trade. /=\

“By the nineteenth century B.C., Failaka had become a linchpin in the Dilmunites’ operations. At this point, after the Dilmunites had either ousted the Mesopotamians or merely succeeded them, there are no further signs of a Mesopotamian presence. The Dilmunites constructed a large temple and palace complex almost on top of the houses built by the earlier Mesopotamian residents. A French team that excavated the temple in the 1980s suggested that it was an oddity, possibly related to Syrian temple towers. But recent work by a team from the Moesgård Museum in Denmark points to a building remarkably similar to the Barbar sanctuary in Bahrain, considered the grandest Dilmun structure. /=\

“The Failaka temple sat on a large platform nearly 90 feet wide and 120 feet long and the temple itself once measured 60 feet square, only slightly smaller than the Barbar temple. The most impressive remains of the Failaka structure are the shattered, mammoth limestone columns that once supported the temple. Such stone is not found on the island. Dilmunites quarried the massive blocks on the mainland, then ferried them to the island, an impressive feat requiring not only extensive planning and coordination efforts, but also large, seaworthy craft. The columns were also highly valued in later eras, and much of their stone was plundered and taken back to the mainland in antiquity. The Moesgård team is now focusing on the so-called palace, originally excavated in the 1960s, that lies about 30 feet from the temple. Work is still under way, but there are signs that it may have served not as a royal residence but rather as an important series of large storerooms to house the goods that made the Dilmunites a formidable economic power.

Dilmun Tombs, Burial Mounds and Temple

Bahrain is the home of the world's largest prehistoric cemetery. It contains 172,000 Bronze Age burial mounds, the of oldest of which have been dated to 3000 B.C. There is evidence that the people who built these graves traded with Mesopotamia. Many link them with Dilmun but there is no definitive proof

Judging from the graves found on Bahrain the people there appear to have been preoccupied with the afterlife. They built elaborate tombs and filled them ceramic objects, pottery, copper, bronze objects , shells and beads. The steatite seals found in the graves are similar to those of the Barbar people that lived in the Arabian peninsula.

Some graves have several chambers. Excavations at Saar Burial complex revealed a new type of grave referred to as a 'settlement mound." Each grave is marked off by curved walls built against walls of an earlier grave. The interconnected graves which are surrounded by a ring walls.

Excavations at Saar have revealed a 4,000-year-old settlement that was home to around 2,000 people and spread over 3½ hectares on the edge of a limestone ridge overlooking the island’s fertile northern edge. The most important structure is a temple with nine circular columns, a podium and two altars, from which burnt fish remains have been extracted. Most of the houses are L-shaped and have two rooms, tandoor-style ovens, gypsum-covered limestone walls, benches and gypsum lined basins.

Date pits and ibex and gazelle bones have been found, but the are vastly outnumbered by fish bones and shells. The old age of the sheep bones found indicated these animals were most likely kept for wool not meat. Other objects unearthed here include copper objects, steatite bowls, a variety of ceramics, carnelian beads and seals with human figures and horned animals. It is not known why the settlement was abandoned but archeologists believe the process was orderly based on fact doors had been carefully removed before they left.

Dilmun-Era Sights in Bahrain

Barbar Temple (10 kilometers west of Manama) is an archeological site with remains of three religious buildings that back to Dilmun era in the second and third millennium B.C. Discovered in the1950s and 60s and consisting primarily of foundations and ruined walls, the site shows evidence of distinctive Barbar stonework (compared to Sumerian brickwork) and features a structure with a sacred well that is believed to honor Enki, the god of spring waters.

Ad-Diraz Temple (three miles west of Barbar Temple) is another Dilmun-era archeological site with remains of religious buildings that back to the second millennium B.C. It is younger and different than Barbar Temple.

Balt al-Jasar is the house where the present emir lives. It was built in 1907 under Shaik Hamad bin Abdullah Al Khalifa in 1907 and was restored in 1986 when part of it was converted into a museum where important documents and memorabilia are kept. The house is made of coral and has some fine examples of tradition Bahraini carved gypsum decorations.

Burial Mounds are scattered all across the island. Bahrain is regarded as the world's largest prehistoric cemetery. The oldest graves have been dated to 3000 B.C. and there are 172,000 burial mounds all together. Most of the graves are concentrated in a half dozen major burial areas.

Aali Burial Mounds (10 miles southwest of Manama) is the most impressive burial site on Bahrain. The tallest and most imposing burial mounds on the island are found here. The largest one is 24 meters high and five others are more than 15 meters high

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Mesopotamia sourcebooks.fordham.edu , National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, especially Merle Severy, National Geographic, May 1991 and Marion Steinmann, Smithsonian, December 1988, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, Encyclopædia Britannica, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “History of Warfare” by John Keegan (Vintage Books); “History of Art” by H.W. Janson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2024