DILMUN
Location
of foreign lands for the Mesopotamians, including Elam, Magan, Dilmun,
Marhashi and Meluhha
Location
: Eastern Arabia
Region : Northern Governorate
Type : Ancient
Part of : Eastern Arabia
History :
Founded : circa late 4th millennium BC
Abandoned : c. 538 BC
Period
: Bronze Age
Dilmun,
or Telmun, (Sumerian: Dilmun) was an ancient Semitic-speaking polity
in Arabia mentioned from the 3rd millennium BC onwards. Based on
textual evidence, it was located in the Persian Gulf, on a trade
route between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilisation, close
to the sea and to artesian springs. A number of scholars have suggested
that Dilmun originally designated the eastern province of Saudi
Arabia, notably linked with the major Dilmunite settlements of Umm
an-Nussi and Umm ar-Ramadh in the interior and Tarout on the coast.
Dilmun encompassed Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the eastern portion
regions of Saudi Arabia. This area is certainly what is meant by
references to "Dilmun" among the lands conquered by King
Sargon of Akkad and his descendants.[citation needed]
The
great commercial and trading connections between Mesopotamia and
Dilmun were strong and profound to the point where Dilmun was a
central figure to the Sumerian creation myth. Dilmun was described
in the saga of Enki and Ninhursag as pre-existing in paradisiacal
state, where predators don't kill, pain and diseases are absent,
and people do not get old.
Dilmun
was an important trading centre. At the height of its power, it
controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. According to some modern
theories, the Sumerians regarded Dilmun as a sacred place, but that
is never stated in any known ancient text. Dilmun was mentioned
by the Mesopotamians as a trade partner, a source of copper, and
a trade entrepôt.
The
Sumerian tale of the garden paradise of Dilmun may have been an
inspiration for the Garden of Eden story.
History
:
Dilmun on the relief of Ur-Nanshe :
Votive
relief of Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash: one of the inscriptions reads,
“boats from the (distant) land of Dilmun carried the wood
(for him)”, which is the oldest known written record of Dilmun
and importation of goods into Mesopotamia.
Boats
from the land of Dilmun carried the wood ma2 dilmun kur-ta gu2 gesz
mu-gal2 on the relief of Ur-Nanshe. Limestone, Early Dynastic III
(2550–2500 BC). Found in Telloh (ancient city of Girsu).
Receipt
for garments sent by boat to Dilmun in the 1st year of Ibbi-Sin's
rule, circa 2028 BCE. British Museum BM 130462
Dilmun was an important trading center from the late fourth millennium
to 800 BC. At the height of its power, Dilmun controlled the Persian
Gulf trading routes. Dilmun was very prosperous during the first
300 years of the second millennium. Dilmun's commercial power began
to decline between 1000 BC and 800 BC because piracy flourished
in the Persian Gulf. In 600 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and later
the Persian Empire, ruled Dilmun.
The
Dilmun civilization was the centre of commercial activities linking
traditional agriculture of the land—then utterly fertile due
to artesian wells that have dried since, and due to a much wetter
climate—with maritime trade between diverse regions such as
the Meluhha (suspected to be Indus Valley Civilisation), Magan (Oman),
and Mesopotamia. The Dilmun civilization is mentioned first in Sumerian
cuneiform clay tablets dated to the late third millennium BC, found
in the temple of goddess Inanna, in the city of Uruk. The adjective
Dilmun is used to describe a type of axe and one specific official;
in addition there are lists of rations of wool issued to people
connected with Dilmun.
One
of the earliest inscriptions mentioning Dilmun is that of king Ur-Nanshe
of Lagash (c. 2300 BC) found in a door-socket: "The ships of
Dilmun brought him wood as tribute from foreign lands."
Kingdom
of Dilmun :
Bull's
head, made of copper in the early period of Dilmun (ca. 2000 BC),
discovered by Danish archeologists under Barbar Temple, Bahrain
From about 2050 BC onward Dilmun seems to had its heyday. Qal'at
al-Bahrain was most likely the capital. From texts found at Isin
it becomes clear that Dilmun became an independent kingdom. Royal
gifts to Dilmun are mentioned. Contacts with the Syrian city Mari
are attested. In about this time the largest royal burial mounds
were erected. From about 1780 BC come several inscriptions on stone
vessels naming two kings of Dilmun. King Yagli-El and his father
Rimum. The inscriptions were found in huge tumuli evidently the
burial places of these kings. Rimum was already known to archaeology
from the Durand Stone, discovered in 1879.
From
about 1720 BC a decline is visible. Many settlements were no longer
used and the building of royal mounts stopped. The Barbar Temple
felt into ruins. From about 1650 BC there is recovering period detectable.
New royal burial mounts were built and at Qal'at al-Bahrain there
is evidence for increased building activity. To this period belongs
a further inscription on a seal found at Failaka and preserving
a king's name. The short text reads [La]'ù-la Panipa, daughter
of Sumu-lel, the servant of Inzak of Akarum. Sumu-lel was evidently
a third king of Dilmun belonging to about this period. Servant of
Inzak of Akarum was the king's title in Dilmun. The names of these
rulers are Amoritic.
Dilmun
under foreign rule :
Correspondence
between Ili-ippašra, the governor of Dilmun, and Enlil-kidinni,
the governor of Nippur, ca. 1350 BC
It seems that Dilmun was after 1500 BC under the rule of the Sealand
Dynasty. The Sealand-Dynasty king Ea-gamil is mentioned in a text
found at Qal'at al-Bahrain. Ea-gamil was the last ruler of the Sealand
Dynasty. After his reign Dilmun came under the rule of the Babylonian
Kassite dynasty, as they also took over the Sealand Dynasty area.
Dilmun was mentioned in two letters dated to the reign of Burna-Buriash
II (c. 1370 BC) recovered from Nippur, during the Kassite dynasty
of Babylon. These letters were from a provincial official, Ili-ippašra,
in Dilmun to his friend Enlil-kidinni, the governor of Nippur. The
names referred to are Akkadian. These letters and other documents,
hint at an administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon
at that time. Following the collapse of the Kassite dynasty, Mesopotamian
documents make no mention of Dilmun with the exception of Assyrian
inscriptions dated to 1250 BC which proclaimed the Assyrian king
to be king of Dilmun and Meluhha, as well as Lower Sea and Upper
Sea. Assyrian inscriptions recorded tribute from Dilmun.
There
are other Assyrian inscriptions during the first millennium BC indicating
Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun. One of the early sites discovered
in Bahrain suggests that Sennacherib, king of Assyria (707–681
BC), attacked northeast Arabia and captured the Bahraini islands.
The most recent reference to Dilmun came during the Neo-Babylonian
Empire. Neo-Babylonian administrative records, dated 567 BC, stated
that Dilmun was controlled by the king of Babylon. The name of Dilmun
fell from use after the collapse of Babylon in 538 BC.
The
"Persian Gulf" types of circular, stamped (rather than
rolled) seals known from Dilmun, that appear at Lothal in Gujarat,
India, and Failaka, as well as in Mesopotamia, are convincing corroboration
of the long-distance sea trade. What the commerce consisted of is
less known: 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 from Oman and 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.
Instances of all of these trade goods have been found. The importance
of this trade is shown by the fact 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.
In
regard to copper mining and smelting, the Umm al-Nar Culture and
Dalma in the United Arab Emirates, and Ibri in Oman were particularly
important.
Some
Meluhhan vessels may have sailed directly to Mesopotamian ports,
but by the Isin-Larsa Period, Dilmun monopolized the trade. The
Bahrain National Museum assesses that its "Golden Age"
lasted ca. 2200–1600 BC. Discoveries of ruins under the Persian
Gulf may be of Dilmun.
People,
language and religion :
The population was Semitic with an Amorite presence; they used the
Sumerian cuneiform, and spoke a language that was either an Akkadian
dialect, close to it or greatly influenced by it. Dilmun's main
deity was named Inzak and his spouse was Panipa.
Mythology
:
Dilmun
stamp seal with hunters and goats, rectangular pen, ca early 2nd
millennium BC
In the early epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, the main events,
which center on Enmerkar's construction of the ziggurats in Uruk
and Eridu, are described as taking place at a time "before
Dilmun had yet been settled".
Dilmun,
sometimes described as "the place where the sun rises"
and "the Land of the Living", is the scene of some versions
of the Sumerian creation myth, and the place where the deified Sumerian
hero of the flood, Utnapishtim (Ziusudra), was taken by the gods
to live forever. Thorkild Jacobsen's translation of the Eridu Genesis
calls it "Mount Dilmun" which he locates as a "faraway,
half-mythical place".
Dilmun
is also described in the epic story of Enki and Ninhursag as the
site at which the Creation occurred. The later Babylonian Enuma
Elish, speaks of the creation site as the place where the mixture
of salt water, personified as Tiamat met and mingled with the fresh
water of Abzu. Bahrain in Arabic means "the twin waters",
where the fresh water of the Arabian aquifer mingles with the salt
waters of the Persian Gulf. The promise of Enki to Ninhursag, the
Earth Mother :
For
Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways,
rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench the thirst
of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives.
Ninlil,
the Sumerian goddess of air and south wind had her home in Dilmun.[citation
needed]
However,
it is also speculated that Gilgamesh had to pass through Mount Mashu
to reach Dilmun in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is usually identified
with the whole of the parallel Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges,
with the narrow gap between these mountains constituting the tunnel.
Location
:
Ruins
of a settlement, believed to be from the Dilmun civilization, in
Sar, Bahrain
Location
of burial mounds in Bahrain
In 1987, Theresa Howard-Carter proposed that Dilmun of this era
might be a still unidentified tell near the Arvand Rud (Shatt al-Arab
in Arabic) between modern-day Qurnah and Basra in modern-day Iraq.
In favor of Howard-Carter's proposal, it has been noted that this
area does lie to the east of Sumer ("where the sun rises"),
and the riverbank where Dilmun's maidens would have been accosted
aligns with the Shat al-Arab which is in the midst of marshes. The
"mouth of the rivers" where Dilmun was said to lie is
for her the union of the Tigris and Euphrates at Qurnah.
As
of 2008, archaeologists have failed to find a site in existence
during the time from 3300 BC (Uruk IV) to 556 BC (Neo-Babylonian
Era), when Dilmun appears in texts. According to Hojlund, no settlements
exist in the Gulf littoral dating to 3300–2000 BC.
Garden
of Eden theory :
In 1922, Eduard Glaser proposed that the Garden of Eden was located
in Eastern Arabia within the Dilmun civilization. Scholar Juris
Zarins also believes that the Garden of Eden was situated in Dilmun
at the head of the Persian Gulf, where the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers run into the sea, from his research on this area using information
from many different sources, including Landsat images from space.
In this theory, the Bible's Gihon would correspond with the Karun
in Iran, and the Pishon River would correspond to the Wadi Batin
river system that once drained the now dry, but once quite fertile
central part of the Arabian Peninsula.
Known
rulers :
Only a few rulers of the Dilmun kingdom are known :
1.
Ziusudra (27th century BC)
2. Rimun (c. 1780 BC)
3. Yagli-El, son of Rimun
4. Sumu-lel (c. 1650 BC)
5. Usiananuri, grandfather of Uballissu-Marduk (precise dates unknown)
6. Ili-ippašra (contemporary with Burnaburiash II and Kurigalzu
II)
7. Operi (c. 710 BC)
8. Hundaru I (c. 650 BC)
9. Qena (c. 680–c. 670 BC)
10. Hundaru II (706–685 BC)
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Dilmun