Dilmun
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Dilmun (sometimes transliterated Telmun) is a land mentioned by Mesopotamian Civilizations as a trade partner, source of raw material, copper, and entrepot of the Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization trade route. Although the exact location of Dilmun is unclear, it might be associated with the islands of Bahrain, Eastern Province, Qatar, Oman and nearby Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf.[1]
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[edit] History
Dilmun appears first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the end of fourth 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.[1]
Dilmun was mentioned in two letters dated to the reign of Burnaburiash (ca. 1370 BC) recovered from Nippur, during Cassite dynasty of Babylon. These letters were from a provincial official in Dilmun to his superiors in Mesopotamia. The names referred to are Akkadian. These letters and other documents, hint at administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon at that time. Following the collapse of Cassite dynasty, Mesopotamian documents are silent on Dilmun except Assyrian inscriptions dated to 1250 B.C. 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 first millennium B.C. indicating Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun.[2] One of the early settles discovered in Bahrain suggests that Sennacherib, king of Assyria (707-681 B.C.) attacked northeast Arabia and captured Bahrain islands.[3] Life and Land Use on The final mention of Dilmun came at Neo-Babylon dynasty. Due to these administrative records when dated 567 B.C., Dilmun was controlled by Babylon king. The name of Dilmun fell from the use after the the collapse of Neo-Babylon in 538 B.C.[2]
There is both literary and archaeological evidence trade between Ancient Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilization (probably correctly identified with the land called Meluhha in Akkadian). Impressions of clay seals from the Indus Valley city of Harappa were evidently used to seal bundles of merchandise, as clay seal impressions with cord or sack marks on the reverse side testify. A number of these Indus Valley seals have turned up at Ur and other Mesopotamian sites. 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 sure: 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 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— all these have been instanced. The importance of this trade is shown by the fact that the weights and measres used at Dilmun were in fact identical to those used by the Indus, and were not those used in Southern Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamian trade documents, lists of goods, and official inscriptions mentioning Meluhha supplement Harappan seals and archaeological finds. Literary references to Meluhhan trade date from the Akkadian, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and Isin - Larsa Periods (ca. 2350-1800 BC), but the trade probably started in the Early Dynastic Period (ca. 2600 BC). 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.
[edit] Dilmun and mythology
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, Ziusudra (Utnapishtim), was taken by the gods to live forever.
Dilmun is also described in the epic story of Enki and Ninhursag as the site at which the Creation occurred. Ninlil, the Sumerian goddess of air and south wind had her home in Dilmun. It is also featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and is one of the sites that some theorists have proposed as the true location of the Garden of Eden.
However, 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 in a world "before Dilmun had yet been settled".
[edit] References
- ^ a b Crawford, Harriet E. W. (1998). Dilmun and its Gulf neighbours. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 5. ISBN 0521583489.
- ^ a b Larson, Curtis E. (1983). Life and land use on the Bahrain Islands: The geoarcheology of an ancient society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 50–51. ISBN 0226469050.
- ^ Mojtahed-Zadeh, Pirouz (1999). Security and Territoriality in the Persian Gulf: A Maritime Political Geography. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 0700710981.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Telmun language Telugu : the Untold Legacy
- Indus Valley - Mesopotamian trade passing through Dilmun
- Bahrain National Museum's hall of Dilmun
- Greek inscriptions found on Bahrein (a pdf-file)
- Dilmun Calendar Theory Backed, Gulf Daily News, 11 July 2006
- Dilmun Site Al-Khidr, Failaka Island, State of Kuwait
