Dilmun the Sumerian Shangri La Bronze Age Dilmun Civilization of Ancient Bahrain YouTube

In this episode, we're going to take a look at that mysterious, faraway land known in ancient Sumerian texts as Dilmun. The land known as Dilmun, that appears in many early Sumerian texts, was a place that nearly all of the people of ancient Mesopotamia had heard of, but very few of them had ever visited. They knew it as a place where the waters were always sweet, sickness and disease didn't exist, harmful and ferocious animals were absent, and humans never aged. Essentially, the Sumerian version of Shangri-La. In the Sumerian poem Enki and Ninhursag, the god Enki carries sweet water, the source of life, to a place called Dilmun. Part of the poem reads The land Dilmun is holy The land Dilmun is pure The land Dilmun is clean Who had lain by himself in Dilmun The place, after Enki had lain with his wife That place is clean That place is most bright In Dilmun the raven utters no cry The wolf snatches not the lamb Unknown is the kid devouring wild dog Unknown is the grain devouring boar The sick-eyed says not I am sick-eyed The sick-headed says not I am sick-headed Its old woman says not I am an old woman Its old man says not I am an old man By the side of the city he utters no lament In the Sumerian version of the great flood legend, the tale's sole human survivors, Ziusudra, the Sumerian version of Noah, and his wife, are blessed by the gods and settle down in Dilmun for all of eternity. The Sumerians also believed that he was the first king of Dilmun. The historical Dilmun was also a prosperous place, but not because it was a land blessed by the gods, but due to its commercial activities and trade with the early city-states and kingdoms of ancient Mesopotamia. Dilmun has been identified as consisting of what's today the island nation of Bahrain and the adjacent shores of the Arabian Peninsula. According to cuneiform documents that have been dug up at the sites of ancient Lagash, Uruk, and Ur, by the 3rd millennium BCE, Dilmun was supplying the cities of Sumer with rare commodities such as wood and copper. There are several texts that detail state-sponsored trading expeditions sent by various kings of Lagash, especially Ur-Nanshi, Lugalbanda, and Urukagina, to exchange wool, silver, textiles, grain, and dairy products for wood, ivory, gold, and precious stones from Dilmun. Goods from cities as far away as Mari and Ebla in Syria, as well as Bactria in what's today Afghanistan, also pass through Dilmun. Dilmun's most important export was copper, which was not mined locally, but itself imported from other areas, most likely from ancient Magan, which today would be in modern Oman and parts of the United Arab Emirates. Dilmun also served as a conduit for trade between Mesopotamia and the people of the Indus Valley civilization, an area called Maluha in most texts. You might be thinking, wait, why not just take the land route from the Indus Valley to Mesopotamia through the Iranian Plateau? Two reasons. One, sailing to ports such as Dilmun may have been faster, and two, such a route would have bypassed the various Elamite kingdoms, which, if not hostile towards the interests of Mesopotamia's rulers, would have at least demanded some sort of tax or tribute for passage through their lands. The height of Dilmun's prosperity was between the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BCE, during which time, its population grew considerably, as can be seen by the at least 175,000, though some estimate over 300,000, mound burials and tombs found all throughout Bahrain and the surrounding areas. Such a large population no doubt depended on a steady supply of grain and other foodstuffs from abroad. Dilmun's main settlement was located at the site known today as Qalat al-Bahrain. Other important centers of the Dilmun culture and religion were located around the modern-day Bahraini cities of Barbar, Dihraz, and Sar, whose temples date back to around 2200 BCE. It's in such temples that hundreds of local seals, along with objects and cuneiform tablets originating in Mesopotamia, especially dating back to the Old Babylonian period, have been found. Despite its prosperity, Dilmun's fortunes began to reverse around 1750 BCE. Politically, it's hard to determine exactly what was going on, but archaeological evidence seems to indicate that various dynasties from southern Babylonia laid claim to Dilmun and exacted tribute from it. One of the strongest pieces of evidence in favor of this are seals and tablets dating to the 14th century BCE who, along with being a proficient accountant, claims that he was the governor of Dilmun and the servant of the Kasside king, Kurigalzu II. About a century later, around 1220 BCE, the Assyrian king, Tukulti-Ninurta I, after sacking the city of Babylon and establishing his own puppet rulers there, also claims to have controlled Dilmun. In an inscription, he called himself How much actual, if any, control he had over Dilmun is debated, as evidence of an Assyrian presence there from that time period has yet to be found. In fact, information about who ruled over Dilmun and when is extremely scarce. We barely know anything about the rulers of Dilmun. We don't even know most of their names, although later Neo-Assyrian inscriptions mention two subject or tributary kings, Huperi, who paid tribute to Sargon II, and Hundaru, who Ashurbanipal claims was his subject. Shortly after that, mention of Dilmun is virtually absent from the records of any civilization. This doesn't mean that the Dilmun civilization disappeared, only that it may have come under new management or a new name. With the Achaemenid Persian Empire controlling all of the land between the Indus valley and the eastern Mediterranean by the 5th century BCE, transporting goods via Dilmun was no longer necessary or even profitable, and it's likely that its importance and status as a trade hub greatly declined. This also remained true during the Hellenistic period, when its main island, i.e. modern Bahrain, was called Tylos. After this, the land once known as Dilmun played no major role in the economic history of the region until it re-emerged in the 20th century as the wealthy oil-exporting countries of Bahrain, Qatar, and also part of Saudi Arabia. Thus giving it something of the status that it once held in ancient times. So, I hope that you've enjoyed this short program on Dilmun and its ancient civilization. Thanks so much for stopping by, I really appreciate it. If you learned something or simply just enjoyed the video, please don't hesitate to hit that like button because it helps the channel out a lot. Also, check out the History with Sai podcast where I go into more detail with regard to some of the topics discussed on the channel. You can also follow History with Sai on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Thanks again, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Take care and stay safe.