Credible Theories
PlaceSources (3)Mentioned in (2)
Place · Real place

Dilmun

A real Gulf trading power that Sumerian poets turned into a pure land 'where the sun rises', home of the flood hero granted eternal life.

c. 2800 BCE
Location
Bahrain and the nearby Arabian Gulf coast
Modern country
Bahrain (center)
Type
Trading kingdom; transshipment point between Sumer and the Indus
Main site
Qal'at al-Bahrain, settled from c. 2800 BCE
Status
Qal'at al-Bahrain UNESCO (2005); Dilmun Burial Mounds UNESCO (2019)
In myth
Pure land of Enki and Ninhursag; home of Ziusudra
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What is Dilmun known for?

Dilmun was a trading land in the Persian Gulf, centered on Bahrain. Around 2000 BCE it was a hub where copper, pearls, dates and stone passed between Sumer and the Indus Valley. Excavations at Qal'at al-Bahrain revealed a city settled from about 2800 BCE, with Dilmun-style round stamp seals and copper. Thousands of burial mounds cover the island.

In Sumerian literature Dilmun is also a place of purity. In the myth of Enki and Ninhursag it is a land where there is no sickness and no death. At the end of the Sumerian flood story, the gods give Ziusudra 'life like a god' and settle him in Dilmun, 'where the sun rises'.

So the same name covers both a real, excavated civilization and a mythic paradise. Scholars generally see the myth as reflecting how distant and prosperous Dilmun looked from Sumer.

Why it is on Credible Theories

Ziusudra, the Sumerian flood hero, is given eternal life and settled by the gods in Dilmun.

Mentioned on these pages

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Dilmun'Reference
  2. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 'Qal'at al-Bahrain – Ancient Harbour and Capital of Dilmun'Reference
  3. ETCSL, 'The flood story' (t.1.7.4)Primary text

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