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Near East Kingdoms

Ancient Mesopotamia

 

Dilmun (Sumerian Trading Centre)

FeatureThe city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation emerged a little way ahead of that of Africa's ancient Egypt, and up to a millennium before that of the Indus Valley culture. It developed out of the end of the Pottery Neolithic across the Fertile Crescent, a period which had seen Neolithic Farmer practices spread far and wide across the Near East and beyond.

Southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and the western edge of Iran) was at last subjected to permanent settlement. Cultures around the edges of this progression included the Hassuna and Samarra which began this settlement process.

FeatureThe Uruk IV period in the fourth millennium BC greatly accelerated that process. By the end of that period, Sumer was divided into approximately a dozen city states which were independent of one another. Many early historical events in the region are found only in the Sumerian king list, which notates the rulers of the city states (and see feature link), but archaeology has also uncovered a wealth of detail.

It was from this time that Sumer began establishing meaningful trading links which lay outside of southern Mesopotamia. Many of these were city states in northern Mesopotamia, southern Anatolia, and Syria, but others lay farther afield. Dilmun comes under the latter heading.

The Persian Gulf gave Sumerian city states a level of access to Omani copper mines. This supply was crucial to the region's newly-developed bronze technology. Texts begin referring increasingly to a 'land of Dilmun' as an important trading partner with southern Mesopotamia. It became a vital source of timber and copper, although modern claims for Sumer's potential lack of direct timber supplies have sometimes been overplayed.

Dilmun is mentioned only once during the Uruk IV period, but it is noted with increasing frequency during the 'Early Dynastic' period which covers the greater part of the third millennium BC. It was also important in the early second millennium BC, with major political players such as Elam maintaining close contacts.

Although the exact location of this ancient centre is unknown despite some online sources claiming the contrary, Bahrain is very much a strong candidate for the role (north-eastern Arabia is another candidate).

Nothing more certain than that can be stated when it comes to a location, as ancient sources are too indistinct to provide a definitive conclusion to that question. Dilmun was not a production centre itself, but instead acted as a mercantile centre, bringing in timber and copper from farther afield.

It probably dealt heavily with the aforementioned Omani mines (where uncharacteristic circular tombs can be found), but could also bring in goods from as far as Meluhha, a settlement of the Indus Valley civilisation. The difference between the Uruk IV period and the 'Early Dynastic' was that the former had used regional Uruk colonies to manage importations while the latter was content to go through a trading network without the need to establish colonies.

FeatureDilmun is also mentioned in connection with one of the most important topics in Sumerian history, the 'Great Flood', and the Antediluvian period which led up to it. The Sumerian king list states that eight kings ruled in five cities before the 'Great Flood' swept over the land. And then the kingship was handed down anew  (see feature link, right, for details from the perspective of Noah, the latter-day Israelite version of the flood story's Sumerian hero).

After a flood of seven days, Ziusudra, king (or prince, or noble) of Shuruppak, makes appropriate sacrifices and prostrations to An (the sky-god) and Enlil (chief of the gods), and is given eternal life in Dilmun (the Sumerian Eden) by both gods. The best-known and most detailed Mesopotamian account of the flood is found in the Gilgamesh Epic which involves Uruk's mid-third millennium BC king.

Sumerians

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), from Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC, John Heywood (Barnes & Noble, 2000), from Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Enrico Ascalone (Dictionaries of Civilizations 1, University of California Press, 2007), from Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, J N Postgate (Routledge, 1994), from The First Empires, J N Postgate (Oxford 1977), from Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), and from External Links: Ancient Worlds, and Ancient History, Anthony Michael Love ('List 3' of Sumerian rulers at Sarissa.org).)

c.3900 BC

As early as 8000 BC, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, small clay tokens of various distinctive shapes are evidently being used by Near Eastern farmers to keep an inventory of their commodities. A cone-shaped token, for instance, may indicate that a farmer has a certain amount of barley in his granary.

This already-ancient system is greatly expanded during the Uruk IV period which begins around 3900 BC (or 3800 BC according to some). The ancient Sumerian religious centre of Eridu - already a millennium old - is gradually surpassed in size by the nearby city of Uruk.

Metalwork also appears, marking the beginning of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) and the fading of the stone age period which had seen Neolithic Farmer practices transform human lives between about 10,000-4000 BC.

The Uruk IV period which lasts between about 3900-3100 BC sees this city flourish as the only real urban centre in Sumer, and one which sits at the heart of a great trading and cultural centre. Dilmun is mentioned only once in this period, when writing is just on the verge of flourishing and most cylinder seals and early tablets concentrate on administration.

c.1763 BC

Following an attempted invasion the previous year (during which Ekallatum is conquered by Elam), the Elamites are defeated in southern Mesopotamia by Hammurabi's Babylonian empire, and the kingdom begins a period of vassalage to Babylon.

It keeps its own kings though, and maintains close contacts with important centres such as Dilmun, although the region's previous political unity is probably shattered.

 
Images and text copyright © all contributors mentioned on this page. An original king list page for the History Files.