Dilmun was an important trading center on the Persian Gulf, connecting the great civilizations of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and Meluhha (the Indus Valley of modern day Pakistan and India).
Location of Dilmun in the Persian Gulf. Base map by Koba Chan
First recorded in cuneiform records nearly 6,000 years ago, Dilmun remained a backwater until ~2000 BC, when the trade center of Magan in modern-day Oman folded, for unknown reasons. Although Dilmun, centered on the modern-day island of Bahrain, did not produce much except dates and copper, it served as a conduit, moving agricultural and luxury goods and ideas between the two great powers. As an old Sumerian myth reported "Dilmun - its dwellings are good dwellings, its barley is very small barley, its dates are very large dates".
Read more about Dilmun
- Guide to Dilmun
- Saar settlement
- Aali cemetery
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