Dilmun, The Land Of The Living Holds One Of The Largest Ancient Necropolis’ In The Modern World

My informational speech on Bahrain, the ancient island of Dilmun

Title: Dilmun, the Land of the Living holds one of the largest ancient Necropolis’ in the Modern World.

INTRODUCTION

Could Dilmun really be the Garden of Eden?

Today, I’d like to tell you a little bit about the place I was born and spent most of my childhood. This small, hot and arid desert island in the Persian Gulf holds many wonderful childhood memories for me.

Being so carefree and young, none of us would ever really appreciate or understand the significance of this amazing island and how we might be related to the Arabian ancestors of the spectacular prehistoric civilization, called Dilmun, during the years 3200 -1600 B.C.

Even more fascinating, is that this ancient island of Dilmun was once an ancestral burial site where immortality could be obtained by those that passed by.

The thousands of ancient burial mounds all over the island were a constant reminder of our ancestors and sometimes at weekends we would take on dares with our friends to go out in the early evening to walk amongst those huge intimidating, mounds. Once in the safety of our homes, we would recount the weird event with spine-chilling stories of ghosts, strange lights and noises of the unearthly kind.

Many theorists and archaeologists have proposed that Dilmun was the true location of the Garden of Eden whilst many others dispute the theory. I like to believe the former.

I can say however that through my own observations and growing up in Bahrain, this wonderful island now offers an apple of a different sort other than the one with which Eve tempted Adam: It’s called shopping. But that is another story.

Now I would like give you a brief insight into Bahrain and why I think it is important for all of us to keep alive the notion, the awareness of this great civilization, no matter where we come from as a testimony to the importance of Bahrain five millennia ago. Unfortunately time is running out for the burial mounds and other historical sites due to unprecedented construction and encroachment on a massive scale over the last twenty years.

"Why?" people need should know about my topic.

• Few people are aware of the ancient history in this part of the world and how this island is directly linked to Mesopotamia-Iraq, the cradle of civilization.

• The many ancient sites and the magnificence of the ancient civilization in Bahrain will testify to the importance of this island five millennia ago. This civilization was highly advanced and the centre of an ancient empire.

• Time appears to be running out for the ancient burial mounds due to unprecedented building and development in Bahrain. There is so much still to be discovered and the significance of the Dilmun era is not yet fully known to anyone yet, but ongoing excavation work continues to reveal breathtaking secrets of the period. It is now a race against time before the oblivion of these ancient mounds.

1. TIMES PAST -DILMUN & THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

a) Meaning of the name Bahrain

The name вЂ?Bahrain’ is derived from two Arabic words вЂ?thnain’ and вЂ?Bahr’ meaning “two seas”. This refers to the fact of sweet water springs under the sea which mingle with the salty water.

b) Location

Bahrain is actually an archipelago of 33 low-lying islands located in the heart of the Persian Gulf, situated along main Arabian and international trade routes between Asia and the West.

c) Dilmun was an important center for Trade

For millennia, Bahrain has long been a port of call- for more than 6,000 years and served as an important port and center of business. It linked Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization (Pakistan and Western India).It has also been visited and at times occupied by Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Portuguese and British.

The commerce between Dilmun and its trading partners included quite a variety of things such as gold, ivory, pearls from the Persian Gulf, timber, lapis lazuli, beads, carnelian, etc. An interesting fact is that the weights and measures used by the Dilmunites were the same as those used by the Indus Valley Civilization. The discovery of seals from the Indus Valley Civilization has proved this.

d) Land of Legends and Gods

The Land of Dilmun, according to the Mesopotamians, is the sacred ancestral homeland of the gods, one that is pure, innocent and without evil, and where everyone вЂ" men and animals - lives for all eternity in peace and harmony.

Dilmun was well known for the artisan springs which provided abundant fresh water and these springs themselves may have provided fodder for the legends that included passages about Dilmun such as “her city drinks water of abundance” and “her wells of bitter water, behold they become wells of sweet water” from the myth of Enki and Ninhursag.

On one ancient tablet dated 3100 B.C., Dilmun is described as an "Elysium" where the inhabitants were eternally young and suffered no illnesses, "where the raven did not croak and wolves and lion did not devour their prey.

Enlil and Ninlil

Ninlil, the Sumerian goddess of air and south wind who also had her home on the island.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest stories written down. Gilgamesh was King of Uruk in Mesopotamia, whose story recounts a wonderful mythological tale - a combination of 'A Thousand and One Nights' and images from the Bible. Apparently he once visited Dilmun the land of immortality in his quest for eternal life.

The name Dilmun is also associated with that of Enki, the god of wisdom and water.

Using the English Sumerian glossary in Samuel Noah Kramer’s book �The Sumerians’-University of Chicago Press 1963, his research on mythology spans 20 or so years, Dilmun is described in another epic story of Enki and Ninhursag (queen of the mountains) as the site at which the Creation occurred.

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