As of 2008, archaeologists have failed to find a site in existence during the time from 3300 BC ( Uruk IV ) to 556 BC ( Neo-Babylonian Era ), when Dilmun ( Telmun ) appears in texts.

This characteristic is especially true of the region of Bahrain, whose name in Arabic means " two seas ", and which is thought to be the site of Dilmun, the original site of the Sumerian creation beliefs.

Sargon is even recorded as having organised naval expeditions to Dilmun ( Bahrein ) and Magan, amongst the first organised military naval expeditions in history.

In the epic Enki and Ninhursag, Enki, as lord of Ab or fresh water ( also the Sumerian word for semen ), is living with his wife in the paradise of Dilmun where

::" The land of Dilmun is a pure place, the land of Dilmun is a clean place,

:: The land of Dilmun is a clean place, the land of Dilmun is a bright place ;

:: He who is alone laid himself down in Dilmun,

It is believed to be the outermost point of the ancient civilization of Dilmun, which was centered in what is present-day Bahrain.

The earliest mentioning of Dilmun is Mesopotamian sources was in the Early Dynastic III Period, when Ur-Nanshe ( circa 2520 BC ) proclaimed that ;

However, the exact location of Dilmun is unclear, it might be associated with the islands of Bahrain, Eastern Province, Qatar and nearby Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf.

In his book Greek Religion, Walter Burkert notes the connection with the motif of far-off Dilmun: " Thus Achilles is transported to the White Isle, which may refer to Mount Teide on Tenerife, whose volcano is often snowcapped and as the island was sometimes called the white isle by explorers, and becomes the Ruler of the Black Sea, and Diomedes becomes the divine lord of an Adriatic island ".

After another break, the text resumes, the flood is apparently over, and Ziusudra is prostrating himself before An ( Sky ) and Enlil ( Lordbreath ), who give him " breath eternal " and take him to dwell in Dilmun.

Dilmun is usually identified as Bahrain, an island in the Persian Gulf on the east side of the Arabian peninsula.

Although the exact location of Dilmun is unclear, it might be associated with the islands of Bahrain, the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and nearby Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf.

It is also noted that Gilgamesh had to pass through Mount Mashu to reach Dilmun in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is usually identified with the whole of the parallel Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges, with the narrow gap between these mountains constituting the tunnel.

Bahrain has been proposed as the possible site of Dilmun, a land mentioned by Mesopotamians as a trade partner, source of raw material, copper, and entrepot of the Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization trade route.

:" the ships of Dilmun, from the foreign land, brought him wood as a tribute ".

The Epic of Ziusudra adds an element at lines 258 – 261 not found in other versions, that after the river flood " king Ziusudra ... they caused to dwell in the land of the country of Dilmun, the place where the sun rises ".

Meanwhile, Esarhaddon was waging war in the land of Bazu, situated opposite of the island of " Dilmun " ( Bahrain ), probably Qatar, " where snakes and scorpions cover the ground like ants "-a dry land of salt deserts.

For Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench the thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives.

Dilmun was mentioned in two letters dated to the reign of Burnaburiash ( c. 1370 BC ) recovered from Nippur, during the Kassite dynasty of Babylon.

The Ahlamû (= wanderers ) are first mentioned in the el-Amarna letters alluding to the king of Babylon ; the presence of the Ahlamû are also attested in Assyria, Nippur and even at Dilmun ( Bahrain ); Shalmaneser I ( 1274-1245 BC ) defeated the Shattuara, King of Mitanni and his Hittite and Ahlamû mercenaries are mentioned in the Jazirah.

During the end of the fourth millennium BC, the southern part of the Persian Gulf was dominated by the Dilmun civilization.

Neo-Babylonian administrative records, dated 567 BC, stated that Dilmun was controlled by the king of Babylon.

The importance of this trade is shown by the fact that the weights and measures used at Dilmun were in fact identical to those used by the Indus, and were not those used in Southern Mesopotamia.

Some Meluhhan vessels may have sailed directly to Mesopotamian ports, but by the Isin-Larsa Period, Dilmun monopolized the trade.

Dilmun, sometimes described as " the place where the sun rises " and " the Land of the Living ", is the scene of some versions of the Sumerian creation myth, and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood, Utnapishtim ( Ziusudra ), was taken by the gods to live forever.

Despite the scholarly consensus that ancient Dilmun encompasses three modern locations: ( 1 ) the eastern littoral of Arabia from the vicinity of modern Kuwait to Bahrain ; ( 2 ) the island of Bahrain ; ( 3 ) the island of Failaka east of Kuwait, few have taken into account the radically different geography of the basin represented by the Persian Gulf before its reflooding as sea levels rose about 6000 BCE ; the earliest known site is Qal ' at al-Bahrain which is dated no earlier than c. 2200 BC according to Flemming Hojlund.

The mes were originally collected by Enlil and then handed over to the guardianship of Enki who was to broker them out to the various Sumerian centers beginning with his own city of Eridu and continuing with Ur, Meluhha, and Dilmun.

Some of the earliest records of the use of the foot come from the Persian Gulf bordered by India ( Meluhha ), Pakistan, Balochistan, Oman ( Makkan ), Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain ( Dilmun ), the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia where in Persian architecture it is a sub division of the Great circle of the earth into 360 degrees.

Following the collapse of the Kassite dynasty, Mesopotamian documents make no mention of Dilmun with the exception of Assyrian inscriptions dated to 1250 BC which proclaimed the Assyrian king to be king of Dilmun and Meluhha, as well as Lower Sea and Upper Sea.

She also has elements associated with the goddesses of Myceneae, the Minoans of Crete, and certain Kassite goddesses of the metals trade in Tin, Copper and Bronze between Lothal and Dilmun.

The " Persian Gulf " types of circular, stamped ( rather than rolled ) seals known from Dilmun, that appear at Lothal in Gujarat, India, and Failaka, as well as in Mesopotamia, are convincing corroboration of the long-distance sea trade.

* Indus Valley-Mesopotamian trade passing through Dilmun

Dilmun was a trade distribution center for goods originating that might be in islands of Bahrain, Eastern Province ( Saudi Arabia ), Oman, or the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf.

The Persian-Gulf style of circular stamped rather than rolled seals, also known from Dilmun, that appear at Lothal in Gujarat, India, and Failaka Island ( Kuwait ), as well as in Mesopotamia, are convincing corroboration of the long-distance sea trade.

He made the ships from Meluhha, the ships from Magan ( and ) the ships from Dilmun tie up alongside the quay of Agade.

The myth of Enlil and Ninlil discusses when Enlil was a young god, he was banished from Dilmun, home of the gods, to Kur, the underworld for raping a goddess named Ninlil.

After fathering three more underworld-deities ( substitutes for Sin ), Enlil was allowed to return to Dilmun.

Nevertheless Dilmun had no water and Enki heard the cries of its Goddess, Ninsikil, and orders the sun-God Utu to bring fresh water from the Earth for Dilmun.

Sumerian mythology had a parallel to the Eden garden in Dilmun, the dwelling-place of the immortals where sickness and death were unknown.

Rich of various periods, have been discovered to have sought burial in Bahrein, identified with Sumerian Dilmun.

Early inhabitants are often associated with the historical Dilmun Civilisation though the historical records of Dilmun are scanty.

The Qatar Peninsula was close enough to the Dilmun civilization ( ca.

Archaeology, however, revealed some early settled cultures: the Dilmun on the Persian Gulf, and Thamud north of the Hejaz.

One inscription states that ships of Dilmun ( Bahrain ) brought him wood as tribute from foreign lands.

Looking for Dilmun.