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.

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

The shallow basin that now underlies the Gulf was an extensive region of river valley and wetlands during the transition between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the start of the Holocene, which, according to University of Birmingham archaeologist Jeffrey Rose, served as an environmental refuge for early humans during periodic hyperarid climate oscillations, laying the foundations for the legend of Dilmun

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

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

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

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 ".

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.

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

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.

The " mouth of the rivers " where Dilmun was said to lie is for her the union of the Tigris and Euphrates at Qurnah.

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 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.

Muharraq's origins are ancient, going back to the time of Dilmun some 5, 000 years ago, but it came to prominence in the historical records during the era of Tylos when Bahrain came under domination of the Selucid Greeks, and Muharraq was the centre of a pagan cult dedicated to the shark god, Awal.

Adapa was a mortal from a godly lineage, a son of Ea ( Enki in Sumerian ), the god of wisdom and of the ancient city of Eridu, who brought the arts of civilization to that city ( from Dilmun, according to some versions ).

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.

Dilmun or Telmun ( Arabic: دلمون ) is a land mentioned by Mesopotamian civilizations as a trade partner, a source of the metal copper, and an entrepôt of the Mesopotamia-to-Indus Valley Civilization trade route.

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.

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.

Direct contacts ceased even during the Mature Harappan phase between these two centers and Oman and Bahrain, Magan and Dilmun had become intermediaries.

These letters were from a provincial official, Ilī-ippašra, in Dilmun to his friend Enlil-kidinni, the governor of Nippur.

These letters and other documents, hint at an administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon at that time.

Dilmun appears first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the late third millennium BC, found in the temple of goddess Inanna, in the city of Uruk.

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.

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.

One of the earliest inscriptions mentioning Dilmun is that of king Ur-Nanshe of Lagash ( c. 2300 BC ) found in a door-socket: " The ships of Dilmun brought him wood as tribute from foreign lands.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

Looking for Dilmun.

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.

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.

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.