Bahrain / History

Bahrain is rich in history and ancient civilizations have only recently been discovered by international archaeologists. Its believed that for tens of thousands of years, nomads traveled over Bahrain's desert and primitive flint tolls found, testify to this history.

Recent finds have evidenced that Bahrain was indeed the site of the lost civilization of Dilmun dating from the third millennium BC, often refereed to as the fabled Garden of Eden and described as "paradise" in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The land is repeatedly mentioned in Sumerian , Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions as an important seaport between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, due to the perennial abundance of sweet water. By 600BC, Bahrain was absorbed into the new Babylonian Empire and once again flourished as a prosperous entreaty.

In 323BC, two of "Alexander the Great" ships arrived and new trade routes opened, resulting in such a strong Greek influence that Dilmun was renamed Tylos. Bahrain was also the site of the largest prehistoric cemetery in the world. At once stage an estimated 170,000 burial mounds covered the central and western areas.

Additional, editorially modified, material from Wikipedia:

Bahrain is Arabic for "two seas", referring to the freshwater springs that can be found within the salty sea surrounding it. Bahrain's strategic location in the Persian Gulf has brought rule and influence from the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and finally the Arabs, under whom the island became Muslim. Bahrain suggested to be associate with Dilmun which is mentioned by Mesopotamian civilizations. During its history it was called by different names such as Awal, then Mishmahig, when it was a part of the Persian Empire.

From the 6th to 3rd century B.C. Bahrain was included in Persian Empire by Achaemenians, an Iranian dynasty. From the third century B.C. to arrival of Islam in the seventh A.D., Bahrain was controlled by two other Iranian dynasties of Parthians and Sassanids. By about 250 B.C., Parthian dynasty brought the Persian Gulf under their control and extended their influence as far as Oman. Because they needed to control the Persian Gulf trade route, the Parthians established garrisons in the southern coast of Persian Gulf.

In the third century A.D., the Sasanids succeeded the Parthians and held area until the rise of Islam four centuries later. Ardashir, the first ruler of Iranian Sassanians dynasty marched forward Oman and Bahrain and defeat Sanatruq (or Satiran), probably the Parthian governor of Bahrain. At this time, Bahrain incorporated in the southern Sassanid province covering over the Persian Gulfs southern shore plus the archipelago of Bahrain. The southern province of Sasanids was subdivided into three districts of Haggar (now al-Hafuf province, Saudi Arabia), Batan Ardashir (now al-Qatif province, Saudi Arabia), and Msihmahig (In Middle-Persian/Pahlavi means "ewe-fish").

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