Faces of Ancient Bahrain

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• published: 06 Feb 2016
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Bahrain al-Baḥrayn is a historical region in eastern Arabia that was known as the '''Province of Bahrain''' until the 18th Century. It stretched from the south of Basra along the Persian Gulf coast and included the regions of Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif, Qatar , and the Awal Islands, now known as Bahrain. The name "Bahrain" referred to the eastern mainland Arabia until the 18th century at least. The Semites inhabitants of the province were called Bahranis after that time. Population The indigenous people of eastern Arabia are still called The "Bahrani" plural "Baharna"(Bahranis) and their language is Bahrani Arabic. The Bahranis were traditionally settled and non-nomadic. inhabited archipelago of Bahrain and oasis of Qatif and al-Hasa. Until Bahrain embraced Islam in 629 AD, it was a center for Nestorian Christianity. In the early 7th Century, Bahrain became one of the first places in Arabia to become an Islamic state, despite its great distance from Muhammad's location in Medina. After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, All of the Baharna became Shia and they remained so until now.The sedentary people of pre-Islamic Bahrain were mainly Aramaic speakers and to some degree Persian speakers while Syriac functioned as a liturgical language.In pre-Islamic times, the population of Bahrain consisted of Christianized Arabs (including Abd al-Qays), Aramean Christians, According to Robert Bertram Serjeant, the Baharna (Indigenous people of Bahrain) may be the Arabized "descendants of converts from the original population of Christians (Aramaeans), inhabiting the island and cultivated coastal provinces of Eastern Arabia at the time of the Advent of Islam". Nestorian Christianity was the dominant religion in pre-Islamic Bahrain. The Bahrani Arabic, were influenced by Akkadian, Aramaic and Syriac languages. Ubaid period-c. 6500–3800 BC The Ubaid period (ca. 6500 to 3800 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-`Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Woolley. In South Mesopotamia the period is the earliest known period on the alluvium although it is likely earlier periods exist obscured under the alluvium. In the south it has a very long duration between about 6500 and 3800 BC when it is replaced by the Uruk period.Excavations across the eastern Arabia have uncovered a significant number of Prehistoric settlements. The increased number of sedentary settlements in the 6th millennium was accompanied by the introduction of new technologies and sets of values. The abundance of Ubaid period material (5000 BC – 3400 BC) -in reference to the Mesopotamian Ubaid civilization – in the eastern Arabia marks a transition to sedentary life and the establishment of interregional contacts. --- Dilmun- c. 2600–538 BC The Dilmun civilization was an important trading centre which at the height of its power controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. The Sumerians regarded Dilmun as holy land. Dilmun is regarded as one of the oldest ancient civilizations in the Middle East. The Sumerians described Dilmun as a paradise garden in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Sumerian tale of the garden paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for the Garden of Eden story. Dilmun appears first inSumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the end of fourth millennium BCE, found in the temple of goddess Inanna, in the city of Uruk. The adjective "Dilmun" is used to describe a type of axe and one specific official; in addition there are lists of rations of wool issued to people connected with Dilmun. Dilmun was very prosperous during the first 300 years of the second millennium.Dilmun's commercial power began to decline between 2000 BCE and 1800 BCE because piracy flourished in the Persian Gulf. In 600 BCE, the Babylonians and later the Persians added Dilmun to their empires.