Page 181 - Dilmun 21

Dilmun was mentioned in Sumerian tets. ١t was oten reerred to as the land
where the sun rises? . Descriptions o Dilmun appear in a number o
Sumerian mythological literature. ne o the myths known as the yth o
reation, links Dilmun to the origin o the world, oering a hymn o praise to
this land blessed by the gods, graced with abundant resh wate,r and
renowned as an international marketplace, he land o ٦ilk and hone,y
whose riches were destined or esopotamia was idealized as a place that
was avorable or eternal lie. As some scholars believe? according to the
written sources available? no other oreign country seems to have aroused
such interest rom the thinkers o ancient esopotamia. Sumer is considered
as the center o the world? and the archetype o civilization, Dilmun is
associated with this inluence, as it helped maintain it through its impotrance
as a trading post at crossroads? vital to the Sumerian econom.y Diimun is
mentioned in oicial and economic tets? in relation to the importation o raw
materials necessayr or Sumer to achieve its greater destin.y

As one researcher on the subject (Beatrice Andre-Salvani) puts it; he
cultural impotrance o Dilmun or the cultivated classes o Sumer is
essentially characterized by the myth Eni and Winhursag . his work
occupies a special place in Sumerian literature as its symbolic signiicance
concerns a countyr outside esopotamia. he myth begins with a hymn o
praise to Dilmun, comparing its puirty and perection to that o Sumer:

Blessed is the city that is bestowed upon you?
Blessed (also) is the land o Dilmun;
Blessed is Sumer Blessed is the land o Dilmun
he land o Dilmun is blessed? the land o Dilmun is pure?
he land o Dilmun is luminous? the land o Dilmun is radiant.

As it appears rom this Sumerian tet, the people o Sumer and
esopotamia highly regarded Dilmun and thought o it as a holy and
sacred place that was more o a paradise. o them Dilmun may have been
the arden o Eden. his is a place o harmony and peace:

At Dilmun, no crow cawed
he hen did not cackle,
he Lion did not kil١?