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QAL’AT AL-BAHRAIN :
A STRATEGIC POSITION FROM THE
HELLENISTIC PERIOD TO MODERN TIMES

Monique Kervran

I^or archaeologists, the difficulty of relating archaeological discoveries to the textual data is
a source of much frustration. Yet at the same time this difficulty is a justification for their
efforts, for when the texts arc absent or silent, then the earth and stones may be able to speak,
and it is from them we may extract the information that the texts refuse to deliver.

In Bahrain this situation is particularly true because we have spectacular archaeological
relics for periods where there is a real scarcity of narrative orcpigraphic material. An example
of this is the fortress complex of Qal’at al-Bahrain and its immediate surroundings, which
together make up one of the most attractive sites in the entire Gulf for any visitor interested in
the past.

For more than a quarter of a century it has been known that between the monumental
medieval fort, incorrectly known as the Portuguese Fort,1 and the seashore, there lies another
fortress, smaller in size, square in plan, with round towers at its corners and in the middle of
each of its sides.2 This building has yielded up two chronological data points: the date
(approximate) of its construction, and the date (a little more precise) of its final occupation
some sixteen centuries later. By examining these two periods of the building, we can ask
ourselves what they signify in the history of Bahrain.

The Hellenistico - Islamic fortress at Qal'at al-Bahrain
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