"The first known account of a paradisial garden appears on a cuneiform tablet from ancient Sumer. Here we learn of the mythical place called Dilmun, a pure, clean, bright place where sickness, violence, and old age do not exist. At first this paradise lacks only one thing: water. Eventually this is provided by the Sumerian water god, Enki. At once, Dilmun is transformed into a garden of fruit trees, edible plants, and flowers. Dilmun, however, is a paradise for the gods alone and not for human beings, although one learns that Ziusudra (the Sumerian counterpart of Noah) was exceptionally admitted to the divine garden."
     - An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism

"The origin of the Sumerians, a broad-headed people, who were physically and linguistically quite different from the Semites, is one of the great unsolved problems of history. It has been conjectured that they came from the south-east, either by way of southern Persia or by the Persian Gulf. Their early familiarity with ships seems to support the late view, and it is perhaps significant that the scene of one of their myths is laid in Tilmun [Dilmun]. which has been identified with the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf....The tradition of civilization emerging fully developed without the long, painful process of evolution agrees with the sudden urban settlement of southern Mesopotamia by a people from overseas who brought with them the necessary skills and political organization to control in such a region."
A millennium later "dominance was won by the Semitic power in the city of Agade, or Akkad, under Sargon, the first really great imperialist in history (2242-2186 BC)."
     - John Gray, Near Eastern Mythology

"...P. B. Cornwall (On the Location of Tilmun), identifies Tilmun (sometimes transcribed 'Dilmun') as the island of Bahrein in the Persian Gulf. This view relies most heavily on the inscription by Sargon II of Assyria, wherein he asserted that among the kings paying him tribute was 'Uperi, king of Dilmun, whose abode is situated like a fish, thirty double-hours away, in the midst of the sea where the sun rises'. This statement is taken to mean that Tilmun was an island, and the scholars who hold this view identify the 'Sea where the sun rises' as the Persian Gulf."
"Even in the days of Gilgamesh, not all of the Land Tilmun was a restricted area. There was a part...where sentenced men toiled in dark and dusty mines, digging out the copper and gemstones for which Tilmun was famous. Long associated with Sumer in culture and trade, Tilmun supplied it with certain desired species of woods. And its agricultural areas - subject of the...tale of Ninsilkilla's plea for artesian waters - provided the ancient world with highly prized onions and dates."
"Bahrein had none of these, except for some 'ordinary dates'." The distance traveled and natural resources do correspond to the Sinai peninsula, however. Acacia wood, unerground water reservoirs, scallions and date palms are all found there.
     - Zecharia Sitchin, The Stairway to Heaven

"The lands of Magan [Egypt] and Tilmun
     looked up at me.
I, Enki, moored the Tilmun-boat at the coast,
Loaded the Magan-boat sky high.
The joyous boat of Meluhha
     transports gold and silver."
     - Sumerian text

"The Mesopotamian texts described Tilmun as situated at the 'mouth' of two bodies of water. The Sinai peninsula, shaped as an inverted triangle indeed begins where the Red Sea separates into two arms - the gulf of Suez on the west, and the Gulf of Elat (Gulf of Aqaba) on the east."
"The texts spoke of mountainous Tilmun'. The Sinai peninsula is indeed made up of a high mountainous southern part, a mountainous central plateau, and a northern plain (surrounded by mountains), which levels off via sandy hills to the Mediterranean coastline....Sargon of Akkad claimed that he reached as 'washed his weapons' in the Mediterranean; 'the sea lands' - the lands along the Mediterranean coast - 'three times I encircled; Tilmun my hand captured'. Sargon II, king of Assyria in the eighth century BC, asserted that he had conquered the area stretching 'from Bit-Yahkin on the shore of the salt Sea as far as the border of Tilmun'. The name 'Salt Sea' has survived to this day as a Hebrew name for the Dead Sea - another confirmation that Tilmun lay in proximity to the Dead Sea."
     - Zecharia Sitchin, The Stairway to Heaven

"I trod upon Arza at the Brook of Egypt; I put Asuhili, its king, in fetters...Upon Qanayah, king of Tilmun, I imposed tribute."
     - Sargon II

"The name 'Brook of Egypt' is identical to the biblical name for the large and extensive Sinai wadi (shallow river that runs with water only during the rainy season) now called Wadi El-Arish."
     - Zecharia Sitchin, The Stairway to Heaven

Hyperlinks

·The Eridu Genesis
·The Theme of Paradise