Rethinking the Hellenistic Gulf: The New Greek Inscription from Bahrain

Abstract

The recent discovery in Bahrain of a Greek inscription, dating to the 120s BC, transforms our understanding of the Arab-Persian Gulf in the Hellenistic period. The inscription, recording the dedication of a shrine to the Dioskouroi on behalf of the first independent king of Characene, indicates that Bahrain was a garrisoned node within the Seleucid Empire and the centre of the previously unknown archipelagic administrative district ‘Tylos (Bahrain) and the Islands’. Seleucid and Characenian control of Bahrain is placed within the longue durée political history of relations between southern Mesopotamia and Dilmun. The cultic dedication to the Dioskouroi traces the consciously Hellenizing modalities of Characenian emancipation from the Seleucid Empire and the development of a coherent maritime religious network in the Gulf.

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“…The Seleucids eventually lost authority in Mesopotamia, leading to the formation of the semi-independent Kingdom of Characene (141 BCE to 222 CE) in Southern Iraq, a vassal to the Parthian Empire that would govern Bahrain until Sasanian conquest. 8 , 9 …”

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“…The death of Alexander and subsequent disintegration of the Macedonian Empire led to the establishment of the Seleucid Empire (312-63 BCE), which dominated a vast area comprising Anatolia, Levant, Mesopotamia and Iran, also controlling the eastern Arabian islands of Failaka and Bahrain. The Seleucids eventually lost authority in Mesopotamia, leading to the formation of the semi-independent Kingdom of Characene (141 BCE-222 CE) in Southern Iraq, a vassal to the Parthian Empire that would govern Bahrain until Sasanian conquest 8,9 .…”