Around two centuries later, by the time of Ea-Nasir (Isin-Larsa period, reign of Rim
Sin), the configuration of Mesopotamian relations with the Gulf had changed again.
Tremendous ructions had occurred in the region, including Amorite incursions, the
collapse of the Ur III state, and societal collapse and depopulation in the Oman
Peninsula. During those centuries, Dilmun had risen to dominate Gulf trade, and still
shipped large quantities of copper to southern Mesopotamia. No claims of conquest
by Mesopotamian rulers are known, and by this time Failaka, rather than being an
outpost of the Mesopotamian state, was a trading station of Dilmun, which ran its own
boats, distinctively depicted on the Dilmun glyptic, to the cities of Mesopotamia
(Carter 2012 ).
CLAIMS OF MESOPOTAMIAN HEGEMONY
Mesopotamian rulers occasionally made boasts of conquest of the regions of the Gulf
between the mid- and late third millennium. The first of such claims is potentially as
early as the ED III period, in texts of Ur Nanshe (First Dynasty of Lagash, c. 2500 ),
inscribed on wall-plaques and pivot stones. Two widely divergent translations exist: one
is that Ur Nanshe had Dilmun-ships transport wood to Lagash from foreign lands
(Alster 1983 : 39 ; Lombard 1999 : 26 , and Objects 1 , 77 ; D.T. Potts 1990 : 88 ). Heimpel,
however, considers it to be a claim that Ur-Nanshe had laid his yoke upon (i.e.
subjected) the Dilmun-boats: ‘Dem Ur-Nanshe, König von Lagash, legten sich
Tilmunschiffe aus dem Land (nämlich Tilmun) das Joch auf den Nacken’ (Heimpel
1987 : 40 , 70 , Text 1 ).
Akkadian kings made several claims of conquest. Sargon of Akkad stated that Enlil
gave him the Upper and Lower Sea (D.T. Potts 1990 : 136 ), and claimed to have made
the Meluhha-boats, the Magan-boats and the Dilmun-boats tie up alongside the quay
of Akkad (Kramer 1964 : 49 ). This may have been intended to indicate that he had
secured the commerce previously enjoyed by the great sea-trading cities of Sumer, such
as Lagash and Ur. Subsequently, Manishtushu claimed to have crossed the Lower Sea
and defeated thirty-two lords, following a campaign against Anshan and Sherihum,
though there is no specific mention of Dilmun or Magan; Naram Sin then claimed to
have subjugated Magan and captured its king (D.T. Potts 1990 : 136 – 137 ). Finally,
partial inscriptions on several softstone and alabaster vessels are thought to match a
whole inscription on a lost alabaster vessel which was inscribed with ‘Naram Sin, king
of the four world quarters, vessels [from the] booty of Magan’ (D .Potts 1989 ; D.T.
Potts 1990 : 139 – 141 ). There are also claims of hegemony over the regions of the Gulf
in the reign of Gudea (second Dynasty of Lagash), who twice claimed that he laid his
yoke upon Dilmun and Magan (Statue D and Cylinder A), while the first monarch of
the Third Dynasty of Ur, Ur-Nammu, stated that he had ‘returned the Magan boat to
Nanna’, that is, restored trade with Magan (D.T. Potts 1990 : 142 , 144 ).
A small number of documents provide good evidence, untainted by the hyperbole
of royal boasts, that the Ur III empire extended to Dilmun and as far as the Lower Gulf
(Magan) for a while. First, a text of Shulgi Year 34 mentions the dispatch of troops to
Magan. Second, copies of a letter to Shulgi from an official state ‘My lord, you have
given me instructions about every matter, from the sea and the land of Dilmun to the
borders(?) of Simurrum.’ (D.T. Potts 1990 : 144 ; ECTSL Letter from Aradgu to Sˇulgi
about irrigation work). The latter implies the incorporation of Dilmun into Shulgi’s
–– The Sumerians and the Gulf ––