Dilmun boats on seals, horned figureheads, and the serpent/dragon slaying myth, c. 2050–1500 BC

Abstract

Seals of Dilmun type from Bahrain and Failaka island (Kuwait) in 18 cases have depictions of boats. Contrary to previous studies, it is argued here that these vessels represent a distinct class of single-masted sail boats and further that this boat type probably is synonymous with the “Dilmun boats” mentioned in Babylonian textual sources as a specific long-distance vessel type native to Dilmun. The prow of the Dilmun boats typically exhibit a characteristic “figurehead” with two horns, large jaws and two forward-projecting “prongs”. Based on comparatively similar looking serpent/dragon representations in Dilmun’s glyptic art and the mythological information that can be understood from the scene in which they appear, the horned figureheads of the Dilmun boats are identified as a possible Dilmunite goddess of the primordial sea, somehow comparable to the Babylonian Tiamat. Following analysis of this serpent/dragon on the seals, it is argued that there existed a Dilmunite version of the near omnipresent conflict myth. This myth and its distinct topos are discussed, and it is concluded that in Dilmun it played a role in royal ideology and the legitimisation of kingship.