Tylos: A Hellenistic Settlement in Bahrain

I’ve served in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Bahrain and travelled through Jordan and Israel as well. I’m fascinated by the fact that I’ve been walking in the footsteps of Alexander the Great and the men that followed him for almost twenty years. I first started thinking about it in Afghanistan when we lived in an isolated outpost next to a mud fort that the Afghan Army used. There were remnants nearby of older fortifications on a large flat-topped hill, which an archaeologist would know today as a Tel. I have no doubt - and also no proof - that this site, which is fifty miles to the east of Alexander’s fort at Qalat, AFG, was also built by his men. Any chance I get now, I visit those sites associated with antiquity. The Qal’at al-Bahrain, on the northern coast of the island, is one of those.

Nearly five thousand years of civilization are present at this site, starting with the Dilmun civilization, which was mentioned in the epic of Gilgamesh. Walking the site now, its dominated by the 16th century fort built by the Portuguese, which was built to control the trade in the area. I’m was struck by three things while walking the site: its surrounded by fertile fields growing vegetables, dates, …etc. (the only I’ve seen in Bahrain); there are fresh water springs which still bubble up in the harbor; and it has a protected harbor from anything but a north wind. It’s the perfect site for a settlement.

Older parts of the preceding centuries have been excavated around the 16th century fort. The original town is said to have been abandoned around 1800 BC, but apparently was re-occupied at some point and remained part of the Babylonian Empire until about 538 BC. Due to the levels of civilizations built on top of one another, the exact nature of the town’s progression is uncertain, but some form of walled town existed throughout this period. The Persian Empire came to rule the islands of Bahrain until Alexander the Great conquered it. Three of his naval commanders visited the island, the first being Alexander’s friend and expedition leader Nearchus, followed shortly by his subordinates Archias of Pella and Androsthenes of Thasos. The writings of all three have been largely lost to antiquity, but the latter apparently left a detailed periplus of the Persian Gulf, which was ancient Greek written sailing directions used by navigators.

Called Tylos by the Greeks, this city became a trading emporium, with a cotton cloth called sindones specifically being initially mentioned by Nearchus. Later pearls, dates and other goods are mentioned as being traded at this site. In fact, despite the limited excavations of this period, its widely acknowledged that the Hellenistic period in Tylos and Bahrain was one of the most affluent. But it was a shared culture. One excavated home of the time period has the three-sided benches favored by Greeks, but the limited excavations of that period show a variety of Semitic, Greek and Persian artifacts. It must have been a fascinating place to see when the ruins were homes and ships from all over the classical world anchored in the harbor.

The generals of Alexander fought among themselves to divide his empire and Seleucus and his successors retained control for some time. Then the Characene’s, the Parthians, …etc. The rulers change, the people remain, still farming the land their ancestors did several thousand years ago.

REF:

Heckel, W. Who’s Who in the Age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander’s Empire. Wiley-Blackwell (2006).

Heeren, A. Historical Researches into the Politics, Intercourse, and Trade of the Principal Nations of Antiquity. (1854).

McDaniel, D. “Ancient Tylos: Urban Renewal in the Time of Alexander the Great.” Medium (FEB 2024).