Magan, Dilmun

(Persian Gulf region 2200 BC onwards).


This list covers the Magan (or Makkan) peoples located about present day Oman, including the region of Dilmun (current day Bahrain). It formed a major trade route to the Indus Valley. Magan (or Makkan) lay to the south of Sumer and Dilmun, rich with high mountains from which diorite or gabbro for black statues was quarried which was regularly frequented by Indus Valley travellers.

A prominent social elite emerged in this region as early as the late third millennium, c.2200 BC. The Dilmun polity was best characterised as a decentralised system of small kinship-based units organised through relative mutual autonomy. The existence of moderately developed social hierarchies and latent institutional complexity in late third-millennium Dilmun found support because of its substantial copper industry which flourished in this region and proved so important to rulers of the area.

The position of Magan and Dilmun between Mesopotamia and the Indus valley civilisations made it a natural place of interaction between peoples. There is a great deal of evidence showing strong relations with the Harappan area encompassing the Indus Valley and this was of vital importance to the socio-economic development of Dilmun.

One of the earliest inscriptions mentioning Dilmun is that of king Ur-Nanshe of Lagash "The ships of Dilmun brought him wood as tribute from foreign lands”. Mesopotamian trade documents list goods along with official inscriptions supplementing Harappan seals and archaeological finds to support ideas of cultural exchange. Literary references to trade date from the Akkadian, the Ur III Dynasty, and the second millennium Isin-Larsa Period (c. 2350–1800 BC), but trade probably started in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2600 BC).

Militarily we first hear of this region by the time of Sargon where he “destroyed the [city] walls [of his enemies] as far as the shore of [both] the seas. He moored the ships of Meluhha [Indus Valley], Magan [Oman], and Dilmun [Bahrain] at the quay of Akkad”. Manishtusu campaigned in the south launching a major maritime campaign ‘‘across the Lower Sea’’ (or the Persian Gulf). He fought and defeated a coalition army of thirty-two kings drawn up for battle, seizing the rich silver mines and transporting quantities of stone back to Sumer and Akkad. Naram-Sin ‘‘crossed the [Lower] Sea and conquered Magan [Oman], in the midst of the sea’’, capturing its ruler Manium. Later rulers such as Shar-kalli-shari undertook punitive operations as well. All these expeditions point to the enormous importance of the copper supplies of the region and interaction with Indus trade that occupied the minds of many Akkadian rulers.

With the fall of the Sargonic Empire and the relatively lawless times of the Guti interregnum, Persian Gulf trade dropped off as pirates plied their trade in the unprotected waters. The Third Dynasty of Ur leader Ur-Nammu is credited with the achievement of ‘‘put[ting] the road in order from the south to the north’’, such was the necessity for the prosperity of the Neo-Sumerian revival. In the dying days of the Third Dynasty Shu-shin undertook a naval campaign against ‘‘Magan, along with its provinces . . . [and] the other side of the sea . . .’’. Clearly Magan and Dilmun were hot spots of military activity whenever Sumerian leaders looked beyond the squabbles of their own limited military operations amongst one another.

Troop Type	Number	Q	P	CV	Range	Pts
General (foot)	1	-	*	5	n/a	50
Ally General (foot)	2	-	*	5	n/a	25
Captain	1 per unit	-	*	5	n/a	20
- change to veteran/levy	any	V/L	*	5	n/a	25/15
Retainers	0-1	V	*	special	2/4	16
Warrior  Wild Tribesmen	4-12	L	U	special	2/4	4
- upgrade to Regulars	0-half	R	U	special	2/4	6
- change to axemen	0-3	R	U	4	n/a	7
Skirmishers	2-3	L	U	n/a	4	2
- upgrade to Regulars	0-1	R	U	n/a	4	4
Archer Skirmishers	0-2	R	U	n/a	4	4
Levy Slingers	0-1	L	U	n/a	4	2

Magan Allies and Enemies

Dynastic Sumerian

Akkadian

Early Eblan

Old Elam

Zagros Mountain

Hattian Kingdoms

Neo -Sumerian

Amorite Nomads

Magan

Harrapan

2700 BC

2600 BC

2500 BC

2400 BC

2300 BC

2200 BC

2100 BC

2000 BC

Special Rules & Notes

• During Terrain Setup, if a Magan or Dilum force is Defending then the die roll to move terrain is 5,6 for Left, Centre and Right sections of the table (this increases the likely hood that rough terrain will be centrally placed on the battlefield).