Rich History of Kuwait

For a nation that has only come to the modern world’s attention since the discovery of petroleum, Kuwait has had a rich and diverse history. Archeologists have discovered chipped flint tools from 10,000 years ago, indicating that Stone Age people ranged through the area. A site in Sabbiya on the north shore of Kuwait Bay has yielded evidence of the oldest proper settlement in the region, dating to 4500 BC. Pottery fragments, knives, and beads found there indicate that the site was used by Ubaid settlers, the same people who populated ancient Mesopotamia. This means that the earliest settlers of Kuwait were cousins of the Sumerians, who developed the first recorded human civilization.
Two millennia later, the Dilmun Empire dominated the Arabian Gulf region from its capital in Bahrain. This maritime trading civilization flourished between 2300 and 1100 BC, and had settlements in Failaka, the island 20 kilometers from the southern promontory of Kuwait Bay. Archeologists have uncovered a complete Dilmun town there, including dwellings, public buildings, granaries, and a temple dedicated to the god Inzak. These are some of the best structural remains on earth from the Bronze Age.
Later the Greeks, the greatest seafarers of their time, plied the waters of the Gulf. Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and Dionysios all referred to island settlements there. The historian Arrian, in particular, mentioned an island discovered by one of Alexander the Great’s admirals on his way to India. He called the island “Ikaros” after a Greek island, and the Greeks established a significant trading post and temple on it.
In 1958, archeologists began to uncover a wealth of historical treasure and information, proving that Failaka was the Hellenistic Ikaros. Excavations have unearthed evidence of an extensive settlement that thrived between the 3rd and 1st Centuries BC There are ruins of dwellings, pavement, fortifications, and temples dedicated to Artemis and Apollo constructed of oolitic limestone from the Arabian mainland. Diggers also discovered hoards of silver Greek coins, terra cotta figurines and molds, busts in the classical tradition, and decorative reliefs.
Of particular interest was an inscribed stele in front of one of the temples. The inscription consisted of directives and messages to the inhabitants of Ikaros. Though it was linguistically difficult and partially destroyed, the reconstructed text has provided valuable information about the history, economy, politics, religion, and jurisprudence of Hellenistic colonial settlements.
While the Greeks were using the Gulf as a highway from Mesopotamia to India, Arab nomads were wandering the Arabian Peninsula and migrating eastward during the hot seasons. As Arab civilization began to thrive, commerce between Yemen in the south and Baghdad and Damascus in the north began to center on the Gulf. What is now Kuwait City, situated strategically at the tip of the Gulf and having one of its two natural harbors, began to play a key role in this trade of frankincense, myrrh, dates, pearls, gems, spices, and fabrics. As the centuries passed, goods from as far as India, China, and Africa were shipped via the port. When Islam swept the Arabian peninsula and beyond, Kuwait also became important as an east-west caravan stop on pilgrimages to Mecca.
Greek column on Failaka
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