Dilmun is the paradise-like land described as pure and free of disease in the Sumerian myth Enki and Ninhursag.
The myth presents Dilmun as a special place where no one is sick, old, or troubled by ordinary forms of impurity. Its ideal condition changes when the goddess Ninhursag creates life there and Enki becomes involved in a series of problematic divine births.
Dilmun was not only a mythic paradise. Historically, Dilmun was a trading civilization centered on the Persian Gulf, especially Bahrain and nearby regions. Mesopotamian texts connect it with maritime trade and the movement of valuable goods.
Because the mythic description is idealized, it should not be treated as a complete geographical map of the historical polity. Dilmun’s importance comes from the overlap between a real trade network and a literary image of a pristine land.