{{Infobox artefact|image=Durand Stone.jpg|created={{circa}} 1378 BC|location=Manama, Capital, Bahrain|material=Basalt|size=length: {{circa}} 75 cm <br> width: {{circa}} 27.5 cm}} The '''Durand Stone''' is an artifact in Bahrain dating back to the Kassite period (1600 BC — 1155 BC).<ref name="Insoll" /> Named after Captain Edward Law Durand who had first identified it, the stone is a 25–30 cm wide and 70–80 cm long black diorite sculpture identified by Durand as "shaped like the prow of a boat, or an animal's tongue" with inscriptions in "evidently Babylonian or Assyrian Cuneiform, but some of the characters look like hieroglyphs."<ref name=":0">Durand, and H. C. Rawlinson. “Extracts from Report on the Islands and Antiquities of Bahrein.” ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'' 12, no. 2 (1880): 189–201. <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/25196846</nowiki>.</ref>
==Contents== The inscription, in Old Babylonian cuneiform script, was translated by Henry Rawlinson to read: "The palace of Rimum, servant of (the god) Inzak, (and) man of (the tribe of) Agarum".<ref name=Insoll/> Inzak, son of Enki, was a principal god of Bahrain, and the Durand Stone provides archaeological evidence for identifying these islands as 'the abode of the blessed' of Dilmun referred to by Sumerian literature.<ref>{{cite journal| first=H. | last=Rawlinson | year=1880 | title=Notes on Capt. Durand's Report upon the Islands of Bahrain | journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society | volume=12 | pages=14–40 }}</ref>
==History== Originally housed in the "holy of holies" (perhaps the Mihrab) of the Madrasseh-i Daood mosque (now destroyed) in Bilad Al Qadeem,<ref name=Insoll>{{cite book|last1=Insoll|first1=Timothy|title=Land Of Enki In The Islamic Era|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136774973}}<!--|accessdate=30 July 2015--></ref> it was acquired in 1878 by Captain Edward Law Durand who told the local "Moolahs" that the stone was used by "fire worshippers" and offering money to repair the mosque in exchange for taking it. The stone itself was reportedly removed by a slave of "Sheikh Ahmed."<ref name=":0" />
===Today=== According to the records of Charles Belgrave, the Durand Stone was destroyed during World War II.<ref name=Insoll/> A replica of the Durand Stone lies in the Bahrain National Museum.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.foodandtravel.me/spotlight-on-bahrain/ | title=Spotlight on Bahrain | website=foodandtravel.me | accessdate=18 July 2015 | archive-date=22 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722010223/http://www.foodandtravel.me/spotlight-on-bahrain/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Sculptures in Bahrain Category:Sculpture of the ancient Near East Category:Stone sculptures Category:Dilmun Category:Archaeological discoveries in Asia Category:2nd-millennium BC sculptures