Editing History of Kuwait (section)

==Antiquity==
===Mesopotamia===
Following the post-glacial flooding of the Persian Gulf basin, debris from the [[Tigris–Euphrates river system|Tigris–Euphrates river]] formed a substantial delta, creating most of the land in present-day Kuwait and establishing the present coastlines.<ref name="flood">{{cite web|title=The Post-glacial Flooding of the Persian Gulf, animation and images|url=http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu/2_infopgs/IP2IceAge/ePersGulfFlood.html|work=[[University of California, Santa Barbara]]}}</ref> One of the earliest evidence of human habitation in Kuwait dates back to 8000 BC where [[Mesolithic]] tools were found in [[Burgan field|Burgan]].<ref name="archa">{{cite web|work=[[Cardiff University]]|title=The Archaeology of Kuwait|url=http://orca.cf.ac.uk/41961/7/Almutari%20PhD.pdf|pages=1–427}}</ref> 

During the [[Ubaid period]] (6500 BC), Kuwait was the central site of interaction between the peoples of [[Mesopotamia]] and Neolithic [[Eastern Arabia]],<ref name="meso"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Carter|title=Maritime Interactions in the Arabian Neolithic: The Evidence from H3, As-Sabiyah, an Ubaid-Related Site in Kuwait|url=http://www.brill.com/maritime-interactions-arabian-neolithic|isbn=9789004163591|publisher=BRILL|date=2010-10-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Robert Carter|title=Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BC|journal=Antiquity |date=2006 |volume=80 |issue=307 |pages=52–63 |doi=10.1017/s0003598x0009325x |s2cid=162674282 |url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/3673/1/3673.pdf}}</ref> including [[Bahra 1]] and [[H3 (Kuwait)|site H3]] in [[Subiya, Kuwait|Subiya]].<ref name="meso"/><ref>{{cite journal|author=Robert Carter|title=Ubaid-period boat remains from As-Sabiyah: excavations by the British Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait|journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies|volume=32|pages=13–30|jstor=41223721|year=2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Robert Carter |author2=Graham Philip |title=Beyond the Ubaid: Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East|url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf}}</ref> The Neolithic inhabitants of Kuwait were among the world's earliest maritime traders.<ref name="se">{{cite journal|author= Robert Carter|year=2011|title=The Neolithic origins of seafaring in the Arabian Gulf |journal=Archaeology International|volume=24 |issue=3|pages=44|doi=10.5334/ai.0613|doi-access=free}}</ref> One of the world's earliest reed-boats was discovered at [[H3 (Kuwait)|site H3]] dating back to the Ubaid period.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/kuwait/1314980/Secrets-of-worlds-oldest-boat-are-discovered-in-Kuwait-sands.html |title=Secrets of world's oldest boat are discovered in Kuwait sands|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=21 August 2013|date=2001-03-31|last1=Weekes|first1=Richard}}</ref> Other Neolithic sites in Kuwait are located in Khiran and [[Sulaibikhat]].<ref name="meso">{{cite journal|author=Robert Carter|year=2019|title=The Mesopotamian frontier of the Arabian Neolithic: A cultural borderland of the sixth–fifth millennia BC|url=https://www.academia.edu/41130012|journal=Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy|volume=31|issue=1|pages=69–85|doi=10.1111/aae.12145|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Mesopotamian]]s first settled in the Kuwaiti island of [[Failaka Island|Failaka]] in 2000 B.C.<ref name="unes">{{cite web|title=Failaka Island - Silk Roads Programme|url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/silk-road-themes/underwater-heritage/failaka-island|work=[[UNESCO]]}}</ref><ref name=t/><ref>Potts, Daniel T.. Mesopotamian civilization: the material foundations. 1997</ref> Traders from the [[Sumer]]ian city of [[Ur]] inhabited Failaka and ran a mercantile business.<ref name=unes/><ref name=t/> The island had many Mesopotamian-style buildings typical of those found in [[Iraq]] dating from around 2000 B.C.<ref name=unes/><ref name=t>{{cite web|url=http://www.archaeology.org/issues/79-1303/features/kuwait/548-meopotamian-ur-traders|title=Traders from Ur?|work=[[Archaeology Magazine]] |access-date=21 July 2013}}</ref>

[[File:HistoricCoins.jpg|left|thumb|Ancient coins found on [[Failaka Island]].]]
From 4000 BC until 2000 BC, the [[bay of Kuwait]] was home to the [[Dilmun civilization]].<ref name=ak>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wzw-SeJic&t=171 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/g-wzw-SeJic |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|title=Kuwait's archaeological sites reflect human history & civilizations (2:50 – 3:02)|work=Ministry of Interior News}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fhMTRcUm9WsC&pg=PA7|title=The Invention of Cuneiform: Writing in Sumer|editor=Jean-Jacques Glassner|year=1990|page=7|isbn=9780801873898|last1=Glassner|first1=Jean-Jacques|last2=Herron|first2=Donald M.|publisher=JHU Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPX0h_wbFtEC&pg=PA11 |title=Area Handbook for the Persian Gulf States|editor=Richard F. Nyrop|year=2008|page=11|quote=From about 4000 to 2000 B.C. the civilization of Dilmun dominated 250 miles of the eastern coast of Arabia from present-day Kuwait to Bahrain and extended sixty miles into the interior to the oasis of Hufuf (see fig. 2).|isbn=9781434462107|last1=Nyrop|first1=Richard F.|publisher=Wildside Press LLC }}</ref> At its peak, Dilmun may have included Al-Shadadiya,<ref name="archa"/> [[Akkaz Island|Akkaz]],<ref name=ak/> [[Umm an Namil Island|Umm an Namil]],<ref name=ak/><ref name=akkaz>{{cite journal|journal=Jacques Connan, Robert Carter|volume=18|issue=2|pages=139–181|title=A geochemical study of bituminous mixtures from Failaka and Umm an-Namel (Kuwait), from the Early Dilmun to the Early Islamic period|year=2007|doi=10.1111/j.1600-0471.2007.00283.x|last1=Connan|first1=Jacques|last2=Carter|first2=Robert}}</ref><ref name="umm">{{cite journal |last1=Calvet |first1=Yves |year=1989 |title=Failaka and the Northern Part of Dilmun |journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies |volume=19 |pages=5–11 |jstor=41223078}}</ref>  and [[Failaka Island|Failaka]].<ref name=ak/><ref name=umm/>
[[File:Antiquities of Failaka island 02.JPG|thumb|left|Antiquities]]

Despite the scholarly consensus that ancient Dilmun encompasses three modern locations - the eastern littoral of Arabia from the vicinity of modern Kuwait to Bahrain; the island of Bahrain; the island of Failaka of Kuwait - few researchers have taken into account the radically different geography of the basin represented by the Persian Gulf before its reflooding as sea levels rose about 6000 BCE.<ref>"8000 years BP": [http://birmingham.academia.edu/JeffreyRose/Papers/359690/New_Light_on_Human_Prehistory_in_the_Arabo-Persian_Gulf_Oasis Jeffrey Rose, "New light on human prehistory in the Arabo-Persian Gulf oasis"] ''Current Anthropology'' '''51'''.6 (December 2010)</ref> 

During the Dilmun era (from ca. 3000 BC), Failaka was known as "[[Agarum]]", the land of [[Enzak]], a great god in the Dilmun civilization according to Sumerian cuneiform texts found on the island.<ref name=is/> During the Neo-Babylonian Period, Enzak was identified with [[Nabu]], the [[ancient Mesopotamian religion|ancient Mesopotamian patron god]] of literacy, the rational arts, scribes and wisdom.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=66}} As part of Dilmun, Failaka became a hub for the civilization from the end of the 3rd to the middle of the 1st millennium BC.<ref name=is/> 

After the Dilmun civilization, Failaka was inhabited by the [[Kassites]] of [[Mesopotamia]],<ref name=kas>{{cite book |last=Potts |first=D.T. |chapter=The archaeology and early history of the Persian Gulf |editor=Lawrence G. Potter |title=The Persian Gulf in History |page=35 |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/1905494 |via=Academia}}</ref> and was formally under the control of the [[Kassites#Kassite Dynasty of Babylon|Kassite dynasty of Babylon]].<ref name=kas/> Studies indicate traces of human settlement can be found on Failaka dating back to as early as the end of the 3rd millennium BC, and extending until the 20th century AD.<ref name=is>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5800/|title=Sa'ad and Sae'ed Area in Failaka Island|work=[[UNESCO]] |access-date=28 August 2013}}</ref> Many of the artifacts found in Falaika are linked to Mesopotamian civilizations and seem to show that Failaka was gradually drawn toward the civilization based in [[Antioch]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Mary Ann |last=Tétreault |url=https://mei.nus.edu.sg/publication/insight-89-failaka-islandunearthing-the-past-in-kuwait/|title=Failaka Island: Unearthing the Past in Kuwait |work=[[Middle East Institute]] |access-date=21 July 2013}}</ref>

Under [[Nebuchadnezzar II]], the bay of Kuwait was under [[Babylonia]]n control.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=bks&q=Under+-»+Nebuchadnezzar+%5B2%5D+the+island+of+Failaka+%28off+present-day+Kuwait%29+was+under+Babylonian+influence|title=Brill's New Pauly: encyclopedia of the ancient world |pages=212 |year= 2007}}</ref> Cuneiform documents found in Failaka indicate the presence of Babylonians in the island's population.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHHzP4uVpn4C&pg=PA101|title=The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia|editor=Himanshu Prabha Ray |year=2003|pages=101|isbn=9780521011099|last1=Ray|first1=Himanshu Prabha|author2=Ray|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> [[List of Kings of Babylon|Babylonian Kings]] were present in Failaka during the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] period, [[Nabonidus]] had a governor in Failaka and Nebuchadnezzar II had a palace and temple in Falaika.<ref name=persian_empire>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxQ9W6F1oSYC&pg=PA761|title=From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire|editor=Pierre Briant|year=2002|pages=761|isbn=9781575061207|last1=Briant|first1=Pierre|publisher=Eisenbrauns }}</ref><ref name=sh>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E1aF0hq1GR8C&pg=PA198|title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia |editor=Trevor Bryce|year=2009|pages=198|isbn=9781134159086 |last1=Bryce |first1=Trevor |publisher=Routledge }}</ref> Failaka also contained temples dedicated to the worship of [[Shamash]], the Mesopotamian sun god in the Babylonian pantheon.<ref name=sh/>

Most of present-day Kuwait is still archaeologically unexplored.<ref name="meso"/><ref name=archa/> Although there is no scholarly consensus, several archaeologists and geologists have proposed that Kuwait was likely the original location of the [[Pishon|Pishon River]] which watered the [[Garden of Eden]].<ref name="The_Kuwait_River">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/30/science/science-watch-signs-of-ancient-river.html|title=SCIENCE WATCH; Signs of Ancient River|date=30 March 1993|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="pishon">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110725001800/http://focusmagazine.org/Articles/pishonriver.htm The Pishon River - Found]</ref><ref name="jamesk">James K. Hoffmeier, ''The Archaeology of the Bible'', [[Lion Hudson]]: Oxford, England, 34-35</ref><ref>Carol A. Hill, [http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2000/PSCF3-00Hill.html  The Garden of Eden: A Modern Landscape].</ref> [[Juris Zarins]] argued that the Garden of Eden was situated at the head of the Persian Gulf (present-day Kuwait), where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers run into the sea, from his research on this area using information from many different sources, including [[LANDSAT]] images from space. His suggestion about the Pishon River was supported by James A. Sauer of the [[American Schools of Oriental Research|American Center of Oriental Research]].<ref name="Kuwait_River">{{cite magazine
| last         = Sauer
| first        = James A.
| date         = July–August 1996
| title        = The River Runs Dry: Creation Story Preserves Historical Memory
| url          = https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/22/4/3
| magazine     = [[Biblical Archaeology Review]]
| publisher    = [[Biblical Archaeology Society]]
| volume       = 22
| issue        = 4
| pages        = 52–54, 57, 64
| access-date  = 2019-11-17
}}</ref> Sauer made an argument from geology and history that Pishon River was the now-defunct [[Kuwait River]].<ref name="Kuwait_River"/> With the aid of satellite photos, [[Farouk El-Baz]] traced the dry channel from Kuwait up the [[Wadi al-Batin]].<ref name="The_Kuwait_River"/><ref name="jamesk"/><ref name="pishon"/>

[[File:Seleucid_Empire_alternative_map.jpg|right|thumb|The [[Seleucid Empire]] at its greatest extent.]]
After an apparent abandonment of about seven centuries, the bay of Kuwait was repopulated during the [[Achaemenid period]] (c. 550‒330 BC).<ref name=journal>{{cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aae.12195?af=R|last1=Bonnéric|first1=Julie|title=Guest editors' foreword|year=2021|journal= Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy|volume=32|pages=1–5|doi=10.1111/aae.12195|s2cid=243182467}}</ref> In 4th century BC, the [[ancient Greeks]] colonized the bay of Kuwait under [[Alexander the Great]], the ancient Greeks named mainland Kuwait ''Larissa'' and Failaka was named ''[[Ikaros (Failaka Island)|Ikaros]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Kuwait|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCQMAQAAIAAJ&q=Failaka+was+then+Ikaros+and+Kuwait+was+called+Larissa. |pages=10|year=1976|author=Ralph Shaw| publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780333212479 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Middle East Annual Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2m5AAAAIAAJ&q=Tablets,+coins,+seals+and+other+items+unearthed+by+archaeologists+show+that+Ikaros+and+the+mainland+(known+as+Larissa)+were |pages=241|year=1980|last1=Limited |first1=Walden Publishing | publisher=Middle East Review. |isbn = 9780904439106}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Gulf Handbook - Volume 3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vkosAQAAIAAJ&q=built+a+Hellenistic+temple,+dedicated+to+Artemis+and+renamed+the+island+Ikaros+and+called+the+mainland+Larissa.|pages=344|year=1979|last1=Kilner|first1=Peter|last2=Wallace|first2=Jonathan| publisher=Trade & Travel Publications. |isbn = 9780900751127}}</ref>

According to [[Strabo]] and [[Arrian]], Alexander the Great named Failaka ''Ikaros'' because it resembled the [[Aegean island]] of that name in size and shape. Various elements of [[Greek mythology]] were mixed with the local cults in Failaka.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Makharadze|first1=Zurab|last2=Kvirkvelia|first2=Guram|last3=Murvanidze|first3=Bidzina|last4=Chkhvimiani|first4=Jimsher|last5=Ad Duweish|first5=Sultan|last6=Al Mutairi|first6=Hamed|last7=Lordkipanidze|first7=David|title=Kuwait-Georgian Archaeological Mission – Archaeological Investigations on the Island of Failaka in 2011–2017|journal=Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences|date=2017|volume=11|issue=4|page=178|url=http://science.org.ge/newsite/bnas/t11-n4/27_Makharadze.pdf}}</ref> "Ikaros" was also the name of a prominent city situated in Failaka.<ref>J. Hansamans, Charax and the Karkhen, ''Iranica Antiquitua'' 7 (1967) page 21-58</ref>

According to another account, having returned from [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great|his Indian campaign]] to [[Persia]], Alexander the Great ordered the island to be called Icarus, after the [[Icaria|Icarus island in the Aegean Sea]].<ref name="Arrian"/> This was likely a [[Hellenization]] of the local name Akar ([[Aramaic]] 'KR), derived from the ancient [[bronze-age]] toponym [[Agarum]].<ref>Steffen Terp Laursen: ''Royal Mounds of A'ali in Bahrain: The Emergence of Kingship in Early Dilmun'' (pp. 340–343). ISD LLC, 2017. {{ISBN|9788793423190}}.</ref> Another suggestion is that the name Ikaros was influenced by the local É-kara temple, dedicated to the [[Babylonian mythology|Babylonian]] sun-god [[Shamash]]. That both Failaka and the Aegean Icarus housed [[bull worship|bull cults]] would have made the identification tempting all the more.<ref>Michael Rice: ''The Archaeology of the Arabian Gulf'' (p. 208). Routledge, 2002. {{ISBN|9781134967933}}.</ref><ref>Jean-Jacques Glassner: "Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha" (1988); ''Indian Ocean In Antiquity'' (pp. 240-243), edited by Julian Reade. Kegan Paul International, 1996. Reissued by Routledge in 2013. {{ISBN|9781136155314}}.</ref>

During [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic times]], there was a temple of [[Artemis]] on the island.<ref name="Arrian">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0074.tlg001.perseus-grc1:7.20 Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, §7.20]</ref><ref>[https://topostext.org/work/201#600 Dionysius of Alexandria, Guide to the Inhabited World, §600]</ref><ref>[https://topostext.org/work/560#11.9 Aelian, Characteristics of Animals, §11.9]</ref> The wild animals on the island were dedicated to goddess and no one should harm them.<ref name="Arrian"/> [[Strabo]] wrote that on the island there was a temple of [[Apollo]] and an [[oracle]] of Artemis (Tauropolus) (μαντεῖον Ταυροπόλου).<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/144#16.3.2 Strabo, Geography, §16.3.2]</ref> The island is also mentioned by [[Stephanus of Byzantium]]<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/241#I329.12 Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §I329.12]</ref> and [[Ptolemaeus]].<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/209#6.7.47 Ptolemaeus, Geography, §6.7.47]</ref>

Remains of the settlement include a large [[Hellenistic]] [[Towns of ancient Greece#Military settlements|fort]] and two [[Greek temple]]s.<ref>George Fadlo Hourani, John Carswell, Arab Seafaring: In the [[Indian Ocean]] in Ancient and Early [[Medieval]] Times  [[Princeton University Press]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDh2KKSlQg4C&q=Charax+&pg=PA164  page 131]</ref> Failaka was also a trading post ([[Emporia (ancient Greece)|emporion]]) of the kingdom of [[Characene]].<ref name=chach/> Archaeological remains of Greek colonization were also discovered in Akkaz, Umm an Namil, and Subiya.<ref name=archa/> At the Hellenistic fortress in Failaka, [[pigs]] represented 20 percent of the total population, but no pig remains were found in nearby Akkaz.<ref>{{cite book|title=Evolution of a Taboo: Pigs and People in the Ancient Near East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqkPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA238|pages=238|year=2021|author=Max D. Price| publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn = 978-0-19-754327-6}}</ref>

[[Nearchos]] was likely the first Greek to have explored Failaka.<ref name=antiquity>{{cite web |url=https://www.ancientportsantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/Documents/PLACES/IndOc-Gulf/IkarosFailaka-Parpas2014.pdf|title=Hellenistic Ikaros-Failaka |website=Ancient Ports – Ports Antiques|author=Andreas P. Parpas|pages=5}}</ref> The island was further visited and inspected by [[Archias of Pella|Archias]]<!-- https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Archias_17#II,1 -->, [[Androsthenes of Thasos]], and [[Hiero II of Syracuse|Hiero]] during three exploration expeditions ordered by Alexander the Great during 324 BC.<ref name=antiquity/> Failaka might have been fortified and settled during the days of [[Seleucus I]] or [[Antiochos I]].<ref name=antiquity/>

At the time of Alexander the Great, the mouth of the [[Euphrates|Euphrates River]] was located in northern Kuwait.<ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates/><ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates_river/> The Euphrates river flowed directly into the Persian Gulf via Khor [[Subiya, Kuwait|Subiya]] which was a river channel at the time.<ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates>{{cite book|author=Andreas P. Parpas|title=Naval and Maritime Activities of Alexander the Great in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf|url=https://www.academia.edu/35498091|pages=62–117|year=2016}}</ref><ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates_river>{{cite web |editor=Hermann Gasche |title=The Persian Gulf shorelines and the Karkheh, Karun and Jarrahi Rivers: A Geo-Archaeological Approach |website=Academia |url=https://www.academia.edu/7531835 |pages=19–54 |year=2004}}</ref> Failaka was located 15 kilometers from the mouth of the Euphrates river.<ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates/><ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates_river/> By the first century BC, the Khor Subiya river channel dried out completely.<ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates/><ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates_river/>

[[File:Achaemenid_Empire_500_BCE.jpg|left|thumb|The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent.]]
During the [[Achaemenid period]] (c. 550‒330 BC), the bay of Kuwait was repopulated.<ref name=journal/> Failaka was under the control of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] as evidenced by the archaeological discovery of Achaemenid strata.<ref name=persian_empire/><ref name=antiquity/> There are [[Aramaic]] inscriptions that testify Achaemenid presence.<ref name=antiquity/>

In 127 BC, Kuwait was part of the [[Parthian Empire]] and the kingdom of [[Characene]] was established around [[Teredon]] in present-day Kuwait.<ref name=Teredon>{{cite book|author=Andreas P. Parpas|title=The Hellenistic Gulf: Greek Naval Presence in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf (324-64 B.C.)|url=https://www.academia.edu/35498091|pages=79|year=2016}}</ref><ref name=Teredon_Kuwait>{{cite web|publisher=Peter Harrington|title=Travel - Peter Harrington London|url=https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/138-Final-2.pdf|pages=4|date=2017}}</ref><ref name=Teredon_JSTOR>{{cite journal|author=J. Theodore Bent|title=The Bahrein Islands, in the Persian Gulf|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography|date=January 1890|volume=12|issue=1|pages=13|publisher=[[JSTOR]]|doi=10.2307/1801121 |jstor=1801121 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1836721 }}</ref> Characene was centered in the region encompassing southern Mesopotamia,<ref>{{cite book|author=Kaveh Farrokh|title=Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbSuPQAACAAJ|pages=124|quote=With Babylon and Seleucia secured, Mehrdad turned to Charax in southern Mesopotamia (modern south Iraq and Kuwait).|year=2007|publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=9781846031083}}</ref> Characene coins were discovered in Akkaz, Umm an Namil, and Failaka.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PtzWAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA275|title=Indian Ocean In Antiquity|page=275|year=1996|publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136155314|editor=Julian Reade}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://berlinarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/colledge-1987.pdf|title=Hellenism in the East|work=Amelie Kuhrt, Susan Sherwin-White|year=1987|quote=To the south of Characene, on Failaka, the north wall of the fort was pushed forward, before occupation ceased around 100 BC.}}</ref> A busy Parthian era Characene commercial station existed in Kuwait.<ref name=chach>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/1382592|title=A Parthian Harbour in the Gulf: the Characene|author=Leonardo Gregoratti|pages=216|access-date=16 January 2021|archive-date=20 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920172736/https://www.academia.edu/1382592|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The earliest recorded mention of Kuwait was in 150 AD in the geographical treatise ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'' by Greek scholar [[Ptolemy]].<ref name=sa>{{cite web|url= https://www.medea.be/2010/02/the-european-exploration-of-kuwait/|title=The European Exploration of Kuwait|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323134157/https://www.medea.be/2010/02/the-european-exploration-of-kuwait/|access-date=21 July 2013|archive-date=23 March 2014}}</ref> Ptolemy mentioned the Bay of Kuwait as ''Hieros Kolpos'' (''Sacer Sinus'' in the Latin versions).<ref name=sa/>

In 224 AD, Kuwait became part of the [[Sassanid Empire]]. At the time of the Sassanid Empire, Kuwait was known as ''Meshan'',<ref>{{cite book|author1=Bennett D. Hill |author2=Roger B. Beck |author3=Clare Haru Crowston |title=A History of World Societies, Combined Volume |url=http://www.mcquaid.org/file.cfm?resourceid=3858&filename=chapter_7_full.pdf |pages=165 |year=2008 |quote=Centered in the fertile Tigris- Euphrates Valley, but with access to the Persian Gulf and extending south to Meshan (modern Kuwait), the Sassanid Empire's economic prosperity rested on agriculture; its location also proved well suited for commerce. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203044933/http://www.mcquaid.org/file.cfm?resourceid=3858&filename=chapter_7_full.pdf |archive-date=3 December 2013}}</ref> which was an alternative name of the kingdom of Characene.<ref>{{cite book|author=Avner Falk|title=A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z10-Xz9Kno4C&pg=PA330|pages=330|quote=In 224 he defeated the Parthian army of Ardavan Shah (Artabanus V), taking Isfahan, Kerman, Elam (Elymais) and Meshan (Mesene, Spasinu Charax, or Characene). |year=1996|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press |isbn=9780838636602 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Abraham Cohen|title=Ancient Jewish Proverbs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTb2Zs3BkecC&pg=PT119|quote=The large and small measures roll down and reach Sheol; from Sheol they proceed to Tadmor (Palmyra), from Tadmor to Meshan (Mesene), and from Meshan to Harpanya (Hipparenum).|year=1980|publisher=Library of Alexandria |isbn=9781465526786}}</ref>

Late Sassanian settlements were discovered in Failaka.<ref name=journal2>{{cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aae.12190|last1=Bonnéric|first1=Julie|title=A consideration on the interest of a pottery typology adapted to the late Sasanian and early Islamic monastery at al-Qusur (Kuwait)|year=2021|journal=Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy|volume=32|pages=70–82|doi=10.1111/aae.12190|s2cid=234836940}}</ref><ref name=journal3>{{cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aae.12189|last1=Pieńkowska|first1=Agnieszka|title=Failaka Island in the Late Islamic Period. Investigations at the fishing village of Kharaib al-Dasht|year=2021|journal=Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy|volume=32|pages=115–127|doi=10.1111/aae.12189|s2cid=233612913}}</ref>

Akkaz was a [[Parthian Empire|Partho]]-[[Sassanian]] site;<ref name=Akkaz_Partho_Sassanian/> the [[Zoroastrianism|Sassanid religion]]'s [[tower of silence]] was discovered in northern Akkaz.<ref name=Akkaz_Partho_Sassanian>{{cite journal|last=Gachet |first= J.|journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies|title=Akkaz (Kuwait), a Site of the Partho-Sasanian Period. A preliminary report on three campaigns of excavation (1993–1996).|volume=28|pages=69–79|year=1998|jstor=41223614 }}</ref><ref name=takkaz>{{citation|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tell+Akkaz+in+Kuwait.-a0381147811|title=Tell Akkaz in Kuwait.|journal=The Journal of the American Oriental Society}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=LE TELL D'AKKAZ AU KOWEÏT TELL AKKAZ IN KUWAIT |url=http://www.mom.fr/IMG/pdf/TMO57Akkaz.pdf |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230233751/http://www.mom.fr/IMG/pdf/TMO57Akkaz.pdf |archive-date=30 December 2013}}</ref>

In [[Bubiyan Island|Bubiyan]], there is archaeological evidence of Sassanian periods of human presence as evidenced by the recent discovery of torpedo-jar pottery sherds on several prominent beach ridges.<ref name="Ancient_Bubiyan">{{cite journal|first2=Robert|last2=Carter|first1=Linda|last1=Reinink-Smith|year=2022|title=Late Holocene development of Bubiyan Island, Kuwait|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quaternary-research/article/abs/late-holocene-development-of-bubiyan-island-kuwait/FD3CB9742FC8B0A5EDE6EBAC8F15C301|journal=Quaternary Research|volume=109 |pages=16–38|doi=10.1017/qua.2022.3|bibcode=2022QuRes.109...16R |s2cid=248250022 }}</ref>

In 636 AD, the [[Battle of Chains]] between the Sassanid Empire and [[Rashidun Caliphate]] was fought in Kuwait near [[Kazma]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Kurt Ray|title=A Historical Atlas of Kuwait|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc|url=https://archive.org/details/historicalatlaso0000rayk|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historicalatlaso0000rayk/page/10 10]|year=2003|isbn=9780823939817}}</ref><ref name=trade/> At the time, Kuwait was under the control of the Sassanid Empire.<ref name=Early/> The Battle of Chains was the first battle of the Rashidun Caliphate in which the Muslim army sought to extend its frontiers.

As a result of Rashidun victory in 636 AD, the bay of Kuwait was home to the city of [[Kazma]] (also known as "Kadhima" or "Kāzimah") in the early Islamic era.<ref name=trade/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/8353208|title=Kāzimah remembered: historical traditions of an early Islamic settlement by Kuwait Bay|publisher=British Museum, Seminar for Arabian Studies|author=Brian Ulrich}}</ref><ref name=Early>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/7085907|title=Investigating an Early Islamic Landscape on Kuwait Bay: the archaeology of historical Kadhima |publisher=[[Durham University]]|last1=Kennet |first1=Derek }}</ref> Medieval Arabic sources contain multiple references to the bay of Kuwait in the early Islamic period.<ref name="academia">{{cite journal |author=Brian Ulrich |date=January 2013 |title=From Iraq to the Hijaz in the Early Islamic Period: History and Archaeology of the Basran Hajj Road and the Way(s) through Kuwait |url=https://www.academia.edu/8361856 |journal=The Hajj: Collected Essays, ed. Venetia Porter and Liana Saif}}</ref><ref name="jstor">{{cite journal |last1=Kennet |first1=Derek |last2=Blair |first2=Andrew |last3=Ulrich |first3=Brian |last4=Al-Duwīsh |first4=Sultan M. |year=2011 |title=The Kadhima Project: investigating an Early Islamic settlement and landscape on Kuwait Bay |journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies |publisher=jstor.org |volume=41 |pages=161–172 |jstor=41622130}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/Documents/in/Gulf_History|title=Kāzimah|publisher=academia.edu}}</ref> The city functioned as a [[port city|trade port]] and resting place for pilgrims on their way from Iraq to Hejaz. The city was controlled by the kingdom of [[Al-Hirah]] in Iraq.<ref name=academia/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdZtAAAAMAAJ|title=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies Volumes 9–12 |pages=53 |year= 1979 |quote=Although the town of al-Hira might have been too far northward to be considered a part of Eastern Arabia it is dealt with here as such because the kingdom of al- Hira controlled Kazima (Kuwait).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/23may2012-new-field-work-at-kadhima-kuwait-and-the-archaeology-of-the-early-islamic-period-in-easter.html|title=New field work at Kadhima (Kuwait) and the archaeology of the Early Islamic period in Eastern Arabia|publisher=[[SOAS]]|access-date=26 January 2015|archive-date=25 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125204501/https://www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/23may2012-new-field-work-at-kadhima-kuwait-and-the-archaeology-of-the-early-islamic-period-in-easter.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the early Islamic period, the bay of Kuwait was known for being a fertile area.<ref name=trade>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ACS3J9mVInMC&pg=PA20|title=Kuwait in Pictures|editor=Francesca Davis DiPiazza|year=2008|pages=20–21|isbn=9780822565895|last1=Dipiazza|first1=Francesca Davis|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0130900729|title=Culture in rehabilitation: from competency to proficiency |work=Jeffrey L. Crabtree, Abdul Matin Royeen|pages=194 |year=2006 |quote=During the early Islamic period, Kazima had become a very famous fertile area and served as a trading stations for travelers in the region.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/?mode=project&id=482|title=Kadhima: an Early Islamic settlement and landscape on Kuwait Bay |publisher=[[Durham University]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019074103/https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/?mode=project&id=482 |access-date=2013-07-28|archive-date=19 October 2013 }}</ref>

Kazma was mainly a stop for caravans coming from [[Persia]] and Mesopotamia en route to the Arabian Peninsula. The poet [[Al-Farazdaq]] was born in Kazma.<ref name=kuwa>{{cite web|url=https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2378661&language=en|title=Farazdaq center lauds Info. Min. care for youth|work=[[Kuwait News Agency]]|date=22 May 2014}}</ref> Al-Farazdaq is recognized as one of the greatest [[classical literature|classical poets]] of the Arabs.<ref name=kuwa/>

Early to late Islamic settlements were discovered in Subiya, Akkaz, Kharaib al-Dasht, Umm al-Aish, Al-Rawdatain, Al Qusur, Umm an Namil, [[Miskan Island|Miskan]], and Kuwait's side of [[Wadi al-Batin]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/33243908|title=Failaka and Miskan Island 2004-2009. Primary Scientific Report on the Activities of the Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission.}}</ref><ref name="dasht">{{cite journal|last=Agnieszka Pieńkowska |first= Marek Truszkowski|year=2021|title=Failaka Island in the Late Islamic Period. Investigations at the fishing village of Kharaib al-Dasht|journal=Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy|volume=31|issue=1|pages=69–85|doi=10.1111/aae.12189|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="ad">{{cite journal|author=Marta Mierzejewska|year=2019|title=Islamic harbour in Kharaib al-Dasht Bay? Some remarks on the pottery collection from the Underwater Survey along the coast of Failaka Island|journal=A. Pieńkowska, D. Szeląg, & I. Zych (Eds.), Stories Told Around the Fountain.papers Offered to Piotr Bieliński on His 70th Bithday|url=https://www.academia.edu/42442408}}</ref>

There is archaeological evidence of early Islamic periods of human presence in [[Bubiyan Island|Bubiyan]].<ref name="Ancient_Bubiyan"/>

[[Christians|Christian]] [[Nestorian]] settlements flourished in the bay of Kuwait from the 5th century until the 9th century.<ref name=nes>{{cite web|url=http://www.archaeology.org/issues/79-1303/features/kuwait/540-kuwait-failaka-christian-settlement|title=Hidden Christian Community|work=[[Archaeology Magazine]] |access-date=28 August 2013}}</ref><ref name=christian/><ref name=archa/> Excavations have revealed several farms, villages and two large churches dating from the 5th and 6th century.<ref name=nes/> Archaeologists are currently excavating nearby sites to understand the extent of the settlements that flourished in the eighth and ninth centuries A.D.<ref name=nes/> An old island tradition is that a community grew up around a Christian mystic and hermit.<ref name=nes/> The small farms and villages were eventually abandoned.<ref name=nes/> Remains of [[Byzantine]] era Nestorian churches were found in Akkaz and Al-Qusur.<ref name=christian>{{citation|title=Christianity in the Arab-Persian Gulf: an ancient but still obscure history|work=Julie Bonnéric}}</ref><ref name=akkaz/> Pottery at the Al-Qusur site can be dated from as early as the first half of the 7th century through the 9th century.<ref>Vincent Bernard and Jean Francois Salles, "Discovery of a Christian Church at Al-Qusur, Failaka (Kuwait)," ''Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies'' 21 (1991), 7–21.  Vincent Bernard, Olivier Callot and Jean Francois Salles, "L'eglise d'al-Qousour Failaka, Etat de Koweit," ''Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy'' 2 (1991): 145–181.</ref><ref>Yves Calvet, "Monuments paléo-chrétiens à Koweit et dans la région du Golfe," ''Symposium Syriacum, Uppsala University, Department of Asian and African Languages, 11–14 August 1996'', ''[[Orientalia Christiana Analecta]]'' 256 (Rome, 1998), 671–673.</ref>