Agarum

Agarum (also transliterated as Agaru or Akarum, cuneiform: a-kà-rum or a-ga-rum) is a bronze-age Near Eastern proper name, probably a toponym for a region or island in the Eastern Arabia and Persian Gulf. Agarum has been generally identified with Kuwait's Failaka Island, known as ́KR to the Arameans and as Ikaros during the Hellenistic times. Failaka's Ekara temple is another probable location. Agarum is sometimes identified with the mediaeval city of Haǧar, in the general region of Al-Ahsa Oasis in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain Island in Bahrain. The name Agarum is attested in the earlier half of the 2nd millennium BCE, mentioned in inscriptions of the ancient Dilmun civilization (modern-day Bahrain). Agarum was associated with Inzak, the chief deity of Dilmunite pantheon. Several Dilmunite kings styled themselves as "servants of the Inzak of Agarum"; such kings included Rimum (c. 18th century BCE), Yagli-El (c. 18th and 17th centuries BCE), and Sumu-lêl (16th century BCE). "Inzak of Agarum" is also attested on several inscriptions from Failaka, which was an important cultic center of Inzak during the first half of 2nd millennium. Agarum is generally thought to be the Failaka Island, located near the coast of Kuwait. Failaka was the main center of the cult of Inzak. In the late 1st millennium BCE, the Aramaic name of Failaka was ́KR — probably standing for Akar, likely a diachronic variant of Akarum. The Aramaic BL ́KR ("Bēl of Akar") can be seen as a late re-interpretation of the ancient "Inzak of Agarum". In Hellenistic times, Failaka was known as Ikaros. According to The Anabasis of Alexander, this name was given by Alexander the Great, after an Aegean island of the same name. The Greek name was probably based on a folk etymology derived from ́KR. That both Failaka and Aegean Ikaria housed bull cults would have made the identification tempting all the more. Akarum resembles the name of the Ekara temple, which was located at Failaka. Ancient Mesopotamian scribes often morphed foreign words in order to render them satisfyingly into their own writing system.