other · Arabia and the Gulf

Magan

2300 BCE – 550 BCE (approx.)

The copper land of south-eastern Arabia, known to Mesopotamian kings as the source of metal and hard stone shipped up the Gulf.

Origins

Magan appears in cuneiform texts from the 23rd century BCE, when Sargon of Akkad recorded that ships from Magan, Meluhha and Dilmun moored at his capital. The name covered the copper-bearing Hajar Mountains of modern Oman and the United Arab Emirates, home of the Umm an-Nar culture with its round stone tombs and towers such as those at Hili and Bat.

Rule and society

Little is known of its politics. Naram-Sin of the Akkadian Empire claimed to have defeated Manium, lord of Magan, and brought back diorite for statues. Magan exported copper, diorite and timber in Magan-boats, and later Ur III texts record merchants trading wool, textiles and oil for its copper. Whether it was ever a single kingdom or a federation of oasis communities is unclear.

Decline and legacy

References fade after the early 2nd millennium BCE as Dilmun took over the copper trade. The name revived in Assyrian records and as Maka, a land listed among the subjects of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE. Its copper mines and tombs remain the main witnesses to the Bronze Age of Oman.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (2)

More states of Arabia and the Gulf →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Magan. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/magan
MLA
“Magan.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/magan. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Magan.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/magan.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Magan’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/magan (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻