The 12th Planet

by Zecharia Sitchin

  Having thus "constructed the stations" for the planets, Marduk took for himself "Station Nibiru," and "crossed the heavens and surveyed" the new solar system. It was now made up of twelve celestial bodies, with twelve Great Gods as their counterparts. (Fig. 110)

  Fig. 110

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  KINGSHIP OF HEAVEN

  Studies of the "Epic of Creation" and parallel texts (for example, S. Langdon's The Babylonian Epic of Creation) show that sometime after 2000 B.C., Marduk, son of Enki, was the successful winner of a contest with Ninurta, son of Enlil, for supremacy among the gods. The Babylonians then revised the original Sumerian "Epic of Creation," expunged from it all references to Ninurta and most references to Enlil, and renamed the invading planet Marduk.

  The actual elevation of Marduk to the status of "King of the Gods" upon Earth was thus accompanied by assigning to him, as his celestial counterpart, the planet of the Nefilim, the Twelfth Planet. As "Lord of the Celestial Gods [the planets]" Marduk was thus also "King of the Heavens."

  Some scholars at first believed that "Marduk" was either the North Star or some other bright star seen in the Mesopotamian skies at the time of the spring equinox because the celestial Marduk was described as a "bright heavenly body." But Albert Schott (Marduk und sein Stern) and others have shown conclusively that all the ancient astronomical texts spoke of Marduk as a member of the solar system.

  Since other epithets described Marduk as the "Great Heavenly Body" and the "One Who Illumines," the theory was advanced that Marduk was a Babylonian Sun God, parallel to the Egyptian god Ra, whom the scholars also considered a Sun God. Texts describing Marduk as he "who scans the heights of the distant heavens ... wearing a halo whose brilliance is awe-inspiring" appeared to support this theory. But the same text continued to say that "he surveys the lands like Shamash [the Sun]." If Marduk was in some respects akin to the Sun, he could not, of course, be the Sun.

  If Marduk was not the Sun, which one of the planets was he? The ancient astronomical texts failed to fit anyone planet. Basing their theories on certain epithets (such as Son of the Sun), some scholars pointed at Saturn. The description of Marduk as a reddish planet made Mars, too, a candidate. But the texts placed Marduk in markas shame ("in the center of Heaven"), and this convinced most scholars that the proper identification should be Jupiter, which is located in the center of the line of planets:

  Jupiter

  Mercury Venus Earth Mars Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

  This theory suffers from a contradiction. The same scholars who put it forward were the ones who held the view that the Chaldeans were unaware of the planets beyond Saturn. These scholars list Earth as a planet, while contending that the Chaldeans thought of Earth as a flat center of the planetary system. And they omit the Moon, which the Mesopotamians most definitely counted among the "celestial gods." The equating of the Twelfth Planet with Jupiter simply does not work out.

  The "Epic of Creation" clearly states that Marduk was an invader from outside the solar system, passing by the outer planets (including Saturn and Jupiter) before colliding with Tiamat. The Sumerians called the planet NIBIRU, the "planet of crossing," and the Babylonian version of the epic retained the following astronomical information:

  Planet NIBIRU:

  The Crossroads of Heaven and Earth he shall occupy.

  Above and below, they shall not go across;

  They must await him.

  Planet NIBIRU:

  Planet which is brilliant in the heavens.

  He holds the central position;

  To him they shall pay homage.

  Planet NIBIRU:

  It is he who without tiring

  The midst of Tiamat keeps crossing.

  Let "CROSSING" be his name-

  The one who occupies the midst.

  These lines provide the additional and conclusive information that in dividing the other planets into two equal groups, the Twelfth Planet in "the midst of Tiamat keeps crossing": Its orbit takes it again and again to the site of the celestial battle, where Tiamat used to be.

  We find that astronomical texts that dealt in a highly sophisticated manner with the planetary periods, as well as lists of planets in their celestial order, also suggested that Marduk appeared somewhere between Jupiter and Mars. Since the Sumerians did know of all the planets, the appearance of the Twelfth Planet in "the central position" confirms our conclusions:

  Mraduk

  Mercury Venus Moon Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

  If Marduk's orbit takes it to where Tiamat once was, relatively near us (between Mars and Jupiter), why have we not yet seen this planet, which is supposedly large and bright?

  The Mesopotamian texts spoke of Marduk as reaching unknown regions of the skies and the far reaches of the universe. "He scans the hidden knowledge ... he sees all the quarters of the universe." He was described as the "monitor" of all the planets, one whose orbit enables him to encircle all the others. "He keeps hold on their bands [orbits]," makes a "hoop" around them. His orbit was "loftier" and "grander" than that of any other planet. It thus occurred to Franz Kugler (Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babylon) that Marduk was a fast-moving celestial body, orbiting in a great elliptical path just like a comet.

  Such an elliptical path, focused on the Sun as a center of gravity, has an apogee—the point farthest from the Sun, where the return flight begins—and a perigee—the point nearest the Sun, where the return to outer space begins. We find that two such "bases" are indeed associated with Marduk in the Mesopotamian texts. The Sumerian texts described the planet as going from AN.UR ("Heaven's base") to E.NUN ("lordly abode"). The Creation epic said of Marduk:

  He crossed the Heaven and surveyed the regions....

  The structure of the Deep the Lord then measured.

  E-Shara he established as his outstanding abode;

  E-Shara as a great abode in the Heaven he established.

  One "abode" was thus "outstanding"—far in the deep regions of space. The other was established in the "Heaven," within the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. (Fig.111)

  Following the teachings of their Sumerian forefather, Abraham of Ur, the ancient Hebrews also associated their supreme deity with the supreme planet. Like the Mesopotamian texts, many books of the Old Testament describe the "Lord" has having his abode in the "heights of Heaven," where he "beheld the foremost planets as they were arisen"; a celestial Lord who, unseen, "in the heavens moves about in a circle." The Book of Job, having described the celestial collision, contains these significant verses telling us where the lordly planet had gone:

  Fig. 111

  Upon the Deep he marked out an orbit;

  Where light and darkness [merge]

  Is his farthest limit.

  No less explicitly, the Psalms outlined the planet's majestic course:

  The Heavens bespeak the glory of the Lord;

  The Hammered Bracelet proclaims his handiwork....

  He comes forth as a groom from the canopy;

  Like an athlete he rejoices to run the course.

  From the end of heavens he emanates,

  And his circuit is to their end.

  Recognized as a great traveler in the heavens, soaring to immense heights at its apogee and then "coming down, bowing unto the Heaven" at its perigee, the planet was depicted as a Winged Globe.

  Wherever archaeologists uncovered the remains of Near Eastern peoples, the symbol of the Winged Globe was conspicuous, dominating temples and palaces, carved on rocks, etched on cylinder seals, painted on walls. It accompanied kings and priests, stood above their thrones, "hovered" above them in battle scenes, was etched into their chariots. Clay, metal, stone, and wood objects were adorned with the symbol. The rulers of Sumer and Akkad, Babylon and Assyria, Elam and Urartu, Mari and Nuzi, Mitanni and Canaan—all revered the symbol. Hittite kings, Egyptian pharaohs, Persian shar's—all proclaimed the symbol (and what it stood for) supreme. It remained so for millennia. (Fi
g. 112)

  Central to the religious beliefs and astronomy of the ancient world was the conviction that the Twelfth Planet, the "Planet of the Gods," remained within the solar system and that its grand orbit returned it periodically to Earth's vicinity. The pictographic sign for the Twelfth Planet, the "Planet of Crossing," was a cross. This cuneiform sign, , which also meant "Anu" and "divine," evolved in the Semitic languages to the letter tav, which meant "the sign."

  Indeed, all the peoples of the ancient world considered the periodic nearing of the Twelfth Planet as a sign of upheavals, great changes, and new eras. The Mesopotamian texts spoke of the planet's periodic appearance as an anticipated, predictable, and observable event:

  The great planet:

  At his appearance, dark red.

  The Heaven he divides in half

  and stands as Nibiru.

  Many of the texts dealing with the planet's arrival were omen texts prophesying the effect the event would have upon Earth and Mankind. R. Campbell Thompson (Reports of the Magicians and Astronomers of Nineveh and Babylon) reproduced several such texts, which trace the progress of the planet as it "ringed the station of Jupiter" and arrived at the point of crossing, Nibiru:

  When from the station of Jupiter

  the Planet passes towards the west,

  there will be a time of dwelling in security.

  Kindly peace will descend on the land.

  When from the station of Jupiter

  the Planet increases in brilliance

  and in the Zodiac of Cancer will become Nibiru,

  Akkad will overflow with plenty,

  the king of Akkad will grow powerful.

  When Nibiru culminates....

  The lands will dwell securely,

  Hostile kings will be at peace,

  The gods will receive prayers and hear supplications.

  Fig. 112

  The nearing planet, however, was expected to cause rains and flooding, as its strong gravitational effects have been known to do:

  When the Planet of the Throne of Heaven

  will grow brighter,

  there will be floods and rains....

  When Nibiru attains its perigee,

  the gods will give peace;

  troubles will be cleared up,

  complications will be unravelled.

  Rains and floods will come.

  Like the Mesopotamian savants, the Hebrew prophets considered the time of the planet's approaching Earth and becoming visible to Mankind as ushering in a new era. The similarities between the Mesopotamian omens of peace and prosperity that would accompany the Planet of the Throne of Heaven, and the biblical prophesies of the peace and justice that would settle upon Earth after the Day of the Lord, can best be expressed in the words of Isaiah:

  And it shall come to pass at the End of Days:

  ... the Lord shall judge among the nations

  and shall rebuke many peoples.

  They shall beat their swords into ploughshares

  and their spears into pruning hooks;

  nation shall not lift up sword against nation.

  In contrast with the blessings of the new era following the Day of the Lord, the day itself was described by the Old Testament as a time of rains, inundations, and earthquakes. If we think of the biblical passages as referring, like their Mesopotamian counterparts, to the passage in Earth's vicinity of a large planet with a strong gravitational pull, the words of Isaiah can be plainly understood:

  Like the noise of a multitude in the mountains,

  a tumultous noise like of a great many people,

  of kingdoms of nations gathered together;

  it is the Lord of Hosts,

  commanding a Host to battle.

  From a far away land they come,

  from the end-point of the Heaven

  do the Lord and his Weapons of wrath

  come to destroy the whole Earth....

  Therefore will I agitate the Heaven

  and Earth shall be shaken out of its place

  when the Lord of Hosts shall be crossing,

  the day of his burning wrath.

  While on Earth "mountains shall melt ... valleys shall be cleft," Earth's axial spin would also be affected. The prophet Amos explicitly predicted:

  It shall come to pass on that Day,

  sayeth the Lord God,

  that I will cause the Sun to go down at noon

  and I will darken the Earth in the midst of daytime.

  Announcing, "Behold, the Day of the Lord is come!" the prophet Zechariah informed the people that this phenomenon of an arrest in Earth's spin around its own axis would last only one day:

  And it shall come to pass on that Day

  there shall be no light—uncommonly shall it freeze.

  And there shall be one day, known to the Lord,

  which shall be neither day nor night,

  when at eve-time there shall be light.

  On the Day of the Lord, the prophet Joel said, "the Sun and Moon shall be darkened, the stars shall withdraw their radiance"; "the Sun shall be turned into darkness, and the Moon shall be as red blood."

  Mesopotamian texts exalted the planet's radiance and suggested that it could be seen even at daytime: "visible at sunrise, disappearing from view at sunset." A cylinder seal, found at Nippur, depicts a group of plowmen looking up with awe as the Twelfth Planet (depicted with its cross symbol) is visible in the skies. (Fig. 113)

  The ancient peoples not only expected the periodic arrival of the Twelfth Planet but also charted its advancing course.

  Various biblical passages—especially in Isaiah, Amos, and Job—relate the movement of the celestial Lord to various constellations. "Alone he stretches out the heavens and treads upon the highest Deep; he arrives at the Great Bear, Orion and Sirius, and the constellations of the south." Or, "He smiles his face upon Taurus and Aries; from Taurus to Sagittarius he shall go." These verses describe a planet that not only spans the highest heavens but also comes in from the south and moves in a clockwise direction—just as we have deduced from the Mesopotamian data. Quite explicitly, the prophet Habakkuk stated: "The Lord from the south shall come ... his glory shall fill the Earth ... and Venus shall be as light, its rays of the Lord given."

  Fig. 113

  Among the many Mesopotamian texts that dealt with the subject, one is quite clear:

  Planet of the god Marduk:

  Upon its appearance: Mercury.

  Rising thirty degrees of the celestial arc: Jupiter.

  When standing in the place of the celestial battle:

  Nibiru.

  As the accompanying schematic chart illustrates, the above texts do not simply call the Twelfth Planet by different names (as scholars have assumed). They deal rather with the movements of the planet and the three crucial points at which its appearance can be observed and charted from Earth. (Fig. 114)

  The first opportunity to observe the Twelfth Planet as its orbit brings it back to Earth's vicinity, then, was when it aligned with Mercury (point A)—by our calculations, at an angle of 30 degrees to the imaginary celestial axis of Sun–Earth–perigee. Coming closer to Earth and thus appearing to "rise" farther in Earth's skies (another 30 degrees, to be exact), the planet crossed the orbit of Jupiter at point B. Finally, arriving at the place where the celestial battle had taken place, the perigee, or the Place of the Crossing, the planet is Nibiru, point C. Drawing an imaginary axis between Sun, Earth and the perigee of Marduk's orbit, observers on Earth first saw Marduk aligned with Mercury, at a 30° angle (point A). Progressing another 30°, Marduk crossed the orbital path of Jupiter at point B.