The 12th Planet

by Zecharia Sitchin

  the emblems of the stars.

  The ME it carries to perfection.

  Its words are for utterance....

  Its words are gracious oracles.

  What was this dirga? Breaks in the ancient tablet have robbed us of more data; but the name speaks for itself, for it means "the dark, crownlike chamber," a place where star charts were kept, where predictions were made, where the me (the astronaut's communications) were received and transmitted. The description reminds us of Mission Control in Houston, Texas, monitoring the astronauts on their Moon missions, amplifying their communications, plotting their courses against the starry sky, giving them "gracious oracles" of guidance.

  We may recall here the tale of the god Zu, who made his way to Enlil's sanctuary and snatched away the Tablet of Destinies, where-upon "suspended was the issuance of commands... the hallowed inner chamber lost its brilliance... stillness spread... silence prevailed."

  In the "Epic of Creation," the "destinies" of the planetary gods were their orbits. It is reasonable to assume that the Tablet of Destinies, which was so vital to the functions of Enlil's "Mission Control Center," also controlled the orbits and flight paths of the spaceships that maintained the "bond" between Heaven and Earth. It might have been the vital "black box" containing the computer programs that guided the spaceships, without which the contact between the Nefilim on Earth and their link to the Home Planet was disrupted.

  Most scholars take the name EN.LIL to mean "lord of the wind," which fits the theory that the ancients "personified" the elements of nature and thus assigned one god to be in charge of winds and storms. Yet some scholars have already suggested that in this instance the term LIL means not a stormy wind of nature but the "wind" that comes out of the mouth—an utterance, a command, a spoken communication. Once again, the archaic Sumerian pictographs for the term EN—especially as applied to Enlil—and for the term LIL, shed light on the subject. For what we see is a structure with a high tower of antennas rising from it, as well as a contraption that looks very much like the giant radar nets erected nowadays for capturing and emitting signals—the "vast net" described in the texts. (Fig. 129)

  In Bad-Tibira, established as an industrial center, Enlil installed his son Nannar/Sin in command; the texts speak of him in the list of cities as NU.GIG ("he of the night sky"). There, we believe, the twins Inanna/lshtar and Utu/Shamash were born—an event marked by associating their father Nannar with the next zodiacal constellation, Gemini (the Twins). As the god trained in rocketry, Shamash was assigned the constellation GIR (meaning both "rocket" and "the crab's claw," or Cancer), followed by Ishtar and the Lion (Leo), upon whose back she was traditionally depicted.

  Fig. 129

  The sister of Enlil and Enki, "the nurse" Ninhursag (SUD), was not neglected: In her charge Enlil put Shuruppak, the medical center of the Nefilim—an event marked by naming her constellation "The Maid" (Virgo).

  While these centers were being established, the completion of Nippur was followed by the construction of the spaceport of the Nefilim on Earth. The texts made clear that Nippur was the place where the "words"—commands-were uttered: There, when "Enlil commanded: 'Towards heaven!' ... that which shines forth rose like a sky rocket." But the action itself took place "where Shamash rises," and that place—the "Cape Kennedy" of the Nefilim—was Sippar, the city in the charge of the Chief of the Eagles, where multistage rockets were raised within its special enclave, the "sacred precinct."

  As Shamash matured to take command of the Fiery Rockets, and in time also to become the God of Justice, he was assigned the constellations Scorpio and Libra (the Scales).

  Completing the list of the first seven Cities of the Gods and the correspondence with the twelve zodiac constellations was Larak, where Enlil put his son Ninurta in command. The city lists call him PA.BlL.SAG ("great protector"); it is the same name by which the constellation Sagittarius was called.

  •

  It would be unrealistic to assume that the first seven Cities of the Gods were established haphazardly. These "gods," who were capable of space travel, located the first settlements in accordance with a definite plan, serving a vital need: to be able to land on Earth and to leave Earth for their own planet.

  What was the master plan?

  As we searched for an answer, we asked ourselves a question: What is the origin of Earth's astronomical and astrological symbol, a circle bisected by a right-angled cross—the symbol we use to signify "target"?

  The symbol goes back to the origins of astronomy and astrology in Sumer and is identical with the Egyptian hieroglyphic sign for "place":

  Is this coincidence, or significant evidence? Did the Nefilim land on Earth by superimposing on its image or map some kind of "target"?

  The Nefilim were strangers to Earth. As they scanned its surface from space, they must have paid special attention to the mountains and mountain ranges. These could present hazards during landings and takeoffs, but they could also serve as navigational landmarks.

  If the Nefilim, as they hovered over the Indian Ocean, looked toward the Land Between the Rivers, which they had selected for their earliest colonizing efforts, one landmark stood out unchallenged: Mount Ararat.

  An extinct volcanic massif, Ararat dominates the Armenian plateau where the present-day borders of Turkey, Iran, and Soviet Armenia meet. It rises on the eastern and northern sides to some 3,000 feet above sea level, and on the northwestern side to 5,000 feet. The whole massif is some twenty-five miles in diameter, a towering dome sticking out from the surface of Earth.

  Other features make it stand out not only from the horizon but also from high in the skies. First, it is located almost midway between two lakes, Lake Van and Lake So-Van. Second, two peaks rise from the high massif: Little Ararat (12,900 feet) and Great Ararat (17,000 feet—well over 5 kilometers). No other mountains rival the solitary heights of the two peaks, which are permanently snow-covered. They are like two shining beacons between the two lakes that, in daylight, act as giant reflectors.

  We have reason to believe that the Nefilim selected their landing site by coordinating a north–south meridian with an unmistakable landmark and a convenient river location. North of Mesopotamia, the easily identifiable twin-peaked Ararat would have been the obvious landmark. A meridian drawn through the center of the twin-peaked Ararat bisected the Euphrates. That was the target—the site selected for the spaceport. (Fig. 130)

  Could one easily land and take off there?

  The answer was Yes. The selected site lay in a plain; the mountain ranges surrounding Mesopotamia were a substantial distance away. The highest ones (to the east, northeast, and north) would not interfere with a space shuttle gliding in from the southeast.

  Fig. 130

  Was the place accessible—could astronauts and materials be brought there without too much difficulty?

  Again, the answer was Yes. The site could be reached overland and, via the Euphrates River, by waterborne craft.

  And one more crucial question: Was there a nearby source of energy, of fuel for light and power? The answer was an emphatic Yes. The bend in the Euphrates River where Sippar was to be established was one of the richest known sources in antiquity of surface bitumens, petroleum products that seeped up through natural wells and could be collected from the surface without any deep digging or drilling.

  We can imagine Enlil, surrounded by his lieutenants at the spacecraft's command post, drawing the cross within a circle on the map. "What shall we call the place?" he may have asked.

  "Why not 'Sippar'?" someone might have suggested.

  In Near Eastern languages, the name means "bird." Sippar was the place where the Eagles would come to nest.

  How would the space shuttles glide down to Sippar?

  We can visualize one of the space navigators pointing out the best route. On the left they had the Euphrates and the mountainous plateau west of it; on the right, the Tigris and the Zagros range east of it. If the craft were to approach Sippar at the
easily set angle of 45 degrees to the Ararat meridian, its path would take it safely between these two hazardous areas. Moreover, coming in to land at such an angle, it would cross in the south over the rocky tip of Arabia while at a high altitude, and start its glide over the waters of the Persian Gulf. Coming and going, the craft would have an unobstructed field of vision and of communication with Mission Control at Nippur.

  Enlil's lieutenant would then make a rough sketch—a triangle of waters and mountains on each side, pointing like an arrow toward Sippar. An "X" would mark Nippur, in the center. (Fig. 131)

  Fig. 131

  Incredible as it may seem, this sketch was not made by us; the design was drawn on a ceramic object unearthed at Susa, in a stratum dated to about 3200 B.C. It brings to mind the planisphere that described the flight path and procedures, which was based on 45-degree segments.

  The establishment of settlements on Earth by the Nefilim was not a hit-or-miss effort. All the alternatives were studied, all the resources evaluated, all the hazards taken into account; moreover, the settlement plan itself was carefully mapped out so that each site fit into the final pattern, whose purpose was to outline the landing path to Sippar.

  No one has previously attempted to see a master plan in the scattered Sumerian settlements. But if we look at the first seven cities ever established, we find that Bad-Tibira, Shuruppak, and Nippur lay on a line running precisely at a 45-degree angle to the Ararat meridian, and that line crossed the meridian exactly at Sippar! The other two cities whose sites are known, Eridu and Larsa, also lay on another straight line that crossed the first line and the Ararat meridian, also at Sippar.

  Taking our cue from the ancient sketch, which made Nippur the center of a circle, and drawing concentric circles from Nippur through the various cities, we find that another ancient Sumerian town, Lagash, was located exactly on one of these circles—on a line equidistant from the 45-degree line, like the Eridu–Larsa–Sippar line. The location of Lagash mirrors that of Larsa.

  Though the site of LA.RA.AK ("seeing the bright halo") remains unknown, the logical site for it would be at Point 5, since there logically was a City of the Gods there, completing the string of cities on the central flight path at intervals of six beru: Bad-Tibira, Shuruppak, Nippur, Larak, Sippar. (Fig. 132)

  The two outside lines, flanking the central line running through Nippur, lay 6 degrees on each side of it, acting as southwest and northeast outlines of the central flight path. Appropriately, the name LA.AR.SA meant "seeing the red light"; and LA.AG.ASH meant "seeing the halo at six." The cities along each line were indeed six beru (approximately sixty kilometers, or thirty-seven miles) from each other.

  This, we believe, was the master plan of the Nefilim. Having selected the best location for their spaceport (Sippar), they laid out the other settlements in a pattern outlining the vital flight path to it. In the center they placed Nippur, where the "bond Heaven–Earth" was located.

  •

  Neither the original Cities of the Gods nor their remains can ever be seen by man again—they were all destroyed by the Deluge that later swept over Earth. But we can learn much about them because it was the sacred duty of Mesopotamian kings continuously to rebuild the sacred precincts in exactly the same spot and according to the original plans. The rebuilders stressed their scrupulous adherence to the original plans in their dedication inscriptions, as this one (uncovered by Layard) stated:

  The everlasting ground plan,

  that which for the future

  the construction determined

  [I have followed].

  It is the one which bears

  the drawings from the Olden Times

  and the writing of the Upper Heaven.

  If Lagash, as we suggest, was one of the cities that served as a landing beacon, then much of the information provided by Gudea in the third millennium B.C. makes sense. He wrote that when Ninurta instructed him to rebuild the sacred precinct, an accompanying god gave him the architectural plans (drawn on a stone tablet), and a goddess (who had "travelled between Heaven and Earth" in her "chamber") showed him a celestial map and instructed him on the astronomical alignments of the structure.

  In addition to the "divine black bird," the god's "terrible eye" ("the great beam that subdues the world to its power") and the "world controller" (whose sound could "reverberate all over") were installed in the sacred precinct. Finally, when the structure was complete, the "emblem of Utu" was raised upon it, facing "toward the rising place of Utu"—toward the spaceport at Sippar. All these beaming objects were important to the spaceport's operation, for Utu himself "came forth joyfully" to inspect the installations when completed.

  Early Sumerian depictions frequently show massive structures, built in earliest times of reeds and wood, standing in fields among grazing cattle. The current assumption that these were stables for cattle is contradicted by the pillars that are invariably shown protruding from the roofs of such structures. (Fig. 133a)

  The pillars' purpose, as one can see, was to support one or more pairs of "rings," whose function is unstated. But although these structures were erected in the fields, one must question whether they were built to shelter cattle. The Sumerian pictographs (Fig. 133b) depict the word DUR, or TUR (meaning "abode," "gathering place"), by drawings that undoubtedly represent the same structures shown on the cylinder seals; but they make clear that the main feature of the structure was not the "huts" but the antenna tower. Similar pillars with "rings" were posted at temple entrances, within the sacred precincts of the gods, and not only out in the countryside. (Fig. 133c)

  Fig. 132

  Were these objects antennas attached to broadcasting equipment? Were the pairs of rings radar emitters, placed in the fields to guide the incoming shuttlecraft? Were the eyelike pillars scanning devices, the "all-seeing eyes" of the gods of which many texts have spoken?

  We know that the equipment to which these various devices were connected was portable, for some Sumerian seals depict boxlike "divine objects" being transported by boat or mounted on pack animals, which carried the objects farther inland once the boats had docked. (Fig. 134)

  These "black boxes," when we see what they looked like, bring to mind the Ark of the Covenant built by Moses under God's instructions. The chest was to be made of wood, overlaid with gold both inside and outside—two electricity-conducting surfaces were insulated by the wood between them. A kapporeth, also made of gold, was to. be placed above the chest and held up by two cherubim cast of solid gold. The nature of the kapporeth (meaning, scholars speculate, "covering") is not clear; but this verse from Exodus suggests its purpose: "And I will address thee from above the Kapporeth, from between the two Cberubim."

  The implication that the Ark of the Covenant was principally a communications box, electrically operated, is enhanced by the instructions concerning its portability. It was to be carried by means of wooden staffs passed through four golden rings. No one was to touch the chest proper; and when one Israelite did touch it, he was killed instantly—as if by a charge of high-voltage electricity.

  Such apparently supernatural equipment—which made it possible to communicate with a deity though the deity was physically somewhere else-became objects of veneration, "sacred cult symbols." Temples at Lagash, Ur, Mari, and other ancient sites included among their devotional objects "eye idols." The most outstanding example was found at an "eye temple" at Tell Brak, in northwestern Mesopotamia. This fourth-millennium B.C. temple was so named not only because hundreds of "eye" symbols were unearthed there but mainly because the temple's inner sanctum had only one altar, on which a huge stone "double-eye" symbol was displayed. (Fig. 135)

  In all probability, it was a simulation of the actual divine object—Ninurta's "terrible eye," or the one at Enlil's Mission Control Center at Nippur, about which the ancient scribe reported: "His raised Eye scans the land.... His raised Beam searches the land."

  The flat plain of Mesopotamia necessitated, it seems, the artificial raising of
platforms on which the space-related equipment was to be placed. Texts and pictorial depictions leave no doubt that the structures ranged from the earliest field huts to the later staged platforms, reached by staircases and sloped ramps that led from a broad lower stage to a narrower upper one, and so on. At the top of the ziggurat an actual residence for the god was built, surrounded by a flat, walled courtyard to house his "bird" and "weapons." A ziggurat depicted on a cylinder seal not only shows the customary stage-upon-stage construction, it also has two "ring antennas" whose height appears to have equaled three stages. (Fig. 136)

  Fig. 133

  Fig. 134

  Fig. 135

  Fig. 136

  Marduk claimed that the ziggurat and temple compound at Babylon (the E.SAG.IL) had been built under his own instructions, also in accordance with the "writing of Upper Heaven." A tablet (known as the Smith Tablet, after its decipherer), analyzed by Andre Parrot (Ziggurats et Tour de Babel) established that the seven-stage ziggurat was a perfect square, with the first stage or base having sides of 15 gar each. Each successive stage was smaller in area and in height, except the last stage (the god's residence), which was of a greater height. The total height, however, was again equal to 15 gar, so that the complete structure was not only a perfect square but a perfect cube as well.