Fearing, evidently, a human race unified in culture and purpose, the Nefilim adopted the imperial policy: "Divide and rule." For while Mankind reached cultural levels that included even airborne efforts—after which "anything they shall scheme to do shall no longer be impossible for them"—the Nefilim themselves were a declining lot. By the third millennium B.C., children and grandchildren, to say nothing of humans of divine parentage, were crowding the great olden gods.
The bitter rivalry between Enlil and Enki was inherited by their principal sons, and fierce struggles for supremacy ensued. Even the sons of Enlil—as we have seen in earlier chapters—fought among themselves, as did the sons of Enki. As has happened in recorded human history, overlords tried to keep the peace among their children by dividing the land among the heirs. In at least one known instance, one son (Ishkur/Adad) was deliberately sent away by Enlil to be the leading local deity in the Mountain Land.
As time went on, the gods became overlords, each jealously guarding the territory, industry, or profession over which he had been given dominion. Human kings were the intermediaries between the gods and the growing and spreading humanity. The claims of ancient kings that they went to war, conquered new lands, or subjugated distant peoples "on the command of my god" should not be taken lightly. Text after text makes it clear that this was literally so: The gods retained the powers of conducting foreign affairs, for these affairs involved other gods in other territories. Accordingly, they had the final say in matters of war or peace.
With the proliferation of people, states, cities, and villages, it became necessary to find ways to remind the people who their particular overlord, or "lofty one," was. The Old Testament echoes the problem of having people adhere to their god and not "prostitute after other gods." The solution was to establish many places of worship, and to put up in each of them the symbols and likenesses of the "correct" gods.
The age of paganism began.
•
Following the Deluge, the Sumerian texts inform us, the Nefilim held lengthy counsels regarding the future of gods and Man on Earth. As a result of these deliberations, they "created the four regions." Three of them—Mesopotamia, the Nile valley, and the Indus valley—were settled by Man.
The fourth region was "holy"—a term whose original literal meaning was "dedicated, restricted." Dedicated to the gods alone, it was a "pure land," an area that could be approached only with authorization; trespassing could lead to quick death by "awesome weapons" wielded by fierce guards. This land or region was named TIL.MUN (literally, "the place of the missiles"). It was the restricted area where the Nefilim had reestablished their space base after the one at Sippar had been wiped out by the Deluge.
Once again the area was put under the command of Utu/Shamash, the god in charge of the fiery rockets. Ancient heroes like Gilgamesh strove to reach this Land of Living, to be carried by a shem or an Eagle to the Heavenly Abode of the Gods. We recall the plea of Gilgamesh to Shamash:
Let me enter the Land, let me raise my Shem....
By the life of my goddess mother who bore me,
of the pure faithful king, my father—
my step direct to the Land!
Ancient tales—even recorded history—recall the ceaseless efforts of men to "reach the land," find the "Plant of Life," gain eternal bliss among the Gods of Heaven and Earth. This yearning is central to all the religions whose roots lie deep in Sumer: the hope that justice and righteousness pursued on Earth will be followed by an "afterlife" in some Heavenly Divine Abode.
But where was this elusive land of the divine connection?
The question can be answered. The clues are there. But beyond it loom other questions. Have the Nefilim been encountered since? What will happen when they are encountered again?
And if the Nefilim were the "gods" who "created" Man on Earth, did evolution alone, on the Twelfth Planet, create the Nefilim?
SOURCES
•
I. Principal sources for biblical texts
A. Genesis through Deuteronomy: The Five Books of Moses, new edition, revised by Dr. M. Stern, Star Hebrew Book Company, undated.
B. For latest translation and interpretation based on Sumerian and Akkadian finds: "Genesis," from The Anchor Bible, trans. by E. A. Speiser, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1964.
C. For "archaic" flavor: The Holy Bible, King James Version, Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Co., undated.
D. For verification of recent interpretations of biblical verses: The Torah, new translation of the Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic text, New York: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1962; The New American Bible, translation by members of the Catholic Biblical Association of America, New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1970; and The New English Bible, planned and directed by the Church of England, Oxford: Oxford University Press; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970.
E. For reference on usage comparison and translation aids: Veteris Testamenti Concordantiae Hebraicae Atque Chaldaicae by Solomon Mandelkern, Jerusalem: Schocken Books, Inc., 1962; Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible, a translation and adaptation of the work by A. van den Born, by the Catholic Biblical Association of America, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1963; and Millon-Hatanach (Hebrew), Hebrew-Aramaic by Jushua Steinberg, Tel Aviv: Izreel Publishing House Ltd., 1961.
II. Principal sources for Near Eastern texts
Barton, George A. The Royal Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad. 1929.
Borger, Riekele. Babylonisch-Assyrisch Lesestucke. 1963. Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Gods of the Egyptians. 1904.
Budge, E. A. W., and King, L. W. Annals of the Kings of Assyria. 1902.
Chiera, Edward. Sumerian Religious Texts. 1924.
Ebeling, E.; Meissner, B.; and Weidner, E. (eds.). Reallexikon der Assyrologie und Vorderasiatischen Archiiology. 1932-1957.
Ebeling, Erich. Enuma Elish: die Siibente Tafel des Akkadischen Weltschapfungsliedes. 1939.
___. Tad und Leben nach den Vorstellungen der Babylonier. 1931.
Falkenstein, Adam, and W. von Soden. Sumerische und Akkadische Hymnen und Gebete. 1953.
Falkenstein, Adam. Sumerische Goetterlieder. 1959.
Fossey, Charles. La Magie Syrienne. 1902.
Frankfort, Henri. Kingship and the Gods. 1948.
Gray, John. The Cananites. 1964.
Gordon, Cyrus H. "Canaanite Mythology" in Mythologies of the Ancient World. 1961.
Grossman, Hugo. The Development of the Idea of God in the Old Testament. 1926.
___.Altorientalische Texte und Bilder zum alten Testamente. 1909.
Giiterbock, Hans G. "Hittite Mythology" in Mythologies of the Ancient World. 1961.
Heidel, Alexander. The Babylonian Genesis. 1969.
Hilprecht, Herman V. (ed.). Reports of the Babylonian Expedition: Cuneiform Texts. 1893-1914.
Jacobsen, Thorkild. "Mesopotamia" in The Intellectual Adventure of the Ancient Man. 1946.
Jastrow, Morris. Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens. 1905-12.
Jean, Charles-F. La religion sumerienne. 1931.
Jensen, P. Texte zur assyrisch-babylonischen Religion. 1915.
___.Die Kosmologie der Babylonier. 1890.
Jeremias, Alfred. The Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient Near East. 1911.
___. Das Alter der babylonischen Astronomie. 1908.
___. Handbuch der Altorientalische Geistkultur.
Jeremias, Alfred, and Winckler, Hugo. lm Kampfe um den alten Orient.
King, Leonard W. Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, being "The Prayers of the Lifting of the Hand." 1896.
___. The Assyrian Language. 1901.
___. The Seven Tablets of Creation. 1902.
___. Babylonian Religion and Mythology. 1899.
Kramer, Samuel N. The Sumerians. 1963.
___. (ed.): Mythologies of the Ancient World. 1961.
___. History Begins at Sumer. 1959.
___. Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. 1952.
___. F
rom the Tablets of Sumer. 1956.
___. Sumerian Mytlwlogy. 1961.
Kugler, Fra.nz Xaver. Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babylon. 1907-1913.
Lambert, W. G., and Millard, A. R. Atra-Hasis, the Babylonian Story of the Flood. 1970.
Langdon, Stephen. Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms. 1909.
___. Tammuz and Ishtar. 1914.
___. (ed.): Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts. 1923 ff.
___. "Semitic Mythology" in The Mythology of All Races. 1964.
___. Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Epic of Creation. 1923.
___. Babylonian Penitential Psalms. 1927.
___. Die Neu-Babylonischen Ki'migsinschriften. 1912.
Luckenbill, David D. Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia. 1926-27.
Neugebauer, O. Astronomical Cuneiform Texts. 1955.
Pinches, Theophilus G. "Some Mathematical Tablets in the British Museum" in Hilprecht Anniversary Volume. 1909.
Pritchard, James B. (ed.). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. 1969.
Rawlinson, Henry C. The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia. 1861-84.
Sayce, A. H. The Religion of the Babylonians. 1888.
Smith, George. The Chaldean Account of Genesis. 1876.
Thomas, D. Winton (ed.). Documents from Old Testament Times. 1961.
Thompson, R. Campbell. The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon. 1900.
Thureau-Dangin, Francois. Les Inscriptions de Sumer et Akkad. 1905.
___. Die sumerischen und akkadische KOnigsinschriften. 1907.
___. Rituels accadiens. 1921.
Virolleaud, Charles. L'Astronomie Chaldeenne. 1903-1908.
Weidner, Ernst F. Alter und Bedeutung der Babylonischer Astronomie und Astrallehre. 1914.
___. Handbuch der Babylonischen Astronomie. 1915.
Witzel, P. Maums. Tammuz-Liturgien und Verwandtes. 1935.
Ill. Studies and articles consulted in various issues of the following periodicals
Der Alte Orient (Leipzig)
American Journal of Archaeology (Concord, Mass.)
American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (Chicago)
Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research (New Haven)
Archiv fur Keilschriftforschung (Berlin)
Archiv fur Orientforschung (Berlin)
Archiv Orientalni (Prague)
Assyrologische Bibliothek (Leipzig)
Assyrological Studies (Chicago)
Das Ausland (Berlin) Babyloniaca (Paris)
Beitrage zur Assyrologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft (Leipzig)
Berliner Beitriige zur Keilschriftforschung (Berlin)
Bibliotheca Orientalis (Leiden)
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (Jemsalem and Baghdad)
Deutsches Morgenliindische Gesellschaft, Abhandlungen (Leipzig)
Harvard Semitic Series (Cambridge, Mass.)
Hebrew Union College Annual (Cincinnati)
Journal Asiatique (Paris)
Journal of the American Oriental Society (New Haven)
Journal of Biblical Literature and Exegesis (Middletown).
Journal of Cuneiform Studies (New Haven)
Journal of Near Eastern Studies (Chicago)
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (London)
Journal of the Society of Oriental Research (Chicago)
Journal of Semitic Studies (Manchester)
Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (Berlin)
Konigliche Museen zu Berlin: Mitteilungen am der Orientalischen Sammlungen (Berlin)
Leipziger semitische Studien (Leipzig)
Mitteilungen der altorientalischen Gesellschaft (Leipzig)
Mitteilungen des Instituts fur Orientforschung (Berlin)
Orientalia (Rome)
Orientalische Literaturzeitung (Berlin)
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia)
Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (London)
Revue d'Assyrologie et d'archeologie orientale (Paris)
Revue biblique (Paris)
Sacra Scriptura Antiquitatibus Orientalibus Illustrata (Vatican)
Studia Orientalia (Helsinki)
Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (London)
Untersuchungen zur Assyrologie und vorderasiatischen Archiiologie (Berlin)
Vorderasiatische Bibliothek (Leipzig)
Die Welt des Orients (Gottingen)
Wissenschaftliche Veroffehtlichungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft (Berlin)
Zeitschrift fur Assyrologie und verwandte Gebiete (Leipzig)
Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (Berlin, Gissen)
Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenliindischen Gesellschaft (Leipzig)
Zeitschrift fur Keilschriftforschung (Leipzig)
Other Works by Zecharia Sitchin
THE LOST BOOK OF ENKI
DIVINE ENCOUNTERS
GENESIS REVISITED
THE EARTH CHRONICLES:
Book I: The 12th Planet
Book II: The Stairway to Heaven
Book III: The Wars of Gods and Men
Book IV: The Lost Realms
Book V: When Time Began
Book VI: The Cosmic Code
Dear Reader,
The Earth Chronicles series is based on the premise that mythology is the depository of ancient recollections, that the Bible should be read literally as a historic-scientific document, and that ancient civilizations were the product of knowledge brought to Earth by the Anunnaki—"Those who from Heaven to Earth came."
Complementing each other and serving to bring the saga of gods and humans on Earth ever closer to our time, each book of the series looks at this awesome tale from a different perspective.
The 12th Planet, the first book of the series, brings to life the Sumerian civilization and presents millennia-old evidence of the existence of Nibiru, the home planet of the Anunnaki, and the landings of the Anunnaki on Earth every 3,600 years.
The Stairway to Heaven, the second book, incorporates ancient Egyptian evidence to show that the gateway between the mortal and the divine was a spaceport in the Sinai Peninsula, with the Giza pyramids and the Sphinx serving as beacons for the landings.
The Wars of Gods and Men, the third book, additionally embraces Canaanite, Hittite, and Hindu sources to include in these investigations the incidents of the Tower of Babel and the upheaval of Sodom and Gomorrah, concluding that nuclear weapons were used on Earth 4,000 years ago.
The Lost Realms, the fourth book, transports readers to the pre-Columbian civilizations and ancient empires of the Americas, revealing hitherto unrecognized golden links between ancient Near Eastern civilizations and the "cities of the gods" of the Olmecs, Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas.
When Time Began, the fifth book, explores ancient knowledge of Heaven and Earth and the interwoven cycles that gave rise to astronomy, the zodiac and astrology, and stone calendars such as Stonehenge, revealing the secret of New Ages past and future.
And The Cosmic Code, the sixth book in the series, explains how the secrets of humankind's celestial teachers were encoded in the Bible and other sacred and hidden "books "—a cosmic code that links Earthlings to their cosmic roots.
In the years since each book was published, new scientific discoveries have provided mounting corroboration of the series' incredible and unorthodox science-based conclusions. This accumulation of discoveries and the origins of humankind and the solar system are further discussed in the companion books Genesis Revisited and Divine Encounters.
I trust that modern science will continue to confirm ancient knowledge.
Zecharia Sitchin
New York
January 2002
About the Author
Zecharia Sitchin was born in Russia and grew up in Palestine, where he acquired a profound knowledge of modern and ancient Hebrew, other Semitic and European languages, the Old Testament, and the hi
story and archaeology of the Near East. A graduate of the University of London with a degree in economic history, he worked as a journalist and editor for many years prior to undertaking his life's work—The Earth Chronicles.
One of the few scholars able to read the clay tablets and interpret ancient Sumerian and Akkadian, Sitchin based The Earth Chronicles series on the texts and pictorial evidence recorded by the ancient civilizations of the Near East, His books have been widely translated, reprinted in paperback editions, converted to Braille for the blind, and featured on radio and television programs. He now lives and writes in New York City.
About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company
Founded in 1975, Inner Traditions is a leading publisher of books on indigenous cultures, perennial philosophy, visionary art, spiritual traditions of the East and West, sexuality, holistic health and healing, self-development, as well as recordings of ethnic music and accompaniments for meditation.
In July 2000, Bear & Company joined with Inner Traditions and moved from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it was founded in 1980, to Rochester, Vermont. Together Inner Traditions • Bear & Company have eleven imprints: Inner Traditions, Bear & Company, Healing Arts Press, Destiny Books, Park Street Press, Bindu Books, Bear Cub Books, Destiny Recordings, Destiny Audio Editions, Inner Traditions en Español, and Inner Traditions India.
The 12th Planet Page 42