The Lost Book of Enki

by Zecharia Sitchin

  When I approached Earth,

  there was much flooding.

  When I neared its green meadows,

  heaps and mounds were piled up

  at my command.

  In a pure place I built my house,

  an appropriate name I gave it.

  The long text continues to describe how Ea/Enki then assigned tasks to his lieutenants, putting their Mission to Earth in motion.

  Numerous other texts that relate varied aspects of Enki’s role in the ensuing developments serve to complete Enki’s tale; they include a cosmogony, an Epic of Creation, at whose core lay Enki’s own text, which scholars call The Eridu Genesis. They include detailed descriptions of the fashioning of the Adam. They describe how other Anunnaki, male and female, came to Enki in his city Eridu to obtain from him the ME—a kind of data-disc that encoded all aspects of civilization; and they include texts of Enki’s private life and personal problems, such as the tale of his attempts to attain a son by his half sister Ninharsag, his promiscuous affairs with both goddesses and the Daughters of Man, and the unforeseen consequences thereof. The Atra Hasis text throws light on Anu’s efforts to prevent a flare-up of the Enki-Enlil rivalries by dividing Earth’s domains between them; and texts recording the events preceding the Deluge render almost verbatim the debates in the Council of the Gods about the fate of Mankind and Enki’s subterfuge known as the tale of Noah and the ark—a tale known only from the Bible until one of its original Mesopotamian versions was found in the tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

  Sumerian and Akkadian clay tablets; Babylonian and Assyrian temple libraries; Egyptian, Hittite, and Canaanite “myths”; and the biblical narratives are the main body of written-down memories of the affairs of gods and men. For the first time ever, this dispersed and fragmented material has been assembled and used by Zecharia Sitchin to re-create the eyewitness account of Enki—the autobiographical memoirs and insightful prophecies of an extraterrestrial god.

  Presented as a text dictated by Enki to a chosen scribe, a Book of Witnessing to be unsealed at an appropriate time, it brings to mind Yahweh’s instructions to the Prophet Isaiah (seventh century B.C.):

  Now come,

  Write it on a sealed tablet,

  as a book engrave it;

  Let it be a witnessing until the last day,

  a testimony for all time.

  Isaiah 30:8

  In dealing with the past, Enki himself perceived the future. The notion that the Anunnaki, exercising free will, were masters of their own fates (as well as the fate of Mankind) gave way, in the end, to a realization that it was Destiny that, when all was said and done, determined the course of events; and therefore—as the Hebrew Prophets had recognized—the First Things shall be the Last Things.

  The record of events dictated by Enki thus becomes a foundation for Prophecy, and the Past becomes the Future.

  ATTESTATION

  The words of Endubsar, master scribe, son of Eridu city, servant of the lord Enki, great god.

  In the seventh year after the Great Calamity, in the second month, on the seventeenth day, I was summoned by my master the Lord Enki, great god, benevolent fashioner of Mankind, omnipotent and merciful.

  I was among the remnants of Eridu who had escaped to the arid steppe just as the Evil Wind was nearing the city. And I wandered off into the wilderness to seek withered twigs for firewood. And I looked up and lo and behold, a Whirlwind came out of the south. There was a reddish brilliance about it and it made no sound. And as it reached the ground, four straight feet spread out from its belly and the brilliance disappeared. And I threw myself to the ground and prostrated myself, for I knew that it was a divine vision.

  And when I lifted my eyes, there were two divine emissaries standing near me. And they had the faces of men, and their garments were sparkling like burnished brass. And they called me by name and spoke to me, saying: You are summoned by the great god the lord Enki. Fear not, for you are blessed. And we are here to take you aloft, and carry you unto his retreat in the Land of Magan, on the island amidst the River of Magan, where the sluices are.

  And as they spoke, the Whirlwind lifted itself as a fiery chariot and was gone. And they took me by my hands, each one grasping me by one hand. And they lifted me and carried me swiftly between the Earth and the heavens, as the eagle soars. And I could see the land and the waters, and the plains and the mountains. And they let me down on the island at the gateway of the great god’s abode. And the moment they let go of my hands, a brilliance as I had never seen before engulfed and overwhelmed me, and I collapsed on the ground as though voided of the spirit of life.

  My life senses returned to me, as if awakened from the deepest sleep, by the sound of the calling of my name. I was in some kind of an enclosure. It was dark but there was also an aura. Then my name was called again, by the deepest of voices. And although I could hear it, I could not tell whence the voice came, nor could I see whoever it was that spoke. And I said, Here I am.

  Then the voice said to me: Endubsar, offspring of Adapa, I have chosen you to be my scribe, that you write down my words on the tablets.

  And all at once there appeared a glowing in one part of the enclosure. And I saw a place arranged like a scribal workplace: a scribe’s table and a scribe’s stool, and there were finely shaped stones upon the table. But I saw no clay tablets nor containers of wet clay. And there lay upon the table only one stylus, and it glistened in the glowing as no reed stylus ever did.

  And the voice spoke up again, saying: Endubsar, son of Eridu city, my faithful servant. I am your lord Enki. I have summoned you to write down my words, for I am much distraught by what has befallen Mankind by the Great Calamity. It is my wish to record the true course of the events, to let gods and men alike know that my hands are clean. Not since the Great Deluge had such a calamity befallen the Earth and the gods and the Earthlings. But the Great Deluge was destined to happen, not so the great calamity. This one, seven years ago, need not have happened. It could have been prevented, and I, Enki, did all I could to prevent it; alas, I failed. And was it fate or was it destiny? In the future shall it be judged, for at the end of days a Day of Judgment there shall be. On that day the Earth shall quake and the rivers shall change course, and there shall be darkness at noon and a fire in the heavens in the night, the day of the returning celestial god will it be. And who shall survive and who would perish, who shall be rewarded and who will be punished, gods and men alike, on that day shall it be discovered; for what shall come to pass by what had passed shall be determined; and what was destined shall in a cycle be repeated, and what was fated and only by the heart’s will occurring for good or ill shall for judgment come.

  The voice fell silent; then the great lord spoke up again, saying: It is for this reason that I will tell the true account of the Beginnings and of the Prior Times and of the Olden Times, for in the past the future lies hidden. For forty days and forty nights shall I speak and you will write; forty shall be the count of the days and the nights of your task here, for forty is my sacred number among the gods. For forty days and forty nights you shall neither eat nor drink; only this once of bread and water you shall partake, and it shall sustain you for the duration of your task.

  And the voice paused, and all at once there appeared a glowing in another part of the enclosure. And I saw a table and upon it a plate and a cup. And I rose up thereto, and there was bread on the plate and water in the cup.

  And the voice of the great lord Enki spoke up again, saying: Endubsar, eat the bread and drink the water, and be sustained for forty days and forty nights. And I did as directed. And thereafter the voice directed me to sit myself at the scribal table, and the glowing there intensified. I could see neither door nor aperture where I was, yet the glowing was as strong as the midday sun.

  And the voice said: Endubsar the scribe, what do you see?

  And I looked and saw the glowing rayed upon the table and the stones and the stylus, and I said: I see stone tablets, and
their hue is blue as pure as the sky. And I see a stylus as I have never seen before, its stem unlike any reed and its tip shaped like an eagle’s talon.

  And the voice said: These are the tablets upon which you shall inscribe my words. By my wish they have been cut of the finest lapis lazuli, each with two smooth faces provided. And the stylus you see is a god’s handiwork, its handle made of electrum and its tip of divine crystal. It shall firmly fit in your hand and what you shall engrave with it shall be as easy as marking upon wet clay. In two columns you shall inscribe the front face, in two columns you shall inscribe the back of each stone tablet. Do not deviate from my words and utterances!

  And there was a pausing, and I touched one of the stones, and the surface thereof felt like a smooth skin, soft to the touch. And I picked up the holy stylus, and it felt like a feather in my hand.

  And then the great god Enki began to speak, and I began to write down his words, exactly as he had spoken them. At times his voice was strong, at times almost a whisper. At times there was joy or pride in his voice, at times pain or agony. And as one tablet was inscribed on all its faces, I took another to continue.

  And when the final words were spoken, the great god paused and I could hear a great sigh. And he said: Endubsar my servant, for forty days and forty nights you have faithfully recorded my words. Your task here is completed. Now take hold of another tablet, and on it you shall write your own attestation, and at the end thereof as a witness mark it with your seal, and take the tablet and put it together with the other tablets in the divine chest; for at a designated time chosen ones shall come hither and they shall find the chest and the tablets, and they shall learn all that I have dictated to you; and that true account of the Beginnings and the Prior Times and the Olden Times and the Great Calamity shall henceforth be known as The Words of the Lord Enki. And it shall be a Book of Witnessing of the past, and a Book of Foretelling the future, for the future in the past lies and the first things shall also be the last things.

  And there was a pause, and I took the tablets, and put them one by one in their correct order in the chest. And the chest was made of acacia wood and it was inlaid with gold on the outside.

  And the voice of my lord said: Now close the chest’s cover and fasten its lock. And I did as directed.

  And there was another pause, and my lord Enki said: And as for you, Endubsar, with a great god you have spoken, and though you have not seen me, in my presence you have been. Therefore you are blessed, and my spokesman to the people you shall be. You shall admonish them to be righteous, for in that lies a good and long life. And you shall comfort them, for in seventy years the cities will be rebuilt and the crops shall sprout again. There will be peace but there will also be wars. New nations will become mighty, kingdoms shall rise and fall. The olden gods shall step aside and new gods shall decree the fates. But at the end of days destiny shall prevail, and of that future it is foretold in my words about the past. Of all that, Endubsar, to the people you shall tell.

  And there was a pause and a silence. And I, Endubsar, bowed to the ground and said: But how will I know what to say?

  And the voice of the lord Enki said: The signs will be in the heavens, and the words to utter shall come to you in dreams and in visions. And after you there will be other chosen prophets. And in the end there will be a New Earth and a New Heaven, and for prophets there will be no more need.

  And then there was silence, and the auras were extinguished, and the spirit left me. And when I regained my senses, I was in the fields outside Eridu.

  Seal of Endubsar, master scribe

  THE WORDS OF LORD ENKI

  THE FIRST TABLET

  Synopsis of the First Tablet

  Lamentation over the desolation of Sumer

  How the gods fled their cities as the nuclear cloud spread

  The debates in the council of the gods

  The fateful decision to unleash the Weapons of Terror

  The origin of the gods and the awesome weapons on Nibiru

  Nibiru’s north-south wars, unification, and dynastic rules

  Nibiru’s place in the solar system

  A dwindling atmosphere causes climate changes

  Efforts to obtain gold to shield the atmosphere fail

  Alalu, a usurper, uses nuclear weapons to stir volcanic gases

  Anu, a dynastic heir, deposes Alalu

  Alalu steals a spacecraft and escapes from Nibiru

  Depictions of Nibiru as a radiant planet

  The words of the lord Enki, firstborn son of Anu, who reigns on Nibiru.

  With heavy spirit I utter laments; laments that are bitter fill my heart.

  How smitten is the land, its people delivered to the Evil Wind, its stables abandoned, its sheepfolds emptied.

  How smitten are the cities, their people piled up as dead corpses, afflicted by the Evil Wind.

  How smitten are the fields, their vegetation withered, touched by the Evil Wind.

  How smitten are the rivers, nothing swims anymore, pure sparkling waters turned into poison.

  Of its black-headed people, Shumer is emptied, gone is all life;

  Of its cattle and sheep Shumer is emptied, silent is the hum of churning milk.

  In its glorious cities, only the wind howls; death is the only smell.

  The temples whose heads to heaven arose by their gods have been abandoned.

  Of lordship and kingship command there is none; scepter and tiara are gone.

  On the banks of the two great rivers, once lush and life-giving, only weeds grow.

  No one treads the highways, no one seeks out the roads; flourishing Shumer is like an abandoned desert.

  How smitten is the land, home of gods and men!

  On that land a calamity fell, one unknown to man.

  A calamity that Mankind had never before seen, one that could not be withstood.

  On all the lands, from west to east, a disruptive hand of terror was placed. The gods, in their cities, were helpless as men!

  An Evil Wind, a storm born in a distant plain, a Great Calamity wrought in its path.

  A death-dealing wind born in the west its way to the east has made, its course set by fate.

  A storm devouring as the deluge, by wind and not by water a destroyer; by poisoned air, not tidal waves, overwhelming.

  By fate, not destiny, was it engendered; the great gods, in their council, the Great Calamity had caused.

  By Enlil and Ninharsag it was permitted; I alone for a halt was beseeching.

  Day and night to accept what the heavens decree I argued, to no avail!

  Ninurta, Enlil’s warrior son, and Nergal, my very own son, poisoned weapons in the great plain then unleashed.

  That an Evil Wind shall follow the brilliance we knew not! they now cry in agony.

  That the death-dealing storm, born in the west, its course to the east shall make, who could foretell! the gods now bemoan.

  In their holy cities, the gods stood disbelieving as the Evil Wind toward Shumer made its way.

  One after another the gods fled their cities, their temples abandoned to the wind.

  In my city, Eridu, as the poisoned cloud approached, I could do nothing to stop it.

  Escape to the open steppe! to the people I gave instructions; with Ninki, my spouse, the city I abandoned.

  In his city Nippur, place of the Bond Heaven–Earth, Enlil could do nothing to stop it.

  The Evil Wind against Nippur was onrushing. In his celestial boat, Enlil and his spouse hurriedly took off.

  In Ur, Shumer’s city of kingship, Nannar to his father Enlil for help cried;

  In the place of the temple that to heaven in seven steps rises, Nannar the hand of fate refused to heed.

  My father who begot me, great god who to Ur had granted kingship, turn the Evil Wind away! Nannar pleaded.

  Great god who decrees the fates, let Ur and its people be spared, your praises to continue! Nannar appealed.

  Enlil answered his son Nannar: Noble
son, your wondrous city kingship was granted; eternal reign it was not granted.

  Take hold of your spouse Ningal, flee the city! Even I who decree fates, its destiny I cannot bend!

  Thus did Enlil my brother speak; alas, alas, not a destiny it was!

  A calamity none greater since the deluge gods and Earthlings has befallen; alas, not a destiny it was!

  The Great Deluge was destined to happen; the Great Calamity of the death-dealing storm was not.

  By the breach of a vow, by a council decision it was caused; by Weapons of Terror was it created.

  By a decision, not destiny, were the poisoned weapons unleashed; by deliberation was the lot cast.

  Against Marduk, my firstborn, did the two sons destruction direct; vengeance was in their hearts.

  Ascendancy is not Marduk’s to grasp! Enlil’s firstborn shouted. With weapons I shall oppose him, Ninurta said.

  Of people he raised an army, Babili as Earth’s navel to declare! Nergal, Marduk’s brother, so shouted.

  In the council of the great gods, words of venom were spread.

  Day and night I raised my opposing voice; peace I counseled, deploring haste.

  For the second time the people have raised his heavenly image; why does opposing continue? I asked in pleading.

  Have all the instruments been checked? Did not the era of Marduk in the heavens arrive? I once more inquired.

  Ningishzidda, my very son, other signs of heaven cited. His heart, I knew, Marduk’s injustice to him could not forgive.

  Nannar, to Enlil on Earth born, was unrelenting too. Marduk my temple in the north city his own abode made! So he said.

  Ishkur, Enlil’s youngest, punishment demanded; in my lands to whore after him the people he made! he said.

  Utu, son of Nannar, at Marduk’s son Nabu his wrath directed: The Place of the Celestial Chariots he tried to seize!

  Inanna, twin of Utu, was furious of all; the punishment of Marduk for the killing of her beloved Dumuzi she still demanded.