There has been a growing craze for some years now on the internet, especially on Youtube, where people are going "hogwild" in repeating information from Zachariah Sitchen, information that is simply not true. Interestingly enough, people have even gone as far as to add other ideas into the equation, things of which Sitchen did not say, but nevertheless they act as though he did. Allow me to say that I'm not here to "bash" Mr. Sitchen as a person, but his inaccuracies of interpretation concerning the Sumerian text, needs to be known. This expose' won't be an all exhaustive one, but it shall be enough for the "Sitchenites" to see that they are parroting error.
As voiced in the preceding paragraph, there has been much talk about Sitchen's works concerning what the Sumerians call the "Annukai", planet Nibiru -also known as planet X to it's adherents- and the "ancient astronaut" theory, to name a few ideas spoken of. I want the reader to keep in mind, that, the information I'm about share with you is not a translation variant issue. It's an issue of translation incompetence, and pure conjecture of what's not actually in the text itself. Most important here; though Sitchen does have somewhat of a grasp of the Sumerian text and other Semitic languages (he fluently speaks Hebrew), it must be noted that he is not a scholar, nor is he peer reviewed in his work. With that said, we now shall proceed.
I would like to start off with his idea of the Sumerians knowing all of the planets in the solar system -the ones known in modern science- with the addition of another one that has an oblong orbit, and which comes near earth every 3600 years. That one being Nibiru. This idea is simply not supported by history nor the text itself. The ancients -all civilizations not just the Sumerians- recognized only 5 planets, which are the ones visible to the naked eye-Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Mercury. They also viewed the moon and sun as planets as well. The Sumerians attributed "gods" to each planet, and the cultures after them followed suit, in their own language. See figure chart below.
http://www.friesian.com/week.htm
When considering the evidence, Sitchen's theories fall apart. Also to note, according to the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD), Nibiru (Neberu) is another name for the planet Jupiter. See picture below.
Volume 11, N, part 1 page 145
http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/cad_n2.pdf
Lastly on Nibiru, according to the Astrolabe chart (below) it was seen every year in the month of Adar, remember that Nibiru is another name for Jupiter. Also, there is not a single Sumerian text that says the Annunaki come from Nibiru. A biological creature would not survive the orbit that Nibiru is said to have. I love talking to the Sitchenites that have a hard time understanding the basics to the impossibility of life on a planet that would have such an oblong orbit, that biological life could only exist part of the time when the planet reaches the right relation to and away from the sun. Once that position has passed, the planet would be too cold at points for life and then too hot at other points. The window for a perfect relation of distance to the sun -for life to exist- would be a minimum. So this 3600 year orbit nonsense is unwarranted indeed.
So what about the VA 243? (below) It has been said that this image from a Sumerian cylinder seal shows 11 planets orbiting the sun -hence showing our solar system- with a 12th planet (Nibiru - circled) incoming. There are a number of issues with such a statement. One being is that the writings on this seal have nothing to do with astronomy, nothing to indicate that the Sumerians were trying to "reveal" a distant orbiting planet coming back to say hello. Another issue, already stated earlier, the Sumerians never recognized more than 5 true planets in any of their literature.
There are yet even more issues with calling the VA 243 proof of a 12th planet. The image on the left -in the picture above- that looks like planets orbiting a sun, is actually not the sun at all! In the picture below is of a Sumerian zodiac that shows, from left to right: the moon, the sun, and a star. Notice that the sun image in the middle has wavy lines, and is always depicted this way in Sumerian literature.
(Picture: Ursula Seidl, Die Babylonischen Kudurru Reliefs)
1. http://www.sitchiniswrong.com/index.html
2. http://www.thelivingmoon.com/42stargate/03files/Sumerian_Astronomy.html
3. http://www.skepdic.com/essays/sitchin.htm
As voiced in the preceding paragraph, there has been much talk about Sitchen's works concerning what the Sumerians call the "Annukai", planet Nibiru -also known as planet X to it's adherents- and the "ancient astronaut" theory, to name a few ideas spoken of. I want the reader to keep in mind, that, the information I'm about share with you is not a translation variant issue. It's an issue of translation incompetence, and pure conjecture of what's not actually in the text itself. Most important here; though Sitchen does have somewhat of a grasp of the Sumerian text and other Semitic languages (he fluently speaks Hebrew), it must be noted that he is not a scholar, nor is he peer reviewed in his work. With that said, we now shall proceed.
I would like to start off with his idea of the Sumerians knowing all of the planets in the solar system -the ones known in modern science- with the addition of another one that has an oblong orbit, and which comes near earth every 3600 years. That one being Nibiru. This idea is simply not supported by history nor the text itself. The ancients -all civilizations not just the Sumerians- recognized only 5 planets, which are the ones visible to the naked eye-Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Mercury. They also viewed the moon and sun as planets as well. The Sumerians attributed "gods" to each planet, and the cultures after them followed suit, in their own language. See figure chart below.
http://www.friesian.com/week.htm
When considering the evidence, Sitchen's theories fall apart. Also to note, according to the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD), Nibiru (Neberu) is another name for the planet Jupiter. See picture below.
Volume 11, N, part 1 page 145
http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/cad_n2.pdf
Lastly on Nibiru, according to the Astrolabe chart (below) it was seen every year in the month of Adar, remember that Nibiru is another name for Jupiter. Also, there is not a single Sumerian text that says the Annunaki come from Nibiru. A biological creature would not survive the orbit that Nibiru is said to have. I love talking to the Sitchenites that have a hard time understanding the basics to the impossibility of life on a planet that would have such an oblong orbit, that biological life could only exist part of the time when the planet reaches the right relation to and away from the sun. Once that position has passed, the planet would be too cold at points for life and then too hot at other points. The window for a perfect relation of distance to the sun -for life to exist- would be a minimum. So this 3600 year orbit nonsense is unwarranted indeed.
So what about the VA 243? (below) It has been said that this image from a Sumerian cylinder seal shows 11 planets orbiting the sun -hence showing our solar system- with a 12th planet (Nibiru - circled) incoming. There are a number of issues with such a statement. One being is that the writings on this seal have nothing to do with astronomy, nothing to indicate that the Sumerians were trying to "reveal" a distant orbiting planet coming back to say hello. Another issue, already stated earlier, the Sumerians never recognized more than 5 true planets in any of their literature.
There are yet even more issues with calling the VA 243 proof of a 12th planet. The image on the left -in the picture above- that looks like planets orbiting a sun, is actually not the sun at all! In the picture below is of a Sumerian zodiac that shows, from left to right: the moon, the sun, and a star. Notice that the sun image in the middle has wavy lines, and is always depicted this way in Sumerian literature.
(Picture: Ursula Seidl, Die Babylonischen Kudurru Reliefs)
(^---Closeup---^)
http://www.sitchiniswrong.com/VA243seal.pdf
In closing, after reading this, the pseudoscience of Sitchen's work should be seen for what it is. I have a few books of his, including The 12th Planet but I recognize his work for what it is, fiction. After all he is a fiction writer.
***
Recommended Reading:
1. http://www.sitchiniswrong.com/index.html
2. http://www.thelivingmoon.com/42stargate/03files/Sumerian_Astronomy.html
3. http://www.skepdic.com/essays/sitchin.htm
Thankyou I had to do a project about the sumerians and your blog helped me a lot.
ReplyDeleteThankyou again.