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Episode IX
New -- December 15, 2003 ANNALS OF EARTH © 1995, 2003 Dan Sewell Ward Episode IX -- The Wars of the Gods One might have thought that, following the Flood and Deluge, things might have calmed down among the Anunnaki. It was time to rebuild civilization, not engage in more and greater conflicts. But such was not meant to be. And it all began in Enki’s backyard, Merry Olde Egypt. c. 9,920 B.C.E. Shu and Tefnut hand over the reins in Egypt to Geb (“Who Piles Up the Earth”) and his sister, Nut (“The Stretched-Out Firmament”). It was the first time in recorded history, that a brother was allowed to constantly call his sister a “nut” and get a way with it. In fact, they got along famously. Geb and Nut were apparently so named on account of activities relating to the periodic appearance of the Bennu bird, from which the Greeks obtained the legend of the Phoenix: an eagle whose feathers were red and gold, and which died and reappeared at intervals lasting several millennia. It was for that bird -- whose name was the same as that of the contraption in which Ra (Marduk) landed on earth, i.e. a space ship -- that Geb engaged in great earthworks and Nut stretched out the firmament of the sky. These feats were carried out by the gods in the “Land of the Lions.” The reappearance of the Phoenix every couple of millennia or so, might suggest a connection with the zodiacal ages, which last (depending upon the span of a particular constellation in the sky) from less than two to more than three thousand years. It is on this basis, perhaps, that “Phoenix Rising” is a term coming more and more into favor as we proceed from the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius. Perhaps the NASA space program is even connected in some very weird way. c. 9,500 B.C.E. Arphaxad begets Salah. Finally, Noah has a great grandson to bounce on his incredibly ancient knee, and Shem can take heart from the continuation of the patriarchal line. c. 9,420 B.C.E. By our reckoning, this corresponds to the end of the Age of Leo, and the beginning of the Age of Cancer. There is some suggestion that these Ages were important to the Anunnaki. For example, after 500 years of rule, it was time for Geb and Nut to hang it up. However, there was a problem... Nut had given birth to five children, three sons and two daughters. Her second son is not mentioned in any detail, and quickly drops out of the drama. This left Asar (“The All-Seeing”, whom the clever Greeks called Osiris), Seth (who everyone called Seth), Ast (Isis), and Nephtys (Nebt-Hat, “Lady of the House”). These four were to carry on the family trade and thoroughly muddy up the waters. It seems that, according to Plutarch, the standard rules of succession were not easily evoked. Plutarch, writing in the first century A.D., was believed to have based his writings on Egyptian sources believed at the time to have been the writings of the god Thoth himself. Thoth, as Scribe of the Gods, had recorded for all times the histories and deeds upon the Earth. But unlike some scribes, Thoth was also heavily involved in the drama. According to Sitchin, Thoth (whom the Greeks called Hermes) was none other than the Sumerian Ningishzida, the son of Enki, whom we encountered in the previous episode. Thoth had not been given specific lands to govern, but in fact was given much of Enki’s scientific knowledge -- which in the end may have served him better. Thoth was also a chip off the old block in that he was, according to Plutarch, the father of Isis (while Nut was still the mother)! Meanwhile, Nut, obviously not into monogamy, had also gotten pregnant by Ra (Marduk, the first son of Enki) and produced both Osiris and the aforementioned unnamed second brother. Allegedly, Ra had come unto his granddaughter, Nut, in stealth -- so she was not aware of the difference between Ra and Geb. Right. And the fact that she got it together with Thoth later, was only because being faithful to Geb at that point was a bit like remaining a partial virgin. Fortunately, however, Geb did manage to father Seth and Nephtys, demonstrating that Nut did have some domestic proclivities -- just enough to set the stage for all manner of problems of royal succession. The end result of Nut’s repeatedly “stretching out her firmament” for whomever, was that Osiris, Seth, Isis, and Nephtys were all candidates, one way or the other, for the crowns of Egypt. The firstborn son was Osiris, with the greater claim to succession, having been fathered by the great Ra himself. (Please... No ra-ra jokes.) Meanwhile, the legitimate heir was Seth, having been born to the ruling Geb, by his half-sister, Nut. The two brothers then married their sisters, Osiris to Isis, and Seth to Nephtys; and the gods were confronted with a serious problem of succession. The only plausible solution was to divide the kingdom: Osiris and Iris being given the northern lowlands (Lower Egypt), with Seth being given the southern, mountainous region (Upper Egypt). Thus it is recorded in the annals of Lower Egypt that Osiris began his rule in what we reckon to be 9,220 B.C.E. c. 8,970 B.C.E. This worked for about 450 years. But Seth had not been a happy mountain camper. Seth was not satisfied with the division of sovereignty, and furthermore was perplexed with the race between him and Osiris to assure that their respective sons would be able to claim legitimacy as the next sole successor. The problem for Seth was that the rules of succession provided that the son by the King’s half-sister took precedence over a son by a full-sister. Inasmuch as Ra had fathered Osiris, Thoth had fathered Isis, and Geb had fathered Seth and Nephtys (all by the Nut mother); Osiris had the option of fathering a son by either Isis or Nephtys (both were half-sisters to him). But Seth’s only option was to father a son by Isis. And, Osiris had deliberately blocked Seth’s chances to have his descendants rule over Egypt by taking Isis as his spouse. Seth received the consolation price of his sister Nephtys, but none of his offspring by her would qualify. The stage had been set for Seth’s increasingly violent rage against Osiris, who had deprived him of both the throne and the ultimate line of succession. Thus it was in 8,770 B.C.E. that Seth used the old coffin trick to carry out his dastardly plan. Seth threw a big party at his lodgings in Upper Egypt, and pulled out a coffin as the entertainment for the evening. The coffin was of gold and all of the guests were invited to compete for the party favor by lying down in the coffin -- the winner being the one who fit precisely the contours of the coffin. Osiris and Isis had been invited as well (on the pretext of one of those alleged brother-bonding bits), and with Isis purposely distracted by agents of Seth, Osiris took his turn in the coffin. The moment he did, however, Seth had the coffin sealed up with molten lead, and had it dumped into the sea at Tanis, where the Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea. Isis eventually found the chest near Lebanon, but before she could figure out how to resurrect Osiris, Seth found out that she had the chest, seized it, and then cut up the body of Osiris into fourteen pieces and scattered the pieces all over Egypt. (The magic number of 14 probably represented the fourteen birth goddesses at the inception of mankind, proving conclusively that Seth was really, at heart, a sentimental old fuddy duddy.) Isis managed to find all of Osiris’ parts, except his phallus. (She was obviously distraught at this worst-of-all-possible scenarios, but the legends don’t go into this in any detail.) Nevertheless, she persevered and prior to disposing of Osiris’ otherwise useless body, managed to extract from it, his “essence”. Then, by self-inseminated herself with his seed, Isis conceived and eventually gave birth to a son, Horus. She hid her new born baby in the Nile delta. Meanwhile, Seth calculating that Osiris had died without leaving an heir, promptly kidnapped Isis and held her until she consented to have a child by him. In effect, this was Seth’s big chance with his only half-sister! But Thoth (Enki’s son, Ningishzida, and Isis’ father?) helped Isis escape. When she returned to the swamps where Horus had been hidden, she found him dying from a scorpion’s sting. [And allow me to assure you that there is nothing worse than the sting of someone born under the sign of Scorpio!] Isis realized the gravity of the situation and appealed for help:
Horus was thus revived and, according to some reports, immunized for ever. Educated and trained in the martial arts by gods and goddesses who sided with Osiris, Horus was groomed as a Divine Prince worthy of celestial association. Seth would not be allowed to rest easy on the throne. c. 8,700 B.C.E. The Divine Prince, Horus, when the time was right, appeared before the Council of the Gods to claim the throne of Osiris. Thus begins one the strangest of the strange sagas of the succession follies. Using trickery, Seth attempted to plant his own seed (semen) in Horus. The plan was to claim that Horus carried the seed of Seth, and thus could only succeed Seth, not precede him. Was that clever or what? Horus, however, using trickery somewhat more advanced than Seth’s, managed to catch the seed in his hand, thereby nullifying Seth’s claim. Even wilder yet, Isis had previously taken Horus’ seed into a cup, dried it, and then sprinkled it on Seth’s salad! It was truly, one of the great moments in the history of salad dressing, but it had the immediate effect that Horus’ seed was now in Seth!! Thoth, the eminent scientist and political mediator, then determined that, indeed, the semen Horus had caught in his hand was indeed Seth’s, and at the same time, the seed Seth carried within his body was that of Horus. In effect, Seth could not precede Horus, and at best, only follow him on the throne. This was not the sort of thing Seth was eager to acknowledge, and the two challengers went to war. In a subsequent battle, Horus had Seth at the stake, when Isis relented and released him. Horus thereupon cut off her head. Fortunately, Thoth put it back on. [I kid you not -- these are the details of what many would prefer to call myths, but which may have more legitimacy than one might think.] In any event, in a major, climaxing battle Horus defeated Seth, and in the process cut off his testicles! [This latter titillating tidbit is probably responsible in part for the subsequent Greek myths, where Cronos (the father of Zeus) cut off the testicles of his father, Uranus, and threw them into the sea. This then leads to all manner of psychological mumbo-jumbo about father-son rivalries.] Zecharia Sitchin refers to this Horus-Seth war as the First Pyramid War. According to Sitchin, Seth had coveted Lower Egypt, not just because of the land’s fertility, but because Lower Egypt was where the Great Pyramids were, and it was the pyramids that were critical. Sitchin believes them to have been a key element in controlling the post-diluvial space facilities of the Anunnaki, and thereby the earth itself. Furthermore, this was the first war in which the gods involved men in their struggles. According to traditions, Horus had established a divine metal foundry at Edfu (also spelled Idfu), at which unique weapons made of “divine iron” were forged. It was there also that Horus trained his army, men called mesniu (“Metal People”). The mesniu, according to Egyptian traditions, were the first men ever to have been armed by the gods with weapons made of metal. They were also the first men to have been enlisted by a god to fight in the wars between the gods. Horus first secured the area between Aswan and Edfu. With men-warriors armed and trained, Horus then advanced northward toward the heartland of Egypt. The Sumerian goddess, Inanna, which the Egyptian text calls by her Canaanite name, Ashtoreth, joined Horus and his grandfather Ra, as they advanced northward. A major battle took place in the “water district” the chain of lakes that separates Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula. Seth’s army went down to defeat first, and then Horus and Seth engaged in personal combat. The end result was that Seth was banished from Egypt. Some traditions claim he took up abode in Asiatic lands, while others believe he became the god of Canaan. This latter aspect, adds some intriguing authenticity to the Egyptian versions. Canaan is the land referred to in the Old Testament as the land of Ham’s fourth son, and in which Jerusalem in time became its capital. The Bible also singled out Canaan (the son) for purposes of his being cursed and having to become a servant of Shem. The land itself, fell under the auspices of Shem as land belonging to him in the tripartite division of land after the flood. Shem’s territory was primarily that of Mesopotamia, but its fringe extended into Canaan as far as the Sinai Peninsula. But the suggestion is Ham’s fourth son took it upon himself to do a little homesteading on Shem’s land. This would explain, for example, why Canaan was accursed, when it had been Ham who had walked in and seen his father in his birthday suit. Furthermore, Canaan was to be the slave to Shem and also slave to the god of Shem. If Canaan’s real crime was the illegal occupation of Shem’s territory, then his being cursed and thereafter coming under the auspices of Shem and his god (Canaan being in the territory allotted to Shem and his god), then things start to make sense. According to the ex-biblical Book of Jubilees, after mankind was dispersed after the Flood and its various clans allotted their lands, “Ham and his sons went to the land which he was to occupy, [the land] which he acquired as his portion in the country of the south.” But along the way, “Canaan saw the land of Lebanon to the river of Egypt, that it was very good.” “He went not into the land of his inheritance to the west of the [Red] Sea; he dwelt [instead] in the land of Lebanon, eastward and westward of the Jordan.” “And Ham his father, and Cush and Mizra’im his brothers, said unto him:
The result of the First Pyramid War was that Seth -- from the line of Ptah, Ra, Shu, and Geb -- departed Egypt and established his dominion in the land known as Canaan. In the same fashion, Canaan went against his father Ham and his brothers to live, he and his sons, in the land of Canaan. The illegal seizure of the area which laid between the Sinai Peninsula and Baalbek in Lebanon was Seth and/or Canaan’s incursion into the lands of Shem/Enlil/Ninurta. If as Sitchin believes, the primary spaceport (in effect, the flight control center) for the Anunnaki was located in the Sinai Peninsula, and Baalbek was the principal landing place for the spacecraft, then this usurpation by a descendant of the Hamitic deities (Canaan), by a younger god of Egypt (Seth), or by a grandson of Enki was serious business. And thus it would lead to the Second Pyramid War! c. 8,620 B.C.E. Meanwhile, back at the Egyptian ranch, Lord Earth [Geb] had given to Horus and his line, Upper and Lower Egypt. Seth assumed dominion outside Egypt, and thereafter was deemed by the traditions of Egypt to have become an Asiatic deity (The land of Canaan existing within the confines of the continent of Asia). It is noteworthy that Seth was never shown without an animal disguise -- his face was never seen. It’s possible Horus wiped out any indication of Seth’s appearance, as a public relations gambit for his new reign (and to clean up the disjointed succession from Osiris to Horus). There is also the possibility that if Seth was the same as Canaan, then the cursing of Canaan would have made his name mud, and the local Egyptian authorities may have preferred to have no identifying characteristics of Seth in the files -- just in case Interpol went out looking for Canaan and checking out all of his aliases. It is a curious thing that Seth’s name and its meaning still defy Egyptologists. The fact that it is identical to Adam and Eve’s third son is probably not relevant. But then again...??? There is also probably worth mentioning another commonality among legends and traditions of the ancient lands. Dumuzi, son of Enki, who was given the Sudan of Africa as his birthright, is known as the son who married Inanna. In fact, the love tales of Inanna and Dumuzi are some of the most beautiful stories in the Sumerian Literature. It is particularly noteworthy that Inanna undergoes a Descent into the Underworld, and that Dumuzi ended up there, in the typical dead-fashion customary in that locale. Thus many similarities exist between Inanna and Dumuzi and between Isis and Osiris. There are also some differences, but these differences may be culturally biased and result from the different traditions as they were handed down though the ages. But the equivalence of Inanna and Isis would explain why in Horus’s march north against Seth, reference is made to his being accompanied by Ashtoreth, the Canaanite goddess equivalent to Inanna (Sumerian) and/or Ishtar (Babylonian). Isis had as much a grievance against Seth as anyone (for Osiris’ death), and if Inanna is the same as Isis, then Inanna was, in effect, Horus’ mother! (Nothing like having a mother go to war with her kid!) We might also note that while Inanna was the daughter of Nanna/Sin, the second son of Enlil, Inanna was also the daughter of Ningal, the daughter of Enki and Ninharsag! Inanna and her twin brother Utu/Shamash, may, in fact, be the result of some form of consolidation of the Enlil and Enki lines. This consolidation might have been intended as a means of resolving the ultimate dispute of Enlil and Enki, and perhaps more importantly, of their sons, Ninurta (Enlil’s first born), Marduk (Enki’s first born), and all the other sons. It is also, particularly noteworthy that Ninurta and Marduk were “heaven born” (from Nibiru), while Nanna/Sin, Adad (Enlil’s third son), Ningal, Dumuzi, etcetera -- and most importantly, Utu and Inanna, were earth born! Some might suggest the author of these annals has an uncommon interest in Inanna, but as we shall see, the lady goddess has an extraordinary talent for accumulating power and knowledge! c. 8,320 B.C.E. Meanwhile, Seth’s trespass into Canaan meant, according to Sitchin, that all of the space-related sites -- Giza, the Sinai Peninsula, Jerusalem, Baalbek (Lebanon) -- would come under the control of the Enki gods. It was a development in which the Enlilites could not ultimately acquiesce. Thus, in typical quick-to-act fashion of the Anunnaki, and after a mere 300 years of the intolerable condition, the Enlilites launched their own version of the war of the gods, the Second Pyramid War (aka WG II). Their plan was a simple one: dislodge the illegal occupiers from the vital space facilities. The Enlilite forces were led and commanded by Ninurta, Enlil’s first-born son, and described in the Sumerian texts as “Enlil’s foremost warrior.” In the first encounters between the opposing forces in the Sinai Peninsula, the Hamitic gods, i.e. the forces of the sons of Enki, were beaten back, such that they retreated to continue the war from the mountain lands of Africa. Ninurta rose to the challenge, and in best traditions of modern day “hot-pursuit” doctrines, the second phase of the war carried the battle to the foes’ strongholds, and entailed some of the more vicious and ferocious battles. The climatic battle was fought at the Great Pyramid, the last and impregnable stronghold of Ninurta’s opponents. There the Hamitic gods were besieged until they ran out of food and water. This war, which Sitchin called the Second Pyramid War, was commemorated extensively in Sumerian records -- both written chronicles and pictorial depictions. Much of the material is written from the viewpoint of the eventual victors: Ninurta, his brothers, and his father, Enlil. It’s noteworthy that Utu and Inanna appear to have been on the side of Ninurta, at least in this particular war. The Second Pyramid War was considerably bloodier than the first. Horus chasing Seth out of Lower Egypt was a minor skirmish, comparatively speaking; and involved only some inner family fighting. The second war, however, was an all out conflagration between the two main forces on earth -- the Enki and Enlil camps. And while no major god fell casualty to the fighting -- in spite of the ferocity of the battles -- it was readily apparent that things were quickly getting out of hand. Marduk (the Egyptian god, Ra), for example, was sealed inside the Great Pyramid, where it was quite likely that the pyramid would become his tomb. Meanwhile Horus had been seriously blinded. It was then the war encountered what even modern wars inevitably run into: a peace conference. This first recorded peace conference on earth was convened by Ninharsag (Ninti), who after healing Horus, decided to intervene to stop the fighting. Keep in mind that Ninharsag was literally the mother of mankind, and she could not help but be distressed by the use of men as cannon-fodder for a war between the gods. It was an early version of the time of knights and peasants, where the knights were armored and rode on horses and engaged in a great sport (seldom if ever getting killed), while the peasants were routinely slaughtered by the better armed, noble knights. It’s the old “Rank has it Privileges” (e.g. staying alive) scenario prevalent even today in modern armies. Inasmuch as mankind, comprising the peasants in the days of knights and the grunts in the modern day army, was quite literally the offspring of the mother god, it was time for mommy to come to the rescue! In a text entitled I Sing the Song of the Mother of the Gods, “the Great Lady” took on her role as Mammi (“Mother of the Gods”) and showed up at the Great Pyramid, the principal battleground. She stood in the middle of the conflagration, while on one side, Ninurta, Adad, Nanna/Sin, and later Inanna stood; and on the other side, stood Nergal (“Mighty, Lofty One”), Ra/Marduk, and Horus (the “God of the two Great Houses” -- i.e. the pyramids). Once a peacefire was initiated, Ninharsag then convened a peace conference at her mountain abode in the Sinai, a place called Harsag. She then played the role of peacemaker, and brought an acceptable peace to the two sides. Eventually, Enki and the Hamitic gods ceded the “Restricted Zone” (the Sinai Peninsula with its “Spaceport”) and the “Radiant Place” (the site of Mission Control Center, the future Jerusalem) to Enlil and his offspring, for all time. [If the Jews are the ultimate Semitic descendants of Shem, then their claim to the Holy Land could be said to have its genesis in the Second Pyramid War. Meanwhile, in return for granting Enlil along with his son Ninurta and subsequent generations, eternal rights to those lands and vital sites, the sovereignty of Enki and his descendants over the Giza complex was recognized for all time! (This is apparently, the Arab connection.) Enlil agreed to the latter, but with one additional condition: Enlil considered the sons of Enki who had brought about the war an anathema. The fact that Ninurta had launched the initial attacks -- supposedly after Seth’s incursion into Canaan -- did not dissuade Enlil. Enlil was also furious about certain gods using the Great Pyramid for combat purposes. Enlil thus demanded that both the battling sons and those who used the sacred Great Pyramid to be barred from ever ruling over Giza, or for that matter, over the whole of Lower Egypt. Enki agreed, announcing that the lord of Giza and Lower Egypt would be a young son of his, one who was espoused to one of the female deities born when Enki had made love to Ninharsag. Enki’s young son was then granted the exalted title of NIN.GISH.ZI.DA (“Lord of the Artifact of Life”). Ningishzida was quite possibly the son of Ereshkigal (Enlil’s kin who had married Nergal, an older son of Enki’s, and thus an older brother of Ningishzida). Therefore, like Utu and Inanna, Ningishzida could trace his lineage back to both Enlil (via Ereshkigal) and Enki (his father). But more importantly, Ninurta, Nanna and Adad, as well as Enlil, viewed Ningishzida favorably. Ninurta, had in fact, befriended Ningishzida on numerous occasions before the War. Thus the perfect compromise had been achieved! Horus left the throne of Egypt in favor of Thoth -- the Sumerian Ningishzida (also the Greek Hermes) -- who then began his reign of Egypt. Thoth was followed by Maat and ten other god rulers -- a divine dynasty that would last for some 1,570 years. (Interestingly enough, even when he left Egypt, the god Thoth, took on yet another secret identity and headed for parts known!) An intriguing aside is that this date also corresponds, approximately, to the beginning of the Age of Gemini. Inasmuch as Gemini is all about communications, and Thoth is the Magician, Sage and Teacher, the parallels are nicely in place. One must be realize the Anunnaki appear to have been very much aware of the profound nature of astrological events. I.e. the parallel may have profound meaning! But also keep in mind, history is the one-sided version of events written by the winners. We have always been exposed to the Enlil version of history, but Thoth may be the less-biased source. c. 8,000 B.C.E. Modern scholars consider this the end of the Mesolithic, and the beginning of the Neolithic in the Middle East. This is based on archaeological findings, particularly at Jericho -- a city considered to be the oldest, fortified city in the ancient world. And while today’s mayor of Jericho might want, within the next few years, to consider having a 10,000th anniversary celebration (anything to bring in the tourist dollars), he might want to briefly consider the reason for the fortification. It is likely Jericho was one of several outposts, effectively at the Gateway to the space facilities in the Sinai Peninsula. This factor would also figure prominently in history some 6,000 years hence. Circa 8,000 B.C.E. is also considered (by our reckoning) as the first perihelion of Nibiru, following the Flood/Deluge. Fortunately, there was no massive ice cap waiting for a trigger this time, and there appears to be no major catastrophic effects associated with the crossing. Unless, of course, one considers the ending of the Age of the Second Sun (Aztecs, Incas, etcetera) -- which is tentatively dated some 410 years later. This a possibility, and might suggest Nibiru’s orbit is not precisely 3,600 years, but conceivably longer. There is, however, one other tidbit of a catastrophic nature. According to a sign in the middle of absolutely nowhere (the southern end of the San Luis Valley in Colorado along the road to the Great Sand Dunes -- Hey! The author gets his research material from wherever it shows up!), this period of time marked the end of the Wooly Mammoth and Saber-toothed Tiger, at least in the southern Colorado region. At the same time, however, the American Bison forerunner was, at this particular period, doing very well, thank you! Being a real beast, this early Bison had shoulders which were 12 ft high! Their horn span was approximately 6 feet! Big brutes! Thus any relation to a passage of Nibiru would have been good news for the Bison ancestors, but bad news for the Wooly Mammoth and Sabre Toothed Tiger -- at least in southern Colorado. One final note with respect to the latest close encounter with Nibiru. There appears to have been some major decisions made with regards to humanity at that time. Following the Flood and Deluge, the Anunnaki hierarchy had bestowed upon mankind the arts of agriculture, animal husbandry, and in order to make the medicine go down easier, the art of wine and beer making. In the newborn era of peace following the Pyramid Wars, it was time to grant mankind new advances. This, then, may be the basis for the Neolithic. The Anunnaki, over the course of some 7,000 years, provided Mankind with virtually all of the rudiments of civilization! From the Sumerian cuneiform, we know mankind developed the world’s first civilizations, beginning with the Sumerian civilization (located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern day Iraq), and followed by the Egyptian civilization, the Indus Valley civilization, and in all likelihood the early civilizations of MesoAmerica which culminated in the Olmec, Mayan, Toltec, and Aztec civilizations, as well as the Inca civilization further to the south. (The latter, of course, is well known as the civilization that immediately preceded the civilizations of the Dinkas and the Dos -- as celebrated in the song: “Inca Dinka Do”.) Circa 8,000 B.C.E. is also the beginning of the Age of Metals. Man began to obtain gold and copper (inasmuch as these are often found in their “natural state” as nuggets and do not require mixing or smeltering). But while gold was as available as copper (and had the advantage it did not oxidize), Near Eastern man of this early millennia did not utilize gold for any practical purposes, but instead limited his use to copper. The reason for this was that the “gold belonged to the Gods!” Gold, in fact, would not be used for adorning mankind’s temples and palaces until circa 2500 B.C.E. In the meantime, gold was only for the gods’ use. Finding and mining gold was, for man, still a priority. It just wasn’t his to keep, but instead to be provided to the gods. The ages of man, according to Greek and biblical sources were the Stone, Clay, Gold, Silver, Bronze (copper), and Iron. The end of the long Old Stone Age had occurred about the time of the Flood and Deluge. Many scholars date the time to around 11,000 B.C.E., but this is based on the archaeological evidence, i.e. the remains of those items which survived the millennia -- thus, such dates do not reflect when the metals were first introduced and used by man. Similarly, the Age of Clay could be construed as the age from about 11,000 to 8,000 B.C.E., such that the Ages of Gold, Silver, and Bronze (copper) burst on the scene between 8,000 and 7,000 B.C.E. A very interesting aspect of this new age of metals, comes from the Biblical Book of Job, Chapter 28:
Clearly the Americas have not seen the African lion. Additional evidence suggests that beginning at Lake Titicaca, the mining began in earnest to find gold, silver, copper, even tin. The fact rivers were cut out from the rock suggests placer mining (panning for gold). The age of the mining entrepreneur had been born! And thus began mankind’s saga of tin and bronze, and continued the saga of gold. c. 7,700 B.C.E. Salah beget Eber. Eber is the last of the semi-long-lived patriarchs (life spans of over 400 years, vice the 900+ years of the pre-diluvial patriarchs). c. 7,590 B.C.E. The end of the Age of the Second Sun, the Tzoncuztique, the Golden Age (according to the Aztec traditions), the Age of Giants (from the Incan traditions). The Age supposedly ended with a calamity involving the Wind Serpent. The nature of the calamity is not entirely clear. It may have been related to the recent perihelion of Nibiru, or there may be some other factor. It is known, for example, that one of the principal gods to assume dominion over the earliest civilizations in the western hemisphere was Adad/Ishkur, known principally as the “Storm God”, “Thunderer”, etcetera. Thus the “calamity involving the Wind Serpent” sounds a lot like Adad blowing off steam. Ishkur (“He of the Far Mountains”) certainly placed his symbol of the forked lightning for all to see from the air and from the ocean on a mountainside in the Bay of Paracas (Peru). The symbol seemed to proclaim to gods and men alike: “This is the realm of the Storm God!” Ishkur was, in all likelihood, the MesoAmerican god Viracocha -- of whom all the legends and traditions of the ancient Americans include. This date also marks the beginning of the Age of the Third Sun, or the Age of the Red Haired People -- those who were the first to arrive in America, according to the Aztecs, and who were presided over by the Fire Serpent. The Incas referred to this age as the Age of Primitive Man. According to the chronicler Ixtilxochitl, these first arrivals were the survivors of the second age, who had come by ship from the east of the New World, settling in the areas the chronicler called Botonchan. There they encountered giants who had also survived the ending of the second age, and became enslaved by them -- the old “out of the frying pan into the fire” scenario. The Age of the Third Sun lasted some 4,081 years, and ended, quite possibly, due to quakes and storms. c. 7000 B.C.E. Recent discoveries of human mummies in northern Chili and southern Peru have been dated to c. 7000 B.C.E., implying activities of mankind on a significant scale at an early date in the New World. c. 6,750 B.C.E. The beginning of the reign of some thirty demigods in Egypt. The Turin Papyrus (from the time of Ramses II, XIXth dynasty) had listed Ra, Geb, Osiris, Seth, and Horus; then Thoth and Maat. Then, instead of, apparently, full-fledged gods, Egypt came under the rule of demigods, some thirty eight semi-divine rulers (19 “Chiefs of the White Wall” and 19 “Venerables of the North”). These Chiefs and Venerables were slated for a 3,650 year term -- suspiciously close to 1 Sar. And following this long period, chaos was listed on the script. Things are beginning to look exciting again! c. 5,660 B.C.E. Eber beget Peleg. The line of patriarchs from Noah’s son Shem to Abraham never quite caught on to the art of public relations. We know next to nothing about them, other than the fact they weren’t inheriting a lot of money from their ancestors. Possibly the sole exception to this rule is Peleg, “for in his days was the earth divided.” The timing of this parceling of real estate may be involved in some way with the next notable, albeit astrological, event. c. 5,500 B.C.E. The approximate beginning of the Age of Taurus. Taurus is traditionally associated with the mother goddess, and the next two to three thousand years is considered the heyday of goddess worship in the lives of primitive men and prior to the establishment of civilization worthy of the name. c. 5,000 B.C.E. Rising sea levels severs the last landbridge between Britain and mainland Europe. This may not seem like a big deal, but then we haven’t yet begun to talk about Stonehenge -- and we won’t in this episode. On the other hand, we can expect Stonehenge to be related to all of the rest -- it is, after all, a holistic universe and earth we live in, and somehow everything is connected to everything else! c. 4,400 B.C.E. Approximate date for the latest perihelion of Nibiru. (Plus or minus, perhaps, 400 years?) c. 4,000 B.C.E. The Yang-Shao rice farming culture begins in China. This is an archaeological date and is approximate. It does, however correlate slightly with dates of other cultures throughout the world. For example, this is also the earliest date for the construction of Sacsahuaman in Cuzco, Peru. This dating is based on the orientation of the megalithic walls in Cuzco and Sacsahuaman, which suggested that “they are positioned for the era of 4000 to 2000 B.C.E.” The legendary Three Windows of Machu Picchu may be even earlier, according to some authorities. Incidentally, Sacsahuaman is pronounced “Sexy Woe mann”. No kidding! c. 3,860 B.C.E. Peleg beget Reu (and “reued” the day he did?) c. 3,800 B.C.E. Suddenly begins, on this approximate date, the history of mankind! Sometime, early in the fourth millennium B.C.E., the royal ruler of Nibiru, Anu, along with his official spouse, Antu, paid a state visit to Earth. A brand-new sacred precinct with a temple-tower had been built in their honor at a place that was later to become the city of Uruk (the Biblical Erech). One of the Sumerian texts to survive the millennia describes the welcoming ceremonies and the first night in their new digs. In particular, a ceremonial meal began with a ritual washing of hands on a celestial signal: the appearance of Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Mars, and the Moon. After part of the meal had been consumed, a group of priests began chanting a hymn entitled Kakkab Anu Etellu Shamame (”The Planet of Anu Rises in the Skies”). At the same time, an astronomer-priest, at the “topmost stage of the tower of the temple” watched for the appearance of Anu’s planet, Nibiru. When the planet was sighted, the priests began singing another composition, cleverly entitled “To the One Who Grows Bright, the Heavenly Planet of the Lord Anu”, and a psalm, “The Creator’s Image Has Risen”. Bonfires were lit to signal the event, with the news, via the bonfires, being passed from city to city. (Think of it as fireworks on the Fourth of July.) It was at this time the Anunnaki had begun reestablishing in Sumer the Olden Cities, beginning with Eridu and Nippur. This point thus marks the beginning of urban civilizations, in effect, the beginning of the Sumerian Civilization. The Sumerian Civilization is an incredible saga. Some 6,000 years ago, and in the incredibly short time span of some 500 years, the Sumerian Civilization managed to accomplish virtually all of the “firsts” of high civilization, inventions, innovations, and other concepts imaginable. They came up with the wheel and animal-drawn vehicles, boats for rivers and ships for seas, the kiln and the brick, high-rise buildings, writing, scribes and schools, laws, judges and juries, kingship and citizen’s councils, music, dance and art, medicine and chemistry, weaving and textiles, religion and priesthoods and temples, and knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. The latter included the Sumerian origins of the basic elements of modern astronomy: the concept of a celestial sphere, of an horizon and a zenith, the circle’s division into 360 degrees, a celestial band in which the planets orbit the Sun, grouping of stars into constellations and giving them names and pictorial images that we call the zodiac, applying the number twelve to this zodiac and to the divisions of time, and devising a calendar that has been the basis of calendars to this day. An astounding record of achievements. The Sumerians recorded their commercial and legal transactions, their tales and their histories, on clay tablets. Thousands of these tablets dealt with astronomy; listing stars and constellations in their correct heavenly locations, along with manuals for observing the rising and setting of these same stars and planets. There were also texts dealing with the solar system, listing the planets orbiting the Sun in their correct order, as well as giving the distances between the planets and a description of the actual size of the planets. We, of course, have already been introduced to the accuracy of the Sumerian cosmogony (the history and evolution of the solar system) in Episode One of these Annals. But one might also view the Sumerian achievement by measuring it against one of mankind’s later, unaided attempts -- that of Ptolemy -- and what a wretched job Ptolemy's description turned out to be! The Sumerian law codes were particularly notable. In later times, Hammurabi’s code of law (circa 1900 B.C.E.) became a legal system of crime and punishment, i.e., if you do this, your punishment will be that. The Sumerians, on the other hand, had a legal code which was more like a code of behavior. This code stated things like: “you should not take away a widow’s donkey”, or “do not delay the wages of a day laborer.” The Sumerian code was like the Bible’s Ten Commandments -- not a list of punishments for specific crimes, but a code of what was right, what was wrong, and what should not be done. Sumer did include the concept of judges, juries, witnesses and contracts. It also included the family unit in terms of contractual marriages, rules and customs of succession, adoption, the rights of widows, and other economic activities (contracts, rules for employment, taxation). According to the Sumerian texts, Enki possessed the Me (the arts of writing, music, metalworking, construction, transportation, anatomy, medical treatments, flood control, astronomy, mathematics, and the calendar). Inanna acquired these in the text entitled: “Inanna and Enki: The Transfer of the Arts of Civilization.” More on this later, when we return to the Saga of Inanna. One of the most notable aspects of Sumerian Civilization was the blossoming of metallurgy, when real mining, processing of ores and metallurgical sophistication appeared on the scene. This complex and advanced body of knowledge by ancient peoples was undoubtedly given to man by the Anunnaki. In what to archaeologists is absolutely astonishing, by 3700 B.C.E. every culture in Mesopotamia was based on metalworking. This included silver (which required extraction from veins inside rocks), lead (which required chemical processing in a furnace), casting of metals, and tin. (Thus continues the Saga of Tin and Bronze.) Significantly, by 3500 B.C.E. the Sumerian texts had no less than thirty terms or varieties of copper, be they processed or unprocessed. There were even “white stones”, colored minerals obtained by mining! [Keep that little tidbit in mind!] The new era of metallurgy reached Egypt around 3100 B.C.E., and by 2500 B.C.E., the entire region between the Nile cataracts and the Indus was metal mined. The Chinese were also starting metallurgy at this time, but did not become true metallurgists until the Lungshan Period, 1800 to 1500 B.C.E. In Europe, the earliest metal objects -- thus far found! -- are hardly earlier than 2000 B.C.E. This would imply that someone (i.e. the Anunnaki) were given out the information, but only to their immediate worshipers in the local area -- primarily Mesopotamia and Egypt. The rest of the world then relied on ancient Republicans to provide such knowledge via the “trickle down, maybe-you’ll-get-it, maybe-you-won’t” theory. Meanwhile, in MesoAmerica, Kalasasaya may have been built as an observatory, Puma-Punku built with its gold-plated enclosure, and Tiahuanacu built with its Gate of the Sun. Recent discoveries in the Amazon jungles of Peru -- so recent they are generally not known to the public (albeit, there was an article in National Geographic) -- have found the ruins of what once must have been huge cities (e.g. more than 25,000 separate buildings), along with roads to still other cities. Obviously the largess of the Anunnaki in establishing mankind was not limited to the Middle East. (see, for example, the entry under 3,509 B.C.E., below.) (On the other hand, the Far East and Europe were not yet on the mailing list of New Products from the Research Laboratories of Anunnaki Land.) Meanwhile, back at the Sumerian Ranch, another of the results of the Anu state visit was to establish clearly in the minds of the peasantry (essentially, all of mankind) of the sacredness of two numbers. The first is the number seven, the sacred terrestrial number, and the second is the number twelve, the hallowed celestial number. Note, for example, Seven (7) is the number of: the days of the week, the chakras, the wonders of the world, dwarfs, colors of the rainbow, baseball innings before the “stretch”, whole notes in an octave (the 8th note, or second “do”, belonging to the next octave), visible “planets” (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), stars of the big dipper (Dub’he, Me’rak, Phec’da, Me’grez, Alioth’, Mi’zar, and Alka’id), and bodies of Alchemy (Sun-gold, Moon-silver, Jupiter-tin, Mars-iron, Mercury-quicksilver, Saturn-lead, and Venus- copper). Twelve (12), on the other hand, is the number for: The ruling council of the Anunnaki, the tribes of Israel, Jesus Christ’s disciples, all the planets of the solar system (the “seven” plus, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Nibiru), jurors in a court case, females in a wicca coven (which also includes one male), and months of the year. Another curious phenomena occurred, beginning about 4000 B.C. and extending into roughly 3500 B.C., is the “Kurgan Invasion”. A hypothesis of ancient historians describes a group of Indo-Europeans, mounted warriors, who began ranging out of their homelands north of the Black Sea. The first wave of invasions, according to theory, brought the warriors to Greece by about 3500 B.C.E. After that, the Kurgans spread north and south, eventually reaching Scandinavia, France and England. The Kurgan invasions [see, for example, Scientific American, October 1989, pg 111] may be very important to our narrative for several reasons. The Kurgans, for example, were notorious for their male chauvinism. In fact, they represented the patriarchal incursions into what was at the time matriarchal societies flourishing in Europe and Greece. To appreciate this scenario, one should recall Ninharsag, the “mother goddess” of mankind. After the creation of mankind in the laboratories of Enki and his half-sister, Ninti/Ninharsag, much of mankind evolved within the structures of the Anunnaki. But as the numbers grew -- after mankind had “tasted” of the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, i.e. had sex! -- it was inevitable there would be those who would not fit into the Anunnaki-designed society and would thereafter strike out on their own. This would have been occurring prior to the Flood and Deluge (maybe even including Neanderthals and the like roaming about). It may have really taken off during the Pyramid Wars, when mankind was being used as cannon-fodder! There’s nothing like a good war to root out the pacifists and other unpatriotic types not eager to throw away their life for some god, and strongly encourage them to migrate to places where they can be a bit more independent. Given that mankind was spreading out onto the four corners of the earth (China, British Isles, South America, and Paonia, Colorado), these rebels from the patriarchal world of patriots and cannon-fodder might easily have turned to the one deity who seemed to care about them: the original mother goddess. Thus during the seven or eight thousand years from the time of the Flood/Deluge to circa 4,000 B.C.E., while “civilized man” was building cities for the Anunnaki, dying for their trivial-minded, oneupmanship style wars, and in general surviving in a patriarchal world; the other segment of mankind, the goddess-worshipping, “uncivilized” members of the human race were doing their own thing in the wilds of a blossoming, relatively peaceful, new world. In Sumerian texts, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, mankind is effectively divided into two species: One is the civilized man (those in the cities and towns of the civilization), and the other is the animal-man (people outside of civilization). In fact, in the true spirit of blind bigotry and racial bias, any member of the human species who was not living within the constraints of civilization was not even considered human!! It doesn’t take a real stretch of imagination to conjure up visions of such heavies as Enlil and Ninurta making it known that the state visit of Anu would be honored as the time for the “real men” to invade the “non-humans” (also known as the goddess-worshipers) and begin to reclaim the earth for the patriarchal paradigm. Thus the Kurgan Invasions! Okay. It’s just a theory. But it makes sense. It also ties in well with our story. c. 3,760 B. C. E. After a mere forty years of negotiation and thinking by the Anunnaki powers-that-be, mankind was granted kingship on earth, with the first king at Kish (also know as the Biblical “Cush”). At that time, “there was not yet kingship in the land; the rule was held by the gods.” Kish becomes the first capital, in this case under the aegis of Ninurta, the first born son of Enlil. The men appointed by Enlil to be kings were called LU.GAL, “Mighty Men”. We find the same record of this event in the Book of Genesis (10:8-10):
Curiously, while the biblical account includes the names of cities such as Kish, Babylon and Uruk, the Sumerian King List asserts that Kingship moved from Kish to Uruk to Ur, omitting any mention of Babylon. This apparent discrepancy seems to be connected to the Tower of Babel debacle, and ultimately to Marduk (first born son of Enki and known to the Egyptians as Ra), who had asserted before the Pyramid Wars that he, Marduk, should possess Sumer’s next capital, instead of Enlil’s son. Marduk was pretty well put in his place by his near-fatal entombment in the Great Pyramid. (They eventually dug in out, leaving the evidence of the rescue attempt still intact today!) But one mustn’t count Marduk/Ra out just yet. The guy just never gives up! Meanwhile, the date of 3,760 B.C.E. is fundamentally important for other reasons. Not only did mankind get his first shot at the Big Chair, but the date also marks the first year in the Jewish Calendar. The Jewish count of 5,760 (i.e., 2000 C.E.) began as civilization blossomed out in Sumer (which was then known as “The First Region”). The date also marks the beginning of the Nippurian calendar, the Sumerian description of the same calendar. The Jewish calendar still adheres to the calendar of Nippur not only in its form and structure, but also in its count of years. [Note that the Jewish calendar does NOT count itself from the “creation of the world”, but from the start of the calendar by the Anunnaki.[ Of particular importance is the fact that the Calendar of Nippur (and thus the Jewish Calendar) is also based on an astronomical alignment during the spring equinox in the Age of Taurus. A point was chosen such that the zodiacal house in which the Sun was seen at that moment was declared the first day of the first month of the new year. All research of the earliest records show that this was in the zodiacal house or Age of Taurus. Because of the Precession of the Equinoxes (rotating about with a 25,920 year period), it became necessary, some two millennia after the calendar was begun in Sumer to order a reform of the calendar and select as the fixed the point the House of Aries. But despite the passage of the Equinoxes into the Age of Pisces, and the imminent arrival of the Age of Aquarius, we are still using the Aries’ zodiac. Perhaps, it's time for a change! The Anunnaki’s preferences for initiating events during astronomical alignments has a further curiosity. Recall that Anu’s state visit and the main event was timed when Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Mars, and the Moon all showed up in the night sky. Strangely enough, this particular alignment of the visible planets (which in astrological jargon, includes the Sun and Moon) seems to be occurring every thousand years or so. And thus, there are main events slated for circa 3,000, 2,000, 1,000, and 0 B.C.E. And what about A.D. 1,000 and/or A.D. 2,000?? Inevitably!!! 3,509 B.C.E. Beginning of the Age of the Fourth Sun, the Age of the Black Headed People (according to the Aztecs), and the Age of Heroes (according to the Incas). This is the era in which Quetzalcoatl first appeared in Mexico -- tall of stature, bright of countenance, bearded, and wearing a long tunic. His staff, shaped like a serpent, was painted black, white, and red [and reminiscent of American Indian mythology of the three races of Man]. The staff was inlaid with precious stones and adorned with six stars. It was during this era that Tollan, the Toltec capital, was built. At the same time, Tenochtitlan was abandoned by the Toltecs. Toward the end of the Fourth Sun, wars between the gods were taking place and bringing havoc to the land. The Fourth Sun apparently ended with the Jaguar, when wild animals overran mankind and Tollan was abandoned. Five years later, the Chichimec tribes, also known as the Aztecs arrived, and the Age of the Fifth Sun, the Aztec era, was begun. The time of the Fourth Sun ending is not stated, but the Codex Vaticano-Latino 3738 was written c. A. D. 1533. c. 3,500 B.C.E. The more-or-less official date for the beginning of the Old Bronze Age in Mesopotamia. The distinction of the Old Bronze Age is significant, in that the quality of the bronze varied over the course of several millennia. Bronze, you see, is a mixture of copper and tin. The Sumerian rule-of-thumb for the alloy was 1:6, or about 85% copper and 15% tin -- which is an excellent ratio for high quality bronze. Unfortunately, the availability of tin is limited, such that a reduced availability results in less tin in the bronze, and thus a deterioration of the bronze quality. The different Bronze Ages reflect this variability in the quality of the bronze, and indirectly, the availability of the tin. The process of making bronze is also important. Bronze can be shaped only by casting (and not by hammering or annealing). In addition, the tin for it must be obtained from its cassiterite ores through a process of smelting. The smelting is required to separate the tin from the cassiterite / limestone. The Sumerian word for tin, incidentally, is AN.NA (literally, “Heavenly stone”), while the name for Bronze is ZA.BAR, “gleaming double metal.” Tin is a difficult metal to find. Sumerian sources were quickly exhausted, but texts mention two “tin mountains” in far away lands. It is noteworthy that with the advent of the Old Bronze Age, bronze becomes what today would be considered a “strategic product”. The absolute need for tin in making bronze could have easily forced the Anunnaki to go far a field in their search for the metal. In addition, the timing of when the Anunnaki would make such excursions is also important, and thus connects with other histories. But the question remains, where did the Anunnaki go for their tin? 3,372 B.C.E. The first date in the Mayan calendar. 3,113 B.C.E. (August 13th): Something very important happened. But what? No, this is not when the author was born. August 13th is obviously a Leo birth sign, but the timing being some 5,108 years ago, it’s not overwhelmingly clear exactly whose birthday we’re going to be celebrating on August 13th. Or if it’s a birthday in the first place. For the moment, however, we will pause, allow the historical dust to settle, and then spring forth in the next Episode with the nitty gritty of the hustle and bustle of the next millennia following the mysterious and yet profound date. In the meantime, we might ask ourselves the following:
For these and other fascinating questions, stay tuned for the next exciting Episode, due whenever the author finds the time to conjure it into manifestation! Episode VIII -- Everybody Out of the Pool! Forward to: Episode X -- The Wars of Gods and Men |
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The Library of ialexandriah
2003© Copyright Dan Sewell Ward, All Rights Reserved
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