Re: The Sumerians
RichardR said:
Joshua:
I believe that Sitchin was supposed to have translated the ancient Sumerian texts, and (according to him), they show that humans are descended from aliens. It’s connected with this Planet X / 12th planet stuff.
For those unfamiliar...Sitchin wrote a book called
The 12th Planet, in which he describes his
interpretations of some Sumerian texts which talk about the creation of the world. He says that references to various gods and mythic places are in fact references to planets - 12 in all, with the Sun counting as the first, and earth's moon counting as a fifth planet.
According to Sitchin, the texts describe a large celestial event in which Nibiru, a sacred city often referred to, was actually a wandering planet that got caught by the sun's gravity. Spiraling in toward the sun, Nibiru passed Neptune, whose own gravity altered Nibiru's course and caused a bulge to appear in the planet's side. Upon passing Uranus, this bulge was ripped open, pieces of it becoming Uranus' moons. Nibiru then passed a planet between Saturn and Uranus, but it was a small one - Nibiru's gravity flung it out beyond Neptune, where it became Pluto. Nibiru continued on, passing Saturn and Jupiter without incident. It came to one special planet between Jupiter and Mars. Nibiru's gravity seriously damaged this planet in passing. Nibiru continued its voyage around the sun and back out into space, returning a couple thousand years later to rip the planet apart completely, with half of it becoming the asteroid belt, and the other half being thrown past Mars and becoming Earth. Nibiru's own moon got caught by this new planet and became its Moon. Nibiru was scheduled to return earlier this month...but of course it didn't, because this interplanetary ping-pong match didn't really happen.
RichardR said:
I presume that archeology has its respected peer-reviewed journals that would publish the details of any such translations. I had a couple of questions about that:
What are the titles of such peer reviewed journals?
I'm afraid I couldn't tell you. Several European universities have their own Sumerology departments; any translations would probably be published in those universities' bulletins.
RichardR said:
Did Sitchin or anybody else publish details of any translations that support the ancient astronaut theories? If so where, and what was the feedback from the archeological community?
(Or did he just publish his books?)
If you read the texts Sitchin used, you'd be hardpressed to find any planetary references. I can't find any mention anywhere of any orthodox Sumerologists trying to answer his theories - I believe they all decided it was best not to try after Sitchin announced that he was a Sumerian whose job was to prepare the Earth for the next coming of Nibiru.
RichardR said:
Has any scholar of Sumerian culture ever published any comments about Sitchin’s theories?
No, but lay persons have made comparisons. For example, Sitchin takes the word
shem, as it appears in the texts, to mean "sky chamber" (which he interprets as meaning "starship"). Orthodox Sumerologists take
shem to mean "name" in the context of "reputation". Similarly, he misinterprets the term
anunnaki as "they which have come down to earth from above", but Sumerologists have translated the word as "descendants of the ruler". This sort of twisting of definitions can be found in many crack works, including, notably, those of Von Daniken.
RichardR said:
What other views are there on these old texts, and what is the best places to read about them?
As a matter of fact, you can read many translated and transliterated texts
here. The specific accounts of creation Sitchin claims are an account of the solar demoliton derby described above can be found
here and
here.
