The Annunaki

There is a quite ridiculous and controversial theory about the “extraterrestrial Gods”, called by Annunaki and which I consider particularly interesting and that leaves me enough doubts and more questions than answers.

In the ancient texts of Sumer, we have descriptions of the Annunaki term that derives from a series of Sumerian gods, Akkadian and Babylonian. The name is written “a-nuna“, “a-nuna-ke-ne, or” a-nun-na”, that is, something to the meaning of” those of royal blood “or” Prince of offspring “. Its relationship with the group of gods known as Igigi is unclear – sometimes the names are used as synonymous, but in the Atrahasis flood myth, they have to work for the Anunnaki, rebelling after 40 days and replaced by the creation of human beings.

Other authors offer a slightly different perspective on Igigi and Anunnaki, writing that lgigu or Igigi is a term introduced in the ancient period as a name for the” great gods“. Although sometimes kept that sense in later periods, from the Middle period is usually used to refer to the gods of heaven collectively, as the term Anunnakku (Anúna) was later used to refer to the underworld gods.

According to the later myth, the Anunnaki were sons of the brother gods Anu and Ki, children of Anshar and Kishar (Axis–of–heaven and Axis–of-the-Earth, the celestial poles), which in turn, were the sons of Lahamu and Lahmu (“muddy”), names given to the guardians of the Eridu Abzu temple, the place where creation occurred. Finally, Lahamu and Lahmu were the children of Tiamat (goddess of the Ocean) and Abzu (Apsu) (god of the waters).

The central idea is that the Annunaki and the Sumerians were direct creations of Anu, considered as the father and king of the gods, so even the Annunaki name reflects the idea that they were children of the prince.

Why then give the defenders of the extraterrestrial theory, a different explanation? This translation was made in the 70s by Zecharia Sitchin who claims that the Annunaki were aliens. However, this author, without any academic credentials in the field of Sumerian translation, translated the texts in a wrong way. Sitchin claims that the writings clearly indicate that these beings descended from the sky in flying vehicles. This is a statement that does not corroborate with any other author. The idea that the text says “fell from flying vehicles” is pure fiction.

The theory holds that there are several images in Sumerian iconography representing images of the winged solar disk as spaceships in Sumerian stories, but actually the image of the solar disk is associated with the sun or the sun god, having nothing to do with an extraterrestrial craft.

Proponents rely upon Sumerian iconography of images in the Gilgamesh epic in which you can observe beings similar to modern space travellers; some of them wore what looks like wristwatches; boots and helmets and, above all, wings. But interestingly, these images are not Sumerian, they are Akkadian.

To understand these strange images and before we leave for more attractive beliefs as the extraterrestrial gods, we must take into account the set of beliefs and superstitions of the people who used them. The belief was that certain aspects of nature were controlled by these winged “beings“. They were responsible for crop fertilization and so often associated with natural elements such as water, flowers, pine cones. The “wrist watches” used by these figures, are of an interesting particularity and that believers do not mention: The beings often use two of these watches. What is the need of using two clocks? None, if we start from the principle that these were not watches. This “clock” is actually an Akkadian symbol for Ishtar, the goddess of fertility. We can see the same symbol in the famous Ishtar Gate in Babylon. It was very common in the Akkadian culture the concern for the pollination of flowers, so it is not strange that these “beings” acted on behalf of Ishtar to fertilize plants and had wings like bees or birds.

Zecharia Sitchin suggests that the reason for which we were visited in the remote past by extraterrestrial gods, is because the home planet of the ancient astronauts needed gold, as their planet had suffered an atmospheric catastrophe and that the earthly gold would be the only solution for them. And given the scarcity of gold on his home planet, they had come to Earth to mine gold.

This theory of “miner aliens” became fundamental to the movement. But it is an illusion and it has absolutely nothing to do with Sumerian texts. Interestingly, Sitchin does not even mention where in the Sumerian texts appears this idea that they needed gold. Even more interesting, and since the Sumerian texts are widely publicized and well known, it is that we can’t even find any Sumerian reference to the simple word “gold” in their texts. Is still to be explained the reasons why Zecharia Sitchin translated “god of wisdom” to “mining master” giving rise to the theory of miner gods.

Let’s move on to another statement about the Annunaki: “Practically every story contained in Genesis – the story of the flood, the story of Adam and Eve – all are unprecedented to the ancient Sumerians. The Annunaki came to earth in search of gold, but their workers, tired of the hard work, refused to continue. So they decided to create a primitive worker called Adamou. The Annunaki created humans as a kind of slaves.”

The first thing to consider is that in the Sumerian epic of creation, the gods did not work in mining, but in the creation of the world, which one would expect in an epic about creation. What  the epic says is that the gods were working on the creation of mountains and rivers such as the Tigris and the Euphrates, and also reporting some stories contained in the Bible, when describing the following events:

• The gods decide to mix themselves with clay and make the man.
• As the version of the men they made, with their increased number and all the noise they made, it angered the gods and they decide to kill them all with a flood.
• A man is told to build a boat, putting the animals in it.
• It rains for seven days and seven nights, and the man and his family are saved.

There are many similarities between the Sumerian and biblical accounts of creation of man and the flood of Noah. Some people think that this is due to the writers of the Bible to copy the earlier Sumerian writings. This is problematic because the literary dependence can not be demonstrated. Here, as in most parallel in the early history, it is considered more likely that the traditions of Mesopotamia and biblical are based on a common source.

Some understand this common source of being an older piece of literature. It should be added that not only the Sumerian texts and the Bible that describe the same story, but the obvious elements of this story can be found in many cultures, regardless of their geographic area. They are in China, Europe, middle east, in Native American traditions and South America.

The explanation for this apparent inexplicable coincidence, could be the simple fact that all these cultures drawn from the same original story, its own history and that after following their separate ways as a result of migration of people, they took them to other locations and began adding details up by the very geography of the place.

The question that arises is simple. Which story is closer to the truth?

Proponents of the ancient astronauts, say the Sumerian version is closer to the truth as it is the oldest. This makes a lot of sense, but we must agree that the events described in the Sumerian texts, reported an even older story for them, so the question is not so much about the date of writing, but their ability to preserve history. An excellent reason not to give too much credibility to Sumerian texts is in their nature. The Sumerian stories are not logically consistent, and texts differ from each other. The Sumerians are constantly changing the details of their stories according to different situations.

Let’s compare this with the ancient Hebrew scribes, who were notorious for having their work full of rules. For example, it is said that they would have to say each letter aloud before writing. So, when deciding which texts are most accurate when it comes to their old events, it is logical to place certain situations in question, including the preservation of tradition and transmission of texts. And here, the Sumerian texts lack any rigour, making the theory of ancient astronauts, based on these texts, to present some gaps.