by Zecharia Sitchin
Reviewed by Vince Johnson

In his book "The 12th Planet," Zecharia Sitchin presents evidence not
only of contact by extraterrestrial beings thousands of years ago, but
that these beings genetically engineered Homo Sapiens to serve them.

Sitchin began his inquiry when he came across the term Nefilim during
Talmudic study as a boy. His teacher explained that the word meant
"giants" when describing the "sons of the deities" who married the
daughters of Man, although the literal Hebrew translation of Nefilim was "those who were cast down." Sitchin never accepted the "giants"
explanation, and his curiosity about the Nefilim was the impetus for "The
12th Planet."

The book begins with a short anthropological history of Man, starting
with Australopithecus some two million years ago. Six hundred thousand
years later came the Neanderthal, who, according to Sitchin, used the
same tools as his more primitive ancestors (although the latest findings indicate Neanderthals were more sophisticated than Sitchin describes).
Then, a mere 35,000 years ago, Homo Sapiens appears. The author
quotes a Dr. T. Dobzhansk, "Modern Man has many fossil collateral
relatives, but no progenitors; the derivation of Homo Sapiens then
becomes a puzzle."

As far as current archaeological knowledge can reveal, the first true civilization arose in Mesopotamian Sumer, located in present-day Iraq,
at least 6,000 years ago. Sumerian culture exploded onto the scene
virtually overnight, the cradle of human civilization.

A description of Sumer is a list of "firsts" for the human race. Among
these "firsts" are: the first schools, the first historian, the first method of writing, the first library, the first doctors and pharmacopoeia, the first agriculture (and first "farmers' almanac"), the first musical notation, the first bicameral legislature, and the first taxes. The Sumerian legal code (also a first) included protection for divorced women and price controls
on foodstuffs and wagon rentals. Their religion influenced all that
followed, with elements of the Sumerian creation epic filtered through
the ages into the Old Testament (the garden of Eden, the evil serpent,
the great flood, etc.).

But Sitchin's analysis of Sumerian astronomy and cosmology is of most interest. It is Sitchin's belief that astronomical knowledge actually
declined from the Sumerian period, with much of the Sumerian
astronomical knowledge only rediscovered during the Copernican
revolution.

To support this thesis, the author describes the astronomical
knowledge of the ancient Greeks, who came more than 3,000 years after
the Sumerians. It is historical fact that the Greeks not only understood
that the Earth was a sphere, but had calculated its size to amazing
accuracy. The Greek, Hipparchus, knew of the heliocentric (sun-centered) astronomical system. Hipparchus was also aware of the phenomenon
known as precession of the equinoxes, a cyclical wobble of Earth's axis
that takes 2,160 years to complete. To understand this phenomenon,
one would assume that Hipparchus had to draw upon astronomical data
at least that old. Two hundred years before Hipparchus, Eudoxes of
Cnidus designed a celestial sphere representing the constellations and attributed their zodiacal designations to "men of yore."

Sitchin writes, "Were the early Greek astronomers living in Asia Minor
better informed than their successors because they could draw on
Mesopotamian sources?" Sumerian astronomy and the required
mathematics used to describe and predict celestial events were
remarkably advanced. They utilized a unit of measure called dub, which
has been translated to mean both the 360 degree circumference of the
Earth, and the "arch of the heavens." Not only were the Sumerians
aware of the spherical nature of the world, they used the concepts of
the equator, poles, and lines of longitude and latitude. Also, the
apparent retrograde motions of the planets (due to differences in orbital radii) were understood 6,000 years before renaissance-era astronomers
would solved the puzzle. An accurate Sumerian calendar dating back to
4400bc acknowledged the precessional shift from 2,160 years before.

The Sumerians used a 12-based numbering system which still influences numbering today; numbers 1 -12 have individual names, while
subsequent numbers are contractions. The number 12 was very
significant to the Sumerians, representing the number of their principle
gods which were synonymous with the planets known to them (they
included the Moon and the Sun in their count). Does this mean that the Sumerians were aware of all of the planets known to us today, or was it
just coincidence?

Sitchin describes numerous cylinder seals showing what he interprets
to be schematic diagrams of the solar system. These diagrams often
show a planet larger than Earth between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
These diagrams, along with Sumerian, Babylonian, and Akkadian
creation epics lead Sitchin to believe that a collision of planets occurred early in the history of the solar system. Certain aspects of these ancient texts can support Sitchin's theory, for instance: the "gods" (planets)
have "destinies" (orbits) and "cast out their nets" (gravitational attraction).

According to Sitchin, the 12th planet, Marduk, while making its
approach to the sun (in a highly elliptical orbit) interacted with the other planets of the solar system, flinging Pluto into its current peculiar orbit. Marduk, or one of its satellites, then collided with a planet called Tiamat, which occupied an orbit between Mars and Jupiter. The Sumerians
described it like this:

Tiamat and Marduk, the wisest of gods,
Advanced against one another;
They pressed on to single combat,
They approached for battle..
After he had slain Tiamat, the leader,
Her band was broken, her host broken up,
The gods, her helpers who marched at her side,
Trembling with fear,
Turned their backs about so as to save
and preserve their lives.

Sitchin interprets "the host, the helper gods" to be the moons of Tiamat
which "turned their backs" or changed orbital motions. He suggests
that the "shattered band" became the comets and the asteroid belt. But
of most importance, the bulk of Tiamat's debris fell into a new orbit and would become Earth.

The Hebrew texts mirror the Sumerian in several respects. In Genesis,
the Lord hovers over Tehom (the Hebrew version of Tiamat), and the
lightning of the Lord (Marduk in Babylonian) lit the darkness as it hit
and split Tiamat, creating the Earth and the "hammered bracelet" Raika
(the asteroid belt). In the Akkadian version, Marduk creates the
"hammered bracelet" by stretching out Tiamat's "lower part" into a great circle.

Such is the Sumerian story of creation. Since these events presumably
occurred before the dawn of Man, how do the Sumerians come by this
account? Sitchin believes it was the Nefilim who told the story to the Sumerians.

According to Sitchin's theory, the Nefilim were engaged in mining
operations on the Earth. To support this, he presents evidence of
mining activity in Africa (through carbon-14 dating) 100,000 years ago.
To further support this notion, Sitchin presents a Sumerian carving
showing the god of mining, Ea, emerging from a mine pit. Lightning-type
rays are emitted by the god, servants are seen holding up shields
between themselves and Ea. Texts refer to "blue stones that cause ill,"
which Sitchin interprets as radioactive cobalt. The texts refer to the underworld as Kur.Nu.Gi.A, "the land where gods who work in deep
tunnels pile up the ores." Ultimately, the Nefilim miners mutinied against their masters, declaring:

Excessive toil has killed us,
Our work is heavy, the distress much..
While the Birth Goddess is present,
Let her create a Primitive Worker,
Let him bear the yoke..
Let him carry the toil of the gods!

Marduk responds:

I will produce a lowly primitive;
Man shall be his name,
I shall create a Primitive Worker;
He will be charged in the service of the gods
that they might have their ease.

It is Sitchin's theory that a mutiny of the Nefilim led to the creation of Mankind. The Nefilim genetically altered a hominid with some of their
own DNA, producing a useful hybrid -- Man. To support this, he quotes
a Babylonian text:

Let one god be bled..
From his flesh and blood,
Let Ninti mix the clay..
The new-borne's' fate thou shalt pronounce;
Ninti would fix upon it the image of the gods;
And what it will be is Man.

The god chosen to provide the blood was named TE.E.MA, which
translates to "that which houses that which binds the memory," which
could be interpreted as an allegorical, pre-technological description of "genes." Furthermore, the Akkadian term for clay is tit in Hebrew, which
is synonymous with bos (mud) and shares a linguistic root with bisa
(marsh) and, interestingly, besa (egg).

To further support the notion that Mankind was created to serve the
Nefilim, Sitchin submits that the Hebrew term used to describe Man's relationship to the gods was not "worship," but avod (work). Ancient
Man did not worship the Nefilim, he worked for them.

Sitchin's theory could explain the rapid rise and technical prowess of Sumerian civilization. But what became of the Nefilim? The author
suggests that they either became aware of, or were the cause of, the
coming flood. The Nefilim blasted off, leaving the Earth to Man, or at
least the few that would survive the coming catastrophe. All evidence
of the Nefilim's existence was buried under tons of mud.

While The 12th Planet does present some interesting data, there are
some weaknesses in Sitchin's theory. For instance, he believes the
Nefilim came from Marduk, the 12th planet. One would have to wonder
how life could have evolved on a planet with an orbit that took it far
beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Sitchin also describes Nefilim space technology with a decidedly
Apollo-era slant (the book was written in 1976). He produces evidence
for the idea that the Nefilim used LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) style
landers, and that they also "splashed-down" in the Indian Ocean. He
even goes so far as to suggest that the reason the Nefilim chose
Mesopotamia for their colony was the availability of fossil fuels. If the Nefilim came from Marduk, a planet presumably locked in a permanent deep-freeze, they would probably have had much more efficient means
of energy generation than burning oil.

Sitchin also makes many unqualified declarations regarding the goings-
on in ancient Sumer. To be objective when dealing with subject matter
as speculative as this, he should have incorporated terms like "could,
might" and "possibly" rather than making unqualified statements of
fact.

That being said, Sitchin does present a mystery; how could the
Sumerians have so rapidly achieved such a high level of civilization with
no predecessors to draw on? That they received instruction from alien
beings which they regarded as gods is no more implausible than any
other explanation.


This article originally appeared in the October, 1991, edition of HUFON REPORT.

End of File

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