Unsolved:Anunnaki

Short description: Group of ancient Mesopotamian deities

Over a series of published books (starting with Chariots of the Gods? in 1968), pseudoarcheologist Erich von Däniken claimed that extraterrestrial "ancient astronauts" had visited a prehistoric Earth. Däniken explains the origins of religions as reactions to contact with an alien race, and offers interpretations of Sumerian texts and the Old Testament as evidence.

In his 1976 book The Twelfth Planet, author Zecharia Sitchin claimed that the Anunnaki were actually an advanced humanoid extraterrestrial species from the undiscovered planet Nibiru, who came to Earth around 500,000 years ago and constructed a base of operations in order to mine gold after discovering that the planet was rich in the precious metal. According to Sitchin, the Anunnaki hybridized their species and Homo erectus via in vitro fertilization in order to create humans as a slave species of miners. Sitchin claimed that the Anunnaki were forced to temporarily leave Earth's surface and orbit the planet when Antarctic glaciers melted, causing the Great Flood, which also destroyed the Anunnaki's bases on Earth. These had to be rebuilt, and the Anunnaki, needing more humans to help in this massive effort, taught mankind agriculture.

Ronald H. Fritze writes that, according to Sitchin, "the Annunaki built the pyramids and all the other monumental structures from around the ancient world that ancient astronaut theorists consider so impossible to build without highly advanced technologies." Sitchin expanded on this mythology in later works, including The Stairway to Heaven (1980) and The Wars of Gods and Men (1985). In The End of Days: Armageddon and the Prophecy of the Return (2007), Sitchin predicted that the Anunnaki would return to earth, possibly as soon as 2012, corresponding to the end of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Sitchin's writings have been universally rejected by mainstream historians, who have labelled his books as pseudoarchaeology, asserting that Sitchin seems to deliberately misrepresent Sumerian texts by quoting them out of context, truncating quotations, and mistranslating Sumerian words to give them radically different meanings from their accepted definitions.

David Icke, the British conspiracy theorist who popularised the reptilian conspiracy theory, has claimed that the reptilian overlords of his theory are in fact the Anunnaki. Clearly influenced by Sitchin's writings, Icke adapts them "in favor of his own New Age and conspiratorial agenda". Icke's speculation on the Anunnaki incorporates far-right views on history, positing an Aryan master race descended by blood from the Anunnaki. It also incorporates dragons, Dracula, and draconian laws, these three elements apparently linked only by superficial linguistic similarity. He formulated his views on the Anunnaki in the 1990s and has written several books about his theory. In his 2001 documentary about Icke, Jon Ronson cited a cartoon, "Rothschild" (1898), by Charles Léandre, arguing that Jews have long been depicted as lizard-like creatures who are out to control the world.

See also

• Ancient Mesopotamian religion
• Elohim
• Hutena

References

General and cited references

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• Brisch, Nicole (2016), Anunna (Anunnaku, Anunnaki) (a group of gods), University of Pennsylvania Museum, http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/anunna/, retrieved 2013-06-19 
• Coleman, J. A.; Davidson, George (2015), The Dictionary of Mythology: An A-Z of Themes, Legends, and Heroes, London: Arcturus Publishing Limited, p. 108, ISBN 978-1-78404-478-7 
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• Falkenstein, A. (1965), "Die Anunna in der sumerischen Überlieferung", Assyriological Studies (16): 127–140 
• Fritze, Ronald H. (2009), Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-Religions, London: Reaktion Books, ISBN 978-1-86189-430-4, https://books.google.com/books?id=l2BrqdFg5AkC&q=Pseudohistorylocation%3D 
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• Rogers, John H. (1998), "Origins of the Ancient Astronomical Constellations: I: The Mesopotamian Traditions", Journal of the British Astronomical Association (London: The British Astronomical Association) 108 (1): 9–28, Bibcode: 1998JBAA..108....9R 
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• Wolkstein, Diane; Kramer, Samuel Noah (1983), Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer, New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, ISBN 0-06-090854-8 

External links

• Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses: Anunna (Anunnaku, Anunnaki) (a group of gods)