Episode VIII -- Everybody Out of the Pool!

11,600 B.C.E. (the second month, the seventeenth day of the month): The rockets of Utu/Shamash had lifted the  Anunnaki to a safe distance, and in their wake, had caused a "trembling at dusk" and a shower of eruptions. Ziusudra had correctly interpreted the rockets red glare as the signal to go aboard the Ark, had "battened down the whole ship" and "handed over the structure together with its contents" to "Puzur-Amurri, the Boatman" (a last minute gesture of Enki, providing Ziusudra with a navigator and experienced sea-faring man). All then became very quiet before the deluge.

[Puzur? Poooo-zer? Poop (as in poop deck?). Amurri? Am-mur-eye. Poop-am-mur-eye? Poop-eye? Popeye? Hmmmmm...]

The storm came "with the first glow of dawn." There was an humongous thunder, black clouds rising up from the horizon, the storm tearing out the posts of buildings and piers. Dikes gave way. A heavy darkness fell, "turning to blackness all that had been light." "The wide land was shattered like a pot." For six days and six nights the "south storm" blew,

"Gathering speed as it blew, submerging the mountains, overtaking the people like a battle... When the seventh day arrived, the flood-carrying south-storm subsided in the battle which it had fought like an army. The sea grew quiet, the tempest was still, the flood ceased. I looked at the weather. Stillness had set in. And all of Mankind had returned to clay."

The Anunnaki had the ultimate ring-side seats for the drama, orbiting in their Igigi-manned space stations and space craft, high above the conflagration. Not that they were delighted with Enlil's genocidal plan though. Ninti, the Mother Goddess herself, had asked: "Shall I ascend up to Heaven, to reside in the House of Offerings, where Anu, the Lord, had ordered to go?" She had not eager to desert her multiple generation offspring. And then, when the deluge hit, the Nefilim ("those Anunnaki who from earth to heaven ran like mice deserting a sinking ship") saw a scene of destruction that actually affected them deeply. Admittedly, seeing conditions were not ideal: No one on Earth was able to see his fellow, and "neither could the people be recognized from the heavens." Even so, the gods could see enough, and at the same time they were not above it all -- at least emotionally:

"The gods cowered like dogs, crouched against the outer wall. Inanna cried out like a woman in travail: 'The olden days are alas turned to clay...' The Anunnaki gods weep with her. The gods, all humbled, sit and weep; their lips drawn tight... one and all. The Anunnaki, great gods, were sitting in thirst, in hunger... Ninti wept and spent her emotions; she wept and eased her feelings. The gods wept with her for the land. She was overcome with grief, she thirsted for beer. Where she sat, the gods sat weeping; crouching like sheep at a trough. Their lips were feverish of thirst, they were suffering cramp from hunger. The Goddess saw and she wept... her lips were covered with feverishness... 'My creatures have become like flies -- they filled the rivers like dragonflies, their fatherhood was taken by the rolling sea."

11,600 B.C.E. (the second month, the twenty-fourth day of the month)  Enlil and the Assembly of Gods had had their say. But, unknown to all but  Enki, there was floating in the stormy waters, a vessel carrying men, women, children, and an assortment of beasts; all neatly tucked away in what can only be described as a submarine. For Enki had told Ziusudra to "let the boat be a MA.GUR.GUR, a boat than can turn and tumble" (and perhaps do the Twist). Obviously, it would have taken such a boat to survive the overpowering avalanche of water. It was also the reason why the boat (ark) was "roofed over and below", hermetically sealed with "tough pitch", and with no decks or openings.

Of all the events in the  Annals of Man, the  Deluge has got to be one of the most noteworthy happenings. With its overpowering dramatic quality, the incident pervades all ancient writings -- being the type of event which really gets everyone's attention. 

The various texts from different cultures, which describe a great flood, also tend to agree with one another. The  Sumerian texts speak of seven days when the seas and oceans surged, followed by a prolonged period of rain.   Genesis 7:10 refers to the seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth, and then in verse 12 ("And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights."). The reference is to the latter period of rain -- when all the water released from the massive Antartica ice cap began melting and releasing the previously frozen water to circulate in the hydrological cycle (water to water vapor to clouds to rain to water). This is specifically spelled out in the biblical version of the Deluge (Genesis 7:11) by noting that on the first day, "were all the fountains of the great deep broken up" (the Antartica ice cap falling into the ocean and breaking up, releasing an avalanche of water -- "The Flood"), and then later as "the windows of heaven were opened" (the beginning of the forty days and nights of Deluge).

The actions of the god, Nibiru the troublemaker, meanwhile were being described by the Sumerian texts, and the Deluge as his "weapon":

"His weapon is the Deluge; God whose Weapon brings death to the wicked. Supreme, Supreme, Anointed... Who like the Sun, the lands crosses; The Sun, his god, he frightens. Lord, who at Akiti time, Within Tiamat's battle place reposes... Whose seed are the sons of Babylon; Who by the planet Jupiter cannot be distracted;  Why by his glow shall create. This is the name of the Lord, who from the second month to the month Addar, the waters summoned forth.

The above spells out the fact that Nibiru passed Jupiter and neared Earth at "Akiti time" (the beginning of the Mesopotamian New Year), passed closest to Mars during the second month, and then until the month of Addar (the twelfth month), it loosed the Flood and Deluge upon the Earth. By the sixth month of Ululu, the receding planet, the Sumerian texts assert, was crossing the path of Saturn. These texts also agree with the biblical version in the initiation of the Deluge on the 17th day of the second month, the Ark coming to rest on Ararat in the seventh month (the 17th day), other dry land visible by the tenth month and the Deluge over, and Noah opening the ark's hatch by New Year's Day, 11,599 B.C.E.

Meanwhile Ziusudra had, apparently, turned everything over to his navigator. The evidence also suggests that Enki had planned an encounter on Mount Ararat, and it was for this reason he had provided the navigator to Ziusudra. Then after 150 days:

11,600 B.C.E. (the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month)  Popeye earned his Dolphins.

"There emerged a mountain region; On the Mount of Salvation the ship came to a halt; Mount Nisir ["salvation"] held the ship fast, allowing no motion."

With the rained ended and the storm over, Ziusudra "opened a hatch; light fell upon my face." Looking around, he saw a "landscape as level as a flat roof." He hung his head and wept, "tears running down on my face." He looked for any coastline, but saw none. Ziusudra was grounded on the mountain -- the biblical peaks of Ararat. 

11,599 B.C.E. (New Year's Day)  Just as in the biblical version Ziusudra took the first day of the year to empty the contents of the Ark (apparently on the basis of a New Year's resolution not to remain cooped up with all those animals). He built an altar and "offered a sacrifice" -- just as Noah had. But in this case, he had a larger and more appreciative audience: "The gods smelled the savor, the gods smelled the sweet savor. The gods crowded like flies about a sacrificer." Or like Texans at a BBQ.

But instead of Yahweh (aka Enlil) vowing never again to destroy Mankind, in the Sumerian and Babylonian versions it was the Great Goddess who vowed: "I shall not forget... I shall be mindful of these days, forgetting them never." Enlil was, in fact, enraged to find Ziusudra, his family and friends all alive: 

"Has some living soul escaped? No man was to survive the destruction!"

Enlil's son, Ninurta, then suggested Enki as the instigator of fouling Enlil's plans, his uncle being the only one who could have pulled off such a scheme. Enki didn't bother to deny the charge, but mixed confession with a praise for Enlil in one of the more eloquent defense summations. Enki praised Enlil for his  wisdom and his reasonableness, pointed out that the gods could no longer exist on Earth without the help of man (i.e. no more Anunnaki mutinies), and claimed that only by Ziusudra's being exceedingly wise, could the man have been able to survive. This man was someone that Enlil wanted on his side. Enki's defense apparently worked, because Enlil then did an extraordinary thing:

"Enlil thereupon went aboard the ship. Holding me [Ziusudra] by the hand, he took me aboard. He took my wife aboard, made her kneel by my side. Standing between us, he touched our foreheads to bless us: 'Hitherto Ziusudra has been but human; henceforth Ziusudra and his wife shall be unto us like gods. Ziusudra shall reside in the Far Away, at the Mouth of the Waters!'"

All of this is included in the  Epic of Gilgamesh, as well as something beyond the standard "be fruitful and multiply" toss-out blessing. There was to be something slightly beyond multiple fruitfulness -- there was even to be categories of humans:

"Let there be a third category among the Humans: Let there be among the Humans women who bear, and women who do not bear."

There were even new guidelines, apparently, for sexual relations: one man and one woman! The "core family" was born, the old "cleave-unto-no-other-even-when-the-other-has-great-cleavage" bit, the "until death do us part" vow. The Republicans finally had an issue to grandstand about. Of course, it had all been Enlil's doing -- the same god who wanted to destroy man, and when that didn't work, he took away the sexual "variety-is-the-spice-of-life" syndrome. Republicans must love Enlil!!!

c. 11,600 B.C.E.  The chronological dating of the Deluge is a matter of debate. The more traditional scholars adhere to the Christian fundamentalist literalist view of the flood occurring in 4004 B.C.  The much earlier date considered in these annals, is based on a variety of points. One is that by virtue of a passing of Nibiru being the "cause" of the Great Flood, this allows for dates every 3,600 years or so; i.e. 11,600 B.C.E., 8,000 B.C.E., and 4,400 B.C.E. For reasons to be developed later, the latter two dates are more likely the initiation of agriculture on a grand scale, and the abrupt appearance of the  Sumerian Civilization in all of its glory, circa 3,500 to 4,000 B.C.E. 

Confirmations for the earlier date of 11,600 B.C.E. include textual references to the Deluge occurring in the "Age of the Constellation of the Lion" (the Age of Leo), paleontological evidence for the Ages of Man, the ending of the Ice Age, and the MesoAmerican End of the Age of the First Sun.

The Zodiacal Ages are not particularly clear cut, the Age of Aquarius, for example, beginning sometime between A.D. 1960 and A.D. 2150. For our purposes, we will somewhat arbitrarily select December 21, 1998 as the the first day of the Age of Aquarius. This date corresponds to the only time in the 25,920 year cycle (the Precession of the Equinoxes) that the winter solstice point precesses to exactly align with the intersection of the Zodiac (our solar system) and the Milky Way galaxy (our galaxy). We can then backtrack to find the Age corresponding to the time of the Flood and Deluge. 

However. If the A.D.1998 date is midway between the constellations of Pisces and Aquarius, one might think the midway point between the constellations of Virgo and Leo is exactly 180o away. This is not correct. The 180o point actually ends up in the middle of Leo -- i.e. the constellations are not exactly 30o wide -- for example, Leo is 35 to 40o and Cancer about 15o. In effect, Leo extends some 15o further, such that the beginning of the "Age of the Constellation of the Lion" is 195o before our selected point at which the Age of Aquarius begins. Thus, 25,920 years times (195o/360o) equals 14,040 years. This implies that the "Age of the Constellation of the Lion" began circa 12,040 B.C.E. (and ended roughly 9,400 B.C.E.) -- in accordance with our 11,600 B.C.E. date. The 8,000 B.C.E. date, incidentally, is in the Age of Cancer, while the 4,000 B.C.E. date is in the Age of Taurus.

The Precession of the Equinoxes has another, more esoteric attribute. Many cultures view the lunar cycle of 29.5 days as a time of increasing light, decreasing light, and the  dark days of the moon (the last three days of the cycle, when the moon provides almost no light).   Mythologies the world over inevitably attribute these three phases to three goddesses. The Greeks list Artemis, Selene, and Hecate as the three goddesses identified with the triple cycle. And because the lunar cycle is inevitably a female thing, the lunar cycle is always considered to be ruled over by the one Great Goddess.

But this lunar cycle of increase, decrease, and death is also attributed to the solar year, with the so-called "New Moon" occurring on the winter solstice, the germination occurring until Candlemas (February 2nd -- Groundhog Day), the first shoots of spring at the Spring Equinox, flowering by Beltane (May 1st), "Full Moon" on the Summer Solstice, going to seed by Lammas (August 1st), plowing under for the next cycle by the Fall Equinox and the beginning of the last cycle on Hallowmas (November 1st and the Druidic New Year). One can view this cyclical passage as the ins and outs of the Great Goddess, who in Druidic lore, takes over command of the Earth on Beltane (May 1st), nurturing the people with the bounty of the Earth. The Great Goddess then relinquishes command to her male counterpart on November 1st (where the male's focusing talents can hopefully get everyone through the harsh winter and early spring). The Druids were very much into equality of the sexes.

In typical esoteric fashion, these phases can also be applied to the 25,920 year Precessional Cycle. In this case, the "New Moon" phase occurred in the Aurignacian Age of the Upper-Paleolithic (c. 23,920 B.C.E.), the Deluge occurred just before the "Full Moon" in the Magdelenian Age, the "Fall Equinox" occurred circa 4,480 B.C.E., and the "Dark Days of the Moon" began 1,240 B.C.E. The "Fall Equinox", interestingly, occurred at about the time of the first incursions by patriarchal cultures bent upon the wholesale slaughter and destruction of the matriarchal, goddess-worshiping cultures that had existed for hundreds of thousands of years, while the latter 1,240 B.C.E. date corresponds to the date of the fall of Crete, the last bastion of Goddess worship in the ancient world. In effect, the Goddess went underground! Meanwhile, for our purposes, it is noteworthy that we are currently in the "Dark Days of the Moon" of the precessional cycle. Not terribly surprising.

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 occurred circa 11,000 B.C.E. The scholarly version is that the Paleolithic was followed by the Mesolithic, at least in the Middle East. In effect, the Anunnaki were now willing to give Man a bit more rein in the tools he used. The ensuing "Saga of Tin and Bronze", we will return to in a later Episode.

Scientists now believe that the last great ice age began some 75,000 years ago, followed by a mini-warming approximately 40,000 years ago. Then, circa 38,000 years ago, a much harsher, colder, and drier period ensued. During a stretch of time of some 25,000 years, the Antartica ice cap built up to enormous proportions, locking in much of the otherwise free water in the earth's hydrologic cycle, and thus preventing the use of the water for growing plants -- which had in turn help warm the Earth by more efficiently collecting and storing the solar radiation impinging upon the Earth. 

It is entirely possible that the Anunnaki gold mining and smelting operations had over several hundred thousand years, polluted the air such that solar radiation was not making its way to the plants, and in effect, the Anunnaki had inadvertently brought on the ice ages. In effect, we had the first example of what some might call a "nuclear winter", but in this case, caused not by multiple nuclear explosions (and the dust and debris thrown into the atmosphere as a result), but the Anunnaki "gold rush and smelting operations! Fortunately, the Deluge occurred, did a thorough washing of the atmosphere, and ended the last Ice Age. Scientists concur that "the last ice age abruptly ended some 13,000 years ago, when our present, exceptionally mild climate was ushered in." [emphasis mine]

Finally, the MesoAmerican Codex Vaticano-Latino 3738, made it very clear that the Age of the First Sun lasted 4,008 years, and ended because of a great catastrophe, a great flood and deluge. By the same reckoning, and according to the Mexica-Nahuatl timetable, the Deluge occurred 13,133 years before the time of writing the codex (A.D. 1533, or about 14 years after Cortez). The mathematically inclined may note that 13,133 - 1,533 = 11,600! Wow! This date also marks the beginning of the Age of the Second Sun, the Tzoncuztique, the Golden Age (according to the Aztecs), or the Age of Giants (according to the Incas). One suspects that the Giants were the Anunnaki, and the American plan did not include humans in any great numbers.  Humans may not have become a major part of the MesoAmerican culture for another 4,000 years. Meanwhile, back at the after-the-flood BBQ...

c. 11,599 B.C.E.  The Covenant. God promises not to do it again. Or at least, not in the same way. Instead the contract looks more like: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." (Genesis 8:22)

Let's see if we have this right. We're promised cold (presumably in the winter) and heat (in the summer perhaps), plus day and night! Wow! What a deal! We get to freeze and sweat, and the only proviso, God's only out, is that, "while earth remaineth." And if earth leaveth? How about then? Somehow, this deal does not smack of incredibly good fortune for mankind.

Admittedly, God, later on in Chapter 9of Genesis (presumably after some lengthy negotiations equivalent to the 1994-1995 Baseball log jam), did manage to sweeten the deal. Noah and the kids received Enlil's blessing, a charge to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the Earth, and was given power over every other living thing on the planet. In typically excessive, over-kill fashion, fear and dread of man was placed upon every animal, bird and fish; every moving creature was fodder for man's culinary skills (with the sole exception of other humans, i.e. cannibalism, which was expressly forbidden), and God promised no more floods! The latter was undoubtedly beyond Enlil's power, but it sounded good, and the fact remains that generation after generation has actually believed it.

c. 11,598 B.C.E.  The Beginnings of Agriculture. The Sumerian equivalent to Genesis 9:3 ("Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things") is "As grassy vegetation all manner of grain have I given you." 

Thus began the sudden and very abrupt appearance of agriculture in Mesopotamia. While scholars all agree that agriculture began in the crescent of land formed by Mesopotamia-Syria-Palestine, these same scholars are at a loss to explain why agriculture did not begin in the plains, where cultivation is easy, but rather in the highlands. Of course, if the plains are flooded and/or caked with mud (which they would be after the Flood and Deluge for possibly generations), then it makes perfect sense. Some scholars are not all that smart.

Both dumb and smart Scholars, however, agree that agriculture began with the harvesting of "wild ancestors" of wheat and barley, but are then baffled by the genetic uniformity of those early grain grasses. Furthermore, they are totally at a loss to explain how within a time span of 2,000 years: the same wild emmers doubled, trebled, and quadrupled their chromosome pairs to become cultivable wheat and barley of outstanding nutritional value, they developed the amazing ability to grow almost anywhere, and yielded an unusual twice-a-year crop. There also appeared, quite suddenly and abruptly, every manner of fruit and vegetable, at the same time as the "domestication" of animals, starting with sheep and goats that provided meat, milk, and wool. [Actually, one would have hoped the animals on the ark would have been "ark broken", but perhaps that's too much to ask.]

It's not as if agriculture and animal herding had been non-existent before the Flood and Deluge. On the contrary, the Sumerian texts are clear about the development of crop-growing and cattle-rearing in prediluvian times. Initially, of course, there had been nothing. Then...

"When from the heights of Heaven to Earth Anu had caused the Anunnaki to come forth, Grains had not yet been brought forth, had not yet vegetated... There was no ewe, a lamb had not yet been dropped; There was no she-goat, a kid had not yet been dropped. The ewe had not yet given birth to her lambs, the she-goat had not yet given birth to her kid. Weaving [of wool] had not yet been brought forth, had not yet been established.

"In those days, in the Creation Chamber of the gods, In the House of Fashioning, in the Pure Mound, Lahar ("woolly cattle") and Anshar ("grains") were beautifully fashioned. The abode was filled with food for the gods.

"After Anu, Enlil, Enki and Ninti had fashioned the black-headed people, Vegetation that luxuriates they multiplied in the Land. Four-legged animals they artfully brought into existence; In the E.DIN they placed them. For the sake of the satiating things, for the pure sheepfold, Civilized Mankind was brought into existence."

But these things brought into existence in prehistoric times, did not include the domesticated varieties that the texts specifically mention has having not yet been brought forth.

"That which by planting multiplies, had not yet been fashioned; Terraces had not yet been set up... The triple grain of thirty days did not exist; The small grain, the grain of the mountains, the grain of the pure A.DAM did not exist... Tuber-vegetables of the field had not yet come forth."

After the Flood and Deluge, specimens of the domesticated cereals, "Anu provided them, from Heaven, to Enlil," who then found a suitable place for the first planting.

"Enlil went up the peak and lifted his eyes; there was the mountain of aromatic cedars. He hauled up the barley, terraced it on the mountain, That which vegetates he hauled up, terraced the grain cereals on the mountain."

While Enlil and his son, Ninurta, were credited with granting agriculture to mankind, the credit for the introduction of domesticated herds was given to Enki, who first addressed Enlil:

 "'Father Enlil, flocks and grains have made joyful the Holy Mound, have greatly multiplied in the Holy Mound. Let us, Enki and Enlil, command: The woolly-creature and grain-that-multiples let us cause to come out of the Hold Mound.'  The woolly-creature they placed in a sheepfold. The seeds that sprout they give to the mother, for the grains they establish a place. To the workmen they give the plough and the yoke... The Shepherd makes abundance in the sheepfold; the young woman sprouting abundance; She lifts her head in the field: Abundance had come from heaven."

Then with planting and harvesting becoming all the rage, it became apparent that preparing a field for crops the first time was infinitely harder than replanting later on. The age of Real Estate had arrived. And while the Bible and Sumerian texts do not dwell on this new concept of ownership, it was nevertheless time to allot to different families, different regions.

c. 11,598 B.C.E.  And Shem beget Arphaxad, two years after the flood. The Bible discusses this and then goes into great detail (in Chapter 10) concerning the generations of Noah and Shem. Stated briefly, and without the customary begetting, we can summarize the ancestry with the following:

Again, the underlined dates are the date of the death of the particular Patriarch.

The clever and astute reader will notice several interesting anomalies in the above table. Noah, for example, outlived his great-great-great-grandson, Peleg, and Eber, very nearly outlived his great-great-great-great-grandson, Abram (Abraham). Even more incredibly, Shem died a mere 67 years prior to the death of Abraham, his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson! 

One implication is that no first son ever received an inheritance other than Eber and Abraham! Peleg ("for in his day was the earth divided") and his immediate progeny took a major hit in longevity, after his three immediate ancestors had seen their lifetimes halved from Noah and the ancestral line all the way back to Adam. 

It is generally agreed that Abraham was born circa 2,123 B.C.E. Thus, it will take some fancy footwork to stretch the Biblical 292 years between the flood and Abraham's birth, in order to account for the difference in years from 11,600 to 2,123 B.C.E., i.e. a tidy sum of 9,477 years (a factor of about 32.5)!! But have no fear! No miscalculation or fudge factor will be left unstoned! On the other hand, you probably do not want to know the logic actually used -- it's really rather scary. And thus, in lieu of dredging the reader though the morass of calculations, we will simply insert the dates of each patriarch after the flood in its appropriate place in the following.

c. 11,570 B.C.E.  One of Noah's first acts was to set up a still -- what the bible refers to in Genesis 9:20 as: "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard." Noah promptly got drunk and ended up "uncovered within his tent." Ham, his second son, saw Noah's nakedness and promptly informed his two brothers; who thoughtfully draped a garment on their shoulders, walked into the tent backwards, and covered Noah. In the process, they carefully avoided seeing Nude Noah -- which when you think about it might have been wise considering the fact that Noah was over 600 years old at the time! Noah, when he had returned from his lost weekend and realized what had happened, promptly blessed Shem and Japheth and cursed Ham's son, Canaan. In case, you didn't quite catch it, Noah got drunk, his son Ham apparently had the misfortune to walk in on him in his inebriated, drunken state, and informed his brothers, and when Noah got wind of it, Noah cursed Ham's son. Why is this?

It is assumed that Canaan took the hit because Enlil had blessed Noah and his three sons, and far be if for Noah to curse someone whom Enlil had blessed. Therefore, the previously unblessed Canaan got trashed. It's noteworthy that Canaan was Ham's youngest son, and therefore the most dispensable from the viewpoint of a patriarchal first son paradigm. 

Nevertheless, the Bible seems particularly enamored with Canaan, providing more information on Canaan's descendants than anyone other than the family tree of Noah's oldest son, Shem. Phut, for example, the third son of Ham is not even given credit for begetting anyone. On the other hand, Canaan receives credit for the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgasites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites, Highlites, Lowlifes, Hemophilites, and all manner of Canaanites. His borders included Sidon, Gaza, and even  Sodom and Gomorrah. The latter is probably noteworthy in that the curse on Canaan may be related to Sodom and Gomorrah's fate.

And if that doesn't grab your attention, you can also pretend that Canaan was the father of the negroid race and thus justify racial prejudice and bigotry and even slavery. For after all, Canaan was cursed by god and "a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethern."

Canaan clearly took the hit. But one might also question why? Not why was it Canaan, but why did anyone need to take a hit? And once that one had been cursed, why spend so much time detailing the tribes of the post-diluvian world of the cursed prolific begeter? Was there something more to the story of Noah, his vineyard, and his becoming drunk?   Hmmmm. 

There is an answer -- a rather profound one. But we're not likely to tell you now -- that would spoil all of the fun. Suffice it to say that the roots of the vineyard, once mature, go incredibly deep, often as much as sixty feet. This explains on the one hand why it takes decades for a vineyard to produce really high quality wine -- it takes that long for the roots to really sink their teeth into the earth. And it is at that depth that the roots of the wine tap into mineral deposits not normally acquired in such prolific quantities as at the higher levels of soil and arable land. The root system of the vineyard is thus very significant. 

The fact the Bible made a special point of noting Noah's new career choice (following his tenure as Captain of the Love Boat). this might suggest something we already knew: i.e., wine may be important to health. And by following that logic, then perhaps there was something about the wine, some esoteric mystery whose secret Noah was closely guarding, which Ham, perhaps intentionally, sought to learn. If in fact Ham's indelicate intrusion was intentional, then Noah's cursing Ham's throwaway son begins to make sense. One might also recall the Sumerian version of Noah, whereby he was given eternal life.

This latter factor should be viewed from the position that Enlil, a known extraterrestrial without omnipotent powers, promised a mortal the gift of eternal life. How could Enlil do that? Where does he get the balls to promise eternal life, if he himself can't deliver it on his own behalf?

Perhaps Enlil knew a secret, possibly an ideal diet, one which promoted extreme longevity (i.e. close enough to eternity to fool the mere mortals which are dying within a measly few hundred years). In this case Enlil's promise to Noah was well within the powers of the Lord of the Command. And once given this secret knowledge of longevity, Noah goes out to plant a vineyard. Hmmmmm. 

This might make you wonder if there is some great secret in the wine to justify indulging in a big way. Noah may have indeed been drunk on the wine, but perhaps he was more in an altered state, rather than a drunken one. The possible ramifications are intriguing, fascinating, and out-of-this-world speculative.   Actually... Perhaps we should think of it as out-of-this-dimension speculation. Stay tuned.

c. 11,550 B.C.E.  Enlil's generosity seemed to know no bounds. After blessing Noah and his three sons, teaching Noah how to make one heluva hot toddy, making all the beasts and fowl subservient to man, establishing a covenant with Noah and his descendants, and tying up the package with a rainbow -- God them allotted the earth to the descendants of Noah's three sons. 

Some scholars refer to this profound moment as the day Shem took the high road, Ham took the low road, and Japheth took the scenic route. Other scholars, lacking the flair for a witty turn of phrase, have noted that the descendants of Japhet ("The Fair One") proceeded into the highlands of Asia Minor, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. These highlands were habitable soon after the Deluge -- unlike the lower lying coastal areas and islands that his descendants eventually occupied. Included in the latter was the area above the Black Sea known as the Crimea. This beautiful spot on earth is noted for its principal waterway which has been celebrated in the song: Crimea River.

The descendants of Ham ("He Who is Hot", or "The Dark-Hued One") first occupied the biblical states of Cush, Mizra'im, Put, and Canaan; followed by the nation-states corresponding to the African lands of Nubia, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Libya as the core of the African resettlement. From the higher areas, they then spread into the lowlands. Canaan and his descendents were, of course, indentured to Shem (via Enlil), but the others -- clearly not thrilled with Canaan's fate -- headed for the greener pastures controlled by Enki. In effect, Ham, the biblical bad guy -- the distinct non-favorite of Enlil -- took refuge in the areas controlled by Enki. Shem and Japheth, however, the biblical good guys were more favored. Shem in particular was given the best Enlil had to offer.

The descendants of Shem founded the nation-states of Elam, Ashur, Arpakhshad, Lud, and Aram -- areas that encompassed the highlands from the Persian Gulf in the south to the Mediterranean Sea in the northwest and bordering the great Land-Between-The-Rivers, which was not yet habitable. Shem, in effect, got Mesopotamia, and ultimately the fertile crescent. His line became the Semites. In his honor scholars have drawn the line between semitic and anti-semitic, as well as recognizing an abrupt change in human culture about 11,000 B.C.E.. They have in fact dubbed this era of domestication the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age). Keep in mind that modern scholars are divided into those who collect artifacts from the past (and thus limit themselves to whatever survives for millennia) and those who read the ancient texts, which describes what was actually happening. Let's face it -- how many modern movies on film or videotape would survive for thousands of years?

Meanwhile, the  Anunnaki were doing their own allotting. Elam (on the southeast flank of Mesopotamia and north of the Persian Gulf) was entrusted to  Inanna; the Taurus Mountains and Asia Minor to the northwest were given to Ishkur, the highlands in between apportioned to Ninurta (the southern portions) and Nanna/Sin (the northern portions), and to Enlil, the central portions overlooking the older E.DIN. Utu/Shamash was given the Cedar Mountain (in modern day Lebanon). This left nothing in Mesopotamia for Enki, and he retreated to Africa with his sons.

The idea of "abundance" was one that was based on river based cultivation. This led Inanna to incorporate the Indus Valley and initiate the Harrappan culture in later times. For Enki, the key was the recovery of the Valley of the Nile. 

The Egyptian tradition held that their great gods had come to Egypt from Ur ("the olden place"). They believed that the great god, Ptah, who ruled Egypt for 9,000 years, returned to Egypt after the  Deluge to engage in great works of reclamation and to literally raise the country from the inundating waters. Sumerian texts also attest to Enki's works in Meluhha (Ethiopia/ Nubia) and Magan (Egypt) in again making them habitable for man, beast, fowl, and water lilies:

"He proceeds to the Land Meluhha; Enki, lord of the Abzu, decrees its fate: Black land, may your trees be large trees, may they be the Highland trees. May thrones fill your royal palaces. May your reeds be large reeds, may they be the Highland reeds... May your bulls be large bulls, may they be the Highland bulls... May your silver be as gold, may your copper be tin and bronze... May our people multiply; may your hero go forth as a bull..."

After the lands were made habitable again, Enki divided the length of the African continent between his six sons. Nergal (and Ereshkigal) went home to the southernmost domain of Africa; Gibil ("The One of Fire"), having been taught by Enki the secrets of metalworking, took over the mining regions to the north, Ninagal ("Prince of Great Waters") was given the lakes and headwaters of the Nile (Ethiopia), and Dumuzi ("Son Who Is Life" and whose nickname was "The Herder") received the grazing pastures of the Sudan. Enki's fifth son,  Ningishzidda, we will deal with a bit later. But the sixth son, Enki's first born and legal heir, the Babylonian Marduk, we will deal with now.

c. 11,420 B.C.E.  MAR.DUK ("Son of the Pure Mound) was, in fact, Ra, the Egyptian god. And it was Ra/Marduk who inherited the Egyptian store from his old man, Ptah.   Zecharia Sitchin has Ra taking over the store some time prior to the Deluge, but inasmuch as Ptah was in on the reclamation after the flood, it doesn't make sense to make Ra a pre-deluvial king. More importantly, the only real reason that Sitchin would date Ra prior to the flood was to incorporate the 8,900 years between Ra and Menes, the first pharoah of the first dynasty and the human who united Upper and Lower Egypt. Part of the problem is that the time of Menes, himself, is misdated by Sitchin (and most Egyptologists). More on this in a later Episode, when we meet the true Queen of Sheba. For the present, Ra took over Egypt on a midsummer's eve in 11,420 B.C.E.

According to the Egyptian annals, primarily the writings of Manetho, Ra ("the Complete, the Pure One") had come to Earth from the "Planet of Millions of Years" in a Celestial Barge, which was kept at Anu (the biblical On, the Greek Heliopolis). [The reader is allowed one guess as to the identity of the "Planet of Millions of Years."] 

Marduk/Ra, the Great God of Egypt, however, had a problem: Egypt was not enough. Ra yearned to rule the whole Earth, to garner for himself what had been denied his father. Ra also wanted to rule from the olden "Navel of the Earth" in Mesopotamia. It was this ambition that led him to abdicate the divine throne of Egypt in favor of his children and grandchildren. It would also lead to the two "Pyramid Wars", and very nearly to his own death. But just don't count Marduk of Babylon out of the running yet!

c. 10,420 B.C.E.  Ra gave birth to Shu (a male, meaning "dryness) and Tefnut (a female, meaning "moisture"). These two set the example for mortal Pharaohs in later times, in that the brother married his half-sister. Shu and Tefnut began a 700 year reign in Egypt, the deities being still very much in charge there.

c. 10,150 B.C.E.  If Kalasasaya was not built at Tiahuanacu at the beginning of the Age of the First Sun, then this would be the time for its construction. After something over a millennia, Mankind now seems to be getting into major construction contracts -- enough to make any of the Beltway Bandits salivate. [The Beltway Bandits are the many consulting firms located on the Beltway surrounding Washington, DC, who regularly feast upon the largess of the federal government to pay them to do virtually everything the federal government is supposed to do themselves. Alternatively, after the Iraqi Invasion, Dick Cheney's personal slush fund, Haliburton, reaped billions of dollars in major construction projects. As Fred Thompson, Republican of Tennessee, once said, "I've still got a lot to learn about Washington. Yesterday, I accidentally spent some of my own money." Some things never change. Sigh.]

c. 10,000 B.C.E. The end of the Magdalenian Age and the beginning of the Mesolithic -- according to some authorities (most of whom amazingly see no connection between Mary Magdalene and the Magdalenian Age).

From a geological point of view, instead of an Egyptological one -- the latter which is related to Egypt but not necessarily logic -- some scholars believe the Egyptian Sphinx on the Giza Plateau (near the eastern edge of the Sahara, just west of Cairo) can be dated to at least 10,000 B.C.E. 

The Sphinx actually sits in a hollow -- known as the Sphinx enclosure -- formed when the ancient Egyptians carved away the limestone rock to shape its body. Large blocks of this limestone were used to construct two temples, and the Egyptians later covered the limestone with granite facing stones. To this day, the villagers who live near Giza have an oral tradition that the Sphinx, which they call Abul Al-Hol, or "the Father of Terrors", is far older than the nearby Great Pyramid of Khufu, also called Cheops, and the smaller pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure. 

The three pyramids were named after kings of the sixth dynasty (c. 2,300 B.C.E. ), but many believe they are far older. It is noteworthy that none have any tell-tale markings that might have occurred from a nearby flood. Thus if the flood was circa 4,000 B.C.E., then the pyramids would clearly be of more recent vintage. However, with the flood pushed back to 11,600 B.C.E., the pyramids and sphinx are allowed a much greater age. Sitchin even suggests that the Great Pyramid, located rather precisely on the 30th parallel north, could have served as a landmark for spacecraft landing in a clearly defined flight corridor. The corridor is defined by Mount Ararat in the northeast, Mount Katherine in the lower Sinai, and the Great Pyramid. The spaceport, itself, according to Sitchin was in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula.   Sitchin may have been hitting Noah's grapes a bit much.

This time era is also when proto-languages  and language groupings seem to have branched out in three "lobes" [Scientific American, October 1989, page 112]). According to these scholars, agriculture may have originated from three "lobes", giving rise to a great family of languages. The Anatolian lobe, from Catal Huyuk (in south central Turkey, Japheth's neck of the woods) flowed westward into Europe and Russia/Ukraine. The Ali Kosh lobe (lower Mesopotamia, north of the Persian Gulf) spread eastward into India. Finally, the Jericho lobe spread westward into north Africa, and southward into Saudi Arabia. All of which leads us to Genesis, chapter 11.

The  Tower of Babel incident is one of those strange and perplexing stories. In biblical brief:

"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said to one another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had bricks for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. There is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." [Genesis 11: 1-9]

There are several noteworthy points. One, obviously, is the derivation of the modern expression, "aw go on", from the biblical "Go to." Second is the fact that linguistic anthropology agrees with the approximate date of the spread of dissimilar languages (and thus adds further confirmation to the early 11,600 B.C.E. date for the Flood/ Deluge). Third is the realization that the people still lacked some scientific sophistication in that they thought they could build a tower to reach heaven. Fourth is the amazement that the LORD Enlil was worried about them doing so!

One rather suspects that the key phrase was: "this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do." The people were once again perceived as a threat to the all powerful LORD, also known as Enlil. But even this does not account for Enlil's concern about what the people might do. To figure this one out, we must go back to the original Hebrew and the phrase: let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a shem, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Here we have inserted the original word, shem, instead of the translated "name." 

Later in the Bible, when King David "made a shem" to mark his victory over the Aramaeans, one scholar noted that David did not "make a name" but set up a monument pointing skyward. Similarly, in many Mesopotamian texts, the word shem could be read not as "name" but as "sky vehicle." In the gospel according to  Sitchin, the people were indeed concerned about friends and relatives losing touch as they spread upon the earth, and lacking the benefits of such modern communication technologies as the Inter Net, they hit upon the idea of making an airborne vehicle to make holiday traveling that much more expedient. (They obviously had no clue about the potential for baggage handling at airports!)  The fact that they were using brick to build it, suggests a slight misunderstanding of aeronautical principles. Sitchin, of course, suggests they were really building a launch tower for the skyborne vehicle -- but this still leaves the question of landing, up in the air, so to speak.

Actually, within the  Epic of Creation text there is a reference to the Anunnaki, the rank-and-file gods building their first "Gateway of the Gods", i.e. "Let its brickwork be fashioned. Its shem shall be in the designated place." For two years, the Anunnaki toiled -- "applied the implements... molded bricks" -- until "they raised high the top of Eshagila" ("house of Great Gods") and "built the stage tower as high as High Heaven." Thus the humans were simply mimicking the Anunnaki. 

And while this activity might constitute the sincerest form of compliment, Enlil and the Paranoids did not take it well. One can only wonder how the Wright Brothers managed to pull off their stunt at Kittihawk. Unless, of course, Enlil was already planning to send a plague of flight controllers, baggage handlers, and airline food preparers to further confound and decimate mankind. 

Finally, the 10,000 B.C.E. mark has one other tidbit. This is the date where, according to some scholars, man first reached the tip of South America! Evidence of man in this location supports the early date for Kalasasaya, as various progeny of all the begetting going on led to many of them wandering off and, in this case, heading south. It's amazing how everything tends to connect!

And now, before we launch into the "generations of Shem" (the remaining portion of Genesis, chapter 11 -- which is essentially just so much filler between the "Babel Incident" and the adventures of Abraham), we should pause and take a deep sigh.

************(sigh)***************

In the next Episode, we can look forward to the sagas of the Egyptian Rights of Succession, the various Ages of the Sun from the New World, and how Abraham figured into all of this. There are also to be encountered: The Pyramid Wars, the adventures of the four Ayar brothers, the Great Goddess  Inanna, the Wars of Gods and Men, and the exciting climax of  Sodom and Gomorrah! (But never fear, the "climax" will not be of these Annals, at least not yet. 

Meanwhile, we will leave you with a few morsels to consider:

1. God blessed Noah, his three sons, and then gave them the earth, whereon they could be fruitful, multiply and lord it over every beast of the earth and every fowl of the air (supposedly, including foul air). And then after receiving a covenant from God, Noah planted a vineyard and got drunk. Was Noah really drunk? Or was he in some altered state? What is there in the wine that would produce such an altered state? What is the significance of the fact that the roots of wine go so deep. What fabulous mineral are the roots tapping into. Are vineyard roots the original gold diggers? What in the world are we talking about?

2. Inasmuch as Noah's second son, Ham, was the begetter of the Negroid race, and this race came under the tutelage of Enki -- does this tell us something about why the blacks were considered inferior from the white point of view? Was the eventual slavery issue in some way connected with Enlil's bashing of those humans who were followers of Enki instead of Enlil? Is racial prejudice and bigotry -- which seem to be running rampant even today -- the result of thousands of years of Enlil bad-mouthing anything that Enki did? Quite possibly.

3. There are semites and anti-semites. The semites are named after Shem. Thus the anti-semites are the descendants of Ham and Japheth. It appears that Western Man is the descendant of Japheth. Does that make us Japhetites?

4. Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Nahor's wife, was Milcah, the daughter of Haran and the brother of Lot. She and Abram's wife, Sarai, are the first women specifically mentioned in the Bible by name since Eve -- despite an immense amount of begetting. Eve was of course included in that someone had to be the scapegoat for Enlil's preemptory clearing out of E.DIN, and Sarai was primarily noted for infertility. So why Milcah? Why is she mentioned, and then why does she and Nahor drop out of sight just as Terah takes Abram, Sarai, and Lot out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the city of Haran? Either, she must have been some babe, or there is some other esoteric reason, which we may or may not uncover.

5. The all important question of what was the connection between Ptah, Shu, Geb and Maat, should now be increasingly obvious -- all being Egyptian deities who ruled Egypt before the beginning of the dynasties of pharaohs. Also included in this list will be Osiris, Seth, Horus, and Thoth -- names that may be a bit more recognizable. Their adventures lies just ahead!

6. Another very strange biblical reference is Genesis 10:6-12. Verse six tells us that the sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan; while in verse seven we're given the sons of Cush. In verse 8, "Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth." But there is no mention of Nimrod in verse 7. In what way was Nimrod special? Why was Nimrod not listed as a son of Cush, if Cush begat him? What in the world does "begat" mean anyway?

Life is good. Maybe a little confusing, but good. Or as  Douglas Adams has reported "God's last message to his creation": "We apologize for the inconvenience."

For the next Episode, press two.