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These are descriptions of a great wave starting in the ‘deep' part about the biblical claim that there had existed such unknown royal of the Earth, causing a sudden cooling of the atmosphere that led _ cities as Erech and Ur (the birthplace of Abraham) even before to heavy rains. In fact, it is a description of a tidal wave, eventual- Nineveh and Babylon? ly subsiding as the waters ‘came and went back’, until the ordeal This was what the Old Testament said. But—just as clever was finally over. scholars ask today, "Where is the evidence for ancient astro- What had caused, what could cause, such an Earth-engulfing nauts?"—so did scholars ask a century and a half ago, “Where is tidal wave? In my book, The [2th Planet (first published in 1976 _ the evidence that there was an Abraham? Where is the evidence and since reprinted in 16 paperback editions), I have suggested _ that there was a place called Ur?" that it was the sliding of the Antarctic ice cover into the ocean—an The answer was provided by archaeology. In 1843, Paul Emile event that explains the abrupt end of the Ice Age some 12,000 Botta conducted the first systematic excavation at a site near years ago, the sudden climatic change to warmer and rainier cli- Mosul, in northern Iraq. It turned out to be the royal city of the mates and a marked rise in the level of Assyrian King Sargon II. A few years the Earth's oceans and seas. eaeEeEEEEEEEEeee—————— later, Henry Layard discovered ten miles The point to be stressed here is this: . away the remains of a majestic city; its the calamity that changed the course of Without a precedent, out of tablets and inscriptions revealed that its events upon Earth emanated from nowhere, there sprang outa name was Nineveh; it was the very same Antarctica, next door to Australia and Assyrian capital that's mentioned in the New Zealand! civilisation that had great Bible. Then, the remains of a city named 4s H . : Nimrud were found; and the scholars THE VERACITY OF THE BIBLE cities, high-rise temples, Seni eur ae tbites! teteumaten The biblical tale, it is now known, is an palaces, courts of justice, with more respect, for Nimrod is men- abridged version of earlier and much tioned in the Book of Genesis (Chapter nas Lame =! —_ from Mesopotamia. commerce, shipping, 10), together with Nineveh and other l= . . . “ i iti i) ; matic portions of those earlier texts x -—-=«tFFIGation, metallurgy, = {507 Fors Ciacologists led by Wale ‘stows at thes the oon wien gp mathematics, medicine Amine-aseerated Ask, - these — 4 cities mentioned in the Bible were found, When the sons of the gods (and) astronomy. _ one after the other! re cohabited with the daughters of man, - As Assyria and Babylonia had come to and they bore children unto them. life, scholars began to respect the veracity Those were the days, we are informed, when of the Bible. But the Bible also listed even earlier cities, and The Nefilim were — the Earth; spoke of a land named Shin'ar as the very first place where in those days and thereafter too. mankind built cities after the Great Flood. And the scholars of a century ago asked themselves, "Could there really have been a : ne 7 Psat ivilisation, with royal cities and temples and palaces, with priests them (in the original Hebrew) Nefilim, once translated ‘giants’ but pass Fe oe literally meaning ‘those who had come down from Heaven to 4 sai, a — before Babylonia? =e Earth’? And what role, hinted by the Bible, did they play in the — lity seemed my or Assyria and Babylonia had momentous events of the Deluge and the saving of mankind's seed !*eady taken us back almost 4,000 years. Who were these ‘sons of the gods"? Why does the Bible call Who were these ‘sons of the gods"? Why does the Bible call them (in the original Hebrew) Nefilim, once translated ‘giants’ but literally meaning ‘those who had come down from Heaven to Earth’? And what role, hinted by the Bible, did they play in the momentous events of the Deluge and the saving of mankind's seed on Earth? The puzzle began to unravel about 150 years ago. It was then that the notion that Greece had been the fountainhead of Western civilisation was giving way to the realisation that, in Egypt, an even greater civilisation had flourished for centuries, even millen- nia, before the Greeks even learnt to write. In Mesopotamia, European travellers had come upon remains that seemed to con- firm the biblical tales of the great kingdoms of Assyria and Babylonia. But what about the biblical claim that all kingship and civilisation had begun in Mesopotamia, and not in Egypt? What Stethemeeliedtdietaeatitanelieenatinetibatate -dalteammedinemmedianediens _ inateiimamemmmadaditamened on Earth? THE SUMERIAN CIVILISATION The puzzle began to unravel about 150 years ago. It was then As we now know, this indeed was the case. The more the that the notion that Greece had been the fountainhead of Western —_ archaeologists went south in Mesopotamia, in the great plain civilisation was giving way to the realisation that, in Egypt, an _ between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the older were the even greater civilisation had flourished for centuries, even millen- remains they dug up. More and more, they came upon inscrip- nia, before the Greeks even learnt to write. In Mesopotamia, tions that were not in Assyrian or Babylonian, but in a strange lan- European travellers had come upon remains that seemed to con- guage which was obviously older. The biblical city of Erech was firm the biblical tales of the great kingdoms of Assyria and found; and Ur was found, and other great cities. And as we now Babylonia. But what about the biblical claim that all kingship and know, these were the remains of the civilisation referred to in the h in M , and not in Egypt? What Bible as Shin'ar. Today we call that land Sumer. The Sumerian civilisation takes us back almost six thousand years. I describe many aspects of this amazing civilisation in my book, The 12th Planet. Without a precedent, out of nowhere, there sprang out a civilisation that had great cities, high-rise temples, palaces, courts of justice, commerce, ship- ping, irrigation, metallurgy, mathematics, medicine; whose people included kings and priests, judges and doctors, dancers and musicians. And above all, a written language, scribes, schools, a literature, epic tales, poems. Every aspect of a high civilisation that we can think of had its 'first’, its beginning, in Sumer. But most amazing of all was the Sumerian knowledge in the field of astronomy. The astonishing fact is that all the princi- ples of a spherical/ astronomy, which is the basis of modern astronomy, were inherited by us from the Sumerians. The concept of a celestial sphere, an axis, the plane of orbit, the A Sumerian commemorative cylinder seal, showing Enki (as the Serpent God) revealing the r f . ¢ r secret of the Deluge to Atra-Hasis (a son of Enki by a human mother). The device on the right circle ol 360 degrees, the grouping of stars into constellations, may be a depiction of an ancient water clock. Atra-Hasis (the biblical Noah) had only seven days' the division of the skies into twelve houses of the zodiac— _ of the impending catastrophe, and so had no time to lose in building his ‘ark’ to withstand =~ even the pictorial depiction of the zodiacs and their names— waters. 50¢NEXUS THE VERACITY OF THE BIBLE OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1993