The Earth Chronicles: Time Chart

compiled by Dave Schultz


Volumes have been discussed on portions of Zechariah Sitchin's 'Earth Chronicles' during the past two years, but nothing really definitive and comprehensive enough to view his works with any degree of chronological sequence. Because of the all-encompassing scope of his synthesis and how it may relate to UFO's today, I submit this five-part post showing the time line for major points of the EC's for your interest, examination, comment and critique: (Book titles in Sitchin's works are listed at the end of Part 5.)

I think the work that went into the Earth Chronicles, as evidenced by the sources listed in Part 4 and 5, should put the author head and shoulders above most if not all researchers and scholars of ancient history. I've been following his works since his first book appeared in 1976, and have heard or read nothing to disprove any of his major points. On the contrary, many of his contentions have been confirmed by the mainstream academia, and a closer study of his works may yield answers more relevant to the questions we have today concerning our neighboring planets and space travel. I did not compile or type the information contained within this four-part post. But I would have if someone else hadn't done it first. It was a long, arduous and commendable task, and I recommend that it be hard-copied for your reference works.

The following is a blurb from the dust cover of "The 12th Planet".

"Dear Reader, The Earth Chronicles series is based on the premise that mythology is not fanciful but the repository of ancient memories; that the Bible ought to be read literally as a historic/scientific document; and that ancient civilizations - older and greater than assumed - were the product of knowledge brought to Earth by the Anunnaki, "Those Who from Heaven to Earth Came." The 12th Planet, the first book of the series, presents ancient evidence for the existence of an additional planet in the Solar System: the home planet of the Anunnaki. In confirmation of this evidence, recent data from unmanned spacecraft has led astronomers to actively search for what is being called "Planet X.'' The subsequent volume, The Stairway to Heaven, traces man's unending search for immortality to a spaceport in the Sinai Peninsula and to the Giza pyramids, which had served as landing beacons for it- refuting the notion that these pyramids were built by human pharaohs. Recently, records by an eye witness to a forgery of an inscription by the pharaoh Khufu inside the Great Pyramid corroborated the book's conclusions. The Wars of Gods and Men, recounting events closer to our times, concludes that the Sinai spaceport was destroyed 4,000 years ago with nuclear weapons. Photographs of Earth from space clearly show evidence of such an explosion. Such gratifying corroboration of audacious conclusions has been even swifter for The Lost Realms. In the relatively short interval between the completion of the manuscript and its publication, archaeologists, linguists, and other scientists have offered a "coastal theory" in lieu of the "frozen trekking" one to account for man's arrival in the Americas - in ships, as this volume has concluded; have "suddenly discovered 2000 years of missing civilization," in the words of a Yale University scholar - confirming this book's conclusion, and are now linking the beginnings of such civilizations to those of the Old World, as Sumerian texts and biblical verses suggest. I trust that modern science will continue to confirm ancient knowledge."


About the author of The Earth Chronicles, also from dust cover...

"Zecharia Sitchin was raised in Palestine, where he acquired a profound knowledge of modern and ancient Hebrew, other Semitic and European languages, the Old Testament, and the history and archaeology of the Near East. He attended the London School of Economics and Political Science and graduated from the University of London, majoring in economic history. A leading journalist and editor in Israel for many years, he now lives and writes in New York. One of the few scholars able to read and understand Sumerian, Sitchin has based The Earth Chronicles, his recent series of books dealing with Earth's and man's histories and prehistories, on the information and texts written down on clay tablets by the ancient civilizations of the Near East. His books have been widely translated, reprinted in paperback editions, converted to Braille for the blind."


The Earth Chronicles: Time Chart

I. Events Before the Deluge

Years Ago

450,000 On Nibiru, a distant member of our solar system, life faces slow extinction as the planet's atmosphere erodes. Deposed by Anu, the ruler Alalu escapes in a spaceship and finds refuge on Earth. He discovers that Earth has gold that can be used to protect Nibiru's atmosphere.

445,000 Led by Enki, a son of Anu, the Anunnaki land on Earth, establish Eridu - Earth Station I - for extracting gold from the waters of the Persian Gulf.

430,000 Earth's climate mellows. More Anunnaki arrive on Earth, among them Enki's half-sister Ninhursag, Chief Medical Officer.

416,000 As gold production falters, Anu arrives on Earth with Enlil, the heir apparent. It is decided to obtain the vital gold by mining it in southern Africa. Drawing lots, Enlil wins command of Earth Mission; Enki is relegated to Africa. On departing Earth, Anu is challenged by Alalu's grandson.

400,000 Seven functional settlements in southern Mesopotamia include a Spaceport (Sippar), Mission Control Center (Nippur), a metallurgical center (Shuruppak). The ores arrive by ships from Africa; the refined metal is sent aloft to orbiters manned by Igigi, then transferred to spaceships arriving periodically from Nibiru.

380,000 Gaining the support of the Igigi, Alalu's grandson attempts to seize mastery over Earth. The Enlilites win the War of the Olden Gods.

300,000 The Anunnaki toiling in the gold mines mutiny. Enki and

Ninhursag create Primitive Workers through genetic manipulation of Ape woman; they take over the manual chores of the Anunnaki. Enlil raids the mines, brings the Primitive Workers to the Edin in Mesopotamia. Given the ability to procreate, Homo Sapiens begins to multiply.

200,000 Life on Earth regresses during a new glacial period.

100,000 Climate warms again. The Anunnaki (the biblical Nefilim), to Enlil's growing annoyance marry the daughters of Man.

75,000 The "accursation of Earth" - a new Ice Age-begins. Regressive types of Man roam the Earth . Cro-Magnon man survives.

49,000 Enki and Ninhursag elevate humans of Anunnaki parentage to rule in Shuruppak. Enlil, enraged. plots Mankind's demise.

13,000 Realizing that the passage of Nibiru in Earth's proximity will trigger an immense tidal wave, Enlil makes the Anunnaki swear to keep the impending calamity a secret from Mankind.

II. Events After the Deluge

B.C.

11,000 Enki breaks the oath, instructs Ziusudra/Noah to build a submersible ship. The Deluge sweeps over the Earth; the Anunnaki witness the total destruction from their orbiting spacecraft.

Enlil agrees to grant the remnants of Mankind implements and seeds; agriculture begins in the highlands. Enki domesticates animals.

10,500 The descendants of Noah are allotted three regions. Ninurta, Enlil's foremost son, dams the mountains and drains the rivers to make Mesopotamia habitable; Enki reclaims the Nile valley. The Sinai peninsula is retained by the Anunnaki for a post-Diluvial spaceport; a control center is established on Mount Moriah (the future Jerusalem).

9780 Ra/Marduk, Enki's firstborn son, divides dominion over Egypt between Osiris and Seth.

9330 Seth seizes and dismembers Osiris, assumes sole rule over the Nile Valley.

8970 Horus avenges his father Osiris by launching the First Pyramid War. Seth escapes to Asia, seizes the Sinai peninsula and Canaan.

8670 Opposed to the resulting control of all the space facilities by Enki's descendants, the Enlilites launch the Second Pyramid War. The victorious Ninurta empties the Great Pyramid of its equipment.

Ninhursag, half-sister of Enki and Enlil, convenes peace conference. The division of Earth is reaffirmed. Rule over Egypt transferred from the Ra/Marduk dynasty to that of Thoth. Heliopolis built as a substitute Beacon City.

8500 The Anunnaki establish outposts at the gateway to the space facilities; Jericho is one of them.

7400 As the era of peace continues, the Anunnaki grant Mankind new advances; the Neolithic period begins. Demi-gods rule over Egypt.

3800 Urban civilization begins in Sumer as the Anunnaki reestablish there the Olden Cities, beginning with Eridu and Nippur.

Anu comes to Earth for a pageantful visit. A new city, Uruk (Erech), is built in his honor; he makes its temple the abode of his beloved granddaughter Inanna/lshtar.

III. Kingship on Earth

3760 Mankind granted kingship. Kish is first capital under the aegis of Ninurta. The calendar begun at Nippur. Civilization blossoms out in Sumer (the First Region).

3450 Primacy in Sumer transferred to Nannar/Sin. Marduk proclaims Babylon "Gateway of the Gods." The "Tower of Babel" incident. The Anunnaki confuse Mankind's languages.

His coup frustrated, Marduk/Ra returns to Egypt, deposes Thoth, seizes his younger brother Dumuzi who had betrothed Inanna. Dumuzi accidentally killed; Marduk imprisoned alive in the Great Pyramid. Freed through an emergency shaft, he goes into exile.

3100 350 years of chaos end with installation of first Egyptian Pharaoh in Memphis. Civilization comes to the Second Region.

2900 Kingship in Sumer transferred to Erech. Inanna given dominion over the Third Region; the Indus Valley Civilization begins.

2650 Sumer's royal capital shifts about. Kingship deteriorates. Enlil loses patience with the unruly human multitudes.

2371 Inanna falls in love with Sharru-Kin (Sargon). He establishes new capital city. Agade (Akkad). Akkadian empire launched.

2316 Aiming to rule the four regions, Sargon removes sacred soil from Babylon. The Marduk-Inanna conflict flares up again. It ends when Nergal, Marduk's brother, journeys from south Africa to Babylon and persuades Marduk to leave Mesopotamia.

2291 Naram-Sin ascends the throne of Akkad. Directed by the warlike Inanna, he penetrates the Sinai peninsula, invades Egypt.

2255 Inanna usurps the power in Mesopotamia; Naram-Sin defies Nippur. The Great Anunnaki obliterate Agade. Inanna escapes. Sumer and Akkad occupied by foreign troops loyal to Enlil and Ninurta.

2220 Sumerian civilization rises to new heights under enlightened rulers of Lagash. Thoth helps its king Gudea build a ziggurat-temple for Ninurta.

2193 Terah, Abraham's father, born in Nippur into a priestly-royal family.

2180 Egypt divided; followers of Ra/Marduk retain the south; Pharaohs opposed to him gain the throne of lower Egypt.

2130 As Enlil and Ninurta are increasingly away, central authority also deteriorates in Mesopotamia. Inanna's attempts to regain the kingship for Erech does not last.

The Fateful Century

B.C

2123 Abraham born in Nippur.

2113 Enlil entrusts the Lands of Shem to Nannar; Ur declared capital of new empire. Ur- Nammmu ascends throne, is named Protector of Nippur. A Nippurian priest-Terah, Abraham's father - comes to Ur to liaison with its royal court.

2096 Ur-Nammu dies in battle. The people consider his untimely death a betrayal by Anu and Enlil. Terah departs with his family for Harran.

2095 Shulgi ascends the throne of Ur, strengthens imperial ties. As empire thrives, Shulgi falls under charms of Inanna, becomes her lover. Grants Larsa to Elamites in exchange for serving as his Foreign Legion.

2080 Theban princes loyal to Ra/Marduk press northward under Mentuhotep I. Nabu, Marduk's son, gains adherents for his father in Western Asia.

2055 On Nannar's orders, Shulgi sends Elamite troops to suppress unrest in Canaanite cities. Elamites reach the gateway to the Sinai peninsula and its Spaceport.

2048 Shulgi dies. Marduk moves to the Land of the Hittites. Abraham ordered to southern Canaan with an elite corps of cavalrymen.

2047 Amar-Sin (the biblical Amraphel) becomes king of Ur. Abraham goes to Egypt, stays five years, then returns with more troops.

2041 Guided by Inanna, Amar-Sin forms a coalition of Kings of the East, launches military expedition to Canaan and the Sinai. Its leader is the Elamite Khedor-la'omer. Abraham blocks the advance at the gateway to the Spaceport.

2038 Shu-Sin replaces Amar-Sin on throne of Ur as the empire disintegrates.

2029 Ibbi-Sin replaces Shu-Sin. The western provinces increasingly to Marduk.

2024 Leading his followers, Marduk marches on Sumer, enthrones himself in Babylon. Fighting spreads to central Mesopotamia. Nippur's Holy of Holies is defiled. Enlil demands punishment for Marduk and Nabu; Enki opposes, but his son Nergal sides with Enlil.

As Nabu marshals his Canaanite followers to capture the Spaceport, the Great Anunnaki approve of the use of nuclear weapons. Nergal and Ninurta destroy the Spaceport and the errant Canaanite cities.

2023 The winds carry the radioactive cloud to Sumer. People die a terrible death, animals perish, the water is poisoned, the soil becomes barren. Sumer and its great civilization lie prostrate. Its legacy passes to Abraham's seed as he begets -at age 100- a legitimate heir: Isaac.

(All of the above was taken from Zecharia Sitchin's EARTH CHRONICLES.)


SOURCES

I. Princlpal sources for biblical texts

A. Genesis through Deuteronomy: The Five Books of Moses, new edition revised by Dr. M. Stern, Star Hebrew Book Company, undated.

B. For latest translation and interpretation based on Sumerian and Akkadian finds; "Genesis" from The Anchor Bible trans. by E A Speiser, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1964.

C. For "archaic" flavor: From The Anchor Bible, King James Version, Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Co., undated.

D. For verification of recent interpretations of biblical verses: The Torah, new translation of the Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic text, New York: Jewish Publication Society of America 1962; The New American Bible, translation by members of the Catholic Blblical Association of America, New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1970; and The New English Bible, planned and directed by the Church of Eng]and, Oxford: Oxford University Press; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970.

E. For reference on usage comparison and translation aids: Veteris Testamenti Concordantiae Hebraicae Atque Chalaiacae by Solomon Mandekern, Jerusalem: Schocken Books, Inc., 1962; Encyclapedic Dictionary of the Bible, a translation and adaptation of the work by A. van den Born, by the Catholic Biblical Association of America, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1963; and Millon Hatanach (Hebrew), Hebrew-Aramaic by Jushua Steinberg, Tel Aviv: Israel Publishing House Ltd., 1961.

II. Principal Sources for Near Eastern texts

Barton, George A. The Royal Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad. 1929.

Borger, Riekele. Babylonisch-Assyrisch Lesestucke. 1963.

Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Gods of the Egyptians. 1904.

Budge, E. A. W., and King, L. W. Annals of the Kings of Assyria. 1902

Chiera, Edward. Sumerian Religious Texts. 1924.

Ebeling, E.; Meissner, B.; and Weidner, E. (eds.). Reallexikon der Assyrology und Vorderasiatschen Archaeology. 1932-1957.

Ebeling, Erich. Enuma Elish: die Siebente Tafel des Akkadischen Weltschopfunsliedes. 1939.

--. Tod und Leben nach den Vorstellungen der Babylonier. 1931.

Falkenstein, Adam, and W. von Soden. Sumerische und Akkadische Hymnen und Gebete. 1953

Falkenstein, Adam. Sumerische Goetterlieder. 1959

Fossey, Charles. La Magie Syrienne. 1902

Frankfort, Henri. Kingship and the Gods. 1948

Gray, John. The Cananites. 1964.

Gordon, Cyrus H. "Canaanite Mythology" in Mythologies of the Ancient World 1961

Grossman, Hugo. The Development of the Idea of God in the Old Testament 1926

--. Altorientalische Texte und Bilder zum alten Testamente. 1909

Guterbock, Hans G. "Hittite Mythology" in Mythologies of the Ancient World. 1961

Heidle, Alexander The Babylonian Genesis. 1969.

Hilprecht, Herman V. (ed.). Reports of the Babylonian Expedition: Cuneiform Texts. 1893-1914.

Jacobsen, Thorkild "Mesopotamia" in The Intellectual Adventure of Acient Man. 1946.

Jastro, Morris Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens. 1905-12

Jean Charles-F. La religion sumerienne 1931.

Jensen, P. Texte zur assyrisch-babylonischen Religion. 1915.

--. Die Kosmologie der Babylonier. 1890.

Jereias, Alfred. The Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient Near East 1911.

--. Das Alter der babylonischen Astronomie. 1908.

--. Handbuch der Altorientalische Geistkultur.

Jeremias, Alfred, and Winckler, Hugo. Im Kampfe um den alten Orient.

King, Leonard W. Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, being "The Prayers of the Lifting of the Hand." 1896.

--. The Assyrian Language 1901.

--. The Seven Tablets of Creation. 1902

--. Babylonian Religion and Mythology. 1899

Kramer, Samuel N. The Sumerians. 1963

--. (ed.): Mythologies of the Ancient World. 1961.

--. History Begins at Sumer. 1959.

--. Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. 1952.

--. From the Tablets of Sumer. 1956.

--. Sumerian Mythology. 1961.

Kugler, Franz Xaver. Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babylon. 1907-1913

Lambert, W. G., and Millard, A. R. Atra-Hasis, the Babylonian Story of the Flood. 1970).

Langdon, Stephen. Sumerian and Bayylonian Psalms. 1909

--. Tammuz and Ishtar. 1914.

--. (ed.): Oxford Editions of Cuneiform texts. 1923 ff.

--. "Semitic Mythology" in The Mythology of All Races 1964 -

--. Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Epic of Creation 1923.

--. Babylonian Penitential Psalms. 1927

--. Die Neu-Babylonischen Konigsinschriften. 1912.

Luckenbill, David D. Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia 1926-27

Nugebauer, O. Astronomical Cuneiform Texts. 1955.

Pinches, Theophilus G. "Some Mathematical Tablets in the British Museum" in Hilprecllt Anniversary Volume. 1909.

Pritchard James B. (ed). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. 1999969

Rawlinson, Henry C. The Cuneiform Inscriptians of Western Asia. 1861-84

Sayce, A H. The Religion of the Babylions 1888.

Smith, George. The Chaldean Account of Genesis. 1876.

Thomas, D. Winton. (ed.). Documents from Old Testament Times. 1961.

Thompson, R. Campbell. Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon. 1900.

Thureau-Dallgin, Francois. Les Inscriptions de Sumer et Akkad 1905

--. Die sumerischen und akkadische Konigsinschriften. 1907

--. Rituels accadiens. 1921.

Virolleaud, Charles. L'Astronomie Chaldeenne. 1903-1908

Weidner, Ernst F. Alter und Bedeutung der Babylonischer Astronomie und Astrallehre. 1914

--. Handbuch der Babylonischenn Astronomie. 1915.

Witzel, P. Maurus. Tammuz-Liturgien und verwandtes 1935.

III. Studies and articles consulted in various issues of the following periodicals

Der Alte Orient (Leipzig)

American Journal of Archaeology (Concord,Mass.)

American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (Chicago)

Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research (New Haven)

Archiv fur Keilschriftforschung (Berlin)

Archiv fur Orientforschung (Berlin)

Archiv Oriental (Prague)

Assyrologische Bibliothek (Leipzig)

Assyrological Studies (Chicago)

Das Ausland (Berlin)

Babylotliaca (Paris)

Beitrage zur Assyrologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft (Lipzig)

Berliner Beitrage zur Keilschriftforschung (Berlin)

Bibliotheca Orientalis (Leiden)

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (Jerusalem & Baghdad)

Deutsches Morgenlandische Gesellschaft Abhandlungen (Leipzig)

Harvard Semitic Series (Cambridge, Mass.)

Hebrew Union College Annual (Cincinnati)

Journal Asiatique (Paris)

Journal of the American Oriental Society (New Haven)

Journal of Biblical Literature and Exegesis (Middletown)

Journal of Cuneiform Studies (New Haven)

Journal of Near Eastern Studies (Chicago)

Journal of Semitic Studies (Manchester)

Keilinschriftliche Bibliotek Berlin

Konigliche Museen zu Berlin: Mitteilungen aus Orientalischen Sammlungen (Berlin)

Leipziger semitische Studien (Leipzig)

Mitteilungen der altorientalischen Gesellschaft (Leipzig)

Mitteilungen des Instituts fur Orientforschung (Berlin)

Orientalia (Rome)

Orientalische Literaturzeitung (Berlin)

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia)

Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (London)

Revue d'Assyrologie et d'archeologie orientale (Paris)

Revue biblique (Paris)

Sacra Scriptura Antiquitatibus Orientalibus Illustrata (Vatican)

Studia Orientalia (Helsinki)

Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (London)

Untersuchungen zur Assyrologie und vorderasiatischen Archaologie (Berlin)

Vorderasiatische Bibliothek (Leipzig)

Die Welt des Orients (Gottingen)

Wissenschaftliche Veroffentlichungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft (Berlin)

Zeitschrift fur Assyrologie und verwandte Gebiete (Leipzig)

Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche wissenschaft (Berlin, Gissen)

Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft (Leipzig)

Zeitschrift fur Keilschriftforschung (Leipzig) (END OF QUOTED MATERIAL)

(No, I did not read any of these sources.)


Books in the EARTH CHRONICLE series: (All Avon Books)

  1. The 12th Planet
  2. The Stairway to Heaven
  3. The Wars of Gods and Men
  4. The Lost Realms
  5. When Time Began
Companion Book: 'Genesis Revisited'


Dave Schultz