by Tod Eten
‘Yes Nibiru, that’s the planet!’ Aiden agreed.
‘There are a lot of tales about that planet, hmm let me see’ the woman ran a finger along one of the book shelves until it came to a stop at a particular book. She pulled the book out taking a look at its cover and nodded her head in approval. ‘Yes this will give you all the information you need on that subject’ she said about to offer the book to Aiden then paused and thought for a moment. ‘You know that there are a lot of myths that surround this planet, did you know a lot of people say that it actually exists and that it will come back one day?’
‘Well yes I kind of read some stuff on that, total rubbish of course!’ Aiden said to show that he was a normal wholesome type of guy, not in the slightest mad.
‘Yes quite’ replied the woman looking once more at Aiden as if gazing into his soul. ‘Well’ she said after a pause seeming to decide to let Aiden in on a secret. ‘There is a meeting tomorrow night that is about all these myths and ancient civilisations and I am sure they will be talking about this planet of yours, would you be interested in going to it?’
‘Errrr sure yes, why not’ Aiden replied not knowing what else to say.
With that the goddess took out a pen and business card from her jacket pocket and quickly wrote an address on the back of the card. ‘It’s at this address tomorrow evening at 7.00pm. here you are’ and she handed the book with card to Aiden. My name is Aya by the way, maybe I will bump into you at the meeting’ and with a parting smile she turned and left.
‘I’m Aiden’ he said to her back wishing he had something better to say like, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever set eyes on how about diner! Aiden looked at the card, it read Aya Smith and had a telephone number below it nothing else. On the reverse side of the card in neat hand writing she had written;
‘Ancient Civilisation Society, 7.00pm Sunday, Kentish Town Community Centre’
Aiden slipped the card into his pocket and took a look at the book that she had given him. It was a heavy reference book titled Ancient World Myths and Legends written by some professor of history who had both studied and taught at some of the top universities in America. So Aiden assumed that the author must be trustworthy. Finding a seat at a nearby table Aiden sat down. He took a quick look around the library and was disappointed to see that Aya was nowhere to be seen. Aiden then opened the book he had been given and started reading and pretty soon was engrossed in the translations of ancient texts and their possible meanings. What fascinated Aiden even more than the translations were the pictures in the book of wall engravings that seemed to depict things that the ancient humans could not possibly have known about. Like space rockets, light bulbs and even wrist watches. Even though the author was at pains to point out that it all could be just fluke or coincidence.
But most interesting of all was the translations of the Sumerians where there was a whole chapter on Nibiru and the Anunnaki. Aiden discovered that the Sumerians believed that the Anunnaki were Gods and Goddesses who came to Earth and created humans. These Gods were both good and bad and one even tried to wipe out humans in a great flood. It went on to say that these Gods came from a planet called Nibiru. So engrossed was Aiden that by the time he had finished with the book it was already late afternoon. He got up and put the book back where it came from. He took another look around for Aya as he had assumed that she must work there. Not seeing her anywhere he walked over to reception where he asked after her and was surprised to find out that they did not know who she was, well at least he had her phone number Aiden thought.
Chapter 2 - Predictions
Aiden quietly slipped into the hall at the Kentish Town Community Centre where row upon row of neatly arranged chairs had been placed facing a stage on which a podium stood. There were enough seats for a hundred people with many of the places already occupied. Aiden still uncertain about coming to a meeting like this took a seat at the very back of the hall trying to remain inconspicuous. The majority of the people looked exactly as Aiden had thought they would eternal students dressed in jeans and cardigans. Aiden straight away felt out of place, like a meat eater at a vegan feast. However as he looked again at the audience he saw that some of them looked, well normal. There was a well dressed elderly couple a few rows in front of him with what he assumed was their daughter and over on the other side of them there were three Chinese people about his own age sitting quietly together. As Aiden looked more closely at the people gathered around he could see that there were a lot of what he would have assumed were perfectly normal looking people in the hall. In truth Aiden had to admit to himself that most of the audience looked like a typical cross section of people you would find in London on any day of the week. One man sitting towards the front was even dressed in a designer suit and looked for the world as if he was Rockefeller. Aiden now feeling a lot better about being at the meeting tried to see if he could see Aya but she was nowhere to be seen. Aiden glanced over to his right as a slim built man with a narrow hawkish face and neatly cut black hair took a seat on the same row as him just as the hall suddenly went quiet. Aiden looked up at the stage where to his surprise he saw Aya approaching the podium.
She wore a smart black jacket and skirt, her golden hair still in a bun. She now looked more like some high flying business executive for a blue chip company than a librarian. Aya looked around at her audience with a smile, her eyes resting briefly on Aiden giving him a small nod that pleased him immensely.
‘Thank you all for coming, it’s good to see some familiar faces, and some new ones!’ Aya smiled once more addressing her audience. ‘For those of you who do not know me my name is Aya Smith and I am a founder member of the Ancient Civilisations Society. Our aim is to study the texts of our early civilisations in order to learn how they lived and see what meanings and conclusions we can draw from them regarding our modern society’ She paused looking about the hall. ‘For tonight’s meeting we will be discussing some of the biggest, some might say most contentious of topics. Of course what I am talking about are the myths and legends concerning the destruction and salvation of humans and their similarities across the world. Take for instance the story of the great flood which in Christianity is commonly referred to as Noah and the Ark. This same story is also mentioned in other modern day religions such as Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism. If we also look at other now long dead civilisations such as the Sumerians and the Babylonians, here we also find references to a great flood that deluged the world. So the question we are asking tonight is why so many different cultures and religions that have originated in diverse locations around the world. Why would all these religions have created and recorded what seems to be the same myth? Now I would like to welcome Gagan who will talk about this mysterious great flood. Gagan for those of you who do not know has specialised in Ancient History and has a doctorate in Ancient Languages as well as one in Astrophysics. So please let us give a welcome for Gagan’ Aya smiled and looked at someone at the front of the audience.
Gagan a slim young Indian man with a serious face got up from the front row clutching a small wad of papers and made his way to the podium to a polite round of applause.
‘Thank you’ Gagan said when the clapping had stopped. ‘As Aya said I am a scholar of our ancient history. The flood event is something of particular interest to me because as Aya just said it is so widely mentioned in the texts of many various and geographically diverse civilisations’ Gagan said with an accent that sounded as if he had been educated at Eaton. ‘So what do these texts tell us about this flood? Well if we look at the Sumerian myth first, which was written in the 18 century BC. It tells the story of their gods, Anu their god of the life, Enki their God of water and Enlil their God of sky. According to the Sumerian’s these gods came to Earth and assigned junior gods called Dingers to work the land, doing farm labour and maintaining canals. But the Dingers after 40 years rebel and refuse to do any more work. However they were saved from punishment by the God Enki who suggested that they create man who wou
ld do all the work for them. So Enki got their mother goddess Mami to create man which she did using clay and the flesh and blood of the other Gods. Which again by the way has similarities in the book of Genesis where God makes man from clay. So the Goddess Mami creates a womb made from clay in which the first man is created and after nine months the womb breaks open and man is born and so man now begins to do the work of the Dingers.
However it seems that man begins to over populate the earth and the God Enlil in an attempt to reduce man’s numbers sends droughts and famines. But Enki who had first thought of creating man and because he loved his creation did his best to help mankind through these disasters. Finally however the God Enlil decides to destroy mankind with a flood and Enki is bound by oath to keep this a secret from man. But the God Enki breaks his oath and he warns a man called Atrahasis about the coming flood and tells him to build a boat with a roof with upper and lower decks that should be sealed in bitumen. Atrahasis builds the boat as he was commanded. He then boards the boat together with his family and his animals and seals the door. Then there is a great storm and flood that lasts for seven days and nights that terrifies even the Gods themselves and the flood, as Enlil intended does indeed destroy all of mankind. Except of course for Atrahasis and his family’ Gagan paused and looked at his audience. ‘I am sure you can all see the similarities in this story and that of Noah and the Ark. The Babylonians also have a similar account of a great flood that kills all of man but again some people and animals are saved by the building of a boat.’ Gagan said looking at his notes.
‘According to Hindu texts that were written 5th or 6th century BC but are said to record an oral record that goes back 100,000 years, they too also talk about a great flood. This time the hero of the Hindu tale is called Manu who again is instructed to build a boat but this time it is a fish from the sea who warns him that a great flood is coming. Manu does as he is told and again he is saved while the rest of mankind is destroyed. Coincidentally after this flood a moral code of conduct and living was drawn up by the Indians which lead to the creation of the Indian civilization and its divisions in society as represented by its caste system.’
Gagan paused looking at his notes. ‘So you see we have similarities in the Hindu myth where Manu is saved by a fish from the sea and the Sumerian myth who say it was their God of the water that saves Atrahasis. In both tales the hero of the story is told to build a boat to save himself, his family and his animals. Again this is not dissimilar to Noah and the Ark where Noah builds an Ark as instructed by God within which Noah, his family and all the animals are saved. So my question is, are these myths and stories just coincidence, did one culture simply copy the story from the other and so on, or is there some basis of truth in the story? Bear in mind that the Hindu and Sumerian civilisations were centred on two different continents! So would they have even known about each other at the dawn of history let alone exchange myths. Also if we look further around the world we soon find that most civilisations on every continent of the world have similar stories relating to a great flood that destroys mankind. So this story of a devastating flood that destroys humanity, or most of humanity at any rate! Seems to have been experienced by most of mankind, according to their myths at least. Now if such an event like this actually did happen then surely it should come as no surprise to anyone that it would have affected all the human communities around the world. Who in turn would have passed down the story through the generations’ Gagan looked at his notes once more.
‘But still all we have are stories or myths and the scientist in us all need more than just stories, we need evidence, so where is the evidence?’ Gagan paused looking around the hall. ‘The main problem with the evidence is that not only would it by now be tens of thousands of years old, possibly even hundreds of thousands of years old! But it would no doubt also be under several hundred feet of sea and ocean which would make finding hard evidence difficult to say the least. But luckily for us over the past few years and due to technological advances we have seen a rapid growth in marine archaeology’ Gagan said looking at his notes again. 'And discoveries have already been made of lost cities and civilisations hidden beneath our oceans. For instance, off the cost of India and in the Black Sea they have discovered the remains of large cities and towns which seem to date back to many thousands of years in our past. There are more discoveries being made off the coast of Japan and elsewhere around the world of civilisations that pre-date the Sumerians. So here at last we now have solid evidence that a portion of our ancient world was swallowed by the sea. But was it due to a flood? For me this evidence combined with the written records from the past that we have translated convince me that yes, there was a once a great flood that caused immense destruction and death for our ancestors and the memory of this great disaster was passed down through the ages by various communities all over the world. ‘
Aiden listened as Gagan continued his talk on the great flood and then answered a few questions. The main one being what could have caused such a disaster. Gagan hypothesised that it could have been connected to the ending of the last ice age but that no one could be certain at the present time. Gagan then finally finished to a polite round of applause and Aya once more took to the podium.
‘Thank you Gagan’ Aya said ‘that was very instructive. Now I would like to talk about another constant theme that seems to run in all our religions both past and present. Much the same way as Gagan talked about the similarities around the world about the great flood there is also another common theme that these varied cultures and faiths all have in common, which is they all have predictions regarding the end of the world. This is a recurring theme in all our current religions as well as those that no longer exist. Let me start with Christianity and what is written in the bible. I will read a few of the verses that relate to the end of the world as the gospels see it.’ Aya looked at her notes briefly. ‘This verse is from Luke 21:11 which says;
“And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places. And famines, and pestilence: and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven” Aya read out.
‘And this is from Mathew;
“Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” Aya paused and looked up.
‘But I don’t have the time to read all the verses relating to this subject, in brief the bible says that there will be a false Christ or Anti Christ, which will lead man astray. That there will be war and revolutions that consume mankind. That there will be earthquakes, famine, plague and pestilence and other fearful events. That there will be signs from heaven about the coming of Christ. That there will be a persecution of believers by the authorities and that those same believers will be betrayed by those closest to them. That Jerusalem will be surrounded and the Jews will fall and be dispersed and that there will be further signs from the Sun the moon and stars. Finally there will be a last battle where the real Christ will defeat the anti Christ and so will it then lead to the end of the world.
‘Pretty grim stuff’ Aya said with a grimace and the audience laughed. ‘If we look at the Koran it also says much the same thing as the bible regarding the end of the world as does the Torah of the Jewish faith. However it is not surprising that these three religions have similar accounts for how the world will end as the history of all three religions are very much entwined with each other’ Aya paused.
‘But what do the other religions believe? Well if we look at the Buddhists, they believe in a never ending cycle of death and rebirth and apply the same belief to the world as a whole. They believe t
hat the ‘Ten moral courses of conduct’ will disappear and that man will follow the ‘Ten amoral courses of conduct’ which are’ Aya now read from her notes, ‘evil speaking, lying, violence, murder, theft, wanton greed, abusive and idle talk, covetousness and ill will, adultery and perverted lust’ she read out and looked at the audience once more. ‘According to the Buddhists when this happens, when man follows these amoral courses, it will result in poverty for all mankind and the end of the laws that govern us and so onto the end of the world’ Aya paused again looking at her notes. ‘The Hindus have similar theme to this in that they believe the end of the world will coincide with the corruption of man and that there would be a rebirth of the world afterwards.’ Aya paused.
‘These are just a few of our modern day religions and their views about the end of the world, but what about the beliefs of those civilisations of the past. Let us take a look at the Sumerians who we so far believe was mankind’s first civilisation. It was the Sumerians that created the first written language and also knew about mathematics and astronomy. The Sumerian culture in turn had a great bearing on the Babylonians who in turn had a bearing on the Egyptians, the Greeks and then the Romans. I say this because if you look at the various Gods and myths of all these cultures you will find that there are remarkable similarities between them all. But as I said let us concentrate on the Sumerians who were the first civilization and look at what they believed. As I mentioned we have learnt that the Sumerians were far more advanced than we had previously thought. Their grasp of astronomy was a thousand years ahead of its time for they had already been able to identify the planets of our solar system something that we thought only happened in the middle ages. But instead of nine planets the Sumerians said there were ten planets and this tenth planet they called Nibiru.
