The Sumerians are the very first highly developed civilization known to us in the history of mankind, which the official history bypasses. The Sumerian civilization disappeared, but left behind a legacy of the mysterious "List of Kings", which puzzled many historians and archaeologists. Let's see what the ancient "document" says.
At the beginning of the 20th century, ideas about the most ancient civilizations had to be revised. The American archaeologist Hermann Hilprecht, during excavations in the place where the city of Nippur once stood, discovered a fragment of records that turned out to be a rather detailed list of the rulers of Sumer. The search continued with increased intensity; they resulted in 18 more artifacts, on which texts were applied to supplement the existing one. Somewhere the notes were fragmentary, somewhere quite coherent and detailed.
The most outstanding and valuable find was a four-sided prism made of ceramics and measuring 20 centimeters high. A hole was made in the center of the clay manuscript. Most likely, during the existence of the Sumerians, a rod was inserted into it, which made it possible to rotate the pyramid and read the inscriptions on all its faces. The artifact was found in 1922 and received the name "Veld Blundell prism", in honor of its discoverer. The study of the finds showed that the age of the find fluctuates around the mark of 4 thousand years.
As a result of the translation, it seemed that the "List of Kings" was not limited to the list of only ruling persons. It describes the confirmation of the Flood as a fact that "had to be" in the history of mankind, deciphered some details of the salvation of Noah and the construction of the Ark. In the "Royal List" there is also a mention of the death of Sodom with Gomorrah.
As a result of the translation, it seemed that the "List of Kings" was not limited to the list of only ruling persons. It describes the confirmation of the Flood as a fact that "had to be" in the history of mankind, deciphered some details of the salvation of Noah and the construction of the Ark. In the "Royal List" there is also a mention of the death of Sodom with Gomorrah.
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The "Royal List" is especially valuable because, firstly, it describes in detail previously unknown Sumerian traditions. And secondly, the chronology of various periods of government is presented extremely clearly, but only the kings lived incredibly long.
Most of all, researchers were struck by the terms of the reign of the first eight, the most ancient in the Sumerian list. According to the "List of Kings", the ruler Alulim was on the throne for 28,800 years. Alalgar, who replaced him, remained on the throne for 36,000 years. If we count the time of the reign of all the antediluvian rulers of Sumer, we get a period that is now quite difficult to imagine - 241,200 years. Among the historical figures, whose existence is confirmed by other ancient sources, the heroes of the epics and myths of Sumer and Babylon are mentioned. Among them are Gilgamesh, Lugal Gang and Etana.
But after the flood, we are no longer talking about any thousand years. Gradually, but steadily, the time of the reign of the next kings reached the usual figures for humanity. Some scholars asked themselves the question: why were there such serious differences in the figures for the duration of the reign and, accordingly, the lives of these “all-powerful and all-wise” rulers within the same document?
There are different versions of the explanation of such numbers:
- Own chronology of the Sumerians, but then why, after a while, did it become normal?
- Hyperbolization of rulers. With such huge numbers, the Sumerian chroniclers tried to emphasize the importance of the ruler. Then it turns out that the later kings were not marked by anything in the Sumerian history.
- Long-lived kings are fictional characters with the goal of encouraging society to worship kings as representatives of deities.
However, the most interesting is the version of the origin of the Sumerians from the outside. Whether they are considered gods or aliens depends on the individual's mood. The main basis for this assumption is the artifacts themselves: they indicate that "the kingdom descended from heaven."
Similar events are described in the Book of Genesis, ch. 6.2 "When people began to multiply on Earth and daughters were born to them, then the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful, and took them as their wives, whatever they chose." Personally, I stick to the latest version because the Bible and the "List of Kings" have a clear similarity, which indicates the truth. What do you think? Leave your opinion in the comments.
Many of those scientists who have studied or continue to study Sumerian riddles generally prefer to bypass this issue. By the way, the Sumerian documents in the form of stone tables are a real treasure of mysteries for modern history. Indeed, for example, one of them depicts all nine planets of the solar system in the correct order (and this is 5 thousand years ago!).
Be that as it may, there is still no consensus among scientists.
