Modern archeology knows many finds, the meaning and significance of which have not yet been solved and are unlikely to be understood in the near future. For example, ancient Indian manuscripts, which describe in detail something similar to ships for flights to near space or nuclear explosions. Or hard-to-explain drawings on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs. One of these mysterious artifacts was and remains the so-called list of Sumerian kings.
The Sumerians are the first highly developed human civilizations known to modern science. Their cities were located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Now it is the south of Iraq from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf.
It has been established that by the 3rd millennium BC, the Sumerian civilization had at least 12 separate city-states: Kish, Uruk, Ur, Sippar, Akshak, Larak, Nippur, Adab, Ummah, Lagash, Bad Tibir and Larsa. Moreover, in each city, the population worshiped their gods. Temples dedicated to them were installed there.
Mysterious prism
Initially, according to ancient sources, the power of the Sumerians belonged to the people. That is, they gave the world a prototype of modern democracy. But then the Sumerians had the institution of royal power. That's all that modern mankind knew about the Sumerians up to 1906.
But that year an amazing discovery was made - a "royal list" of this ancient civilization was found. Or rather, a collection of ancient texts showing that not everything that we used to consider myths is really fiction.
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The discovery was made by German-American archaeologist Hermann Hilprecht. At the place where the ancient Sumerian city of Nippur was located, the scientist found a fragment of the list of the rulers of the Sumerian state. This attracted the interest of scientists from all over the world to the Sumerian topic.
After Hilprecht's discovery by other researchers, 18 more artifacts were found containing part or all of the same text. The most significant find in this direction was a tetrahedral ceramic prism about 20 centimeters high, which was brought to light in 1922.
After the name of its discoverer, it is called the Veld Blundell prism. Experts have established that the age of the clay manuscript is about 4 thousand years. All four facets of the prism are filled with a two-column cuneiform. In the center is a hole where a wooden rod was supposed to be inserted so that the prism could be rotated and each facet read. Today the famous artifact is kept in the cuneiform collection of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
After all the inscriptions were deciphered, it turned out that the list of the rulers of Sumer includes more than just a list of names. It described the Flood, the salvation of Noah, and many other events known to us from the Old Testament.
Scientists concluded that both the Veld Blundell prism and the remaining fragments of the cuneiform text are all lists from some common source, where the history of the Sumerian civilization was described in detail.
Longevity secrets
The list of rulers begins with antediluvian times and ends with the 14th ruler of the Ising dynasty (circa 1763-1753 BC). Of course, the most interesting were the names of those kings who ruled Sumer before the Flood (according to modern views, such a global catastrophe could really befall our planet around 8122 BC).
The first thing that struck scientists was the timing of the reign of each of the ancient rulers. Here are some translated fragments from cuneiforms, adapted to modern language: “Alulim ruled for 28,800 years as king; Alalgar ruled for 36,000 years - two kings ruled for 64,800 years. Eridu was abandoned, (and) the throne was transferred to Bad Tibiru."
In total, according to ancient sources, the kings of the antediluvian period ruled in total for 241,200 years. Several circumstances have led modern scholars to question the veracity of these records. First, the incredibly long reigns of each of the kings. And secondly, these characters are the heroes of ancient Sumerian and Babylonian legends and epics.
However, now there are researchers who find an explanation for these circumstances. For example, there is a theory that these numbers are a kind of hyperbole and express the power, triumph, or importance of the people to whom they belong.
For example, in ancient Egypt, the phrase “He died at the age of 110” referred to those who lived their lives to the fullest and made important contributions to society. The same could have been the case with the ancient Sumerian kings. These "terms" were awarded by historians to their rulers for their unlimited power and the importance of what they did for the state.
By the way, there is another mystery of the Sumerian "royal list" here. The fact is that after the flood, which is mentioned there as a real historical event, the terms of rule of the Sumerian kings began to shorten, and the last of them already ruled during quite real "human" periods. Scientists have not yet found a reasonable explanation for this.
However, there is one more hypothesis that explains the discrepancy between the dates. It was put forward in 1993 and lies in the fact that the Sumerians had a completely different chronology system, which led to such fantastic dates. But again, it does not explain why the "post-flood" dates became quite real. These circumstances are still awaiting their researchers.
According to Scripture
Another feature that makes the Sumerian lists unique and extremely valuable for modern science is that they indirectly confirm the truth of the events described in the Old Testament. For example, the Book of Genesis tells about the "great flood" and Noah's efforts to save the representatives of the human race and animals - "each creature has a pair."
The Sumerian cuneiforms also mention that there was a great flood on Earth, which washed away many cities. Moreover, it is referred to as a real, self-evident fact. Here is another quote from ancient sources, adapted for modern perception: “(In total) in five cities, eight kings ruled for 241,200 years. Then the flood washed away (the country). After the flood washed away (the country) and the kingdom was sent down from heaven (for the second time), Kish became the seat of the throne."
Based on the Sumerian cuneiform writing, you can try to roughly establish the date of the biblical flood. If we compare the time of the reign of the antediluvian dynasties and the dates of the construction of Sumerian cities, then we can come to the conclusion that “water washed away the earth” about 12 thousand years before the birth of Christ.
In the sources of ancient civilization, there are other coincidences with the Old Testament. In particular, it also mentions “the first man” (a type of the biblical Adam) and tells about the sins that he committed and thus angered the gods. There are also indirect references to the sad history of Sodom and Gomorrah - cities that were destroyed by God for the sinfulness of their inhabitants.
True, it describes a slightly different punishment for sins. If the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by "heavenly fire", then the Sumerian sinners were killed and destroyed by "creatures who descended from the mountains and know no mercy."
Of course, in the Sumerian lists there is not and cannot be a textual coincidence with the biblical texts. This is understandable - the Bible has been repeatedly translated, rewritten, corrected and supplemented. It is safe to say that its current text is very different from the real events that are described there.
But what is important is that both the Old Testament and the Sumerian “list of kings” mention the same well-recognized episodes of the development of human civilization. This is what makes the findings of Hilprecht and his followers so significant for humanity.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize the following. Scientists still do not have a consensus on whether the Sumerian lists are an accurate reflection of historical events, or if it is still a mixture of legends, fairy tales and real history. But, as you know, science does not stand still. It is possible that in the future other artifacts will be found that will supplement or refute the Sumerian "list of kings".
Dmitry GRIGORIEV