The 12th Planet (24 page)

A Sumerian stela now on view in Paris in the Louvre may well depict the incident reported in the Book of Genesis. It was put up circa 2300
B.C.
by Naram-Sin, king of Akkad, and scholars have assumed that it depicts the king victorious over his enemies. But the large central figure is that of a deity and not of the human king, for the person is wearing a helmet adorned with horns—the identifying mark exclusive to the gods. Furthermore, this central figure does not appear to be the leader of the smaller-sized humans, but to be trampling upon them. These humans, in turn, do not seem to be engaged in any warlike activities, but to be marching toward, and standing in adoration of, the same large conical object on which the deity's attention is also focused. Armed with a bow and lance, the deity seems to view the object menacingly rather than with adoration. (Fig. 75)

The conical object is shown reaching toward three celestial bodies. If its size, shape, and purpose indicate that it was a
shem,
then the scene depicted an angry and fully armed god trampling upon people celebrating the raising of a
shem.

Both the Mesopotamian texts and the biblical account impart the same moral: The flying machines were meant for the gods and not for Mankind.

Men—assert both Mesopotamian and biblical texts—could ascend to the Heavenly Abode only upon the express wish of the gods. And therein lie more tales of ascents to the heavens and even of space flights.

•

The Old Testament records the ascent to the heavens of several mortal beings.

The first was Enoch, a pre-Diluvial patriarch whom God befriended and who "walked with the Lord." He was the seventh patriarch in the line of Adam and the great-grandfather of Noah, hero of the Deluge. The fifth chapter of the Book of Genesis lists the genealogies of all these patriarchs and the ages at which they died—except for Enoch, "who was gone, for the Lord had taken him." By implication and tradition, it was heavenward, to escape mortality on Earth, that God took Enoch. The other mortal was the prophet Elijah, who was lifted off Earth and taken heavenward in a "whirlwind."

Fig. 74

Fig. 75

A little-known reference to a third mortal who visited the Divine Abode and was endowed there with great wisdom is provided in the Old Testament, and it concerns the ruler of Tyre (a Phoenician center on the eastern Mediterranean coast). We read in Chapter 28 of the Book of Ezekiel that the Lord commanded the prophet to remind the king how, perfect and wise, he was enabled by the Deity to visit with the gods:

Thou art molded by a plan,

full of wisdom, perfect in beauty.

Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God;

every precious stone was thy thicket....

Thou art an anointed Cberub, protected;

and I have placed thee in the sacred mountain;

as a god werest thou,

moving within the Fiery Stones.

Predicting that the ruler of Tyre should die a death "of the uncircumcised" by the hand of strangers even if he called out to them "I am a Deity," the Lord then told Ezekiel the reason: After the king was taken to the Divine Abode and given access to all wisdom and riches, his heart "grew haughty," he misused his wisdom, and he defiled the temples.

Because thine heart is haughty, saying

"A god am I;

in the Abode of the Deity I sat,

in the midst of the Waters";

Though thou art a Man, not a god,

thou set thy heart as that of a Deity.

The Sumerian texts also speak of several men who were privileged to ascend to the heavens. One was Adapa, the "model man" created by Ea. To him Ea "had given wisdom; eternal life he had not given him." As the years went by, Ea decided to avert Adapa's mortal end by providing him with a
shem
with which he was to reach the Heavenly Abode of Anu, there to partake of the Bread of Life and the Water of Life. When Adapa arrived at Anu's Celestial Abode, Anu demanded to know who had provided Adapa with a
shem
with which to reach the heavenly location.

There are several important clues to be found in both the biblical and the Mesopotamian tales of the rare ascents of mortals to the Abode of the Gods. Adapa, too, like the king of Tyre, was made of a perfect "mold." All had to reach and employ a
shem
—
"fiery
stone"—to reach the celestial "Eden." Some had gone up and returned to Earth; others, like the Mesopotamian hero of the Deluge, stayed there to enjoy the company of the gods. It was to find this Mesopotamian "Noah" and obtain from him the secret of the Tree of Life, that the Sumerian Gilgamesh set out.

The futile search by mortal Man for the Tree of Life is the subject of one of the longest, most powerful epic texts bequeathed to human culture by the Sumerian civilization. Named by modern scholars "The Epic of Gilgamesh," the moving tale concerns the ruler of Uruk who was born to a mortal father and a divine mother. As a result, Gilgamesh was considered to be "two-thirds of him god, one-third of him human," a circumstance that prompted him to seek escape from the death that was the fate of mortals.

Tradition had informed him that one of his forefathers, Utna-pishtim—the hero of the Deluge—had escaped death, having been taken to the Heavenly Abode together with his spouse. Gilgamesh therefore decided to reach that place and obtain from his ancestor the secret of eternal life.

What prompted him to go was what he took to be an invitation from Anu. The verses read like a description of the sighting of the falling back to Earth of a spent rocket. Gilgamesh described it thus to his mother, the goddess NIN.SUN:

My mother,

During the night I felt joyful

and I walked about among my nobles.

The stars assembled in the Heavens.

The handiwork of Anu descended toward me.

I sought to lift it; it was too heavy.

I sought to move it; move it I could not!

The people of Uruk gathered about it,

While the nobles kissed its legs.

As I set my forehead, they gave me support.

I raised it. I brought it to thee.

The interpretation of the incident by Gilgamesh's mother is mutilated in the text, and is thus unclear. But obviously Gilgamesh was encouraged by the sighting of the falling object—"the handiwork of Anu"—to embark on his adventure. In the introduction to the epic, the ancient reporter called Gilgamesh "the wise one, he who has experienced everything":

Secret things he has seen,

what is hidden to Man he knows;

He even brought tidings

of a time before the Deluge.

He also took the distant journey,

wearisome and under difficulties;

He returned, and engraved all his toil

upon a stone pillar.

The "distant journey" Gilgamesh undertook was, of course, his journey to the Abode of the Gods; he was accompanied by his comrade Enkidu. Their target was the Land of Tilmun, for there Gilgamesh could raise a
shem
for himself. The current translations employ the expected "name" where the Sumerian
mu
or the Akkadian
shumu
appear in the ancient texts; we shall, however, employ
shem
instead so that the term's true meaning—a "skyborne vehicle"—will come through:

The ruler Gilgamesh

toward the Land of Tilmun set his mind.

He says to his companion Enkidu:

"O Enkidu ...

I would enter the Land, set up my
shem.

In the places where the
shem's
were raised up

I would raise my
shem. "

Unable to dissuade him, both the elders of Uruk and the gods whom Gilgamesh consulted advised him to first obtain the consent and assistance of Utu/Shamash. "If thou wouldst enter the Land—inform Utu," they cautioned him. "The Land, it is in Utu's charge," they stressed and restressed to him. Thus forewarned and advised, Gilgamesh appealed to Utu for permission:

Let me enter the Land,

Let me set up my
shem.

In the places where the
shem's
are raised up,

let me raise my
shem.
...

Bring me to the landing place at....

Establish over me thy protection!

An unfortunate break in the tablet leaves us ignorant regarding the location of "the landing place." But, wherever it was, Gilgamesh and his companion finally reached its outskirts. It was a "restricted zone," protected by awesome guards. Weary and sleepy, the two friends decided to rest overnight before continuing.

No sooner had sleep overcome them than something shook them up and awoke them. "Didst thou arouse me?" Gilgamesh asked his comrade. "Am I awake?" he wondered, for he was witnessing unusual sights, so awesome that he wondered whether he was awake or dreaming. He told Enkidu:

In my dream, my friend, the high ground toppled.

It laid me low, trapped my feet....

The glare was overpowering!

A man appeared;