Long ago, in ancient Mesopotamia, there was a civilization known as the Anunnaki. Since their discovery several years ago, much has been speculated about them, such as that they were deities or even that they were extraterrestrials. But what is the truth in all this? While we will never know exactly, as much information has been lost with time, we can only get an idea of what they were or could have been through the traces of history found by archaeological expeditions and what they have found.
Some history about the Anunnaki
According to Mesopotamian mythology, the Anunnas was initially the most powerful gods and lived with Anu in the sky. Later, without a clear reason for this change having been established, it was the Igigi who were considered the celestial gods; the term ‘anunna’ was used to designate the gods of the underworld, especially the seven gods who acted as judges in the underworld.
Likewise, texts in cuneiform literature (2100 B.C.) indicate that the Anunna or Anunnaki was a group of gods belonging to the Mesopotamian pantheon. Some pseudoscientific theories have tried to interpret them as extraterrestrial entities that would have colonized the Earth.
A possible meaning of the Sumerian term ‘a-nun’ or ‘a-nun-na’ points to the meaning “princely progeny,” which could mean that they have royal ancestry, so to speak.
Similarly, the Anunnaki have also been mentioned in 12th century B.C. rituals used to combat witches and send them to hell. The Anunnaki were invoked along with the god Šamaš, the solar god of justice, and Gilgameš, the semi-divine hero who attempted to defeat death. These facts have led to the Anunnaki gaining popularity in popular culture and among researchers of extraterrestrial life. In fact, in popular culture, we can see references to them in the saga of comics created by Marvel Comics, Eternals.
Their connection with extraterrestrials
There are countless books and even pseudoscientific documentaries that claim that the Anunnaki were actually beings from other planets who came to colonize the Earth and create a new civilization alongside humans. In fact, many times, in various texts and documentaries, it is mentioned that they may have contributed to the technological advancement of ancient civilizations, the Sumerian being the most mentioned.
The book The Twelfth Planet narrates the arrival of the Anunnaki on Earth from a supposed planet called Nibiru (yes, the same wandering planet that supposedly was or is going to collide with the Earth) about 450,000 years ago: tall beings about three meters tall with white skin, long hair and beard, who would have settled in Mesopotamia and who, by genetic engineering, accelerated the evolution of humankind.
The pseudo-scientific author Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010) claimed the existence of a supposed extraterrestrial social organization, the Anunnaki, would have arrived on Earth to subjugate humanity. Specifically, they would have enslaved the Sumerians and forced them to work in gold mines. According to Sitchin, this raw material was essential for the alien visitors to build a huge shield of suspended gold particles to protect their planet. Over the years, although the author claimed to understand the cuneiform reading, what Zecharia mentioned in his books was later disproved and taken as a fallacy due to inconsistencies found by several researchers.
What other myths are there about them?
In the myth of Atrahasis it is stated that, before the creation of the human being, the gods had to work for a living. Then the Anunnas designated a category of inferior gods, the Igigis, to work for them until they rebelled; they decided to exterminate them. Enki created humans to take on the responsibility of performing the tasks that the Igigi had abandoned, and through “worship,” they would supply food and gold to the gods.
In the poem Enûma Elish, it was Marduk who created humanity, he then divided the Anunnas between Heaven and Earth, and assigned them tasks. The Anunnas, grateful to Marduk, then founded Babylon and built a temple in his honor, called Esagila. In the Poem of Gilgamesh, the secret abode of the Anunnas was in the Forest of the Cedars.
In the Sumerian version of Inanna’s Journey to the Underworld, the Anunnas act as judges of the underworld and condemn the goddess Inanna to death in her confrontation with her sister Ereshkigal.
The reinvention of the term “anunnas,” through its Akkadian form “anunnaki,” arose in 1964, after the publication of the book Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization, by the Assyriologist Adolph Leo Oppenheim, who popularized this concept.
Although much remains to be discovered, for the moment it is speculated that these were deities created by the civilizations of those times, as were Zeus or Ra, among other gods for other civilizations around the ages throughout history. Or also that it was a very advanced and powerful civilization for its time like other civilizations around the world. Although, as mentioned, everything is speculative until more research is done and it reveals more information about them. What do you think? Was it a civilization like any other? Were they deities or extraterrestrials? Let’s hope that as the years go by we will be able to know more about them and the oldest civilizations in the history of humanity.
Story originally published in Spanish in Cultura Colectiva