Zecharia Sitchin and The Twelfth Planet
Zecharia Sitchin’s work is based on his translations
of Sumerian and other Mesopotamian texts. He identifies a twelfth
planet in our solar system, Nibiru (counting the Sun and Moon as
one and five respectively, so that Pluto becomes the eleventh
planet, rather than the ninth). It does not follow a
near-circular orbit like the other planets, but a highly
eccentric one with a ‘year’ of approximately 3,600
earth years; it is due to cross the orbits of Earth and Mars in
the very near future.
Sitchin’s first book, The Twelfth Planet, was published in 1976, and according to his followers, it has transformed the field of ancient history. The inhabitants of Nibiru, the Anunnaki, form a link between Stonehenge, Tiahuanacu and the Sumerians; they were also responsible for creating modern humans by genetic engineering. Disagreement among the Anunnaki made them abandon earth, but they are due to return shortly and will presumably pay a visit on the creations they abandoned (in other words, us).
Sitchin’s cosmogony links in with the ‘Face’ on Mars, the feature in Cydonia that has caused so much controversy since its discovery in 1976. He claims that relationships between the ‘Face’ and nearby ‘Pyramids’ can be matched with the Great Sphinx and Egyptian pyramids and that they point to landing places for the Anunnaki. Sitchin has also dated the Egyptian pyramids much earlier than conventional Egyptology, claiming that the dating evidence is at best misunderstood, at worst, forged.
Conspiracy?
Sitchin’s ideas have struck a chord with conspiracy theorists, who claim that Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf, the American generals who were key figures in the Gulf War of 1990-1, chose certain strategic sites for battles based on knowledge of the Anunnaki. According to this view, their landing place was Eridu, now southern Iraq. They claim that Saddam Hussein could not be captured because he was holding out in a ziggurat, which the Americans were loath to bomb. The release of information about the Anunnaki, according to Sitchin, will coincide with the next arrival of Nibiru in the year 2013; the International Space Station is secretly intended to ascertain the whereabouts of Nibiru.