[This paper represents an adjunct to Genesis Unveiled, in which I concluded that the various King Lists from around the world cannot be used as reliable evidence of our forgotten pre-catastrophe race. Nevertheless, I have conducted detailed investigations into these lists that raise some interesting and often overlooked points, while at the same time correcting some of the errors in their reporting by various other revisionist historians. I trust this additional information will prove useful to others.]

The Antediluvian Patriarchs

Let us take a moment to reacquaint ourselves with the details of the antediluvian patriarchs recorded in Genesis 5. The first column in Figure 1 shows the number of years each of them lived, while the second shows how old each was when he fathered his successor, albeit that the text describes how they all subsequently fathered numerous other sons and daughters. This latter allows us to work out an approximate elapsed time between the birth of Adam and the flood—noting that Noah's 600 years is his age at the time of the flood, rather than his full lifespan which is reported as 950 years.[1]

Figure1: The Antediluvian Biblical Patriarchs

We can immediately see that there are a number of problems with using this information to support my main premise that advanced culture extends far back into mankind's prehistory. For one, the reigns of these patriarchs total less than two millennia, which is hardly sufficient. However, we saw in Part One of Genesis Unveiled that there are other passages in these early chapters that do suggest a far more extensive prehistory. So, we must make a mental note for now that these ten recorded patriarchs may not represent the totality of antediluvian rulers. Of course, we must also consider the date of the flood itself. If it were only a localized and relatively recent event, this too would reduce the likelihood that the authors of Genesis were attempting to record rulers that existed in the genuinely remote past. This is a debatable point, and one to which we will return in the next section.

We must also recognize perhaps the most blindingly obvious objection—that of the extended lifespans of these patriarchs, who in most cases are reported as living for around 900 years. Clearly I do not support the argument put forward by the Interventionists that these lifespans are real, and result from their having been closer to the high-longevity genetic stock of the gods from another planet that created mankind.[2] So, if the lifespans are not real, why should we believe that these patriarchs existed at all?

One clue may lie in Lamech's supposed 777-year lifespan. This number readily appears to have symbolic value, even if one has no detailed knowledge of the esoteric importance of the number seven. In ancient texts numbers are often used as a symbol to encode esoteric knowledge based on the attributes associated with them. Another example is Enoch's 365-year lifespan, suggesting the number of days of the year and perhaps intended to personify him as the sun. This is certainly one possible explanation for these extraordinary lifespans, and it is again an issue to which we will return in the next section.

In any case, there is a more fundamental reason for not rejecting these records as a fabrication merely because of the extended lifespans. It is that, after the incident of the "confusion of tongues" at the Tower of Babel, the lifespans of the post-flood patriarchs descended from Noah's son Shem are similarly exaggerated.[3] For example, his celebrated descendant Abraham, the first post-flood biblical figure to have several chapters devoted to him, is reported as having lived for 175 years.[4] Yet, despite this, many scholars would accept that Abraham, whose birthplace Ur "of the Chaldees" was discovered and authenticated in the early twentieth century, was a genuine historical figure—even if some aspects of the biblical account of his life are more myth than fact.[5] More controversially, we saw in Part One of Genesis Unveiled that some commentators would argue that Enoch, who is reported as living before the flood, was another genuine historical figure who played a key role in mankind's distant past.

So, is it possible that the biblical list of pre-flood patriarchs does contain some basis in truth—even if this particular account is somewhat inaccurate and perhaps incomplete?

The Sumerian King Lists

Let us now turn to the Sumerian King Lists. Two main versions exist, the surviving tablets being known as Weld-Blundell (W-B) 62 and 144 respectively, and both are thought to have been originally compiled around the start of the second millennium BC. There is also a third version, a much later compilation by Berossus from the third century BC.

Not only do these lists contain a record of all the post-flood kings of ancient Mesopotamia through to the time of their compilation, but, at the beginning, we once again find a list of antediluvian rulers—and this time their total period of kingship does appear to stretch way back into antiquity.

The Lists Translated

The most recent and detailed translation that I have consulted is of W-B. 144, which was prepared by Samuel Kramer in The Sumerians. Unlike some others it is uncluttered by any attempts to place absolute dates on the more recent reigns, and is a straightforward rendering of the original text. The pre-flood section reads as follows:[6]

After kingship had descended from heaven, Eridu became (the seat) of kingship. In Eridu Alulim reigned 28,800 years as king; Alalgar reigned 36,000 years—two kings reigned 64,800 years. Eridu was abandoned, (and) its kingship was carried off to Badtibira.

In Badtibira, Enmenluanna reigned 43,200 years; Enmengalanna reigned 28,800 years; Dumuzi, the shepherd, reigned 36,000 years—three kings reigned 108,000 years. Badtibira was abandoned, (and) its kingship was carried off to Larak.

In Larak, Ensipazianna reigned 28,800 years—one king reigned 28,800 years. Larak was abandoned, (and) its kingship was carried off to Sippar.

In Sippar, Enmeduranna reigned 21,000 years as king—one king reigned 21,000 years. Sippar was abandoned, (and) its kingship was carried off to Shuruppak.

In Shuruppak, Ubartutu reigned 18,600 years as king—one king reigned 18,600 years.

(Total) five cities, eight kings reigned 241,200 years.

The Flood then swept over (the land).

When compared to Genesis, this list contains only eight rulers instead of ten, but with reported reign lengths that are far more exaggerated, and a total elapsed time of 241,000 years before the flood. Moreover, if we refer to Figure 2 in which the details from W-B. 62 and Berossus are also summarized, although they record ten kings once more, they almost double the total elapsed time to 456,000 and 432,000 years respectively.[7]

Figure 2: The Antediluvian Sumerian Kings

What are we to make of this? The more exaggerated reign lengths and time spans recorded seem at first sight to suggest that there is even less reason to trust these older lists as reliable evidence of an extensive antediluvian civilization. However, there are compensating factors that are rarely mentioned.

Let us concentrate on W-B.144, and take a look at the initial post-flood section of the list, which commences with twenty-three kings who ruled from Kish:

After the Flood had swept over (the land) and kingship had descended from heaven (a second time), Kish became (the seat) of kingship. In Kish, Gaur reigned 1,200 years as king; Gulla-Nidaba-annapad reigned 960 years; Pala-kinatim reigned 900 years; Nangishlishma reigned .... years; Bahina reigned .... years; Buanum reigned 840 years; Kalibum reigned 960 years; Galumum reigned 840 years; Zukakip reigned 900 years; Atab reigned 600 years; Mashda, the son of Atab, reigned 840 years; Arurim, the son of Mashda, reigned 720 years; Etana, the shepherd, he who ascended to heaven, who made firm all the lands, reigned 1,560 years as king; Balih, the son of Etana, reigned 400 years; Enmenunna reigned 660 years; Melam-Kish the son of Enmenunna, reigned 900 years; Barsalnunna, the son of Enmenunna, reigned 1,200 years; Meszamug, the son of Barsalnunna, reigned 140 years; Tizkar, the son of Meszamug, reigned 305 years; Ilku reigned 900 years; Iltasadum reigned 1,200 years; Enmebaraggesi, he who smote the weapons of the land Elam, reigned 900 years as king; Agga, the son of Enmebaraggesi, reigned 625 years. (Total) twenty-three kings reigned 24,510 years, 3 months, 3 1/2 days. Kish was defeated (in battle), (and) its kingship was carried off to Eanna.

We can see from this that, just as with the biblical version, the extraordinary reign lengths carry on after the flood, although they are considerably reduced. Nevertheless, again just as with the biblical version, most scholars accept that the flood event broadly represents the cut-off point between myth and reality, that there was a first dynasty with its capital at Kish c. 2750 BC, and that some at least of these initial post-flood kings may have been real.[8] In particular we know that Etana, the thirteenth king of Kish I in the list, is especially commemorated in an Akkadian literary text of the same name, and that the unique description of him as "the shepherd, he who ascended to heaven" corroborates the story in that text, in which he is taken on a flight to heaven on the back of an eagle.[9] Even more convincing is the fact that the last two kings, Enmebaraggesi and Agga, are firmly included in modern chronologies,[10] while the latter's battle for control of the region are recorded in a Sumerian literary text entitled Gilgamesh and Agga.[11]

Let us now proceed to the next section of this list, dealing with the transfer of power to "Erech" or Uruk:

In Eanna [Erech], Meskiaggasher, the son of (the sun-god) Utu reigned (both) as en (and) king 324 years—Meskiaggasher entered the sea (and) ascended the mountains; Enmerkar, the son of Meskiaggasher, the king of Erech who had built Erech, reigned 420 years as king; Lugalbanda, the shepherd, reigned 1,200 years; Dumuzi, the fisherman, whose city was Kua, reigned 100 years; Gilgamesh, whose father was a nomad(?), reigned 126 years; Urnungal, the son of Gilgamesh, reigned 30 years; Udulkalamma, the son of Urnungal reigned 15 years; Labasher reigned 9 years; Ennundaranna reigned 8 years; Meshede reigned 36 years; Melamanna reigned 6 years; Lugalkidul reigned 36 years. (Total) twelve kings reigned 2,310 years. Erech was defeated (in battle), (and) its kingship was carried off to Ur...

Once again, we find extraordinary reign lengths in a dynasty, Uruk I, that is accepted as having co-existed with that of Kish I c. 2750 BC. Moreover, once again we find that a number of its rulers are well attested in other Sumerian literary texts such as Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta and Lugalbanda and the Thunderbird.[12] Meanwhile, the most famous of them all, Gilgamesh, is not only the hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh, but is also, along with his six successors in this section of the list, firmly included in modern chronologies.[13]

On top of this, we find a much later section of this list reporting that Ur-Zababa, the second king of Kish IV now dated to c. 2340 BC, ruled for 400 years; and it is not until after this that the remainder of the list settles into reign lengths that we would accept as reasonable. With such a mixture of fact and apparent fiction, is it appropriate to dismiss the pre-flood element of all these lists as a complete fabrication in every respect, or might they contain grains of fact; and, if they do, do they really take us back into remote antiquity?

The Orthodox View

Let us take a moment to establish what the orthodox scholars have had to say about the lists. Woolley's is the earliest translation I have come across, once again of W-B. 144, published in his own The Sumerians in 1929.[14] It is presented in list format rather than using the original prose so that he can attempt to insert absolute dates, beginning with c. 3100 BC for the First Dynasty of Ur—which in the list comes immediately after the last section quoted above. He argues that the flood was only a localized event—a view that has been echoed in more recent times as we will see shortly—and that the details of the dynasties on either side of the flood are too unreliable to be used for establishing a chronology. However, by contrast, he is quite prepared to put his faith in the later elements.

Kramer primarily focuses on the fact that the dynasties in the lists are not consecutive, as earlier scholars such as Woolley had assumed, but overlap.[15] For example, he notes that in the epic Gilgamesh and Agga it is the former who brought the First Dynasty of Kish to an end, even though in the lists he is described as only the fifth king of the First Dynasty of Uruk. As to the more controversial aspects of the lists, Kramer, like Woolley, asserts that it is a "mixture of fact and fancy" and that the original authors were "deluded".

Georges Roux, a French doctor turned Mesopotamian scholar, has developed one of the most recent and widely respected Mesopotamian chronologies in Ancient Iraq, first published in 1964—indeed this is the source for the dates quoted previously. Picking up on the overlap problem and working backwards, he places the First Dynasty of Ur at c. 2560 BC, over five hundred years later than Woolley. He does record most of the names in the lists, albeit sometimes summarized as "x kings" especially for early dynasties, but, understandably enough, he only includes reign lengths from the lists where they fall within a normal lifespan. Where they exceed it, he either omits the information or puts in a lower, more realistic figure. As for the original lifespans themselves, he suggests that they "…have no hidden significance; they simply express a widespread belief in a golden age when men lived much longer than usual and were endowed with truly supernatural qualities."[16]

This latter observation regarding the lifespans is perfectly valid, as we saw in Part One of Genesis Unveiled. However, we can still see that the orthodox scholars dismiss the pre-flood section of the lists in their entirety with few qualms. There is a general subtext that assumes that herein the compilers were merely extending their humanized treatment of the gods in the literary texts into their records of prehistory. So let us examine the validity of this objection.

Gods or Men?

There is no doubt that the ancient Mesopotamians, along with all ancient cultures of the world, tended to blur the boundaries between their gods and their human ancestors, especially those they considered to be the most remote. In its most obvious form this interweaving is expressed by a living king being identified with a particular god—for example throughout most of the dynastic period in Egypt the ruling pharaoh was regarded as the living embodiment of Horus, and the same was true in early Mesopotamia even though political and religious instability meant that the name and characteristics of the dominant god changed according to the time and place. Do we question the very real existence of these rulers who identified themselves with a god? Most assuredly not. So, what are we to make of their more ancient forebears?

Of course, in Part One of Genesis Unveiled I suggested that any relatively advanced men that educated their fellows—whether they were the first advanced entities to incarnate on earth, similar entities incarnating to assist the rebuilding process after a catastrophe, or mere mortals that retained more skill sets after such an event—would tend to be accorded god-like status in the traditions that were passed down. Moreover, even in the modern Christian faith, albeit that it is blasphemous to its monotheism to call Jesus anything other than the "Son of God", is he not a prime example of such deification? Do most people question his existence? No. So, should we automatically assume that all supposedly prehistoric rulers that were at least partly deified are purely mythical? No again.

Reducing the Reign Lengths

A number of suggestions have been made as to how the extraordinary reign lengths in these lists might be explained and reduced. For example, it has been suggested that their compilers mistranslated from the original sources, and that "solar years" in fact represent "lunar months". However, not only is there little support for this claim, but in any case it still does not produce reasonable reign lengths, at least not for the antediluvian portion of the lists. A far more convincing case along these lines appeared in 1999 in Robert M. Best's Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic, in which he argues that there are two different types of error in the biblical and Sumerian lists.

As far as the figures in Genesis are concerned, he suggests that they should be reduced by approximately a factor of ten because of an error in the translation of the numbers that he describes as follows:[17]

...When the [original] compiler of the Genesis 5 numbers calculated the years/seasons data in years and tenths of years, he used one of several number systems then in common use. He used one or more archaic number signs for tens, a different sign for units and a different sign for tenths... Hundreds of years later... when a different scribe translated these numbers into cuneiform in the classical Sumerian sexagesimal number system, he erroneously assumed that the archaic numbers were written in the Sumerian proto-sexagesimal number system designed for counting discrete objects such as animals, when actually the numbers were originally written in a number system designed for counting volumes of grain. This error converted tens of years to hundreds, years to tens of years, tenths of years to years, and also inflated the ages at death.

Best then continues that a similar error, although this time requiring the figures to be divided by 3600, was made in early transcriptions of the Sumerian King Lists:

...the still larger numbers found in the Sumerian King Lists... have tens of thousands of years for each king before the flood. These cuneiform tablets give the numbers in shar, the cuneiform sign for 3600. For example Ziusudra, the Sumerian Noah, ruled for 10 shar years, usually translated as 36,000 years.

But the sign for year was misunderstood by a scribe who translated the original pre-flood King List into sexagesimal cuneiform numerals. The scribe was apparently not aware that on his received tablet the old U4 diamond-shaped sign that resembled shar was not shar and did not mean 3600. The U4 signs were the old way of writing years. The Sumerian Noah reigned for 10 years, not 10 shar years.

Best's analysis is highly detailed, scholarly and persuasive. I have incorporated his adjustments to the reign lengths into Figure 3, and we can see that they look far more reasonable. We can also see that they clearly do not support the idea of antediluvian ancestors stretching back into remotest antiquity.