Nibiru, to the Babylonians, was the celestial body associated with the god Marduk. The name is Akkadian and means 'crossing place' or 'place of transition'. It later texts it is firmly identified with the planet Jupiter; in Tablet 5 of the Enûma Elish it may be the pole star, which at the time was Thuban or possibly Kochab.
Ancient astronaut theorist Zecharia Sitchin proposed that Nibiru was actually a 12th planet, or Planet X, the home of a powerful alien race that he identified with the Anunnaki of Sumerian myth. His claims are considered fantastic by mainstream scientists and historians.
12th planet theories
According to Sitchin, Nibiru takes its name from Sumerian astronomy and is the twelfth member in the solar system family of planets (which includes 10 planets, the sun, and the moon). He proposes that its catastrophic collision with Tiamat, a planet that was between Mars and Jupiter, would have formed the planet Earth and the asteroid belt and comets.
According to Sitchin, Nibiru/Marduk's inhabitants, called Anunnaki (Ningischzida ), survived and later came to Earth. Sitchin says some sources speak about the same planet, possibly being a brown dwarf star and still orbiting the Sun with a perihelion passage some 3,600 years ago and assumed orbital period of about 3,600 to 3,760 years or 3,741 years. Sitchin attributes these figures to astronomers of the Maya civilization, but the supposed sources are unfamiliar to Mayanists.
In a recently published book, titled 2012: Appointment With Marduk, Turkish writer/researcher Burak Eldem presents a new theory, suggesting a 3,661 years orbital period for the planet and claiming a "return date" in the year 2012. According to Eldem's theory, 3,661 is one-seventh of 25,627, which is the total time span of "5 World Ages" according to Mayan Long Count Calendar system. The last orbital passage of Marduk, he adds, was in 1649 BC and caused great catastrophes on earth, including the Thera Eruption.
Flaws
A brown dwarf with a period of 3,760 years would be clearly evident through infrared and gravitational observations.
See also
Notes
- See "The Fifth Tablet of Enuma Elish", by B. Landsberger and J. V. Kinnier Wilson, in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies: Vol. 20, No. 3. (Jul., 1961), pp. 174-176.
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