Before the Greeks exalted Zeus or the Egyptians praised Osiris, the Sumerians worshipped the Anunnaki.
These ancient gods of Mesopotamia had wings, wore horned caps, and
possessed the ability to control all of humanity. Sumerians revered the
Anunnaki as heavenly beings who shaped the destiny of their society.
Wikimedia CommonsA carving depicting the Anunnaki, the ancient Sumerian gods that some believe were aliens.
But were they more than deities? Some theorists claim that the
Anunnaki were aliens from another planet. Even more shocking, they use
ancient Sumerian texts to back up this wild idea. Here’s what we know.
Why The Sumerians Worshipped The Anunnaki
The Sumerians lived in Mesopotamia — present-day Iraq and Iran —
between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from about 4500 to 1750 B.C.
Despite being an ancient civilization, their reign was marked by a
number of impressive technological advancements. For example, the
Sumerians invented the plow, which played a huge role in helping their empire grow.
They also developed cuneiform, one of the earliest known systems of
writing in human history. In addition, they came up with a method of
keeping time — which modern people still use to this day.
But according to the Sumerians, they didn’t do it alone; they owed
their historic breakthroughs to a group of gods called the Anunnaki. In
their telling, the Anunnaki mostly descended from An, a supreme deity
who could control both the fate of human kings and his fellow gods.
Though much remains unknown about the Sumerians and their way of
life, they left evidence of their beliefs in ancient texts, including
the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest written stories in human history.
And if one thing is clear, it’s that the Anunnaki gods were highly
revered. To worship these deities, ancient Sumerians would create
statues of them, dress them in clothing, give them food, and transport
them to ceremonies.
Millennia later, some scholars would speculate on what made these
Anunnaki so special — and why they were held in such high regard. But it
wasn’t until the 20th century that the “ancient alien” theory really
took off.
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