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Tiamat (Sumerian: TI.AMAT / TI.AMTU β€” "Sea / Salt Water") and Kingu

Sumerian name: TI.AMAT / TI.AMTU

Tiamat and Kingu are figures from the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation epic. In Zecharia Sitchin's cosmological reading, they represent celestial bodies that existed in the early solar system before the arrival of Nibiru.

Tiamat

Tiamat in the Enuma Elish

In the traditional reading, Tiamat is the primordial saltwater ocean, a dragon-goddess who personifies the chaotic waters of creation. She and Apsu (freshwater) are the parents of the first generation of gods.

Sitchin's Interpretation

Sitchin radically reinterpreted Tiamat as a planet that existed in the space between Mars and Jupiter:

Attribute Detail
Nature A planet, not a goddess
Location Between Mars and Jupiter (now the asteroid belt)
Size Comparable to Earth or larger
Moon Kingu
Fate Shattered by Nibiru's gravitational pull

"Tiamat was not a mythological dragon. She was a planet β€” a watery planet that existed where the asteroid belt now orbits. Her collision with Nibiru shattered her, and the fragments became Earth and the asteroid belt."

The Celestial Collision

According to Sitchin's reading of the Enuma Elish:

  1. Tiamat orbited the Sun between Mars and Jupiter
  2. Nibiru (Marduk), approaching from outer space on its elliptical orbit, passed through the inner solar system
  3. Nibiru's gravitational pull tore Tiamat apart
  4. One half of Tiamat was pushed into a new orbit, becoming Earth
  5. The other half shattered into the asteroid belt
  6. Tiamat's former moon, Kingu, was shattered and became the smaller asteroids
  7. Earth retained Tiamat's water and atmosphere

Evidence Claimed by Sitchin

  • The asteroid belt's composition (different from other solar system debris)
  • Earth's unique water content (inherited from Tiamat)
  • The existence of the "Theia hypothesis" (a Mars-sized body colliding with early Earth)
  • Mesopotamian cylinder seals depicting the celestial battle

Kingu

Kingu in the Enuma Elish

Kingu is Tiamat's consort and commander of her forces in the war against the younger gods. After Tiamat's defeat, Marduk takes the Tablet of Destinies from Kingu and creates humanity from Kingu's blood.

Sitchin's Interpretation

Sitchin identified Kingu as Tiamat's largest moon β€” a satellite that was shattered when Nibiru collided with Tiamat. Its remains are found in the asteroid belt.

The creation of humans from Kingu's blood was, in Sitchin's reading, the use of Anunnaki (Nibiran) genetic material to spark the evolution of life on the new Earth.

The Theia Hypothesis

In modern planetary science, the "giant impact hypothesis" proposes that a Mars-sized body called Theia collided with the early Earth, and the debris formed the Moon. Sitchin and his followers have noted the parallels between Theia and Tiamat β€” both are planets destroyed in a collision that shaped the Earth-Moon system.

Cuneiform Evidence

The name TI.AMAT (π’€­π’‹Ύπ’Š©π’†³, "Sea / Salt Water") appears in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish. Tiamat is the primordial saltwater ocean personified as a dragon-goddess.

  • CDLI Corpus: TI.AMAT β€” Browse tablets mentioning Tiamat
  • Key tablet: The Enuma Elish (CDLI P450752) β€” The Babylonian creation epic in which Marduk defeats Tiamat and creates the world from her body. This is the primary textual source for Tiamat in Mesopotamian literature.
  • Enuma Elish Tablet of the Enuma Elish, which describes Marduk's battle with Tiamat and the creation of the cosmos. (CDLI P450752)

See Also

Sources

  • Sitchin, Z. (1976). The 12th Planet. Chapters 4-6.
  • Sitchin, Z. (1990). Genesis Revisited. Chapter 2.
  • Heidel, A. (1942). The Babylonian Genesis.
  • Belbruno, E. & Gott, J. R. (2005). "Where Did the Moon Come From?" The Astronomical Journal.