Tilmun (Dilmun)

Tilmun (also known as Dilmun) is a legendary land mentioned in Sumerian mythology as a paradisiacal place where the gods resided. For Zecharia Sitchin, Tilmun was the "Land of the Rocketships" — the site of an Anunnaki rocket base.

Tilmun in Sumerian Literature

In Sumerian myth, Dilmun/Tilmun is described as: - A pure, bright, and holy land - A place where sickness and death do not exist - The land where the sun rises - The destination of the flood hero Ziusudra / Utnapishtim - A place of great importance in the stories of Enki and Ninḫursag (Ninmah)

Sitchin's Interpretation

"Tilmun was not a paradise in the mythological sense. It was the place of the rocketships — the SHEM — where the Anunnaki kept their spacecraft."

Sitchin argued:

1. Tilmun = the Land of the SHEM — The Sumerian term Tilmun may be broken down as Til (life/living) + Mun (mountain/raised platform), suggesting a place where the "living mountain" (rocketship) dwells
2. Location — Sitchin debated Tilmun's location but generally placed it near the Sinai Peninsula or possibly the Sinai spaceport itself
3. Paradise — The description of Tilmun as a disease-free paradise reflected the sterile environment of a space facility
4. Gilgamesh's Journey — In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the hero journeys to Tilmun to meet Utnapishtim and seek immortality — which Sitchin read as a journey to the spaceport to find the secret of eternal life

Conventional Identification

Mainstream scholarship identifies Tilmun/Dilmun with the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. This identification is based on: - Neo-Assyrian inscriptions referring to Dilmun as a trading partner - Archaeological evidence of a Bronze Age civilization on Bahrain - References to Dilmun as a source of copper and other trade goods

Sitchin acknowledged this conventional identification but argued that the "Dilmun" of the trade routes was a later, secondary location named after the original Tilmun of the Anunnaki.

See Also

• SHEM — The rocketship terminology
• Sinai Spaceport — The Sinai spaceport
• Stairway To Heaven — The Stairway to Heaven
• Gilgamesh — The epic hero who journeyed to Tilmun
• E.Din — The Garden of Eden
• Baalbek — The launch platform

Sources

• Sitchin, Z. (1980). The Stairway to Heaven. Chapter 9.
• Sitchin, Z. (1976). The 12^th Planet. Chapter 9.
• Kramer, S. N. (1963). The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character.
• Bibby, G. (1969). Looking for Dilmun. New York: Knopf.