The Wars of Gods and Men

The Wars of Gods and Men, published in 1985, is the third book in Zecharia Sitchin's Earth Chronicles series. It details the conflicts among the Anunnaki themselves and the wars that shaped the ancient Near East.

Overview

The book spans from the earliest conflicts in the heavens (the celestial battle between Nibiru and Tiamat) to the final nuclear destruction of Sumer in 2024 BCE. Key chapters include:

1. The Celestial Battle — The war in heaven
2. The Pyramid Wars — The conflict over control of the spaceport
3. The Patriarchs — The biblical patriarchs as participants in Anunnaki politics
4. The Kingship — The institution of kingship as an Anunnaki invention
5. The Exiles — The forced migrations of peoples
6. The Nuclear Holocaust — The final destruction of Sumer

The Pyramid Wars

The central conflict in the book is the series of confrontations known as the Pyramid Wars — the struggle between the clans of Enki and Enlil over control of the spaceport facilities:

• Enlil's faction — Wished to maintain strict control over human civilization
• Enki's faction — Favored granting humanity more knowledge and autonomy
• Marduk's ambitions — Marduk, Enki's firstborn son, sought supremacy over all gods
• The outcome — The spaceport at Sippar was destroyed in a nuclear strike

The Nuclear Event

Sitchin identifies 2024 BCE as the year of the nuclear destruction of Sumer. He cites:

• Archaeological evidence of "leveled" cities at Ur, Nippur, and Uruk
• High levels of radiation found in soil layers corresponding to this period
• The biblical account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
• Sumerian lamentations describing "a cloud of death" and "poison in the rivers"

"The evil wind, the terrible storm, came upon the land. The cities were destroyed; the people were turned to stone." — From the Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur

The Role of the Patriarchs

Sitchin argues that the biblical patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob — were not mere religious figures but were directly involved in the Anunnaki power struggles. Abraham's journey from Ur to Harran to Canaan was, in Sitchin's reading, a relocation ordered by Enlil or Yahweh.

See Also

• Pyramid Wars — The wars over the pyramids
• Nuclear Destruction — The nuclear catastrophe
• Enlil — The commander god
• Enki — The creator god
• Marduk — The god of Babylon
• Nergal — The god of the underworld
• Inanna — The warrior goddess

Sources

• Sitchin, Z. (1985). The Wars of Gods and Men. New York: Avon Books.
• Sitchin, Z. (1976). The 12^th Planet.
• Sitchin, Z. (2007). The End of Days.