The Sumerians' “religion”

The Sumerian tablets N.I 1117, 2337, 2473, 2742 are kept at the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Samuel Noah Kramer of the University of Pennsylvania mentions deciphering these tablets in his book, Sumerian Mythology, (1963), in the chapter on the creation of the pickax. In this chapter he calls the axe-adze pickax. In Sumerian times the pickax is revered and plays a very important symbolic “religious” role. (Note: The noun, “religion,” and the adjective, “religious,” as they are used today, would be misnomers for the Sumerians' spiritual beliefs and practices. To them, spirituality is not merely a side interest in religion or theology in today's sense. Rather, it is the awareness of Man's personal connection with the Universe, a union which rests upon the most basic law of Nature, the universal law of Life (Atilla Grandpierre, Ancient People of the Royal Magi: The Magyars, Selected Studies in Hungarian History, 2008, p. 353). Spirituality to the Scythians—Sumerians included—is the pursuit of knowledge of the Universe, its composition (matter, life, consciousness), energies (physical, biological, intellectual) and the laws that govern each form of energy and their interactions, knowledge that leads to the wisdom needed to effectively tackle all fields of knowledge [Christian tradition merely acknowledges knowledge and wisdom as two of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit]). Professor Kramer states that all the writings on the tablets are very easily deciphered except for a few sections which cannot be understood. Professor Badiny says that, no doubt, we cannot yet understand everything from that age, but that all the Sumerian literary texts put together will help us understand. However, professor Kramer writes his comments in 1963. Since then, a number of emigrant Hungarian sumerologists have been working on these texts, and they have successfully deciphered those parts which Professor Kramer stated could not be understood. Their work reveals amazing information about the Sumerian spiritual world. Instead of “creation of the Pickax” they gave it the title, The Covenant.

To understand the text of this alliance, we need to review the Sumerians' concept of God. At top center of the Code of Ur-Nammu—written in Sumerian cuneiform in the 21st century BC—is a six-pronged star representing the Dual Trinity in Sumerian spirituality. (The Jews appropriate this geometric form and, later, in the Early Modern Period [16-18th century AD], begin calling it variably Magen David, Star of David and Solomon's Seal, and start to identify themselves with it. In light of the history of the Jews, it is evident that this is the symbol the Jews frequently see during their “Babylonian Exile” [6th century BC], a symbol they later incorporate into their canon—as they do the word Israel). Gnostic Christians, as they are called today, attest to this ancient symbol in their text of The Lord's Prayer which begins as:

"Our Father-Mother, who are beyond and within us, hollowed be Thy name in the dual trinity."

Fény-Anya, Szent Lélek: Mother of Light, Holy Spirit

Fény-Atya: Father of Light

Ama-Tu-Anki: Birth-Mother of Heaven-Earth

Fény-Fiú: Son of Light

Section from artist's concept of the Tree of Life based on Hungarian mythology showing the Holy Trinity as the visible mirror image of the three (invisible) faces of God.

The Sumerian name of the hemisphere in the center of the star is AZ, and its meaning is the same as Brahman, wisdom, in Hinduism. AZ does not simply exist because to exist is a function which itself depends on reality. Rather, AZ is reality itself. In a hyper-absolute sense, AZ means divine-reality, the original being who is independent and complete in every sense. AZ radiates the light of existence into everyone and everything, but cannot be imagined. In Sumerian wisdom, AZ brings existence into being in the completeness of a dual trinity operating as the radiance of divine-reality. This dual-trinity is the symbol ancient Sumerians use to personify divine energy to give humanity some basis when they try to infer the One-God, Creator and Source of Life energy-complex.

According to Sumerian belief, the self-unity IZ(AZ)-TEN, God's unfathomable reality, can be thought of only by referring to symbols and mental imagery of divine activities and functions. These images are positive traits that exemplify God's activities in a meaningful way. And, as we shall see in the dual trinity, this wisdom sees IZ-TEN's power in three defined activities: Creation, the maintenance of existence, and the creation of life. In substance, these three activities constitute a triad. However, we, earthly beings, cannot conceptualize spiritual events and activities, or as the Sumerians say, "matters of Heaven." Therefore, we need something we can relate to. So Sumerian wisdom symbolizes this spiritual triad by its mirror image, a physical reflection to which we can relate. This reflection, the "matters of Earth," is interlocked with its spiritual counterpart as Heaven and Earth are interlocked in transubstantiation, a concept of God becoming present in Man kept by Christianity known as communion. It is the simultaneous care of "matters of Heaven and Earth" that unifies and interlocks the two triads into a single dual-triad the Sumerians called Dual Trinity. This is the notion, inscribed on clay tablets 3000 years before Christianity, that Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:10, (the Lord's Prayer): “on Earth as it is in Heaven.” This is how ancient Sumerian wisdom expresses the mentally intangible essentials inherent in this imagery to the man thinking in the realm of causative interdependence. Sumerians believe in One God, and the names they give divine manifestations are no more names of personages of a polytheist pantheon than God, Creator, Lord, or Almighty are names of different gods. These names are labels that define universally observable manifestations of power derived from a great, living “Light,” a pure intellectual energy source, a spiritual power above and beyond Man.

Professor Badiny encourages us to ascend to a higher level of empathy and to harness all our intellectual faculties to gain the level of understanding needed to approach the concept of monotheism found in Sumerian spiritual consciousness. He encourages us to adopt the Sumerians' wisdom and think of the divine trinity, Enki-Amatuanki-Enlil, as a spiritual entity we, earthlings, simply cannot fathom. However, we can conceptualize a mirror image of the same divine trinity, an entity to which we can relate, a mental image, which mirrors the divine trinity, Enki-Amatuanki-Enlil as the earthly trinity, Father of Light, Mother of Light (Holy Spirit) and Son of Light. The Sumerians' personification of divine manifestations is a human tendency, as alive today as it was then. Hence we have Old Man Winter, Father Time, Mother Earth, Mother Nature and so forth. He emphasizes that the oft-misinterpreted names of Sumerian divinity refer not to several gods, but to the one-and-the-same entity introduced to us in terms we can understand. He uses several analogies to help us approach the inexplicable by noting its mentally tangible characteristics. In one such analogy, he compares King Mátyás' words to those spoken by Jesus when he (Badiny) references King Mátyás' exploits to obtain unbiased information about the state of the Hungarian people. Mátyás would roam the country dressed as a student experiencing first hand the life of the ordinary man. When asked, he would say, "The King and I are one." In another analogy, he relates Light to the sun, a reality we cannot experience, and the Son of Light to sunshine ("sun-energy") a reality we can experience, to explain Jesus' words, "I and the Father are one," and “he who sees me sees the one who sent me: (John 10:30, 12:45). By adopting Professor Badiny's thinking, we can also relate the sun's warmth, warmth of life to Mother of Light, mother, giver of life.

It should be noted that “life,” here, refers to the universal life-energy, which is a part of the energy-complex called God: it has nothing to do with the biblical term “breath of life,” or with breathing life into inanimate matter to turn it into a “living being” (Genesis 2:7). The term “breath of life” is often used in ancient scriptures but it has nothing to do with bringing inanimate matter to life through any kind of breathing or otherwise. “Breath” in “breath of life” means awareness, consciousness, soul, the mental-energy—which is also a part of the energy-complex called God—Man expends when he thinks. Professor Alfréd Tóth confirms the association between the words, divine breath, spirit, soul, and the human mind in his Etymological Dictionary of Hungarian (EDH), 9, Etruscan and Hungarian, where he defines the words ase and asi as: ase: breath, wind, soul; asi: inspiration, spirit, wind; Hungarian, ész, mind, intellect, esz-es, rational, thinking (p. 258). Here, breath, spirit, soul, inspiration, mind and intellect are all expressed by the same root word. So “breath of life” means awareness of life, the ability to infer a universal life-energy from differences between inanimate matter and living beings. This same concept is also found in Egypt where “breath of life” refers to wisdom itself, Creator, “A-men” (also spelled, Amun) whose manifestation (Coptic, Hor; Greek, Haru, Horus) called “Son of Truth” is associated with the sun and is depicted in hieroglyphic writing as a falcon. Further, 5000-year-old clay tablets speak of “Man,” rather than mere matter or dust, arriving to Earth (see below). All verifiable scriptures imply that the Sumerians believe, Man was not only alive but also intelligent when he arrived on Earth. Any divine contact thereafter merely advances or restores his knowledge. Jesus confirms this belief when he gives the reason for his incarnation:

"I have come as Light into the World, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness" (12:46).

Another way to look at the relationship between the heavenly divine trinity and its earthly mirror image is to imagine living out a life in a prison cell, with only a window facing north (on the Northern Hemisphere) to see outside. We would never see the sun, though we would see daylight outside. However, if we were to reach out between the bars at hight noon, we would see sunshine on our hand and feel the warmth of the sun. In other words, we would experience the sun's effects. Though we could not see the sun itself, we could infer its existence and nature. Using this analogy, we now substitute the Son of Light, Jesus, for the light of the sun we can see. Hence, when Jesus says "I and the Father are one," and “he who sees me sees the one who sent me,” he is saying that sunlight and the sun are one and the same because the former is a manifestation of the latter. He is the mirror image of the spiritual En-Lil whom we cannot see. Likewise, the earthly Mother of Light, can be thought of as the warmth of the sun we can feel. She is the mirror image of the spiritual Ama-Tu-Anki, Mother of Heaven and Earth whom we cannot feel. Also, Jesus calls the Father “Truth,” a word we understand and use to label reality. He is the mirror image of the spiritual En-Ki, the supreme intellect we cannot fathom.

The Sumerians believe that, in the Dual Trinity, En-Ki is the distributor and caretaker of the soul in created entities; Ana-Tu-Anki is the giver of eternal life who looks after Man's spiritual existence, and En-Lil is the source of eternal soul. The earthly mirror image of the heavenly divine trinity radiates into and within Man as his soul, that is, the transubstantiation of the Father of Light, Mother of Light and Son of Light in Man. This notion can be compared to water as life, a brook Man drinks from to stay alive as the giver and sustainer of life, and a spring as the source of life. Although we give them different names—water, brook and spring—by pushing the envelope of abstract thinking, we realize the three are one and the same: water emerges as a spring and flows as brook.

The English word trinity is used throughout this study to make it more readable, but “trinity” does not really convey the Sumerian meaning. English “trinity” suggests three-in-one. However, the Hungarian “hármasság” means something else, a concept somewhat related to “three-ness.” This word does not suggest three parts or elements constituting one whole. Rather, it conveys the idea of one whole having three characteristics (e.g, the sun is omnipresent, warm and bright all at the same time).

The following is the Sumerian text of the Old Alliance Jesus came to renew—for edification and remembrance. Note: English translations mostly fail to correctly covey notions expressed in this text due to inadequate language sensibility and limitations. While it is easy to sense that the words Lord and Almighty, expressed in the same language, label the same concept when used in a religious context, language proficiency and etymology, even when combined, do not provide sufficient clues to sense the relationship between words expressed in different languages without cultural immersion in each one of them. For example, “lil” in the compound word en-lil, literally lord + wind, breath, spirit does not suggest that En-Lil and the human intellect are one and the same unless the translator is aware that the user of this term believes that his mind is the divine spirit within him. This is one possible reason why Professor Kramer was unable to decipher the entire text. Language limitations are another source of errors. Some Sumerian words express complex ideas but have no English equivalents. For example, KABTA(21) (Kapta in Hungarian) is a word used to label a concept remotely related to the function of a mold used in casting. In such cases, conveying the idea correctly would require extensive description.

Armed with our knowledge of the Sumerians' concept of divinity, we can now examine the (unedited) text of the Old Alliance—keeping translation limitations in mind. Names are reproduced in their original forms. The following words, however, carry special significance, and are herein described to help grasp the meaning they convey:

Ax Light-weight ax-like tool with a long-handle, also used throughout history as a walking cane and weapon. Hungarians have traditionally equipped themselves with this ax, called “fokos,” until its steel-headed variant was banned at the end of World War II. Some later designs extend the butt into the shape of a pick, hence the term Pickax is sometimes used. Professor Badiny also calls it “fokos.”

Em-Bar Hungarian “ember” means man, Mankind, and the root word equivalent of human in nouns, adjectives and adverbs: human, humane, humanity, humanly, humanely.

En-Lil Name used to reference God but difficult to translate. Literally, it means Lord-Spirit, but literal translation, here, is all but meaningless. Mary Magdala calls En-Lil incarnate, Jesus, “Light of the World.” A variant of her complex expression in Hungarian, “világ-om” (hyphenated for clarity), “my light,” “my world,” “my life,” “my everything” is still used today in some parts (and poetry) of Hungary to address a loved one. The root word “világ” means light, world and creation, and is the root of hundreds of words that label such concepts as clarity, cosmos and all that is known and unknown to Man combined. When used to address someone, it conveys the complex idea that the loved one is thought of as the reason for one's spirituality, existence and life. All magus expressions translated to English as “Light” can also mean “all that is known and unknown to Mankind.” Hence, Jesus' expression “I am the Light” in Hungarian can also mean ”I am all that is known and unknown (to you),” the source and the destination, “the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.”

Iz-Ten Hungarian “Isten” means God, wisdom (it)self; Is, Iz: (see AZ, above), ten self. ”In the beginning there was Logos” (John 1:1) (Logos, divine wisdom, Merriam-Webster) Also Mayan sun-deity, Iz-tam-Na, (or Itzam, Itzamna, Hun-Itzamna), also called Hun-Ab-Ku, “Invisible High God,” and Creator “with three faces,” Kinich Ahau.

Kus Hungarian “Kos,” ram, “Aries” in the Sumerian zodiac, a people; also their patriarch, Nib-Ur's (Nimrod) father, Ut-nap-ishtim's (biblical Noah) grandson. The Kus are referenced as a people who lived in northern Mesopotamia, an exceptionally fertile land around four major rivers: Barana, Idiglat, Kúr and Ar-Ar (biblical Euphrates, Tigris, Pishon and Gihon, [not necessarily in that order]). Ancient texts mention the Land of Kus as the "Land of Abundance," and traditions associate it with the biblical Garden of Eden. One of its cities along the Tigris, Szubartu (city of Szabir), located 30 Km. south-west of Nimrod, 75 Km. north of Magar, is the land of the Szabir, Sa-pir, sun-faced people Árpád's relatives mention to Byzantine's emperor as the ancient homeland of some Scythian-Magyars (Wilhelm Gernot, Hurrian and Subarian Lands, England, 1989). Jesus, son of the Kus (Ram) people is often called Lamb, Hungarian, “Bárány.” With the “-a” suffix (of), this word becomes “Baranya,” the name of one of the rivers of Mesopotamia (above) and also of a county of South-West Hungary inhabited since at least the Neolithic.

The Covenant (circa 3000 BC)

1. EN-LIL, according to his unchangeable desire, separated Heaven from Earth and the Earth departed far from Heaven.

2. EN-LIL dug out the seed from the inside of the earth so that wheat could be grown from it according to the law.

3. EN-LIL appointed the ax to be the symbol of the alliance between Heaven and Earth and ordered that work was the duty of the ax and the reed basket.

4. EN-LIL exalted the ax made of gold and its container made of silver. The head of the ax was of lapis-lazuli and was as strong as the heavenly bull which was able to move floodgates.

5. After EN-LIL had created the ax in this way, and had decreed its fate, he took the holy crown from his head and set it on the head of EM-BAR, whom he had sent down to Earth before that. He now looked down on them with favor.

6. The inhabitants of Heaven surrounded them and placed the holy ax in front of them.

7. The inhabitants of Heaven, uttered prayers to EN-LIL and then, with a heavenly chorus, gave EN-LIL’s holy ax to the earthly EM-BAR so that he might use it as needed.

8. The heavenly chorus sang in this way: "Take EN-LIL’s holy ax as an everlasting covenant. We declare a covenant between us and you and those who come after you.

9. IZ-TEN, through EN-LIL, gave the Earth and the Tree of Knowledge to you and your descendants for ever more. Settle and multiply on the rich territories of the four rivers.

10. The Holy ax is the symbol of the Covenant between us and you, who on the earthly place with the result of work, will build IZ-TEN's earthly empire. The Covenant of the Holy ax will allow you to rule the world.

11. Therefore we order all of your descendants to live and work with the power of the Covenant ax. Keep the ax in your hand and use it well for the glory of EN-LIL."

12. When EN-LIL saw his golden ax in the hands of EM-BAR who settled on the Earth, he shot a bolt of lightning at the ax and his voice sounded like thunder on the Earth: "I made a Covenant with you EM-BAR of KUS. With the power of the ax, you will be the Master of the World as long as you serve with loyalty and keep my Covenant."

13. The inhabitants of Heaven helped the KUS (people) on the Earth, according to the Covenant. Abundance and happiness was on the Earth under the strength of the ax.

14. The ax built cities and the house of the ax became the sanctuary of the truth but the house which rebels against the Covenant, the home of disobedience, is the destroyer of the ax.

15. The ax cuts off the head of Evil, throws down its crown and cuts out its roots, but the Tree of Life which grows the Flower of Goodness is its helper and defender.

16. The father of EN-LIL decreed the duty of the ax and, under the power of the Covenant between Heaven and Earth, ordered that the ax be glorified for all eternity.

17. The inhabitants of Heaven kept their Covenant well because as the light of the soul leaves the body of the earthly EM-BAR, he has power to form and rule the Earth and he continues the work of Creation, according to the will of IZ-TEN. In the same way, among the inhabitants of Heaven, EN-KI was the one who created with the power of EN-LIL, every other material and body on the Earth.

18. EN-KI, according to the Covenant, blessed the country of the Tree of Knowledge with trees, plants, birds, and animals and caused them to multiply all over the Earth and he hid gold, silver, copper and all kinds of metals inside the Earth. IS-KUR, one of the inhabitants of Heaven, became the caretaker of all these because it was he who brought gold and silver to Earth from Heaven.

19. After this, EN-KI filled the four rivers with an abundance of fish. The heavenly caretaker of the waters was EN-BI-LU-LU.

20. The sons of EM-BAR, with the power of the Tree of Knowledge, created the plow and the yoke. They formed them with the ax. They planted the seeds which they received from EN-LIL and the Earth became rich in harvests of grain. The grain beautified the fields of the Earth. The ax built irrigating canals and EN-KI appointed EN-KIM-DU, one of the inhabitants of Heaven, as caretaker of the canals.

21. Abundance and happiness filled the Earth. The people started to build houses and KABTA, an inhabitant of Heaven, taught the descendants of KUS (people) to make bricks and the frame for the bricks.

22. The animals multiplied. They built stables for them. They milked them. EN-KI wanted DUMUZI, the loyal shepherd of Heaven, to teach the people of EN-LIL to care for the animals and to use their milk. This is the way the inhabitants of Heaven kept the Covenant with the people of the Holy ax, the people of EN-LIL, who were the descendants of the KUS (people).

Artist's concept of EN-LIL giving Man the “Holy Fokos,” symbol of Alliance. From Badiny, Magyar Biblia (Hungarian Bible)

Golden Fokos (Scythian Treasures [blade broken off])
From Badiny, Magyar Biblia (Hungarian Bible)

Artist's concept of the Creation of Life
From Badiny, Magyar Biblia (Hungarian Bible)

This is the Old Alliance Jesus is referring to. It is the content of the sacred belief of the people referred to as Kus, Magyar, Hun, Sumerian, Chaldean, Mede, Scythian, Magog—and several other names. Wherever they live, they use the Ax of Work; and royal standing demands that kings fabricate En-Lil's sacred Ax out of gold to symbolize their observance of the Sacred Alliance, exactly as it is laid down on the cuneiform-written tablets. Accordingly, its head is lapis-lazuli. Archeologist's have unearthed these artifacts—the most beautiful of which are on display among the Scythian Treasures—also in Sumer, as well as in the heart of Scythia, Hungary. (Note: Hungarians are by no means the only Scythians. Recently, the Scots have taken interest in exploring their Scythian heritage as the source of the (6th century) Arthurian Legends which they believe are rooted in Scythian culture. Also there are the Irish, Welsh, Basques, Gauls, Etruscans, Croats, Poles, Ukrainians, Armenians, Kürts (Kurds) and others, all the indigenous peoples of Central and Eastern Europe and Central and Western Asia, as well as many pockets of people from Ireland to Japan. However, those who have kept their Scythian culture—including their language—are found mostly in the Carpathian Basin.) The tablets themselves date from 3000 BC, but the time of the event they relate is unknown. What we do know is that excerpts of the “Chronicles” report that “The Kingship descended again from Heaven after the Flood” (Marton). Here, the word “again” supports Man's “Heavenly” origin reported in Article 5, “...whom he had sent down to Earth before that.”

The tendency to interpret the above event as some sort of extra-terrestrial visitation demands a momentary digression. Our urge to assume relationships based on situational clues is as strong as our urge to construct images based on visual clues. But jumping to conclusions, that is, inferring a relationship before completing the situational analysis, often leads to false assumptions. This danger also lurks in the hasty interpretation of the event recorded on these tablets. Such interpretations probably sound logical to those who believe that the physical Universe constitutes all of reality. However, as stated earlier, nothing in our sphere of knowledge gives us reason to believe that it does. And if reality extends beyond our physical world—or even if it is merely possible that it does—then such interpretations are premature conclusions based on incomplete analyses. The problem with qualifying the “visitors” as “extra-terrestrials” is that it implies that the “visiting” entities' point of origin is, in every sense, somewhere beyond Earth. But, the “report” neither states nor implies that it is. It merely states that, to the earthly observer whose senses are tuned to manifestations of only the physical Universe, En-Lil and the “inhabitants of Heaven” appeared as entities from beyond his physical world, that is, their point of origin is somewhere beyond Earth only in the physical sense. Mislabeling En-Lil and the “inhabitants of Heaven” as extra-terrestrials and the reported event as a “visitation” are the products of ignorance or, at the very least, careless thinking. In Western cultures, Man generally believes that reality is limited to his observable, physical Universe. Consequently the English language (and many other languages) has no convenient term (other than the ill-defined word god) to label an intelligent phenomena that appears at random—or so it seems—physically but is present at all times in ways Man can neither sense nor observe. (The Hungarian word for such a phenomenon is “Tündér,” usually translated to English as Fairy, though the English equivalent is a name given to mystical beings in folklore, so-called “Fairy-Tales.” In the ancient Celtic Faith, a Fairy is associated with divinity just as in Hungarian Tündér Ilona refers to the Heavenly Mother. Judeo-Christianity turns Fairies into demons or pseudo-demons).

Another problem with the term extra-terrestrial is that it conveys the idea of “alien.” In the case at hand, the obvious question is, alien to whom? Certainly not to “Em-bar [Man] sent down to Earth before.” Perhaps a better understanding of the relationship between En-Lil and Em-Bar would stem not from a definition of the “visitor” but from a better definition of the “visited.” In the Sumerians' spirituality, Man, in human form, simultaneously exists as a physical, spiritual and intellectual being, able to interact with the material, living and conscious Universe of which he is a part. To them, Iz-Ten is not an “outsider” who “visits” the physical world. Rather, Man is an “insider,” an intra-cosmic constituent of total reality, they call “The Truth” or Iz-Ten.

Jesus' knowledge of Sumerian-Aramaic-Scythian tradition surely includes this old alliance. But he also knows very well that all the suffering his people had endured cast the veil of forgetfulness onto traditions. He knows he has to enter into a New Alliance that will resurrect the spiritually wounded and revive their sedentation, happiness, productivity and high standard of living.