What can we Determine about the Sumerian Planet Known as Tiamat 

Legends about the primordial goddess / creatrix Tiamat are numerous. On the basis of Sumerian texts, Sitchin ³⁴ , equates Tiamat with the planet shown by the Sumerians and ancient Irish, to occupy the orbit between Jupiter and Mars, the area now known as the asteroid belt. He argues that the ancient Sumerian texts refer to the asteroid belt as a "bracelet" formed from Tiamat's tail. 

Sitchin argues that the Sumerian texts indicate that planet Nibiru made a direct attack on Tiamat, breaking it in two, and forming planet Earth from its remains. This appears to be propaganda designed to enhance the prestige of self-styled "gods". 

The Sumerian seal referred to by Sitchin clearly shows both Tiamat and the Earth / Moon couplet to be contemporaries, as does the rock engraving in Ireland. They both also show the planet Tiamat as being about the size of the planets Uranus and Neptune. Other information previously referred to indicates that planet Nibiru entered our solar system only about 200,000 years ago, and not the 4,000,000,000 years ago, as suggested by Sitchin. Since the Sumerian "gods" were seemingly unreliable on one matter, it should come as no great surprise to find them unreliable on another matter, a matter reflecting on the personal prestige of their leader. 

The ancient Irish rock engraving (figure 5) shows that the intrusive planet Nibiru probably disturbed the planet Saturn in her orbit, while Nibiru was on its inward journey from the cusp of Sagittarius / Capricorn. It was the Venus satellite of a disturbed Saturn and not the satellites of planet Nibiru which dislodged Tiamat from her orbit, probably not more than 200 000 years ago. Based on the rock engraving in Ireland, debris from Tiamat does not seem to have been absorbed by Jupiter, and it can't just disappear from our solar system. It has to be out there somewhere. 

Given that the satellite Venus was used as a hammer against Tiamat, and that the satellite Venus would have turned in orbit in the same direction and in much the same plane as the normal planets and satellites of our solar system, then Tiamat must have been knocked into a retrograde orbit, as well as being knocked down below the plane of the ecliptic (as shown in the ancient Irish engraving). 

Thus, we appear to have a stray planet the size of say planet Neptune loose in our solar system, on some retrograde and certainly very elongated orbit. If it were not on a long orbital period and elongated orbit, we would be quite familiar with it, rather than merely having vague traditions from the past about it. This large planet must now cross the plane of the ecliptic twice, as does the original planet Nibiru, but it would clearly not have an orbit in a plane at right angles to the plane of the ecliptic. In this it would be unlike planet Nibiru which pierces the plane of the ecliptic between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, and also very close to the orbit of the Earth,, Each crossing of planet Tiamat might be at about the same distance from the sun on opposite sides of the asteroid belt. Alternatively and much more probably, given the dynamics of the situation, there would be one crossing of the ecliptic in the asteroid belt at perigee, and one crossing of the ecliptic far out in space, at apogee. 

Since the impetus to dislodge Tiamat from its original orbit came in the form of a large planetary body coming directly from the about 12 degrees Sagittarius, then its orbital apogee will probably lie in the plane of the ecliptic somewhere near to 12 degrees Gemini, and its orbital perigee will probably lie in the plane of the ecliptic close to 12 degrees Sagittarius. 

As previously noted, Sitchin ³⁴ draws our attention to a clay disc (figure 11) from Sumeria which appears to plot a course for some stellar object. A major arrow points one way through the centre of the disc (the centre being representative of the sun) and it is marked with a large cross. This is probably representative of the incoming direction. This arrow has a return triangular point marked upon it. 

Pointing back to this general direction of the large directional arrow, ( but not exactly the same direction) is a lesser arrow connected to the edge a shape which is clearly the stellar constellation of Gemini. In this instance, it is the first few degrees of Gemini which is being indicated. So this variation plus the slightly different direction to that for what is marked by the cross of planet Nibiru, may well mean that we are dealing with a separate entity to planet Nibiru. It seems likely that the approach to perigee of the displaced planet Tiamat is being referred to here, and a fairly precise incoming direction from the constellation of Orion is specified. 

On its incoming trip, we would expect the planet to be above the plane of the ecliptic, while its return leg should be below the plane of the ecliptic This orbit closely resembles the orbit of Halley's comet, which Sitchin argues is debris resulting from the displacement of planet Tiamat from its orbit. Halley's comet first appears near the constellation of Orion above the plane of the ecliptic, reaches perigee in the plane of the ecliptic in the constellation of Capricorn, and then returns outward below the plane of the ecliptic. The orbital plane of comet Halley is inclined at an angle of about 18 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic. It may originally have been more, but gravitational effects from the outer planets would tend to eventually pull it back to somewhere near to the plane of the ecliptic. Halley's comet is worth further discussion later (see appendix V II ). 

Now, we have seen that Sitchin describes the orbit of planet Nibiru [planet of crossing and God Most High] in such a way that is only consistent with this planet's being in a plane at right angles to the plane of the ecliptic, and this is the very plane in which one would expect to find an intruder from outside our solar system. 

However, Sitchin also offers other data to indicate that the orbit of a planet of crossing lies in a plane at 30 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic, with one end or side of its orbit 30 degrees above the plane of the ecliptic. and the opposite end or side of its orbit 30 degrees below the plane of the ecliptic. The data Sitchin relies upon for this view comes principally from an unspecified Mesopotamian text (not specifically identified as Sumerian) which states:

Planet of the god Marduk;
Upon its appearance; Mercury.
Rising thirty degrees of the celestial arc; Jupiter.
When standing in the place of the celestial battle; Nibiru.

Now this text certainly specifies thirty degrees, but it refers to the planet rising thirty degrees, not to thirty degrees of longitude, as interpreted by Sitchin ²⁷. This text refers to only one moment of piercing the plane of the ecliptic when in the main part of the solar system and at only this time does the planet becomes Nibiru [planet of crossing]. This crossing would appear to be in the asteroid belt, the orbit from which Tiamat (or possibly Marduk / Maldek) was allegedly displaced. 

The references to planets Mercury and Jupiter, rather than being directional markers as assumed by Sitchin, are more likely to be indicators of the perceived magnitude of the planet at different stages in its journey, and as seen from Earth. A planet the size of Neptune, if seen from Earth at say the orbit of Mars, would certainly appear to be as large as the planet Jupiter. 

Sitchin refers also to Sumerian texts which specify that a zone from 30 degrees above the plane of the ecliptic to thirty degrees below the ecliptic is the way of the god Anu. This would seem likely to be the zone through which the displaced planet Tiamat is currently travelling and another name for it would seem to be Anu. 

Now the displaced planet Tiamat would , by way of its greater mass, be more resistant to being pulled back into the plane of the ecliptic than would the comparatively low mass of comet Halley. By extension of this argument, debris shed by an orbiting planet Tiamat would probably be more quickly drawn into the plane of the ecliptic than would be Halley's comet. 

An indication that this may be occurring is given by Habing and Neugebauer ⁴³ They report that a satellite IRAS has detected a dust band orbiting at about 9 degrees above and below the ecliptic. It is speculated that the source of this dust band may have been a comet in collision with an asteroid. This dust may very well be a remnant from the last perigee of eccentric planet Tiamat. 

What is by no means clear is the orbital period attributed by the Sumerians to the planet Tiamat in its new orbit. Momentum from the intrusive planet coming from the direction of Sagittarius / Capricorn, would have been transmitted to Tiamat, with the electromagnetic fields of Jupiter and Saturn acting as an intermediate cushion. How much this would have effected each of their orbital periods or rate of spin on their axes is unclear. Given the apparent inability of the Sumerians or later interpreters of their records to distinguish between the two planets of crossing, then it is possible that each planet ended up with an orbital period of about 3600 - 4000 years. 

If this were the case, then both planets would reappear, from opposite directions, in about the same time slot. Such a situation seems to be referred to in the Biblical book of Job where we read:

Job Chapter 1, v 6

"Now there was a day when the sons of God (ie the planets) came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan was also among them."

Job Chapter 2, v 1

"Again there was a day when the sons of God (the planets) came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them, to present himself before the Lord."

Now Satan was the being cast out of the heavens into the depths of the abyss (ie space) by the activities of the sons of God. But here he is appearing on cue, just when the Most High puts in an appearance amongst the regular planets. Does Satan (Tiamat?) have the same orbital period as the original planet Nibiru? This seems likely. Recent astronomical sightings indicate that the comet Hale Bopp consists of two principal major bodies, with the active erupting body probably circling the other body like a moth. It is of considerable significance that both the biblical Job and the biblical Isaiah refer to the adversary (Satan) as a highly destructive moth. 

Robert Scrutton ³⁰ refers to engraved stones in Scotland (Figure 12, 13 & 14) , which appear to refer to a cosmic cataclysm caused by two large heavenly bodies that may be either travelling together or may be coming from opposite directions. The dating for this event would appear to be fairly early in the astrological age of Aries from the Aries glyphs shown, so it could fit the appearance of about 1650 BC. At that time, Venus was apparently dislocated from Saturn by a passage of planet Nibiru, and trapped in the inner solar system. Alternatively, it could be a record of the later tussle between the planets Venus and Mars. 

An old prophecy from Premol in France informs us that the Archangel Michael shall do battle with the Dragon before the triangle of God. Planet Tiamat was referred to in ancient times as the dragon, and Michael is clearly a planetary body. Could it be planet Nibiru? 

If such a scenario is likely, then where is planet Tiamat now? It should be close enough to be interfering with planetary orbits, and the confusion its presence causes is possibly contributing to the inability of astronomers to pinpoint the location of a single unknown planet. 

However, Sitchin ⁴⁰ quotes an American astronomer to the effect that "an infra-red search of the solar neighbourhood"" by the "all - sky survey of the Infra-red Astronomical Satellite (IRAS)" might solve the problem of the suspected tenth planet. 

Information on the findings of IRAS seem to have been largely suppressed, but Sitchin notes that one of its leaked findings (in 1983) was of a large body lying in the direction of the constellation of Orion. It could have been as close then as 50 billion miles and it might have been moving towards Earth. If it is close, it is probably the size of the planet Jupiter or maybe only Neptune, but if distant, it is an entire galaxy. So here we have a possible planet of just the right size and in just the right direction to be planet Tiamat. If there is so much uncertainty about its distance, it could have been even closer than the stated 50 billion miles or 80 billion kilometres, and one does wonder about the reasons for the suppression of data on this interesting cosmic body. Could it be the old case of "Don't panic the expendable masses till we, the elite, have done everything possible in the time available to us to ensure our own safety?" 

If the presumed planet Tiamat were travelling at about the same velocity as comet Hale Bopp, then it could have covered about 13 billion kilometres towards us since it was first detected in about 1983. And if the astronomers don't know enough to say whether it was only say 50 billion miles away, or say 370,000,000 billion miles (ie the distance to a nearby galaxy) then it may well have been a lot closer to us than the officially admitted 50 billion miles. Relatively speaking, it could land on our doorstep tomorrow. It is always nice to receive unexpected but important guests, isn't it?.