Interview: Jenna S. Smith, author of The Goddess of Sumer - Page 2

I was referring to the over-all credibility of the Bible. In The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, new archaeological evidence is presented to show that the cities, rulers and timelines of the Bible (esp. the Old Testament) are largely inaccurate. Also, the Hebrew word for God (YHWH) which became the acronym for One God, actually represented the four members of the Heavenly Family (Father, Mother, Son and Daughter). My third book, The Jewel of Delphi, explores the Hebrew Goddess that has been eradicated from modern Judaism and Christianity but was historically worshipped next to Jehovah in the Jerusalem Temple for hundreds of years.

In the book, the scientist is translating a tablet and, based on the translation, is developing a different theory of what the mythology was. Is there such a dispute now and if so what are the conflicting theories?

The most well-known (and certainly most widely accepted) Sumerian scholar was Samuel Kramer, who wrote "History Begins at Sumer" (amongst many others) and even he admitted that the Sumerian language "stands alone and unrelated to any known language living or dead," and also admitted to being at a loss to understand many of his own translations - calling them difficult and obscure.

The mythology of ancient Sumer centers on a "pantheon" or family of gods - this all scholars agree, as well as their names (whether Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian or Assyrian) and their relationship to each other. However, great controversy exists over the translation of key words within known texts that would greatly change the meaning of the texts.

One example is the Sumerian word "mu" which is traditionally translated as "name", however, the literal translation is "that which rises straight" and by context "mu" should be translated as "heavenly chariot."

Another important example is the word "nephilim", traditionally translated as "giants", but literally translated as "those who descended" or "those who were cast down." That is just two examples, but you can imagine the difference in translating the many thousands of hymns and histories with even a handful of such different meanings in key words.

Some of the more prominent controversial theories that I used for my novel are from Zechariah Sitchin, who wrote The 12th Planet (amongst others), and who is a trained linguist proficient in ancient Near East languages including Sumerian, and another scholar, Lawrence Gardner, who wrote "Genesis of the Grail Kings" — both of whom believe that myriad stories telling of gods who descended to earth from the heavens — stories modern man calls "myths" are actual histories of superior beings that civilized our planet.

Article Author: Justene Adamec

Justene practices law in downtown LA. To chat about this or other topics, IM Justene.

Visit Justene Adamec's author page — Justene Adamec's Blog