Where the Alien Books Get It Wrong: 14 Claims Checked
Ancient-astronaut writers often quote things the texts do not say. The real text is usually stranger.
'Anunnaki means those who from heaven to earth came.'
Made by Zecharia Sitchin, The 12th Planet (1976)
What the text says: The name is Sumerian a-nun-na, usually read 'offspring of An' or 'princely seed'. No text translates it Sitchin's way.
Why the real text is better: The real meaning, 'children of the sky god', already says they came from above. You don't need the fake one.
'Nibiru is a twelfth planet with a 3,600-year orbit.'
Made by Sitchin
What the text says: In Enuma Elish, Nibiru is a 'crossing point' star tied to Marduk, usually Jupiter. The 3,600 comes from sar, a Sumerian number unit used for reign lengths, not an orbit.
Why the real text is better: The sar number is real and useful.
'The Anunnaki came to mine gold and made humans as slaves.'
Made by Sitchin
What the text says: Atrahasis has gods digging rivers and canals, not mining gold. The labor and the making of humans are real; the gold is added.
Why the real text is better: Keep the strike and the engineered worker. Drop the gold, or make it a cover story.
'The cylinder seal VA 243 shows our solar system with twelve planets.'
Made by Sitchin
What the text says: The symbol is a star with dots around it, not the Mesopotamian sun symbol. The inscription names the seal's owner and says nothing of planets.
Why the real text is better: A real seal at the Berlin museum.
'Shem in Genesis 11:4 means rocket.'
Made by Sitchin
What the text says: Shem means 'name' or 'reputation'. Babel's builders wanted to 'make us a name'.
Why the real text is better: Skip it.
'Nephilim means those who came down from the sky.'
Made by Common online claim
What the text says: Most scholars connect it to naphal, 'to fall'. So 'fallen ones' or 'those who fall on others' (attackers). Others think it's an Aramaic loanword for 'giants'.
Why the real text is better: 'The fallen' is already perfect for a story.
'The Mahabharata describes an atomic bomb brighter than ten thousand suns.'
Made by Popular books, 1960s on
What the text says: That quote is a modern paraphrase stitched from several places and does not appear in Ganguli's translation. The 'thousand suns' line is from the Bhagavad Gita 11:12 and describes Krishna's divine form, which Oppenheimer later quoted.
Why the real text is better: The real Brahmashira story (in the catalog) is scary enough without the fake quote.
'The Vaimanika Shastra is an ancient manual for building aircraft.'
Made by Popular books and videos
What the text says: It was dictated by Pandit Subbaraya Shastry between 1918 and 1923 and published in 1952. A 1974 Indian Institute of Science study found the designs could not fly.
Why the real text is better: Treat it as a 20th-century document with a mysterious author. That's still a good hook.
'The Tulli Papyrus records UFOs over Pharaoh Thutmose III.'
Made by 1950s UFO magazines
What the text says: No original papyrus has ever been shown. It traces to a transcript supposedly made from a papyrus that disappeared. Egyptologists treat it as a hoax.
'There is a helicopter carved in the Abydos temple.'
Made by Online images
What the text says: The shapes come from Seti I's hieroglyphs being plastered over and recarved with Ramesses II's titles. When the plaster fell, the two overlapped.
Why the real text is better: A palimpsest, one text written over another, is a great metaphor for this whole story.
'The Dendera reliefs show an electric light bulb.'
Made by Ancient-astronaut books
What the text says: The relief shows a lotus flower giving birth to a snake, a creation image, with a djed pillar. The inscriptions beside it explain it.
Why the real text is better: Skip it.
'The Emerald Tablets of Thoth are ancient.'
Made by Doreal (1930s)
What the text says: Written in the 1930s. The genuine ancient-ish Emerald Tablet is a short Arabic alchemy text about 'as above, so below'.
Why the real text is better: Use both: the real tablet and the modern one as a fictional forgery built on something true.
'Ezekiel saw a spaceship.'
Made by Josef Blumrich, The Spaceships of Ezekiel (1974)
What the text says: Ezekiel calls it 'visions of God' and the creatures match Babylonian winged guardians he would have seen in exile.
Why the real text is better: Blumrich was a real NASA engineer.
'Elohim is plural, so it means many aliens.'
Made by Common claim
What the text says: The noun is plural in form, but when it refers to Israel's God it takes singular verbs. When it means 'gods' generally, it takes plural verbs. Genesis 1:26's 'let us' is usually read as a heavenly council.
Why the real text is better: The council reading is solid scholarship and still gives you a group.
Questions people ask about Where the Alien Books Get It Wrong
What does Anunnaki mean?
The name is Sumerian a-nun-na, usually read 'offspring of An' or 'princely seed', An being the sky god. Zecharia Sitchin's reading, 'those who from heaven to earth came', is not how any text translates it.
Is there a helicopter carved in the Abydos temple?
No. Seti I's hieroglyphs were plastered over and recarved with Ramesses II's titles. When the plaster fell away, the two sets of signs overlapped and made shapes that look like machines. It is a palimpsest, one text written over another.
Does the Mahabharata describe an atomic bomb?
The famous 'brighter than ten thousand suns' quote is a modern paraphrase stitched from several places and does not appear in Ganguli's translation. The 'thousand suns' line is from Bhagavad Gita 11:12 and describes Krishna's divine form; Oppenheimer later quoted it.
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