Question: Ask The Nuwaupians About VA 243?
Answer: They'll have no idea.
Taking down the Pseudos, one article at a time is becoming a full time chore, as with the case of Zecharia Sitchin and his doctrine-devoted follower, Malachi York, who were guilty of passing on Quack-Archaeology better known as Pseudo Scholarship to their followers, with revenue being the primary goal by way of book sales. Throughout the 1990's, York would plagiarize, reinterpret and assimilate his version of Zecharia Sitchin's works into his own publications. The intent of this article is to present evidence that refutes the misinformation contained in the narratives of both Sitchin & York with regards to VA 243.
What Is VA 243?
VA 243 is a cylinder seal that's housed in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin, Germany. The Vorderasiatisches museum is an archaeological museum located in the south wing basement section of the Pergamon Museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art and ancient artifacts.
Cylinder Seals are a small, barrel-shaped stone object with holes in the center and an incised design or cuneiform inscription. There are literally thousands of cylinder seals known and deciphered, the Pergamon Museum alone holds 2,000 cylinder seals. Sumerians used cylinder seals to sign legal and other administrative documents. It was originally rolled on clay when soft to indicate ownership or to authenticate a document and was used mainly in Mesopotamia from the late 4th to the 1st millennium BC.
The VA 243 cylinder seal is under inventory number VA 00243. The seal is brownish in color, made of serpentine and dates back to the Akkadian period (ca. 2350 - 2150 BC). According to the museum's brief description, the seal depicts an enthroned deity with a plough in the raised hand of another deity facing him, who introduces a worshiper carrying a lamb. Between the introducing deity and the worshiper, in the top register, there is a star surrounded by globes of various sizes.
The inscription and legend of VA 243 seal is very simple in Akkadian, the name dub-si-ga and "your servant" arad-zu, that should be the end of the topic because the text tells you what it's talking about, but unfortunately you have to go much deeper and debunk the Pseudoism associated with this seal.
It will be explored in greater detail later in this article.
What Exactly is VA-00243 About?
Here's what we know; it makes a strong reference to agriculture for the most part. There's an Akkadian god with an apparent agricultural worker being guided by a lower ranked god, with the central image being a plough.
The creation of the plough is believed to date to the 4th millennium BC. Once created, the plough catalyzed an agricultural boom, resulting in the large production of grains, mainly barley. Since the most abundant crops in Mesopotamia were barley and emmer wheat, the Mesopotamian daily diet mainly consisted of cereals. With their vast amounts of cereals, Mesopotamians made bread, burghul (boiled whole grains), semolina (a dish that closely resembles soups), and cakes. Some of the breads that were made were very large, while others were small. Bread was made in special shapes, such as a "heart, head, hand, ear, and as a women's breast".
Once the plough was created, agriculture became cultivated at an unprecedented level, making cereals more abundant. According to Assyriologist Samuel N. Kramer; it was the Sumerian rulers who helped to catalyze the agricultural boom.
The popularity or consciousness in western thought of VA 243 comes by way of the trained Economist and Political scientist turned author Zecharia Sitchin with the release of his first novel in 1976 called the 12th Planet. It was promoted as a book alleged to explain human origins by way of the Ancient Astronaut theory, conflated with various biblical creation narratives. His foundation theory was based his interpretation of VA 243 where he asserts, among other things, that the seal contains a description of our solar system and that's totally false.
" In the ruins of Sumerian cities excavated by archaeologists...There are texts specifically dealing with the Solar System. There are texts among the unearthed tablets that list the planets orbiting the Sun in their correct order; one text even gives the distances between the planets.And there are illustrations on cylinder seals depicting the Solar System, as the one shown in Plate B that is at least 4,500 years old and that is now kept in the Near Eastern Section of the State Museum in East Berlin, catalogued under number VA/243. If we sketch the illustration appearing in the upper left-hand comer of the Sumerian depiction we see a complete Solar System in which the Sun (not Earth!) is in the center, orbited by all the planets we know of today. "
York would go on to parrot Sitchin's assertions, and like Sitchin, York would never present any substantive information about this particular cylinder seal outside of Sitchin's claims of it being a depiction of planets in this solar system. Sitchin wrote that the Sumerians knew of a "12th" planet, yet there's nothing mentioned in the VA 243 cylinder seal text of 12 planets. The Mesopotamians only mentioned 5 planets in total not twelve. Neither Sitchin nor York has ever cited a Sumerian text that mentions 12 planets by name for verification.
The Meosoptamians only left records of (5) planets as mentioned in the Mul.Apin and Enuma Anu Enlil astronomy tablets, but NOWHERE on the VA 243 cylinder seal is there any mention of planetary names, and that's an important detail in Sumero/Akkadian art and iconography. So why would Sitchin and his secret follower Malachi York mention names not written on the cylinder seal?
Mesopotamian Names Of Planets:
1. Sihtu: dUdu.idim.gu.4.ud, MulNa.bu.u2 = Mercury
2. Sihtu: dUdu.idim.gu4.ud, Gu4.ud, MulNa.bu.u2, Dumu.Lugal = Mars
3. dDil.bat: MulDil.bat, dU.Dar, dIs.htar = Venus
4. Sag.me.gar: Mul dMarduk. Mul Lugal, Mul Ud.al.tar Mul Neberu = Jupiter
5. Kajam anu: dNin.urta, MulUdu.idim.sag.us, MulSag.us = Saturn
source: MUL-APIN
Malachi York bases his entire argument and theory of Nibiru/Anunnaki on the Sitchin interpretation of the VA 243 cylinder seal, claiming that it's showing 12 planets. There's literally hundreds of Sumerian astronomical seals and calendars that have been decoded and recorded, with a complete count of planets consisting of only five, however the VA 243 cylinder seal isn't focused on astronomy. Below is a photo taken directly from the exhibit VA 00243, claimed to be a depiction of the sun and what is proposed to be Nibiru. Notice that the cuneiform text on the left is repeated on the right and neither mentions planets.
Below is a popular black and white photo copy.
The cylinder seal VA 243 has dots that York (following behind Sitchin) claims are 12 planets, yet neither have taken the time to authenticate what the seals says for what it says, and this is typical with pseudo scholars. The scene is that of a worshipper being guided by a divine attendant who is presenting him before a supreme deity where the man offers the plough to the deity.
The seed plough was an invention of the Sumerians and is displayed prominently in various cylindrical seals, in addition to the VA-243. It's known as a {Δiš}apin, this being a wooded (seed) plough, and can easily be found in Sumerian literature.
Example:
318: Δiš apin Δiš sudul2 erin-bi si ba-an-sa2
319: nun gal den den-ki-ke4 gud si-par4 us2-a ba-an-sum2
320: ab-sin2 kug-ge ka ba-an-du8
321: gan2-ne2
"He organized ploughs, yokes and teams. The great prince Enki bestowed the horned oxen that followed the....tools, he opened up the holy furrows, and made the barley grow on cultivated fields."
Enki and the World Order (ETCSL)
Sumerian and Akkadian linguistic experts who have translated the seal has indicated that it states the following.
(your/his servant)
Dubsiga's cylinder seal [presented before a] god [by] his servant [second deity].
If the VA 243 cylinder seal is depicting multiple planets or (12) then how does the plough fit within the narrative if it's about planets? Neither York nor Sitchin has ever attempted to explain what the cuneiform writings were saying with regards to the seal. They placed the focus on the configuration of what looks like a six pointed star with several dots said to be planets, it is with this configuration on VA 243 that is the core of York's faith, in Sitchin's fraudulent work. Below are Zecharia Sitchin's views on VA 243 of which York would later pass on to his followers with slight innovations.
" In the ruins of Sumerian cities excavated by archaeologists...There are texts specifically dealing with the Solar System. There are texts among the unearthed tablets that list the planets orbiting the Sun in their correct order; one text even gives the distances between the planets. And there are illustrations on cylinder seals depicting the Solar System, as the one shown in Plate B that is at least 4,500 years old and that is now kept in the Near Eastern Section of the State Museum in East Berlin, catalogued under number VA/243. If we sketch the illustration appearing in the upper left-hand corner of the Sumerian depiction we see a complete Solar System in which the Sun (not Earth!) is in the center, orbited by all the planets we know of today...The answer lies in the second difference between the Sumerian depiction of the Solar System (fig. 6a) and our present knowledge of it (fig. b). It is the inclusion of a large planet in the empty space between Mars and Jupiter. We are not aware of any such planet; but the Sumerian cosmological, astronomical, and historical texts insist that indeed exist one more planet in our Solar System- its twelfth member: they included The Host of Heaven 19 the Sun, the Moon (which they counted as a celestial body in its own right for reasons stated in the texts), and ten, not nine, planets.
It was the realization that a planet the Sumerian texts called NIBIRU ('planet of the Crossing') was neither Mars nor Jupiter, as some scholars have debated, but another planet that passes between them every 3,600 years that gave rise to my first book's title, the 12th planet--the planet which is the 'twelth member' of the Solar System (although technically it is, as a planet, only the tenth). It was from that planet, the Sumerian texts repeatedly and persistently stated, that the ANUNNAKI came to Earth. The term literally means "Those Who from Heaven to Earth Came."
They are spoken of in the Bible as the Anakim, and in Chapter 6 of Genesis are also called Nefilim, which in Hebrew means the same thing: Those Who Have Come Down, from the Heavens to Earth. And it was from the Anunnaki, the Sumerians explained— as though they had anticipated our questions—that they had learnt all they knew. The advanced knowledge we find in Sumerian texts is thus, in effect, knowledge that was possessed by the Anunnaki who had come from Nibiru; and theirs must have been a very advanced civilization, because as I have surmised from the Sumerian texts, the Anunnaki came to Earth about 445,000 years ago.
Way back then they could already travel in space. Their vast elliptical orbit made a loop—this is the exact translation of the Sumerian term—around all the outer planets, acting as a moving observatory from which the Anunnaki could investigate all those planets. No wonder that what we are discovering now was already known in Sumerian times. Why anyone would bother to come to this speck of matter we call Earth, not by accident, not by chance, not once but repeatedly, every 3,600 years, is a question the Sumerian texts have answered. On their planet Nibiru, the Anunnaki/Nefilim were facing a situation we on Earth may also soon face: eco- logical deterioration was making life increasingly impossible.
-Zecharia Sitchin: Genesis Revisited-Is Modern Science Catching Up with Ancient Knowledge pg. 15-20
Nothing in the above that Sitchin wrote is factual, and defiantly not supported via any Sumerian text. I have underlined several key points from Sitchin's arguments. All anyone has to do is ask Sitchin followers, or even York's followers; why are there no Sumerian tablets mentioning and supporting their claims? They offer compelling talking points, however it's only significant to those unfamiliar with the stories told by the various πΎπ¬ dub-sar "scribes" of Mesopotamia. Take notice of the fact that Sitchin does NOT attempt to read, transliterate or translate the cylinder seal VA-00243, it's just his interpretations alone.
Again the seal places a focus on agricultural images and animal sacrifice via the iconography featuring a plough, goat, mountains, and daggers. It's important to note; many of the early translations have since been expanded and improved; William Hayes Ward in his book The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia makes it more plausible and verifiable relying on the language, rather than exclusively the images. Ward's drawings of VA-243 in 1910 recognized the image of the plow and sacrificial goat below are his assessments of VA-00243.
With all that's said and/or interpreted in the above, there's no mention of planets in any of those early translations. Sitchin uses this same exact drawing by Ward, and knew Ward's interpretation made no mention of Nibiru, thus Sitchin openly deceived his readers and followers.
Anto Moortgat (1940), was a renowned Akkadian scholar, he read the three text boxes as Dubsiga Ill-illat, ir-su. These he translated as, DUBSIGA ILI-ILLAT (your servant), but NO mentioning of planets in the text.
Michael Heiser PhD offered commentary that helps in part to support the analysis from an email correspondence he had with cylinder seal expert Dr. Rudi Mayr whose dissertation was on cylinder seals. He's done several research papers and books translating cylinder seals and commented on the VA 00243 inscription.
The seated figure is a god; the 'flounced' garment is normal for deities (though kings start wearing them a little later); deities also have the distinctive headdress. Most scholars call it a 'horned' headdress, but I've always thought it looked more like flames than horns. Ancient texts often refer to deities having a bright shining, brilliant aspect; they don't mention horns...The introduction figure also has the 'horns' of divinity
-Dr. Rudi Mayr
The cylinder seal depicts a Akkadian god, with an apparent agricultural worker or leader being guided by a lower ranked god, with the central image being a plough. The creation of the plough is believed to date to the 4th millennium B.C. Once created, the plough opened an agricultural explosions', resulting in the large production of grains, mainly barley. Since the most abundant crops in Mesopotamia were barley and emmer wheat, the Mesopotamian daily diet mainly consisted of cereals. With their vast amounts of cereals, Mesopotamians made bread, burghul (boiled whole grains), semolina (a dish that closely resembles soup), and cakes.
According to Sumerologist Samuel N. Kramer; it was the Sumerian ruler who helped to catalyze the agricultural boom.
For more information on VA-00243, visit the Vorderasiatisches Museum website ID No. VA 00243
The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia by William Hayes Ward
West Asian Cylinder Seals by Assyryologist Anton Moortgat page 101
Sitchiniswrong.com by Dr. Michael Heiser
The Figure of the Worshiper in the Presentation Scene by Ruudi Mayr
Sitchin asserted that another planet passes between Mars and Jupiter every 3,600 years, that the Sumerians called Nibiru, this is a claim without evidence, and as shown and proven throughout this article, Nibiru is not a Sumerian word period, so Sitchin was indeed wrong and so were all his contemporaries subsequent to the release of his publications making that claim.
Sitchin's first book The 12th Planet was written in 1976, in the direct aftermath of the last Apollo Moon landing in December 1972, this was at a time when Rockets was all the rage and the only believed means for interplanetary travel. This would probably explain Sitchin's assumptions that the Anunnaki/Nephilim would travel to Earth via rockets, a belief popularize by Ancient Alien advocates like Eric von Daniken with his documentary and book Chariots of the Gods. In contrast, today's Ancient Alien theorist who grew up on Star Trek post 1980's and the Star Gate series, these modern proponents would suggest that Aliens used Star Gates, traveling faster than the speed of light, rather than the out dated Apollo rockets.
Sitchin (and by default Malachi York), their arguments that the Sumerians knew there were more planets, including Nibiru was based solely on VA-243. Two individuals are shown making an offering to a seated god or King. Above them is what Sitchin claims is the sun surrounded by eleven globes, representing the nine planets, the moon and Nibiru. This so-called cluster of planets is a claim easily made, anyone can come up with a conclusion of their choice by simply looking at it, just as some have theorized that in addition to other stars, the VA-243 cylinder seal also shows the unmistakable three stars of Orion's belt.
Unfortunately for advocates of that theory, it's more fantasy, rather than reality.
The symbol for the sun was a circle with four points or arms with wavy lines between them inside a larger circle, while the symbol for other stars was a circle with six, seven or eight arms with no wavy lines. There is no Sumerian nor any other ancient text that supports those beliefs. Below is cylinder seal An Adab To Ninurta for Lipit-Estar (Lipit-Estar D) which is from the collection of the Walters Art Museum. It's very similar in appearance to VA 243. It shows what's clearly a sun (a circle with 4 points and wavy lines), yet it's not speaking of planets. So it's disingenuous for people like Sitchin to take a cylinder seal, claim that it's depicting the solar system (12 planets) yet ignore the text which informs the reader about the seal and possibly what it's saying.
The text reads from left to right,
LUGAL KA-GI-UL
DUB-SAR
DUMU UR-DINGIR-RA
Lugal Kagiul, scribe, son of Urdingirra.
The seal it's self displays a scene where the Lugal (king) is led to a sitting deity by a goddess. Neither this cylinder seal, nor the VA-243 makes any mention about Nibiru, planets or rocket ships. The Sumerians, Akkadians and Babylonians only mention (5) planets as mentioned in π― π³ Mul.Apin and Enuma Anu Enlil tablets.
1. Sihtu: dUdu.idim.gu.4.ud, MulNa.bu.u2 = Mercury
2. Sihtu: dUdu.idim.gu4.ud, Gu4.ud, MulNa.bu.u2, Dumu.Lugal = Mars
3. dDil.bat: MulDil.bat, dU.Dar, dIs.htar = Venus
4. Sag.me.gar: Mul dMarduk. Mul Lugal, Mul Ud.al.tar Mul Neberu = Jupiter
5. Kajam anu: dNin.urta, MulUdu.idim.sag.us, MulSag.us = Saturn
MUL-APIN
If the VA 243 cylinder seal is depicting multiple planets or "12", then how does the plough fit within the narrative? Neither York nor Sitchin has ever attempted to explain what the cuneiform writing was saying in the seal. Their focus was on the configuration of what looks like a six pointed star with several dots said to be planets. In York's book, Does Religion Breed Ignorance, he writes,
How Does The Six Pointed Star Tie Into The Sumerians?
Ans: It is not known to many. The six pointed star is not a Jewish star. The six pointed star, Mogan David is the symbol of the sun and is found on tablets in cuneiform. It has a circle in the center of it, and has the planets around it as shown in the picture on page 44.
In another book, York writes a similar passage,
"The Sumerians of thousands of years ago knew about the solar system and the amount of planets that circled the sun. It was not always 9 as many people believed. The carving that is located at a museum in East Berlin, Germany called the Vorderasiastische Atbeilung of the state museum depicts a large group of 11 globes encircling a large star or sun which is clearly the solar system."
-Malachi York: Nibiru And The Anunnaqi Fact Or Fiction? pg. 83
And finally in another book, he writes,
"The Anunnaqi came to the Sumerians and gave them advanced information on the creation of the solar system and all the planets in and out of this solar system, they also taught them how to build great cities, farming and how to build crafts that could fly in the air. "
-Malachi York: Mission Earth And The Extraterrestrial Involvement pg. 13
In the above, we see York holding the Sitchin position that the image represents the solar system with 12 celestial bodies. The images presented by Sitchin and York with names of planets are ridiculous exaggerations, and both mention planets that were not known nor found on any Mesopotamian text.
Here we see York holding the Sitchin position that the above image represents the solar system with 12 planetary bodies. The images presented by Sitchin and York with names of planets are ridiculous exaggerations, and both mention planets that were not known nor found on any Mesopotamian text. Nowhere do you see anything mentioning Neberu (Nibiru). The problem with both Sitchin and York is their lack of offering corroboration and verification, meaning, the object claimed by both is supposed to be a sun, this becomes problematic when they offer nothing to support the premise. We have to agree that if the interpretation of VA 243 is NOT the sun, then the entire foundation collapses, and that's exactly the case. The Sumerians and Akkadians were very knowledgeable with regards to celestial bodies, and recorded what they could see, this is well documented in the tablets called, Mul.Apin. The Mesopotamians have documented their observations of the sun, the moon, as well as other planets, and depicted them many times anthropomorphically as deities.
Example
The symbol below was usually how the Mesopotamians depicted the sun. The Sun-Disk was written by a sumerogram "as.me" and in Akkadian as, "bariru; samsaru", a deity, "Utu" (Sumerian) "Samas" (Akkadian) represented by Shamash or Utu. It was usually artistically shown as a central circle with 4 points in the form of wavy lines (but NOT always with wavy lines). Less common names for the sun are dGIS.NU according to Assyryologist (Borger 1981:123) as well as a term usually meaning "a lamp + light tool + light "
(Ref: John A. Halloran 1999 Lexicon)
The above symbol was usually how the Sumerians depicted the sun which is not what Sitchin and York claims the sun to be.
In cuneiform, they're seen and read in various ways, for instance;
For those unfamiliar with symbols in transliteration, the {d} is Dingir, as a determinative or classifyer, it's used to represent a deity/god. The symbol York and Sitchin claimed as the sun, does not reflect what the Mesopotamians have indicated throughout their iconography of the sun.
Below is the actual Babylonian Kudurru Stone relief, which was a stone document used as a boundary stone as records of land grants to Vassals by the Kassites in ancient Babylon between the 16th and 12th centuries BCE, and you can clearly see the unmistakable sun disk with the wavy lines, distinguished from a star and the moon depiction.
Above are the representations of the Moon, Star and Sun, taken from "The Babylonian Kudurru Reliefs" plate 19 group 4 relief B. In regards to the sun and stars, the Sumerians used the term "MUL" (Mu+UL = ornament of the sky) for both. In the MUL.APIN, we can find many lines where an object is referred to as a MUL, sometimes indicating a planet, sometimes a star. But you won't find the sun depicted in the form of a six-pointed star as the VA 243 shows. As the Akkadian cuneiform system is mainly syllabic, it allows the same word to be written in several ways. E.g. "star" kakkabu could be written with a sumerogram MUL, but it could also be written differently by syllables: kak-ka-bu, ka-ak-ka-bu, ka-ka-bu, and mu-ul
EXAMPLE:
"dish mul-udu- Idim-Gu ud An-e Bar-ma Gub-ma d-Neberu shum-shu"
"if Mercury crosses the sky and stops, it is Neberu"
(describing the planet Mercury)
In 2020, we're aware of the fact that STARS are SUNS, but this understanding was NOT known to the ancient Sumerians and Akkadians, which is why they depicted suns and stars separately with separate levels of luminosity. The cluster of dots and the star in VA 243 is viewed from a Mesopotamian perspective, and not 2020 astronomy. The first person known to come up with the idea that stars are really suns, just seen from different distances, was Anaxagoras, in circa 450 B.C. later, Aristarchus, around 220 B.C.
Example:
(courtesy of Michael Heiser Sitchiniswrong.com)
Each planet can be connected to a deity, and planets can be seen with various determinatives or classifiers such as d-UDU-IDIM or MUL-BI- IB-BU. Bibbu in it's self means "wild sheep"; while fixed stars are peacefully pasturing flocks, planets as "traveling".
(Kugler 1907:293)
A popular planet well known to the Sumerians was dSag.me.gar, known in Akkadian as Neberu (Nibiru) can also be seen on the relief, the Constellations of Hydra and Leo, as depicted on an astrological tablet of the Seleucid era. You can clearly see the 8 pointed star on the left named dSagmegar (Jupiter) also called mul-d-marduk or NI-BI-RU.
Most Assyriologist will agree that the dots in VA 243 represent star constellations or clusters. The most frequent constellation in Mesopotamian artistic astronomy is that of the Pleiades. It's safe to conclude from the evidence left by the Mesopotamians, that dots can depict stars as well as constellations as we see below.
The image above has a crescent moon, a sun next to a star with 7 points with smaller stars having 6 points, with other stars lacking points and according to Assyriologist, it's a usual representation of the Pleiades. The Pleiades are frequently depicted as seven dots or seven stars, this is not to suggest that the circular objects are depictions of the Pleiades they are not, in fact the Sumerians and Akkadians didn't usually depict planets as orbs, neither did they with Earth. Based on all of the available evidence from Mesopotamian sources, the Sumerians and Akkadians understood the universe as consisting of superimposed levels separated by open space. From the above, to below, the levels were: a region of heaven above the sky where the gods of heaven dwelled, the starry sky, the Earth's surface, the subterranean waters of Apsu, and finally the underworld of the dead.
The above illustration diagram of the layers that make up the universe should spark some serious question, one being, we know the Sumerian thought the earth to be FLAT, that being the case, how and why would the depictions in Sitchin's cluster of planets on VA-243 show orbs rather than 12 flat object?
The Babylonians, on the other hand, according to one tablet showing what's termed "Map of the World" also regarded the earth as a flat disc, with the salt sea surrounding it. If one wanted to refer to them as Flat Earthers, yes, that would be accurate. The so-called Map of the World is a misnomer for two central reasons. One is, there's no title on the tablet (it may have eroded away over time), and the other reason is, the Sumerians, Akkadians and Babylonians were flat Earth believers. In looking over the terms for the various "countries alone, "Armenia" is not one of them as various articles online will mention. Each name are general English and/or Hebrew renditions, however when looking over the text, you can see the Akkadian terms which explains in dept the view of the land as opposed to the planet as a whole, unless one wants to say the Mesopotamian world view.
The Pleiades are among the most important of stars. They're known in Sumerian as 'The Stars' (Mul.Mul), while their Akkadian name, 'The Bristle' (zappu), links them to the imaginary and cultural milieu of the 'Bull of Heaven' constellation (Taurus), to which they belong. In fact, the Sumerian ideogram for "seven", if preceded by the determinative for a deity (d-IMIN-BI), can be used as an alternative name for the Pleiades...The Pleiades are among the few celestial bodies that received specific prayers dedicated to them.
(Lorenzo Verderame)
If the Pleiades [enter the moon]: the land will perish all together; a month will pass, the enemy [...] Elam.
If the Pleiades enter the moon [and] come out towards the north: Akkad will become happy; the king of Akkad will become strong and will have no rival.
-The north winds blows.
Since the moon entered the Pleiades, the north wind is blowing. The morning watch (means) Elam; this is bad for the enemy.
If the Pleiades are elongated: the field will produce a yield.
-At the conjunction of the moon [(the Pleiades) go in front].
May the lord of kings be eve[rlasting]!
From Asare[du] the y[ounger].
Neo-Assyrian Astrological Report (SAA VIII.351)
The seven dots representing stars of the Pleiades are commonly depicted in regular, symmetrical pattern. The Pleiades are sometimes represented by stars, NOT blank dots. The globes on VA 243 do NOT form a regular pattern, they're randomly scattered around the central star. And if they were the planets of our solar system, then we would no doubt find other iconography depictions in previous or post VA 243 imagery.
While the seven stars of the Pleiades are always represented by dots OR globes of EQUAL SIZE, the globes on VA 243 in contrast, demonstrate significant variations in sizes, from a tiny orb in the top right hand corner, to the larger ones to the left of the central star. This random pattern isn't how the known planets (nine) are in space. Keep in mind that the Mesopotamians ONLY documented FIVE, thus VA could in no way be referring to "12 planets".
Malachi York wrote very little about VA 243 directly, instead, he relied on the misguided teachings of Zecharia Sitchin, rewording and placing his spin on it, however as you can see, the cylinder seal that both claimed as the sun with various planets surrounding it, isn't supported by any known primary sources from any Mesopotamians text, artistic depictions, linguistic or astronomical calculations, just Pseudo Archaeology from two skillful and deceptive career con men.
References:
The Earliest History of the Constellations in the Near East and the Motif of the Lion-Bull Combat, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 24, pages 1-16
MUL.APIN: An Astronomical Compendium in Cuneiform, F. Berger, Horn Hunger, H. & Pingree, D.E., 1999
Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 48, pages 83-101 Koch, J., 2009, Hatten die Pleiades (MUL.MUL.) mit dem aBuckelstierO (MulGU4.AN.NA = Taurus) der Babylonier zu tun Nouvelles Assyriologiques BrZves et Utilitares
Pleiades Perceived
MUL.MUL to Subaru
Journal of American Oriental Society 108, pages, 1-25
Lorenzo Verderame - Pleiades in Ancient Mesopotamia (08/13/12), Abstract SEAC conference Rome 2015
Pearls of the Past: Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honor of Frances Pinnock
An Illustrated Dictionary Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia by Jeremy Black and Anthony Green page 52
