Prometheus: Sumerian 'star-map' Tablet

leading from:  

Prometheus - The Return of the Space Jockey

and

Prometheus props

and

 Prometheus: Starmap motifs scattered through Earth's history

 and

Dr Zecheriah Sitchin 

 

a) A small square carved tablet used in Ridley Scott’s movie Prometheus. This tablet is briefly seen during the briefing scene which is held by Dr Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Dr Holloway (Logan-Marshall Green) where they explain the origin of the star map. The star map is shown to be the same throughout the historical evidence and leads them to mount the expedition to find the planet LV-223. This tablet is shown in the sequence to be Sumerian in origin dating from 3590 BCE and features heavily in the showcase.

Ancient Sumerian Engineer 'Star-Map' Tablet prop from Propstore.com

b) The lower section of the tablet features a large angel figure seated on a chair with the hind leg of a cloven footed beast and the arm of the chair going to the top of the back is shaped like a serpent. He is addressing a group of people with symbol etchings carved behind them. The characteristic ‘star map’ which is analysed during the film, can be seen on the top section above the crowd scene. The square tablet is made from hard cast resin which has been painted and detailed in orange stone effect and chipped to give an aged appearance. It is mounted on top of a long green screen pole which was edited out to give the tablet a suspended appearance when used in the production. This iconic tablet is in fantastic production used condition and measures 62cm x 25cm (24.5” x 10”) including the pole.

detail of  lower section of the actual tablet prop

c) The seated figure and the runes are based on the seated figure from a cylinder seal dating back to 2100BC, from Babylon in Souther Iraq. This seal is typical of the last century of the third and of the early second millennium BC. The scene is thought to depict Hashhamer being led by a lamma, before the seated king, and another lamma follows. And it's thought that possibly the king Ur-Nammu is bestowing governorship on on Ḫašḫamer, patesi (high priest) of Iškun-Sin. And then some have decided that the seated figure is Enzu or Sin the moon god, or if not, the moon god's presence takes on the form of the crescent moon. Ur-Nammu founded the Sumerian 3rd dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian and Gutian rule. After his death, his own son Shulgi proclaimed himself a god. However the seated figure has been given a circle around his head that might be like an angel halo or a goldfish bowl style helmet and a pair of angel like wings that are unlike the wings of most depiction Babylonian deities apart from one statue of the goddess Inanna known as The Burney relief however the figure of Inanna is not depicted from the side

Copy of an impression from a cylindor-seal. Ur-Gur, King of Ur, about
B.C. 2500 performing an act of worship before Enzu, or Sin, the Moon-God  
 (Babylonian Religion and Mythology by Leonard William King, (copy found at www.wisdomlib.org)

 

d) The same scene that depicted Ur-Nammu, but with the larger seated figure approached by smaller people numbering three with the first one leading the second finds itself replicated a thousand years later in another instance where now the large seated human has become much larger and represents the deity Shamash who was the Akkadian god of the sun and of justice, and in Sumerian his name was Utu.

Tablet sculptured with a scene representing the worship of the Sun-god in the Temple of Sippar.
860BC-850BC

e) Zecharia Sitchen made popular the idea of a certain ancient Sumerian tablets with large humanoid depicting giants who are extra terrestrials also shows the Solar System. He used an Akkadian cylinder seal now at the Vorderasiatische Abteilung of the State Museum in East Berlin catalogued as VA/423 to demonstrate his main idea, dating back to the 3rd Millenium BC. The image between the two heads of the men on the right showed some sort of an arrangement of heavenly bodies. It was Zechariah's assumption that there were the sun surrounded by the 11 planets of the solar system which included the planet that broke up where the asteroid belt is found today, and the 10th planet is the planet Nibiru that he understands is out there, rather than the 12th Planet as in the name of his book "The Twelfth Planet"

1. Relating to image A and B: Prometheus  Ancient Sumerian Engineer 'Star-Map' Tablet Stock # 27093
   
   A small square carved tablet used in Ridley Scott’s 2012 sci-fi adventure Prometheus. This tablet can be seen during the briefing scene which is held by Dr Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Dr Holloway (Logan-Marshall Green) where they explain the origin of the star map. The star map is shown to be the same throughout the historical evidence and leads them to mount the expedition to find the planet LV-223. This tablet is shown in the sequence to be Sumerian in origin dating from 3590 BCE and features heavily in the showcase.
   
   The lower section of the tablet features a large angel figure addressing a group of people with symbol etchings carved behind them. The characteristic ‘star map’ which is analysed during the film, can be seen on the top section above the crowd scene. The square tablet is made from hard cast resin which has been painted and detailed in orange stone effect and chipped to give an aged appearance. It is mounted on top of a long green screen pole which was edited out to give the tablet a suspended appearance when used in the production. This iconic tablet is in fantastic production used condition and measures 62cm x 25cm (24.5” x 10”) including the pole.
   
   This item comes with a Prop Store Certificate of Authenticity.  Item Location: United Kingdom
2. Relating to image C: Ur-Nammu (seated) bestows governorship on Ḫašḫamer, patesi (high priest) of Iškun-Sin (cylinder seal impression, ca. 2100 BC). Greenstone seal-(clay impression of the cylinder seal) of Hashhamer Governor of Ishkun-Sin. Third Dynasty of Ur, about 2100 BC, from Babylon, southern Iraq. Length: 5.28 cm Diameter: 2.87 cm. Obtained at Babylon some time before 1820 by John Hine and presented to the British Museum by C.D. Cobham by 188. British Museum, ME 89126, Room 56, Early Mesopotamia, case 20. This seal is typical of the last century of the third and of the early second millennium BC. The scene depicts Hashhamer being led by a lamma, before the seated king, and another lamma follows. The king is probably bestowing the governorship on Hashhamer. The accompanying inscription translates: "Ur-Nammu, the mighty hero, king of Ur; Ḫašḫamer, patesi of Iškun-Sin, his servant." ( Ancient Encyclopedia History)  
3. Relating to image D: Limestone tablet: the scene sculptured in relief at the head of the tablet represents Nabu-aplu-iddina being led by the priest Nabu-nadin-shum and the goddess Aa into the presence of the Sun-god, who is seated within Ebabbara. Before the god is the solar disc, resting upon an altar which is supported by ropes held by attendant deities, whose bodies spring from the roof of the shrine. In the field above the Sun-god, and within the shrine, are a lunar disc, a solar disc and an eight-pointed star, the symbols of Sin, Shamash and Ishtar. The god wears a horned headdress and carries the ringed rod in his right hand. The shrine is represented as resting on the heavenly ocean. The engraved text contains a record of Nabu-apla-iddina's re-endowment of the Sun-Temple at Sippar. The inscription is engraved in six columns, three upon the obverse and three upon the reverse; and the upper part of the obverse is occupied by a scene sculptured in low relief; the edges of the tablet are bevelled.(Source: www.britishmuseum.org/)
4. Relating to image D:Image: Scene from the so-called “Sun-god Tablet.” Nabū-pal-iddina, king of Babylon, about B.C. 900. performing an act of worship before Shamash, the Sun-god, who is scaled within his shrine in the temple ol Sippar. (British Museum, No. 12,137.)   (Babylonian Religion and Mythology by Leonard William King, (copy found at .wisdomlib.org)
5. Relating to image D: The Sun-god is seated on a throne within a pavilion holding in one hand a disk and bar which (like an Ankh in Egyptian) may symbolize eternity. Above his head are the three symbols of the Moon, the Sun, and the planet Venus. On a stand in front of the pavilion rests the disk of the Sun, which is held in position by ropes grasped in the hands of two divine beings who are supported by the roof of the pavilion. The pavilion of the Sun-god stands on the Celestial Ocean, and the four small disks indicate either the four cardinal points or the tops of the pillars of the heavens. The three figures in front of the disk represent the high priest of Shamash, the king (Nabu-aplu-iddina, about 870 B.C.) and an attendant goddess. [The Babylonian Legends of Creation]