Tracking Pre-Flood History Via "The King’s List"

By James Donahue

There is a complex document found on various clay tablets in the ancient ruins of the Middle East known as The King’s List. It is allegedly a complete history of humanity from origins that appear to date back thousands of years.

There are problems with the list, however. Found sometimes in fragments on the hundreds of thousands of clay tablets uncovered by archaeologists in the ground once occupied by the great Sumerian civilization where Iraq now exists, the list is not consistent and difficult to interpret and understand.

The other problem is that the list names kings, or possibly gods that reined for thousands of years. It is hard to believe that mere humans lived that long, even though the Bible’s early genealogy speaks of the first humans living hundreds of years. And the Bible story begins very low on the historical record offered by The King’s List.

The very first listed king is Alorus, or An, or Anu, who ruled for 162,000 years beginning about 433,578 BC. Some Bible scholars suggest that this person was Adam in the Book of Genesis, but there is no reference to anybody with this name in the ancient text.

The story then speaks of the appearance of the dynasties and five great pre-flood cities named Eridug, Bad-tibira, Larag, Zimbir and Curuppag, from which the next "God’s" ruled. The exact locations of these cities remain unknown since they were located on a land that existed prior to the Great Flood when the world looked very different.

Following Alorus came Alulim, whose kingship was said to have "descended from heaven." He ruled for the next 28,800 years. After this a second king, Alaljar ruled for another 36,000 years. After 64,800 years under the rein of these two kings, Eridug fell and the power moved to Bad-tibira. According to the list, this happened at about the year 206,778 BC.

The Bad-tiberian dynasty lasted for 108,000 years. The first king was Enmenluana, who ruled for 43,200 years, followed by Enmengalana, who remained in power for 28,800 years, and finally Dumuzid, the shepherd, who ruled for another 36,000 years. Then Bad-tibira fell and the power moved to Larag.

There are two versions of the Larag dynasty, which lasted 28,800 years under a single ruler. One story spells the name Larag, the other spells it Larak. The Larag version names the king Ensipadzidana. The Larak story spells it Ensipazianna. That the names sound alike and are spelled almost the same strongly suggests that the scribes who recorded the stories had problems with spelling. This kingdom fell in about 69,978 BC and was moved to Zimpir.

The other possibility is that there may have been two separate kingdoms or governments at that time, and they were ruled by two separate powers with similar names. The problem with this theory, however, is that both dynasties failed at exactly the same time, which suggests they were either referring to the same story or some catastrophic event occurred that caused a mass extinction and/or destruction of organized government everywhere.

Also, while the rulers were identified on the list as "kings," there is nothing to suggest that the people or "gods" sitting in power during these times were necessarily males.

In the Zimbir story the king was named Enmendurana who ruled for 21,000 years. When the Zimbir dynasy fell the power was moved to Curuppag. In the Sippar story a ruler named Enmenduranna remained in power for 21,000 years. After that the power moved to Shuruppak.

Whether the dynasty existed in Zimbir or Sippar, the records point to the sign that something important was occurring through divine revelation. There was worship of a sun god named Utu and a god of justice, apparently named Shamash. The kings (or queens) looked to signs and omens before making major decisions.

When Zimbir and/or Sippar fell, the time line is marked at 48,978 BC. We should note that the list is strangely exact about the year.

It is at this point where we begin finding references to several kings and multiple cities. There appears to have been a marked change in human affairs in the world. We also find names linked to ancient flood stories, thus there seems to be some kind of overlapping of historical events appearing on the King's Lists.

The names of the final dynasties are Curuppag and Shuruppak. A third spelling appears as Uruppak. It is obvious that they are the same place. During its existence from 48,978 to 30,378, the alleged year of the great flood, the king was Ubaratutu who ruled for 18,600 years. Ziusudra, possibly the son of Ubaratutu, appars is some Sumarian legends as the hero of the flood. Some perceive him as the Sumerian version of the Noah story.