All language subtitles for Ancient Civilizations Series 1 01of10 Searching for the Garden of Eden 1080p

>> We have to know where we
come from if we're going to have

a clear idea of
where we're going.

If we have illusions and false
ideas about who and what we are

and how we got here,
then that illusory state

is just going to
continue into the future.

We need to understand the
forces that were involved

in shaping the modern world.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

>> Ancient Sumeria.

According to
mainstream scholars,

this is the birthplace of
civilization as we know it.

The birthplace of religion, the
first science, the first war,

and the first written word.

Now all that is
left is a message

buried beneath the sand.

>> It's one of Iraq's most
famous archaeological sites,

rising from the desert near
Nasiriyah in the southeast.

The Ziggurat of Ur, a massive,
4,000-year-old temple pyramid,

and the surrounding ruins
of an ancient Sumerian city.

>> Archaeologists and scholars
have been piecing evidence

together for centuries in
this area of the world,

hoping to prove the biblical
stories of the Garden of Eden.

>> Most people think, well,
we're interested in the Middle

East because of the oil.

And there's a lot
of truth to that.

But at the same
time, you're going

to find people who are very
interested in these different

esoteric philosophies, like
the Freemasons in government,

the Christians in government.

All of these people have
long had a strong interest

and also believe that there
may be some kind of power

or some sort of connection
there that if you make it,

it empowers you in some way.

>> What kind of power could
these groups have if they could

prove how humanity started?

The search for
something more powerful

than our own current reality
isn't a modern concept,

but rather an ongoing
search for the location

of the Garden of Eden,
the proverbial beginning.

>> There's been a fixation
amongst biblical scholars,

early archaeologists that
everything in the Middle East

began on the Euphrates
and the Tigris,

down in what is
today lower Iraq.

And that this is where
the Garden of Eden was,

this was where everything
emerged, good and bad

in the Genesis tradition.

>> In 1922, English
archaeologist C.

Leonard Woolley went to
southern Iraq to hopefully find

the Garden of Eden based on
early discoveries of Sumerian

cuneiforms.

However, what he actually
uncovered instead

was the exact location of the
ancient Sumerian city of Ur.

Was he getting close?

>> The early archaeologists
were trying to prove the Bible.

And they were funded
by biblical societies.

And that's-- in other words,
they had to come up with

the proof.

And it ignored a lot of
legends and traditions

which suggested that these
cities were elsewhere.

>> Could Woolley have ignored
some important information that

was revealed several
years before?

In 1849, almost
75 years earlier,

thousands of Sumerian cuneiforms
were found northwest of Ur

at the ancient cities
of Sippar and Nippur.

>> In 1849, Henry Layard
performed many excavations

on the Sippar site and
discovered about 20,000

tablets, Sumerian and Akkadian.

And amongst all the tablets
discovered, about a dozen

of them are about
the Garden of Eden.

>> Could this be the location
of the Garden of Eden,

or was this just another clue
leading researchers to another

location?

>> Subsequent cultures,
whether the Assyrians;

whether the Babylonians, who
rose to prominence in that

area; who were not Sumerians,
nevertheless venerated

and highly valued everything
that the Sumerians did.

And that's why we can read
the Sumerian language,

because those
later cultures made

a project of taking
Sumerian texts

and translating them
into their language.

And those are languages
that the scholars

could read because they
were Semitic languages.

They belong to a
language family where

the code could be cracked.

Whereas Sumerian was an isolate.

And without those
translations done

by later cultures who
nevertheless had contact

with Sumer, we would not be
able to read those Sumerian

texts at all.

>> Were these later cultures
able to decipher the beginning

of humanity?

Sumero-Akkadian
researcher and author

of eight books regarding
Sumerian translation, Anton

Parks, believes that
for hundreds of years,

we have been translating
these tablets wrong.

>> [SPEAKING FRENCH]

>> Gary Zeitler, who is
a scientist who worked

on the SETI project for many
years and collaborated with

NASA, he was very interested
in the Sumerian translations.

And he provided me with these
10 tablets found at Sippar

to check symbols one-by-one.

I noticed one translation
saying one thing and the other

saying sometimes the
complete opposite.

The true translations
did not comply.

I persistently did
research on Hebrew,

but nothing was
coming out of it.

And then completely
by chance, I came

across a
Sumero-Akkadian lexicon.

And this is when I
could finally, slowly

start to translate the tablets.

>> What Anton Parks began to
translate was a completely

different version of the
Garden of Eden than we've heard

before.

Not only had the words
been mistranslated,

the actual location
had been overlooked.

>> In biblical text, we
constantly read about this idea

of heaven or paradise.

This comes from the
Greek paradeisos.

And this literally means
"enclosure for wild animals,"

not paradise, a term that was
later transcribed as "garden"

during the Hellenistic era.

If we go back to the original
translation in the Sumerian

tablets, it says, "the
men who serve the gods

work for them in the garden
and are treated like animals."

It is a very clear
and recurrent theme.

They are slaves who serve
the divine community.

In Hebraic text, we understand
that the humans seemed happy

in this so-called paradise,
which is, in fact, more

like a concentration camp,
according to Sumerian text.

In my translations,
we also discovered

the word "Kharsag,"
which translated

to "city of the gods."

It's interesting that all
the highest points in Turkey

are named "Karadag," which
strangely resembles "Kharsag."

Karadag translates
to Black Mountain,

and also refers to the
highest mountains in Turkey.

The only summit with
the name Karadag

that is close to
the Mesopotamian

plain and tributary
of the Tigris,

and only a few kilometers
from the Euphrates,

stands 29 kilometers
south of the city Sirte,

and 19 kilometers southwest
of the city of Ur.

Is this the paradise described
in the Sumerian text?

>> Jerry sent me images of
this site from Google Earth.

And at the back on
the mountainside,

there is a little plain.

This is where I think the
Garden of Eden of the gods

was located based on my
translation of the text.

>> The Garden of Eden was where
the four rivers emerged from,

two of which are easily
identified as the Euphrates

and the Tigris,
which do, indeed,

obviously flow through
modern Iraq and empty out

into the Arabian sea.

But they rise in
southeast Turkey.

And the other two
rivers can be identified

as rivers that also rise in
southeast to eastern Turkey.

All of these rivers emerge
in the same general part

of the world which we know
today as either eastern or

southeastern Turkey.

>> With the decoding of
the Sumerian cuneiforms

and the location of
these four rivers,

could this be the actual
location for the Garden

of Eden?

The closest paved road
to the proposed location

is Highway 5651.

As easy as it may seem to get
to this location to excavate,

scholars and
archaeologists consider

this area highly
politically unstable

and it has remained untouched.

All we have at the
moment is the language

to decode from the Sumerian
cuneiforms, the cuneiforms that

describe a different
kind of paradise.

These 10 tablets,
according to Anton Parks,

tell the Sumerian version of how
the Garden of Eden was created.

>> [SPEAKING FRENCH].

>> From my translations, I
discovered when the Sumerian

gods arrived on Earth, they
settled on this mountain

in order to create a colony
and be able to survive.

Apparently, they suffered
damage and ended up

on this mountain because of a
war, and they found shelter.

Many experts believe that they
came from the Pleiades star

cluster.

My opinion is that
they came from there.

Maybe the war broke
out around there.

But I really
believe that this is

where the Anunnas were created.

During this
conflict, on one side

you have a matriarchal
regime, and on the other side

a patriarchal one with
all these new gods.

There are conflicts in space.

Those new landscapes, like
it says on the genealogy

of the land tablet.

These gods are going
to change the way

life gets implanted on Earth.

The gods are going to create
new conditions for life

to bloom, for their
colony to thrive.

>> But who are these gods that
hope to make Earth their home?

>> The epic of
Atrahasis and others,

they talk about that the Earth
was actually administered

by a conference of gods, or a
group of gods in an assembly.

It wasn't just one god.

Yeah, they would have
like their equivalent

of the prime minister
or the CEO who would

be in charge of this group--

Enlil, Enki-- that were
the primary members

of this congress there.

>> Well, Enki and Enlil
in the Sumerian system are

an interesting pair.

Enlil is this rather sort
of overarching, domineering,

angry, dangerous entity.

And he doesn't really
care about humanity.

Humanity are not very
important to him.

But then we have Enki,
the trickster, and the god

of wisdom, actually.

And he does care about humanity.

And he intervenes
on the human level.

>> They are called gods, but
they were humanoid beings

of a rather reptilian type.

The text of Eden
that I translated

depict clearly and
quite frequently

the reptilian
features of the gods.

I personally estimate
that the gods

arrived approximately
300,000 years ago.

And this derives from the
fact that Homo sapiens

arrived shortly after.

I say this because
throughout the text,

genetics and the transformation
of the human being

are recurrent themes.

The two particles that
compose the word Eden

are "E," which means home, and
"Den" or "Ten," which is life.

But indeed, they are not alone.

Humans are already on Earth.

Who are these human beings?

>> If the Sumerian gods realized
that they were not alone,

what might have been their
interaction with these kinds

of humans?

>> What can be noted in the
Sumerian tablets when they

clearly speak of creating
workers to serve the Anunnas,

the main geneticist
is always Enki.

He works with the genome
that is on the planet

to create a new kind of human.

He's usually helped
by priestesses

that we often call
the [? Nintees, ?]

who are the priestesses of life.

They know how to clone with him.

He can change the
human genomes according

to what Enlil asks of him.

Which would be left-brained,
well-disciplined humans.

>> When we look at the
Sumerian tradition,

it is a group of beings,
rather than one being,

that creates humankind.

So it is not a single
creator, but a group

of intelligent, technologically
advanced beings.

Where the Sumerian
creation varies

from the Christian traditions,
for example, and some

of the native traditions, is
in the Sumerian traditions,

humankind began
with the sacrifice

of the life of an advanced
being; of a god from Sumeria,

so that that god's DNA, or the
blood is what the texts say,

could be mixed with the
elements of the Earth to create

the first viable human.

>> These are the people who
have the knowledge to clone.

They can clone themselves
and then humans.

In the text it says
they take the genes

from their opponents, who
they consider inferior,

who they name as Kingu.

They use their blood,
and they will go on

to create the new
human who is going

to serve them with these genes.

>> Researchers like Gregg Braden
stumbled across some research

that has connected the Sumerian
translations to an actual

genetic change in
our chromosomes.

>> Shedding new light on
these creation stories is with

the mystery of human
chromosome number two.

Human chromosome number two is
the second largest chromosome

in the human body.

It forms about 8% of
the DNA in every cell.

And what makes it
such a mystery is

that it appears to be the
result of an ancient fusion

of preexisting chromosomes from
primates that have been fused

in a very precise way.

And the fusion site has
been modified and stabilized

so that human chromosome number
two is as optimized for us

today.

This has happened in a way
that cannot be explained

by evolution as
we know it today.

Now, why is this important?

Human chromosome
number two contains

the genes that
largely set us apart

from all other forms of life.

The cortex of the
human brain that

gives us the ability for things
like logic, empathy, sympathy,

compassion; the ability
to consciously trigger

conscious states of
self-healing within our bodies.

These are possible
because of what

has happened with human
chromosome number two.

>> Could chromosome number
two be the work of a master

geneticist, otherwise known as
Enki from the Sumerian text?

>> [SPEAKING FRENCH]

>> It is said that Enki secretly
modifies the human genes

by group or by location
and imbues some humans with

a knowledge that is different.

To the point where the
other gods turn against him.

His experiment will
change the human genes

to enlighten mankind.

And throughout this
cloning process

that the Anunnas and
Enlil are overlooking,

I think that some humans
filter through all of this

and start becoming independent.

>> Anton Parks points out that
this is something that the gods

did not expect from these new
humans that keeps appearing

in the ancient texts, and that
is the human ability to be more

than just slaves.

This forms a division of
the gods, a division that

causes a war, a war that has
set the tone for humanity today.

>> There are certain very
interesting parallels with

the story of the Sumerian origin
of modern humanity and what we

see in modern
dialogues about AI.

>> Humans fancy that there's
something special about the way

we perceive the world, and
yet, we live in loops as tight

and as closed as the hosts do.

Seldom questioning our choices.

Content for the most part
to be told what to do next.

>> We now have the rebooted
Westworld in which something

that originated as the idea of
a robotic consciousness turns

into, essentially, a
flesh and blood creation,

which is then infused
with a consciousness.

Thus asking the question,
if they can reproduce,

if they are self-aware, is this
not the next level of humanity?

>> [SPEAKING FRENCH]

>> An interesting and very
important name in the biblical

text and the Sumerian text is
the word Adam from the Garden

of Eden.

Extensive tests
have been conducted

to see where this word came
from, consistently looking

for Hebrew roots.

But it is a Sumerian
word which means animals.

Again, we understand that
human beings were considered

to be animals by
the Sumerian gods,

and this is where lies the
conflict between two gods, Enki

and Enlil.

Enki wants to treat them
like the other gods.

>> These two Sumerian gods
have a conflict over the use

of humans.

And it is to be the root
of the biblical story

of the serpent in the garden.

As the story
unravels, the riddle

starts with the origin
of the word "Satam,"

or Satan in English.

>> [SPEAKING FRENCH]

>> "Satam" in Sumerian
means "the administrator."

For years, everybody
has been looking

to find where this
word came from.

Books revolve around this issue.

It is a Sumerian term.

I don't understand
how nobody saw it.

It is very clear.

We find it in ancient lexicons.

Enlil is often referred
to as the Great Satam,

the master administrator.

In Sumerian text,
Enlil systematically

asked Enki to go negotiate
and talk with humans.

He is always the one
to deal with them.

Remember, he is a humanoid
with reptilian features.

And in Sumerian tablets, he
is always, or very often,

called the serpent,
just like in the Bible.

He's the only one that the
humans are going to see,

and when they see him, they
see a serpent-like humanoid.

I reckon this is
why he is called

the serpent in the garden.

He is a friend of the humans.

>> In the biblical text,
the serpent tempts Eve with

an apple from the forbidden
tree of knowledge.

Yahweh, or God, from the
Bible forbids the humans

in the garden to
partake from this tree.

According to Parks, the
Sumerian version of this story

translates Yahweh,
or the biblical God,

into the Great Satam, which
according to Sumerian text,

is Enlil, and the serpent in
the garden as Enki, who has

become a friend of the humans.

>> [SPEAKING FRENCH]

>> It is interesting to wonder
why the serpent in Sumerian

text, just like in the
Bible, comes to the woman.

I think there are two reasons.

The first one is that
I think the woman was

more accessible and available
when she was in the garden.

Therefore, he was more
often around women

who were collecting
food for the colony.

The second reason is
that I think women

are the future of mankind.

They raise their children.

They transmit their
knowledge to their children.

Enki is going to tell the
women the secret of toolmaking.

This is expressed as "Gneesh"
in Sumerian, which means tree.

This means for the
first time, mankind

could have two
sides of the tool.

The side that's
fundamentally good

so that they can take
care of themselves

and the tool that is
fundamentally bad, which they

could use to defend themselves.

One could wonder
why Enki insists

on getting this particular
secret through to the humans.

Well, he has the desire
to set them free.

>> If, indeed, the
knowledge that Enki portrays

to the humans is a tool, is this
an actual ancient weapon that

some believe certain
organizations are looking

for, or is this Enki teaching
the humans about the infinite

abilities they possess
through their DNA?

>> [SPEAKING FRENCH]

>> There's a spectacular scene
where humans take up arms

and go up the mountain
of the gods to revolt,

and even maybe try
to kill all the gods.

What happens is an abomination.

They put back on track
the few survivors.

Indeed, from what we can
grasp from his personality,

Enki was all about peace
and wouldn't use tools

in order to kill,
as he was perfectly

aware of what would happen.

So this scene of humans
rebelling against the gods

is quite special.

And it cannot be found
anywhere in the Bible.

Each time I see the first movie
of the Planet of the Apes,

It makes me think of this story.

Let's put this
back into context.

Replace the apes
with reptilian gods

and you have the
exact same story.

It is the exact same story.

It stayed somewhere
in our brain,

and this is why we can find
similar elements in movies.

We can find similarities
as well in human behavior.

>>Could this situation be
the biblical fall of man?

Some scholars,
like Graham Hancock

believe that free will to decide
was the real purpose

of Enki's intervention.

>> We are here at this plane,
at this level of existence

to learn the lessons of duality,
to make choices between good

and evil.

And it's very clear in the
ancient Egyptian system

that those choices
were important,

and that they would define
us ultimately and set out

the route map for our
immortal destiny in a way.

I would say that
in Enki and Enlil,

we are looking at
a dualistic pair.

And what's interesting
about that dualism

is its intense focus on
the future of humanity

and what happens to us.

That matters to Enki.

It doesn't matter to Enlil.

The Sumerian problem
is that we don't

know where the Sumerians
came from or who they were,

their language.

I mean, we have endless Sumerian
artifacts and endless Sumerian

tablets, but their
language is actually not

related structurally to any
other known language family.

It's completely
isolated and unique.

>> But could the Sumerian
problem have been a way

for Yahweh to install his own
rules so the humans would not

revolt again?

Is this why we don't find
any of these translations

anywhere else and why we
have the establishment

and religious
beliefs surrounding

our existence today?

>> [SPEAKING FRENCH]

>> The book of Genesis was
really written between 200

and 300 BC.

It is important to know
that the Bible, where

we find the most
complete book of Genesis,

is dated from 400 AC, which
brings us to this idea

that when scholars are
compiling the book of Genesis,

they must have made a choice.

A deliberate choice to keep or
take out some elements in order

to make the Bible
as we know it today.

>> Is it possible that
modern-day religion

and government structure have
been mistranslating our human

past to keep us under the
control of Enlil, or Yahweh?

Experts like Billy
Carson still believe

that the knowledge
from these gods

were able to further our
human imprint on this planet.

>> When you look into the
ancient Sumerian tablets,

they talk about these gods
that came here to Earth

and basically rose them to a
higher level of civilization

and taught them
everything that they know.

Now, these gods didn't
do the labor themselves,

but they imparted this
wisdom and information

onto the humans that
actually did the labor.

>> Could these gods have
created us in their likeness?

Was the Garden of Eden
the beginning for not only

the gods' reign on
Earth, but also humans?

And could the constant
search for the Garden of Eden

be a programmed loop
we hope to understand?

>> The symbolism is very
important in our sense

of ourselves collectively
and personally.

There is something lost.

We don't know quite what
it is, but the story

suggests it's the
lost connection

with the transcendence.

And so we wish we could go back,
not only to the Garden of Eden,

but in other ways go back
to some earlier time.

Nothing is more
significant in the received

wisdom than the story
of the Garden of Eden.

>> Graham Hancock believes that
not all is lost when you look

to other ancient texts
that tell a similar story.

>> What's dynamite in the
gnostic system is that

the gnostics believe that
we have been hoodwinked.

That that entity that we
have been taught to call God

and worship is no such thing.

>> Up next, we unearth the Nag
Hammadi and the gnostic version

of the Garden of Eden.