The Crossing Point, Ancient Mesopotamian Astronomy

The word "Nibiru" appears in ancient Mesopotamian astronomical texts, specifically in the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation epic composed around 1100 BCE but likely based on much older Sumerian sources.

In Akkadian, "Nibiru" literally means "crossing" or "point of transition." It did not refer to a rogue planet, but to a significant celestial marker, a point in the heavens where pathways intersect.

In the Enuma Elish, Nibiru is closely associated with the god Marduk. After Marduk defeats Tiamat, the primordial ocean, he establishes cosmic order. Nibiru becomes his celestial station, a reference point in the sky used to mark seasons, festivals and the passage of time.

The text describes Nibiru as a kind of anchor in the heavens, visible to observers and tied to the calendrical system. It was not a wandering body on an eccentric orbit, but a fixed reference, essential for maintaining order in both the cosmos and society.

Ancient Babylonian astronomers were remarkably sophisticated. They tracked planetary movements, predicted eclipses and developed mathematical models of celestial mechanics. Their records show meticulous observation, not wild speculation about invisible planets.

The Enuma Elish itself is not primarily an astronomical text. It is a cosmogony, a story of creation and divine conflict. Marduk's victory over Tiamat establishes his supremacy among the gods. The celestial bodies he arranges are symbols of that order.

Yet embedded within the myth are details that suggest real astronomical knowledge. The division of the heavens, the assignment of celestial stations to specific gods, the emphasis on regularity and prediction. These are the concerns of a people who watched the sky carefully.

Nibiru, in this context, is not a harbinger of doom. It is a symbol of stability. It represents the triumph of order over chaos, the establishment of reliable cosmic patterns that allow human civilisation to plan, plant and survive.

The Sumerians and Babylonians saw the sky as a reflection of divine governance. What happened above mirrored what happened below. A stable heaven meant a stable kingdom. Nibiru was part of that stability.

What's striking is how this ancient concept has been twisted in modern times. A symbol of cosmic order has become, in popular mythology, a symbol of cosmic catastrophe. The crossing point has been transformed into a collision course.

This transformation tells us less about ancient astronomy and more about modern anxiety. We have taken a word from a dead language, stripped it of context and filled it with our own fears about the future.