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C. The Human Version: the Ullikummi Text

Some researchers might be inclined to dismiss E.A.E. Reymond’s and Andrew Collins’ interpretation of the Edfu temple texts on the grounds that - while the texts purport to refer to an extremely ancient conflict surrounding the “power of creation” that was embodied at Giza - the temples on which the texts are found are not that old.

But how would the Hurrian Ullikummi texts³⁷⁹ be explained? Undeniably ancient, these texts refer to a similar conflict, and often parallel the conceptions of the Edfu texts in a rather astounding way. The text centers on the Hero-God Ullikummi’s birth from the mother-goddess, and his subsequent exploits. As will be seen as we proceed, the texts are certainly capable of a catastrophist interpretation. But they are equally capable of a “war” interpretation. The following passage is one example of this:

Kumarbi in his own mind began to speak:
“What name shall I put on him,
On the son whom the Fate-Goddesses and Mother-Goddesses gave me?

Out of (her) body like a spear point he sprang -
He shall go!

Ullikummi shall be his name!
He shall go up to the Celestial Realm to kingship!
And he shall press down the beloved town of Kummiya!
He shall hit the sky-God,
And he shall pound him (into) salt,

And he shall crush him like an ant with his foot,
He shall break off Tashmishu like a [...] reed!
He shall scatter all the Gods down from the Celestial Realm like birds,
And he shall break them like empty vessels!”

Note the reference to the “sky-god” which suggests a parallel with the Sumerian god Anu. Then follows a passage reminiscent of Marduk’s conflict with Tiamat:

And he shall pound him (into) salt,
And he shall crush him like an ant with his foot,
He shall break off Tashmishu like a [...] reed!
He shall scatter all the Gods down from the Celestial Realm like birds,
And he shall break them like empty vessels!”

Clearly this passage is capable of a catastrophist interpretation along the lines of Alford’s colliding and exploding planets, since the “gods” referred to are in the “Celestial Realm.” The “gods” or planets in this case are clearly shattered, “broken like empty vessels.” But observe that it is equally capable of a war interpretation, a possibility that becomes stronger as we proceed.

The text soon begins to display its own evidences of an underlying “paleophysics” as well, for the god Kumarbi then asks:

“Who will carry him (Ullikummi) to the [dark] earth
(So that) the Sun-God of the Celestial Realm
And the Moon-God shall not see him?

The references to the “Sun-God” and the “moon-God” are indicators, once again, that the characteristics and symbols of various ancient gods strongly parallel each other, the Sun-God resembling Egypt’s Ra and Mesopotamia’s Marduk, and the Moon-God resembling the Moon-associated gods Osiris and Thoth of Egypt and Nanner-Sin of Mesopotamia. But what of the reference to “the [dark] earth?” This might possibly refer to the void of space itself, a reading in keeping with the “paleophysical” interpretations both of Alan Alford and Paul La Violette.

But then follows a curious speech of the god Kumarbi:

And Kumarbi began to speak to the Irshirraas-Gods:
“Take [this child],³⁸⁰
And [treat] him as a gift,
And carry him to the dark earth
Hurry, hasten!
And put him as a spear point
Upon Upelluri’s right shoulder!

Upelluri is an Atlas-like god who carries the heavens and the earth on his shoulder. But what sort of “child” is this Ullikummi? What follows is a strange statement:

In one day he shall grow a “yard”;
In one month he shall grow a “furlong”;
The stone which is at his head,
His face shall cover.”

This text lends itself to a catastrophist interpretation very handily, for the “growth” of the “child” can be, and is, understood by some to refer to the growth of a comet’s visible tail as it approaches the Sun, and “the stone which is at his head” would thus be the core of the comet itself.

But there is another possibility, one which will loom larger as we proceed, and that is that the text is describing construction, in this case, construction of a pyramid. The “stone which is at his head, (which) his face shall cover” could equally be the stone which covers the face of a pyramid.

This interpretation of Ullikummi being some sort of “stone”child — whether that of a comet or a pyramid — is made obvious by what immediately follows, when Ullikummi is presented to the god EnlilEllil, whom we have encountered before:

And Enlil lifted his eyes,
And he saw the child.
The child was standing before the Deity:
The child’s body was made of stone,
Of meteorite-stone.

Here one has a little-noticed theme of some ancient texts, and that is the reference to stones as living things. But what is to be noticed here is the translation of “meteorite stone.”

In this instance, catastrophism has intervened to construe the translation in favor of the theory, for as H.G. Guterbrock and Harry A. Hoffner, foremost translators of Hurrian texts, maintain, the word is best translated as “basalt stone.” Basalt, as it turns out, is a stone not readily associated with meteors, but rather with volcanoes, which suggests a different version of catastrophism, one dealing not with the growth of comets’ tails but with the growth of a volcano.

But basalt can have some very strange properties. David Hatcher Childress observed the massive basalt stones used in the construction of Nan Madol on Pohnpei Island in the western Pacific:

One of the travelers from the Village Hotel had a pocket compass with him and moved it along one of the basalt crystals on the wall of Nan Dowas. “Hey look at this!” he called. His name was Sid, and he was from Michigan. We all looked at his compass as he moved it along a horizontal block in the massive wall. The needle spun around and around.

A geologist who was part of the group looked at it and said, “It is normal for basalt to become magnetized like this as part of its cooling process, but it should be magnetized vertically. The needle should not spin like that. These stones are strangely magnetized.³⁸¹

Might these strange stones have been the product of a technology rather than a volcanic accident of nature? Basalt might have been superheated in a kind of spinning furnace, with the molten rock spun at very high speeds, and then suddenly cooled, polarizing the rock magnetically. But in any case the Ullikummi text is capable of more than one catastrophist interpretation.

Immediately after the stone “child’s” presentation to Enlil, however, the latter makes a very curious, and very strange statement if one were only dealing with catastrophism, whether cometary or volcanic:

“This is an evil plan
Of no one but Kumarbi!
(Just) as Kumarbi raised the Sky-God,
So he raised this (basalt-)stone as (a) rebel against him!”

This is the first hint that the war is a war of rebellion, a civil war in the pantheon. And note the context in which it occurs: the “raising” of “basalt” stone against “the sky-god.”

The text continues:

When Enlil [ceased to speak] these words,
They put the child as a spear point
Upon Upelluri’s right shoulder.
He grew up, the (basalt-)stone,
And the strong [...] raised him:
In one day he grew one “yard”,
In one month he grew one “furlong”;
The stone which was at his head,
His face covered.
When the fifteenth day came,
The Stone had grown high.
And he stood in the sea on his knees (point)
Like a spear-point.
The Stone, he stood out of the water,
And his height was like [...],
And the Stone reached from the sea like a garment
Up to the “Place of the Belt. ”
The Stone, like a [...] he was lifted,
And he reached up to the temples and chamber in the celestial realm.

The “meteor catastrophe” reading of the text now seems to be definitely excluded, since the text clearly refers to Ullikummi, who is “the Stone,” reaching up “from the sea like a garment,” a reference which would clearly favor the volcanic catastrophist reading.

But there is a reference in the text that would seem to exclude that interpretation as well, and that is the line that immediately follows, for the “Stone” reached up from the sea to “the Place of the Belt.” This would seem to be a reference to the constellation Orion, and to the three stars that comprise Orion’s “belt.” And here the text now begins to take on its peculiar parallel to the Edfu texts, and to their reference to the “Rostau,” for nowhere does one find “stones” reaching up to heaven in connection to Orion’s belt other than at Giza, whose three main pyramids are arranged in the exact geometric analogue of the constellation!

Consequently, both catastrophist readings of the text — as referring to a comet or to a volcano — would seem to be contraindicated by this statement. The text is referring to a real earthly site, and to its construction and use in the cause of that conflict and rebellion. The emergence of “The Stone” from the sea clearly recalls the parallel themes — including those of conflict — found in the Edfu texts.

The Ullikummi text then continues with statements reminiscent of yet another epic, the Babylonian Enuma Elish, of a power capable of altering the very celestial mechanics of local space:

And the Sun-God began to speak in his own mind:
“What swift God [is standing] in the sea?
His body is not like that of the [...] Gods.”
The Sun-God of the Celestial Realm turned [his face],
And he went out into the sea.
And the Sun-God held (his) hand to his forehead.

[...]
and from his anger
his [...] became altered.
When the Sun-God of the Celestial Realm saw the Stone,
The Sun-God [crossed again the horizon a second time.
[...u]p he traveled,
And to the Sky-God he went.

Something, in other words, has unsettled the “Sun God,” i.e., the Sun, causing it somehow to become “altered.” This passage recalls a similar “alteration” in the local celestial mechanics, that of the Babylonian “Sun God” Marduk, who “measured the structure of the deep” after his destruction of Tiamat in the Enuma Elish.

In any case, a “council of war” is soon called, as Tashmishu, brother of the Sun-God, cautions him about Ullikummi and his intentions:

“Why does he come...?
That matter about which he comes,
(that) matter is grave,
It is not to be cast aside.
It is strong, the struggle!
It is strong, the battle!
It is the uproar of the Celestial Realm!
It is the land’s hunger and death!”

Once again, conflict and war is the context, but note again the multiple levels on which the text operates, for the “grave matter” that is “not to be cast aside” is nothing less than “the uproar of the Celestial Realm.” That is, the text may be - and it is my belief that it is - operating here on two levels simultaneously, for the “uproar of the Celestial realm” clearly implies a chaotic and unstable situation in celestial mechanics, as well as an actual revolt or warfare in the pantheon itself. Were it not for the odd reference previously to the “place of the belt” one could perhaps dismiss these two levels of meaning as just another metaphor for the catastrophe caused by an impact or near miss of a planet with a meteor. But meteors and volcanoes do not neatly arrange themselves in the geometric relationship of Orion’s belt.

The violent destructive powers of the Ullikummi Stone are clearly attested by the text:

And the King of Kummiya³⁸² set his face,
He set his face upon the dreadful (basalt-) stone,
And he saw the dreadful (basalt-) stone,
And from his anger his [...] became changed.
And the Sky-God sat down on the ground,
And his tears flowed forth like streams.
The Sky-God, his eyes tearful, spoke these words:
“Who can endure it any longer, this one’s violence?
And who can fight any longer?
And who can endure it any longer, this one’s fearfulness?”

The Ullikummi “Stone” was clearly an object of great power, and once again it seems prudent to point out the resemblance of the Ullikummi text to the “Rostau” of he Edfu texts, and the resemblance of both to Giza. It seems a plausible speculation then to associate the Giza-Rostau-Ullikummi with weaponry of some sort.

The Ullikummi text then alludes to yet another theme paralleled in other ancient Near Eastern texts such as the Enuma Elish, for it refers to the manipulation of extremely severe weather as a weapon of war. Once the power of the “Stone” has been lamented, Tashmishu

Called for the thunder-storms;
The rains and winds which break the rock for ninety “furlongs.”
....
[...The Sky-God] took a stand to fight.
Then he took the battle gear,
And he took the carts,
And he brought the clouds from the Celestial Realm.
And the Sky-God set his face on the (basalt-) stone,
And he saw him.

In other words, weather is again a weapon in a vast celestial conflict, only in this case it is a weapon specifically directed against the Ullikummi Stone “in the midst of the sea.” The scale of forces is thus cosmic on both sides, for a little further on the Ullikummi text relates that the

(basalt-)stone his body [...]
[...]
And he shook the Celestial Realm.

In spite of the breaks in the text, it appears that the Ullikummi Stone, reacted to this terrific weather weapons assault with a response that “shook the Celestial Realm,” i.e., by altering it at its very foundations. An even more interesting statement is related a little further on:

And the (basalt-) stone rose above Hebat and the temple:
So that Hebat could not hear news of the Gods,
And she could not see with her eyes the Sky-God ...

Something, in other words, was interfering with communications.

The destructive power of the Ullikummi is referred to somewhat later in the text, when Ea-Enki goes to Upelluri to relay to him the news:

Ea began to speak again to Upelluri:
“Do you not know, O Upelluri?
Has no one brought you word?
Do you not know him,
The swift God whom Kumarbi fashioned against the Gods?
And that Kumarbi [has made] death plans against the Sky-God,
And fashions a rebel against him?
The Basalt-stone who grew in the water,
Do you not know him?

Note now that the Stone that “grew in the water,” paralleling the Giza-Rostau references in the Edfu texts, is clearly associated with rebellion, and specifically, with “death plans against the Sky-God.” It would appear then that the Ullikummi Stone is connected with the very power to draw upon and alter the power of the heavens, i.e., it is able to utilize the fabric of the local space-time medium itself.

In any case, Ea-Enki formulates a plan to undo this power of the Ullikummi by undercutting its foundations:

And they shall bring out the former saw,
With which they cut apart the Celestial Realm and the Earth,
[And...] saw under the feet of Ullikummi, the Basalt-stone,
Whom Kumarbi raised as a rebel against the Gods.

Ea-Enki then commands Tashmishu to

“...go and fight him again!
The Basalt-stone shall no longer stand as a spear-point!”

A summary of what the text implies is now in order.

1. It is clear that the passages of the Ullikummi text cited here are capable of a catastrophist interpretation in two ways:

a. As a catastrophe involving comets or meteorites, and the resulting chaos and destruction caused by the impact on or near miss of the earth caused by a large enough celestial body, as the repeated references to the “Celestial Realm” would imply. But as was seen, the translation of “basalt-stone” as “meteorite-stone” was done in service of this interpretation, whereas the most noted translators of the text prefer “basalt-stone”, which would exclude this interpretation, and favor the following:

b. As a catastrophe involving massive volcanic activity, an interpretation favored by the text’s repeated references to this Stone arising “out of the sea.” But as was also seen, this interpretation cannot make sense of the curious reference to the “place of the belt” in connection with the “Stone,” a reference clearly implying some association of the “Stone” with the three stars of Orion’s belt. Thus,

2. The repeated references in the Ullikummi text to the Stone standing out of the midst of the sea not only parallels the similar picture of the Edfu texts to the “Rostau,” the association of the Ullikummi with Giza would appear to be strengthened by the reference to the Place of the Belt, i.e., to Orion’s belt. Thus,

3. The Ullikummi text refers to something clearly artificial, involving Stones that rise “out of the sea,” and associates these stones with massive conflict and disturbances in the heavens, and with a “rebellion.” The clear implication of the Ullikummi text is that this place where the Stone rises out of the sea is possessed of enough power to affect and destroy things on a celestial scale.

4. Like the Enuma Elish, the Ullikummi text also refers to weather as a weapon, and clearly implies the alteration of the geometry of local space. This alteration or destruction of the original geometry as a result of this conflict and rebellion is itself not only a sign of that rebellion but a kind of rebellion in its own right, since it no longer reflects the original order of things, presumably the order that the “gods” or God originally ordained.

Certainly impacts from comets and meteors have occurred and can wreak untold destruction on the planetary bodies that endure them.

But so can wars fought with weapons of sufficient power to scar whole regions of, or to explode, an entire planet. And with the Ullikummi text and its obvious reference to Giza in the context of a conflict involving cosmically scaled forces, one is no longer looking at the metaphors for a naturalist religion of “exploded planet cults” ala Alan Alford. One is looking at very real, very artificial structures that are no mere metaphors. This implies, however unbelievable it may seem, that the war was also real, that it was interplanetary, and that it happened millennia ago.

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C. The Human Version: the Ullikummi Text

The Cosmic War