While these centers were being established, the completion of Nippur was followed by the construction of the spaceport of the Nefilim on Earth. The texts made clear that Nippur was the place where the "words" - commands - were uttered: There, when "Enlil commanded: 'Towards heaven!' . . . that which shines forth rose like a sky rocket." But the action itself took place "where Shamash rises," and that place - the "Cape Kennedy" of the Nefilim - was Sippar, the city in the charge of the Chief of the Eagles, where multistage rockets were raised within its special enclave, the "sacred precinct."
As Shamash matured to take command of the Fiery Rockets, and in time also to become the God of Justice, he was assigned the constellations Scorpio and Libra (the Scales).
Completing the list of the first seven Cities of the Gods and the correspondence with the twelve zodiac constellations was Larak, where Enlil put his son Ninurta an command. The city lists call him PA.BIL.SAG ("great protector"); it is the same name by which the constellation Sagittarius was called.
It would be unrealistic to assume that the first seven Cities of the Gods were established haphazardly. These "gods," who were capable of space travel, located the first settlements in accordance with a definite plan, serving a vital need: to be able to land on Earth and to leave Earth for their own planet. What was the master plan?
As we searched for an answer, we asked ourselves a question: What is the origin of Earth's astronomical and astrological symbol, a circle bisected by a right-angled cross - the symbol we use to signify "target"?
The symbol goes back to the origins of astronomy and f astrology in Sumer and is identical with the Egyptian -hieroglyphic sign for "place": '
Is this coincidence, or significant evidence? Did the Nefilim land on Earth by superimposing on its image or map some kind of "target"?
The Nefilim were strangers to Earth. As they scanned its surface from space, they must have paid special attention to the mountains and mountain ranges. These could present hazards during landings and takeoffs, but they could also serve as navigational landmarks.
If the Nefilim, as they hovered over the Indian Ocean, looked toward the Land Between the Rivers, which they had selected for their earliest colonizing efforts, one landmark stood out unchallenged: Mount Ararat.
An extinct volcanic massif, Ararat dominates the Armenian plateau where the present-day borders of Turkey, Iran, and Soviet Armenia meet. It rises on the eastern and northern sides to some 3,000 feet above sea level, and on the northwestern side to 5,000 feet. The whole massif is some twenty-five miles in diameter, a towering dome sticking out from the surface of Earth, Other features make it stand out not only from the horizon but also from high in the skies. First, it is located almost midway between two lakes, Lake Van and Lake Se-Van. Second, two peaks rise from the high massif: Little Ararat (12,900 feet) and Great Ararat (17,000 feet - well over 5 kilometers). No other mountains rival the solitary heights of the two peaks, which are permanently snow-covered. They are like two shining beacons between the two lakes that, in daylight, act as giant reflectors. We have reason to believe that the Nefilim selected their landing site by coordinating a north - south meridian with an unmistakable landmark and a convenient river location. North of Mesopotamia, the easily identifiable twin-peaked Ararat would have been the obvious landmark. A meridian drawn through the center of the twin-peaked Ararat bisected the Euphrates. That was the target - the site selected for the spaceport. Could one easily land and take off there?
The answer was Yes. The selected side lay in a plain; the mountain ranges surrounding Mesopotamia were a substantial distance away. The highest ones (to the east, northeast, and north) would not interfere with a space shuttle gliding in from the southeast.
Was the place accessible - could astronauts and materials be brought there without too much difficulty?
Again, the answer was Yes. The site could be reached overland and, via the Euphrates River, by waterborne craft.
And one more crucial question: Was there a nearby source of energy, of fuel for light and power? The answer was an emphatic
Yes. The bend in the Euphrates River where Sippar was to be established was one of the richest known sources in antiquity of
surface bitumens, petroleum products that seeped up through natural wells and could be collected from the surface without any
deep digging or drilling.
We can imagine Enlil, surrounded by his lieutenants at the spacecraft's command post, drawing the cross within a circle on the map. "What shall we call the place?" he may have asked. "Why not 'Sippar'?" someone might have suggested.
In Near Eastern languages, the name means "bird." Sippar was the place where the Eagles would come to nest. How would the space shuttles glide down to Sippar?
We can visualize one of the space navigators pointing out the best route. On the left they had the Euphrates and the mountainous plateau west of it; on the right, the Tigris and the Zagros range east of it. If the craft were to approach Sippar at the easily set angle of 45 degrees to the Ararat meridian, its path would take it safely between these two hazardous areas. Moreover, coming in to land at such an angle, it would cross in the south over the rocky tip of Arabia while at a high altitude, and start its glide over the waters of the Persian Gulf. Coming and going, the craft would have an unobstructed field of vision and of communication with Mission Control at Nippur.
Enlil's lieutenant would then make a rough sketch - a triangle of waters and mountains on each side, pointing like an arrow toward Sippar. An "X" would mark Nippur, in the center
Incredible as it may seem, this sketch was not made by us; the design was drawn on a ceramic object unearthed at Susa, in a stratum dated to about 3200 B.C. It brings to mind the planisphere that described the flight path and procedures, which was based on 45-degree segments.
The establishment of settlements on Earth by the Nefilim was not a hit-or-miss effort. All the alternatives were studied, all the resources evaluated, all the hazards taken into account; moreover, the settlement plan itself was carefully mapped out so that each site fit into the final pattern, whose purpose was to outline the landing path to Sippar.
No one has previously attempted to see a master plan in the scattered Sumerian settlements. But if we look at the first seven cities ever established, we find that Bad-Tibira, Shuruppak, and Nippur lay on a line running precisely at a 45-degree angle to the Ararat meridian, and that line crossed the meridian exactly at Sippar! The other two cities whose sites are known, Eridu and Larsa, also Iay on another straight line that crossed the first line and theA Ararat meridian, also at Sippar. Taking our cue from the ancient sketch, which made Nippur the center of a circle, and drawing concentric circles from Nippur through the various cities, we find that another ancient Sumerian town, Lagash, was located exactly on one of these circles - on a line equidistant from the 45-degree line, like the Eridu-Larsa-Sippar line. The location of Lagash mirrors that of Larsa. Though the site of LA.RA.AK ("seeing the bright halo") remains unknown, the logical site for it would be at Point 5, since there logically was a City of the Gods there, completing the string of cities on the central flight path at intervals of six beru: Bad-Tibira, Shuruppak, Nippur, Larak, Sippar.
The two outside lines, flanking the central line running through Nippur, lay 6 degrees on each side of it, acting as southwest and northeast outlines of the central flight path. Appropriately, the name LA.AR.SA meant "seeing the red light"; and LA.AG.ASH meant "seeing the halo at six." The cities along each line were indeed six beru (approximately sixty kilometers, or thirty-seven miles) from each other.
This, we believe, was the master plan of the Nefilim. Having selected the best location for their spaceport (Sippar), they laid out the other settlements in a pattern outlining the vital flight path to it. In the center they placed Nippur, where the "bond Heaven- Earth" was located.