The Legends of the Garden of Eden and The


Alfred Hamori

Copyright 1995, Alfred Hamori, all rights reserved

Such stories as the creation, the garden of Eden, the flood and the angels of the Bible and other related religions, may have been derived from the earliest literature of mankind. These stories were first written down by the earliest literate civilization of man, the Sumerian civilization over 5,500 years ago. Their nation was located in southern Mesopotamia, but their influence spread from Eastern Europe to India and Egypt. Most languages today have traces of Sumerian loan words in them, even when not related to them.

Their language belonged to the "Ural-Altaian" language family of Eurasia, which is unlike the Semitic, Indo-European or Indo-Chinese in grammar and is more like Hungarian, Turkish, Finnish, and Dravidian (of India). These languages share the largest amount of vocabulary and what is much more important, a similar agglutinative grammatical structure. Because of the very special place the Sumerians have in human history, the Indo-European and Semitic scholars have tried vainly to isolate them into a special category, after they couldn't force them into their own language families. A few enlightened Western European scholars however have stated that, of all the living languages of the world, Hungarian has the most in common with this ancient dead tongue.

In Sumerian mythology the "sons" of heaven, were categorized into three main groups. The main group was capable of creating life and able to have off- spring of their own. These were called the DINGIR.

The eunuch like second group was originally the servants of the main group and was called the ANU-NAKI. The third group was known as the EGIGI or IGIGI, which often had some specific task and outpost on the planet. All of them may have came from beyond this planet and lived it seemed to the locals for eternity. The book of ENOCH also talks of a group, which came as reinforcement later and were racially different from the others, and these were to perform some basic work for the "angels" among the human population. Their governor according to ENOCH, was called SATANAIL. They are the ones who broke the laws of heaven and took the daughters of men to be their wives, and from them they had children. The punishment for this was the flood, which was to allow a new start and to destroy the mistakes of these fallen angels.

From the scanty literature available to us, such as the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian literature, the Bible and the Book of Enoch, some people have generalized the basic characteristics of the 7 leading, archangels and their names. Christian O'Brian in his book "The Genius of the Few", has used this method and has hit the nail right on the head. The reason I believe that he is correct is because I have tried a different approach, using ancient Sumerian and Hungarian as a reference, and was able to substantiate his claims. The definitions of the meaning of the titles of the archangels which I define at the beginning of each name, all derive from Christian O'Brians evaluation, based on ancient religious literature and is followed by my linguistic analysis.

In our literature concerning the seven archangels the following names are often listed:

Michael -A militaristic guardian angel (NIN-URTA)
Gabriel -The governor of Eden (NIN-LIL)
Uriel -Ruler of all, surrounding Eden (EN-LIL)
Raphael -Healing arts. (EN-KI)
Raguel -Judging and monitoring
Sariel -Punishment of crimes (Ner-gal/Ninurta)
Remiel -Responsible for spreading the word & news

As is readily apparent, all these names end with EL, which was the title of the "angels", just like the "gods" of the Hebrews, the Elohim. I have included some of the Sumerian equivalents of the names in brackets, known to us from their mythology. The most detailed account of the activities of the angels, is given by Enoch, who supposedly lived before the flood. He was recruited by the angels to perform such duties as being a go between, or messenger, between angels and men, and to be a scribe or keeper of records. His accounts were written down and have been passed on for thousands of years. His stories are very unusual, and are the stories of a simple primitive man in the bewildering and amazing world technically incomprehensible to man until recently.

At this point let us dispense with the religious view of what an angel is and simply try to understand what the earliest civilization of man handed down to us, without any preconceived bias. In the words of the Sumerians, what we call angels, were called by them ANU_NAKI meaning, "from or of the sky". AN meant "sky, heaven, high and chief god" and NAK was the genitive & locative suffix which we write separately as "OF". Similarly in Hungarian the Sumerian AN word is found as MENY, while the NAK suffix is also the genitive/locative and means OF, or relationship. Variations of this suffix are found in most Ural-Altaic languages to which Hungarian belongs. However there is another unusual use of the Hungarian suffix NAK, reserved for the highest administrative positions, which originally served the king. That is why prime minister (EL-NOK), spokesman (SZO-NOK), treasurer (TAR-NOK), engineer (MER-NOK).. used such titles. In ancient Sumerian city states, these most important positions were held by the second rate angels, the ANU-NAKI. The eastern neighbors of the Sumerians, the Elamites also used the NAK title for the king. Only after the ANUNAKI finally left was the government handed over to the first human king, who was recorded to be ETANA of the city of KISH. This same ETANA is in Hungarian mythology as the father of the first empire builder, the great hunter NIMROD, rather than the Biblical Kush. It is interesting that certain eastern Scythian traditions call the ancestor of their people Kush-Tana, a combination of the two. In Sumerian mythology, unlike the Bible version, it was ETANA and not Nimrod, who wished to visit heaven the home of the "gods", and he succeeded with the help of an "eagle".

Returning to the meaning of the titles of the seven archangels, who were the ruling council which directed the activities of the "angels". If we remove the suffix EL, then we are left with their functional title, when using the Sumerian language as our guide. Sumerian IL, Akkadian ELI means "high, above,highness". Hungarian fel=upward, fen=above, on=upon.

MICHA, MISH or MASH (Michael) refers to heroes/prince in ancient Sumerian, as it does in Dravidian, Ugrian, and ancient Scythian tongues. In Hungarian stories the "heroes" are often called MISKA and hero tales are also called MESHE. The heroic name refers to the military position of Michael as the guardian and protector. The symbol of the hero is a serpent in Sumerian, since it had a similar name, called MUSH.

In ancient cultures the serpent was often the symbol of rejuvenation, rebirth, healing as well as service and wisdom. That is why the earliest Mesopotamian art represented the mother goddess with a female body and a serpent-like head. This tradition can be traced also in Scythian legends. Hungarian tradition claims that they are also a Scythian race. In the east, the dragon was also the title of heroes as well as a symbol of fertility and wisdom. For these reasons in Hungarian traditions the MISKA mug is in the shape of the upper torso of a traditional Hungarian soldier, the hussar, with the serpent on its belly. It was drunk in celebration of heroes and in remembrance of family members, who have passed away.

GABR, GAVR (Gabriel), was the female governor of Eden. If we observe that the original Latin word for governor, was "GUBERnator", then again the ancient GABR title is recognized. Like many languages the B became V or was then deleted altogether, leaving KOR to be the root word for government in Hungarian. According to Sumerian tradition, the governor of Eden was often called Nin-Ti, "lady of life" who was responsible for "genetic engineering" in our modern vernacular. She was the Baudug-Gasan "great bountiful queen" and Nin-Mah "great mother" or as the wife of lord En-Lil she was called Nin-LIL, who helped create 7 prototypes of Homo Sapiens from combining genetic material from wild primitive man and a compatible angel. She was also called the lady of the mountain "Nin-Hursag", since Eden was supposed to be located in a mountain valley. Since in the Sumerian word Nin-Ti, "TI" also meant rib, the later Babylonian translations of the "Lady of Life" became "Lady of the Rib". It was this corruption of her name which lead in time to the Biblical Eve to be created from Adam's "rib". While other angels were prone to have work in and out of their colony, Nin-Lil's main responsibilities were in Eden. The GUB root word in Sumerian means to stand or stay, while GUBA meant to stand firm. (Hungarian Guba-szt). Similar to her name "hursag", the Sumerian word "uru-zag" was also a synonym for kingdom/territory as is "ursag/orszag" in Hungarian. The name of Eden in Sumerian accounts was called "kar-sag". While the Sumerian word "Edin", which remained as the name of EDEN could mean several things in Sumerian, such as "edin" (uncultivated highlands, borderlands), or "e'-din" (the house of creation). The great queen goddess in the Emegir Sumerian dialect was NIN, similar to Magyar "Neni", while the "mother language" Emesu/Subar dialect called the queen "Gasan", which is the source of the Hungarian/Sabir? "Aszony", which up to the Middle Ages also meant queen. In early Mesopotamia, east of Sumeria, the Elamites also called the queen-goddess "ASAN", which is even more like modern Hungarian. No wonder that early Hungarians called their beloved Great-Queen mother goddess Nagy-Aszony or Boldog Aszony, which in Sumerian was also called BAU or BAU-DUG GASZAN. Today all titles have lost their original meaning, just as in English. Everyone has become a Sir and a Lady, no matter how undeserving they are.

UR or AR (Uriel) was the chief guardian and ruler of earth. In Sumerian accounts he was normally called EN-LIL, the chief "god" of earth and represented by the atmosphere and air. In later ages the title UR was passed on to kings, whose chief function came from their responsibilities as guardians of their territories and their people. That is why the UR name means guardian in Sumerian as well as hero and lord. In the ancient Hurrian language of norther Mesopotamia, the UR name became IUR meaning "king". The Hurrians also spoke a Ural-Altaic like agglutinative language, just as the Sumerians and the Elamites. Similarly in ancient Egyptian UR also meant king and kings were considered by them to be of divine origin. In Hungarian the lords or kings are also known as UR, while guards are also called similarly OR. This is also similar to the Old Bulgar word "Ur-ugh", from their original Hunnish language, before they were absorbed by their Slavic subjects. Besides the title UR the name of EN-LIL is completely understandable in Hungarian, since En was a title of lords, as in the Hungarian pronoun ON today is the first person pronoun of special respect. The word LIL refers to air and breath in Sumerian as it does today in Hungarian Lel-ek, Lelk, Lehel and so on. This is a common word in the western Ural-Altaic languages.

The term LI in Sumerian however had another different meaning, which refered to life, and was symbolized by a potted plant. That is why he was the father of life and the soul/breath which animates the material body. In Hungarian "Lelek", refers to soul and "el" refers to life, while "lehel" the breath. Lel was also a name of one of the great lords, during the Hungarian settlement in the 9th century. Several Hungarian rulers of the seven tribes/nations also had ancient Mesopotamian GOD names. Arpad/Egyptian Erpat, Huba/Elamite Huba, Tohotom/Tehemtem -ancient Iran, On-d/Sumerian An, Kende/Keykendi of ancient Baktria the ancestor of the Hungarian Szemere clan.

RAPH or RAB or RAV (Raphael) is known as the archangel responsible with the healing arts. In ancient times the shaman was responsible with the healing arts. In Sumerian he was called TAL-TAL, which in Hungarian is TAL-TOS. His method often required communication with the spirits, who could heal the sick and remove the evil spirits from the body. The Sumerian shaman was no primitive, like many shamans in primitive societies are. He knew and utilized hundreds of complex medicines, whose ingredients scientists are studying today from their old medicinal books. The Hungarian term REV, pronounced just like the English RAVE, means the ecstatic trance in which the shaman enters the other dimensions. In Sumerian ARA also meant the raving, howling sound made. The REV also means the "ferry" boat which crosses a river. The other dimension (heaven or hell) was often reached by crossing a symbolic river. In modern Hungarian the medical doctor is called ORV-os, which is derived from the ancient eastern word ARB-is, who were one of the seven priestly casts of the old Magian religion of the Hungarians. They were responsible with healing and were especially competent doctors. Many early Hungarian skulls have been found showing surgical marks, with the patients surviving the operation. The Hungarian name for doctor uses the RAB or ARB variation of the root-word found as part of the RAPH-ael name.

RAG (from RAGUEL) was responsible with sentencing or bringing to justice those who broke the laws. In ancient Babylonian "RAGUMU" was the suit brought against the defendant. Similarly in Hungarian "RAGA-lom" is the suit against the defendant. The "lom" is just a suffix of abstract concepts. In Sumerian the RIG word, which is the source of RAGUEL, simply meant to talk or speech, with which a case is typically presented to a council. Similarly REGE in Hungarian is a story given in speech like sing song fashion, like a saga. It is also related to the qualities of the voice (rikkan,rekedt). In old Hungarian the REGOS were the bards who sang or told stories of heroes and religion. The council of elders, and the subject of knowledge they represented in Sumerian is called TAN, just as in Hungarian and several other Ural-Altaian languages, including even Japanese. The decision which they brought forward, based on deliberation by a judge, is called BAR in Sumerian as it is in Hungarian BIRO=judge. The word is also found in a close eastern relative of the Hungarian language, the Chuvash, as BAR. The word was also adopted into English, through the influence of the Huns. Even the remnant of the early Akkadian-Babylonian word for lawyer UGIDU is found in modern Hungarian Ugyved.

SAR (from SARIEL) is responsible with the punishment of the guilty, the guardian of their imprisonment who isolates the criminals and "encloses" them in a penal holding area. In Sumerian the SAR word also means to enclose. Similarly SA means inner, while SAG means inside. Sar also meant 3600 in Sumerian, which was the closing of the circle and is related to the somewhat idealized period of 360 days in a year. It was the Sumerians who first divided the circle into 360 degrees. Similarly in Hungarian ZAR means lock or enclose, while EZER also means a thousand. The old Ural-Altaic number system, unlike any others in the world, was based on 6 and 60, like Sumerian, in which the decimal places were in multiples of 6 or 60. That is why Hungarians still say "hatvany", when expressing the idea of multiplying the effectiveness of something. This word is derived from 60 (hatvan), the ancient multiplier.

There is a controversy of who or what ZARA-THUSTRA the founder of the Magian religion was and when he actually lived. Some mistakenly associate him with the early history of the Persians, who were rather latecomers to the region of present Iran/Persia. In the Bible it is the MAGI, who visited the newborn Christ child in Bethlehem, since they prophesied his coming beforehand. Indeed Christ was often called a Magian by the Jews, due to his mother's Parthian ancestry. The earliest mention of the MAGI was as one of the six ethnic tribes of the Madja (Mede) confederacy of northern Mesopotamia, which was later conquered and absorbed by the Persians. The Magi also settled in the eastern part of the Persian Empire. The ancient and classical historians claim that Zarathustra lived long before the coming of the ancestors of the Persians around 500BC to Iran. The early Greeks claim that he was none other that Nimrod of the Bible, or Ninurta of the Sumerians. This of course is impossible to substantiate now because of all the legends which grew up around him over time. The Biblical stories of Nimrod and Abraham, for example occurred millenniums after the flood, long after the original Nimrod supposedly ruled. According to the Babilonians 131 years after the flood, while Hungarian Chronicles state 201 years. The Hungarian number must be recalculated to compensate for the ancient 60 based system, which results in 121. Could he be the same as the archangel Sariel? Perhaps. It would explain the many miraculous things that Zoroaster or Nimrod did, who was the mythical father of the Scythians and Magyars.

REM,REV (from REMIEL) is the most difficult of functions to really characterize. He was supposed to be the messenger and bringer of news and information. However the root word REM is normally associated with welcome, gladness, happiness which is RU and DUG in Sumerian. RA-GABA however means courier. In English there is a wonderful parallel word to this association, since REVEL is to enjoy something but REVEAL is to disclose hidden information. Both of these words are related to REM. These also associate with the definition of Raphael discussed before. In Hungarian O-ROM is also happiness, as in ancient Persian RAMA. However ROV and IR in Hungarian is to inscribe and write, which is important for sending messages. The same word in Sumerian is SAR and their scribes were called DUB-SAR. The bringing of tidings and good news, was a cause of celebration and good times it seems. Perhaps the following root words are also part of the name of SAR; IR=to bring, RI=traverse (Hungarian Yar), MU=a ship or vessel (Hungarian yar-MU).

The Sumerian "angels" were greatly revered before and after their disappearance and in later ages were thought to be "gods". Early Mesopotamia was populated by a host of non-semitic people like the Sumerians, Subarians, Hurrians, Kasites, Elamites and Medes who spoke similar languages. Every Sumerian city was supposedly founded by one of these "angels", who lived for many human lifetimes amongst the people. They however did eat, drink and had children like humans and some even made serious mistakes and broke the law. That is why many old religions gave such human-like characteristics to these false "gods". The "angels" themselves however believed in only one heavenly father, who was called AN in Sumerian, and who lived in the sky or heaven, from whence they also came. However not necessarily from the highest "heaven" of AN. Perhaps this is why some of the ancient religions of the Greeks, Babylonians, Egyptians had such a multitude of "gods", who often were too human like for us to consider them to be godlike.

In Sumerian the name of the highest god was called AN. However there was another expression which often described him, as the single, one and only god, with the term Isten. (Hungarian isten) This term is often described to mean one, but was never used for mathematics. In many central Asian languages the god of heaven and sky was called TEN, or TENGRI, a word much like the Sumerian DINGIR, meaning god or angel. The best description of the meaning of ISTEN is found in the ancient book from Persia called the DAB-ISTAN (book of god), written by a people before the coming of the Persians. It talks of the perfect unity, the uncreated creator, the ONE god of the universe as being ISTEN or YSTEN. This same word was used by the Babylonians to mean ONE and only. In Sumerian ASH=one, first and TEN= creator. The chief creator of the gods was called lord of the Earth "en-ki", who was also called Daramah, which has also been translated as great stagg, but which also means creator in Hungarian as "terem-tö". His name perhaps explains the origin of the Hungarian myth of origin, called the legend of the stagg, which is often called a totemic origin myth, but may in fact be just a symbolic legend, whose story is recreated yearly as the movements of the constellation ursa major and the birth and death of the seasons. That is described in articles dealing with the Legend of the Stagg.