Who Are The Anunnaki, The ‘Alien’ Gods Of Ancient Sumer?

Before the Greeks exalted Zeus or the Egyptians praised Osiris, the Sumerians worshipped the Anunnaki.

These ancient gods of Mesopotamia had wings, wore horned caps, and possessed the ability to control all of humanity. Sumerians revered the Anunnaki as heavenly beings who shaped the destiny of their society.

Wikimedia CommonsA carving depicting the Anunnaki, the ancient Sumerian gods that some believe were aliens.

But were they more than deities? Some theorists claim that the Anunnaki were aliens from another planet. Even more shocking, they use ancient Sumerian texts to back up this wild idea. Here’s what we know.

Why The Sumerians Worshipped The Anunnaki

The Sumerians lived in Mesopotamia — present-day Iraq and Iran — between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from about 4500 to 1750 B.C.

Despite being an ancient civilization, their reign was marked by a number of impressive technological advancements. For example, the Sumerians invented the plow, which played a huge role in helping their empire grow.

They also developed cuneiform, one of the earliest known systems of writing in human history. In addition, they came up with a method of keeping time — which modern people still use to this day.

But according to the Sumerians, they didn’t do it alone; they owed their historic breakthroughs to a group of gods called the Anunnaki. In their telling, the Anunnaki mostly descended from An, a supreme deity who could control both the fate of human kings and his fellow gods.

Though much remains unknown about the Sumerians and their way of life, they left evidence of their beliefs in ancient texts, including the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest written stories in human history.

And if one thing is clear, it’s that the Anunnaki gods were highly revered. To worship these deities, ancient Sumerians would create statues of them, dress them in clothing, give them food, and transport them to ceremonies.

Millennia later, some scholars would speculate on what made these

Anunnaki so special — and why they were held in such high regard. But it wasn’t until the 20th century that the “ancient alien” theory really took off.