by SILENTTODD » Tue 17 Jun 2008, 03:03:40
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SILENTTODD', 'Q')uote me source on a pre-William Hershel (discoverer of Uranus 1781) knowledge of the existence of the planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (Dwarf Planet as it is now called) from a refereed scientific journal,and I'll take your statement seriously.
Refer to Carl's quote below:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'A')bout four billion years ago, when our solar system was very young, the Earth, as we know it, did not exist. If we were to name the planets, starting from the Sun, we would have Mercury (Mummu), Venus (Lahamu), Mars (Lahmu), Tiamat, Kingu, Jupiter (Kishar), Saturn (Anshar), Uranus (Anu), Neptune (Ea), and Pluto (Gaga). Yes, the Sumerians knew, and had names for, all of the planets in our solar system as recent (or long ago) as six thousand years ago! It was written in one of their early "books" known as
The Epic of Creation, which predates the Hebrew Genesis by more than a thousand years. The first words of The Creation Epic, given to Gilgamesh, were,
Enuma Elish, "When in the heights," just as in the opening of Genesis we read, Berashith, "In the beginning..." Scholars now know that the first few chapters of Genesis are really a condensed version of Enuma Elish. This is important to remember, because the key to understanding pre-historical events (as recorded by the Sumerians) and subsequent historical events, resides with the very personage of Abraham, the Father of the Hebrews.
L.W. King Translator
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An interesting translation of an epic myth, by one individual. Many cultures have them. But my point remains. Nothing in that whole script could objectively be used to identify any of the outer planets. There is nothing, about size, distance, orbital period, or any other property that could be used to identify one of them from that translation.
A question comes to my mind if your just slapping names to planets from that myth, what about the big four minor-planets Ceres, Vesta, Pallas and Juno? All of them have individual orbits and were discovered with small telescopes even before Neptune, because from Earth their brighter! Two of the planetary moons in the solar system, Jupiter's Ganymede, and Saturn's Titan are actually bigger than Mercury. You'd think they'd get a mention?
Your source is from the web. While the translation may be a very good one, it doesn't cut the mustard as "a refereed scientific journal".