LORD OF THE RINGS IS SYMBOLIC OF THE ANUNNAKI J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is one of the most enchanting and successful tales of all time. First issued in the 1950s, this famous trilogy could just as well have emanated from the Dark Ages or medieval times, for it has all the qualities and attributes of the most ancient Grail and Ring traditions. This was made possible by the fact that Tolkien (an Oxford professor of Anglo-Saxon and English language) had the legendary wealth of ages at his fingertips and moulded his story accordingly. In considering the history of the Ring Quest, its parallel association with the Quest for the Holy Grail becomes increasingly apparent, as do the origins of fairies, elves, pixies, sprites, gnomes and goblins. Ring lore is also deeply rooted in many of the best loved nursery tales, and provides the essential facts behind numerous time-honoured characters of popular legend. Grail stories are generally associated with Arthurian knights roaming the Wasteland in search of the sacred relic. But the genre also embodies many other questing tales, incorporating such characters as Cinderella, Robin Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Count Dracula. Each account holds its own separate mystery and fascination, but it is not generally understood that they all stem from a common historical base which is rooted in the ancient culture of the Ring Lords. Even though some of the themes have their origins in very old lore, the majority of these tales were newly slanted from the Dark Ages onwards, when the Church set its sights against the Ring tradition. This was especially the case from medieval times when the persecution of heretics was in full swing, leading to the brutal Inquisitions which began in the 13th century. From around 4000 BC, the Ring was a primary device of the Anunnaki overlords, who were recorded as having been responsible for the establishment of municipal government and kingly practice in ancient Mesopotamia. In view of this, it is of particular relevance that, in 1967, when Professor Tolkien was asked about the Middle-earth environment of The Lord of the Rings, he wrote that he perceived its setting to be about 4000 BC. In this respect, the root of Tolkien's popular tale was extracted directly from Saxon folklore and was not actually new in concept. Indeed, the early Saxon god Wotan (the equivalent of the Sumerian Lord, Anu) was said to have ruled the Nine Worlds of the Rings – having the ninth Ring (the One Ring) to govern eight others. The contested ownership of the One Ring, as related in The Lord of the Rings, is little different to the enduring quest for the Holy Grail; they are both quests for the maintenance of sovereignty. But, in both fact and fiction, the Ring and the Grail are each seen to be misappropriated by those who perceive them as weapons of power. As the generations passed from ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian times, the ideal of dynastic kingship spread through the Mediterranean lands into the Balkans, the Black Sea regions and Europe. But, in the course of this, the crucial essence of the old wisdom was lost and this gave rise to dynasties that were not of the original kingly race. Instead, many were unrelated warrior chiefs who gained their thrones by might of the sword. The sacred culture of the ancients was, nevertheless, retained in the Messianic line of King David of Judah (around 1008 BC), whose significance was in his pharaonic heritage, not in his generally portrayed descent from Abraham and the Shemite strain. It was because of this particular inheritance that David's son, Solomon the Wise, was enabled to create his Egyptian-style Temple project in Jerusalem. This led to a Holy Land revival of the pharaonic and one-time Mesopotamian Rosi-crucis movement at a time when Egypt was beset by foreign influences, first from Libya, Nubia and Kush, and then from further afield. Resultantly, the traditional marriage arrangements of the pharaohs and princesses gave way to diplomatic alliances. The Rosi-crucis (whose supporters were called Rosicrucians) is often misidentified as if it referred to a Rosy (or Red) Cross - but in fact the term has a rather different origin. It stems from the old Greek 'rosi', meaning 'dew', and from 'crucis' meaning 'fire-cup' (as in the word 'crucible'). Hence, the Rosi-crucis was the dew-cup of fire – or fiery cup of the waters. In symbolic form, the Rosi-crucis was the original and longest standing mark of sovereignty – and this is where the secondary Rosy Cross definition comes into play, for this insignia was indeed a red cross within a ring. The early Bible writers condemned this royal device as being the Mark of Cain. This same emblem was deemed to be symbolic of the Holy Grail, whose representative form as the Dew-cup (or Chalice) emanated directly from the Sumerian word 'gra-al'. This defined the 'nectar of supreme excellence' – the prestigious legacy of the Anunnaki queen Nin- kharsag, great mother of the kingly bloodline. Originally, and for the longest time, the Ring was a symbol of perpetually divine justice, which was measured by the Rod. In ancient depictions various Sumerian overlords, kings and queens are individually portrayed holding the Rod and Ring devices - characters such as Marduk and Lilith, Shamesh, Ur-Nammu, Ashur, Samael and others from the 3rd and 2nd millenniums BC. In some instances the Rod is clearly marked in calculable units (like a modern ruler). In Babylonia it was referred to as the Rule – and the one who held the Rule was the designated ‘ruler’: which is from where the governmental term derives. In time, rather than holding the golden rings, the sovereigns began to place them on their heads where, from a general course of ornate embellishment through the ages, they ultimately became crowns, while the Rod (or Rule) evolved into the royal sceptre. In the course of this, the Rosi-crucis emblem of the cross and circle also became a solid object – a cross surmounted on a sphere – to become the Orb of sovereign regalia. In all the Grail romances, and in the tales of the Ring, the message is relentlessly clear: in the wrong hands, both the Ring and the Grail can bring disaster. The power of the Ring has to be withstood, otherwise it will enslave its master, whereas the Grail will retaliate with a vengeance if misused. Either way, the moral is the same in that, ultimately, power is self-destructive when achieved through selling one's soul. Consequently, the Ring can be a halo or a crown, but it can equally become a noose. There is, however, an essential difference between Tolkien's 'One Ring', which is portrayed as dark and divisive, and the Golden Ring of Grail romance, which is a ring of love and enlightenment. The latter (the ring with which Arthur made his vow to Guinevere) was further symbolised by the iron-clad ring of knights who sat at the Round Table – a Ring that was broken (leading the land into chaos and waste) when Guinevere was unfaithful to Arthur with Lancelot. Prior to the year 751, kings of the Grail succession were priests in their own right; they were priest-kings, known as Fisher Kings. But, when their rights to priesthood were undermined by the Church, the legacy was forsaken in all but the Gaelic realms. Before this, the representative substances of priest-kingship were Gold (for nobility), Frankincense (for priesthood) and Myrrh (for knowledge). These were the very substances presented to Jesus by the Magi in the New Testament, thereby positively identifying him as a dynastic priest-king of the Grail bloodline. The significance of this Magian presentation has been lost however, within a contrived fable of humble birth in a stable, which is not mentioned in any original Gospel. Yet, for some obscure reason, the Grail symbolism was retained by the Church in its Eucharist – the Communion sacrament, wherein the wine (figuratively the Gra-al blood of Christ) is drunk from the sacred chalice of the Rosi-crucis. In this regard, the true symbolism of the ancient custom, which began in Anunnaki times, has been strategically veiled, while both Grail lore and Ring lore are denounced by the Church as unofficial heresies. As confirmed in historical records, the disputes between the descendant Grail family and the Church establishment prevailed for centuries because of their conflict of interests. From the 1st century, Imperial Rome had decreed that the Messianic heirs should be hunted down and put to the sword. Then, once the Roman Church was formally operative from the 4th century, the sacred dynasty was forever damned by the bishops. It was this formal damnation which led to such events as the Albigensian Crusade in 1209 and the subsequent Catholic Inquisitions, for these brutal assaults by the papal machine were specifically directed against the upholders and champions of the original concept of Grail kingship, as against the style of pseudo- monarchy which had been implemented by the Bishops of Rome. In practical terms, Church kingship has prevailed from the 8th century and has continued, through the ages, to the present day. But the fact is that, under strict terms of sovereign practice, all such monarchies and their affiliated governments have been invalid. Church kingship is precisely that with which we have become so familiar. It applies to all monarchs who achieve their regnal positions by way of Church coronation by the Pope or other Christian leader (in Britain, by the Archbishop of Canterbury). In terms of true kingship, there was no necessity for coronation because kingly and queenly inheritance were always regarded as being 'in the blood' – to be precise, in the DNA of the Gra-al. In order to understand the legacy of the Ring, we must look at how Church kingship was made possible in the first place by way of a document called the Donation of Constantine – a document which led to just about every social injustice that has since been experienced in the Christian world. All monarchical and governmental practice has, for centuries, been based upon the initial precept of this charter but, in reality, its dogmatic precept is wholly invalid. When the Donation of Constantine made its first appearance in the middle 8th century it was alleged to have been written by Emperor Constantine some 400 years earlier, although strangely never produced in the interim. It was even dated and carried his supposed signature. What the document proclaimed was that the Emperor's appointed Pope was Christ's elected representative on Earth, with the power to 'create' kings as his subordinates since his palace ranked above all the palaces in the world! The provisions of the Donation were put into operation by the Vatican in 751, whereupon the Merovingian Fisher Kings of the Grail bloodline in Gaul were deposed and a whole new dynasty was supplemented by way of a family of hitherto mayors. They were dubbed Carolingians and their only king of any significance was the legendary Charlemagne. By way of this strategy, the whole nature of monarchy changed from being an office of community guardianship to one of absolute rule and, by virtue of this monumental change, the long-standing Grail Code of princely service was forsaken as European kings became servants of the Church instead of being servants of the people. The fact is, however, that over 500 years ago in the Renaissance era, proof emerged that the Donation was an outright forgery. Its New Testament references relate to the Latin Vulgate Bible – an edition translated and compiled by St. Jerome, who was not born until AD 340, some 26 years after Constantine supposedly signed the document! Apart from that, the language of the Donation, with its numerous anachronisms, is that of the 8th century and bears no relation to the writing style of Constantine's day. It is known today as "the most famous forgery in the world", but despite this, the Donation's overwhelming dictate, which cemented the Pope as the supreme spiritual and temporal head of Christendom, has prevailed regardless. Prior to the Grail's formal subjugation by the Church Inquisition in the Middle Ages, the victimised heterodox Christians (or 'heretics' as they were called) included the Cathars – the Pure Ones of the Languedoc region in the South of France. The Cathars were fully conversant with the Ring Lord culture and, in accordance with tradition, referred to the Messianic bloodline as the Elven race, venerating them as the Shining Ones. This is of course wholly indicative of the very same style afforded to the ancient Anunnaki – the great sons of Lord Anu, also called the Anna-nagge: the Shining Ones. In the language of old Provence, a female elf was an 'albi', and Albi was the name given to the main Cathar centre in Languedoc. This was in deference to the matrilinear heritage of the Grail dynasty, for the Cathars were supporters of the original Albi-gens: the Elven bloodline which had descended through the Grail queens of yore such as Nin-kharsag, Eresh-kigal, Lilith, Miriam, Bathsheba and Mary Magdalene. It was for this very reason that, when Simon de Montfort and the armies of Pope Innocent III descended upon the Languedoc region in 1209, it was called the Albigensian Crusade. Through some thirty-five years, tens of thousands of innocent people were slaughtered in this savage campaign, all because the inhabitants of the region were upholders of the original concept of Grail kingship, as against the inappropriate style of monarchy which had been established by the papal machine and its fabricated document of charter. The concept of calling the princely race of the Grail the Shining Ones, while also defining them as Elves, dates well back into ancient Bible times and can be traced into Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and Canaan (Palestine). The ancient word 'El', which was used to identify a god or lofty-one (as in El Elyon and El Shaddai) actually meant Shining in old Mesopotamian Sumer. To the north in Babylonia, the derivative 'Ellu' meant Shining One, as did 'Ilu' in Akkad. Subsequently, the word spread across Europe to become 'Ellyl' in Wales, 'Aillil' in Ireland, and 'Elf' in Saxony and England. The plural of El was Elohim, the very word used in old Bible texts to denote the gods, but strategically mistranslated to conform to the Judaeo-Christian 'One God' image. Interestingly, in Gaelic Cornwall, South West England, the word 'el' was the equivalent of the Anglo-Saxon 'engel' and the old French 'angele' which, in English, became 'angel'. There exists in Iran (ancient Persia) and the Canary Islands a large plant called the Dragontree. This plant is of the lily variety, and its resin is known as dragon's blood. The red extract was used as a ceremonial dye in the East, where it was referred to as 'lac', whose derivative 'lac' or 'lake' pigment is found today in the artists' paint colour Scarlet Lake. Dragons were very important to the descendant Shining Ones, who were anointed upon their kingly installation with the fatty oil of the sacred dragon – essentially a large four-legged monitor native to the Euphrates valley. In Mesopotamia, this creature was called the Mûs-hûs, and in Egypt his equivalent was the Messeh. On anointing, the kings were reckoned to gain the prowess of the sacred beast, becoming Messehs in their own right – and it is from this that the Hebrew term Messiah (meaning Anointed One) derived. Jesus was in no way unique in this regard – all the successive kings of the early Albigensian line were Messiahs. By virtue of the Dragontree, it is easy to recognize why the blood of the dragon was always associated with the essence of the lily – and indeed why the Grail queens of yore were often given applicable names such as Lily, Lilith, Luluwa, Lilutu and Lillet. It is, in fact from the very tradition of the 'lac' pigment that the family name of du Lac became prominent in Arthurian lore – as for example the Burgundian dynasty of Queen Viviane du Lac, mother of Lancelot du Lac. This was translated into English to become Lancelot of the Lake, but its more correct representation was Lancelot of the dragon blood. Alongside this, the Grail dynasty was also variantly styled the House del Acqs, meaning 'of the waters', from which came the queenly tradition of the Ladies of the Lake. The Rosi-crucis (or Dew-cup) – the emblem of the Holy Grail – was itself identified with the Messianic blood held within the sacred chalice of the maternal womb. It can, accordingly, be seen that the styles of du Lac and del Acqs are entirely synonymous, as are the historical traditions of the Dragon and the Grail. These conjoined traditions are especially significant in the story of the 'blood and water' which flowed from Jesus's side at the Crucifixion – being emblematic of the fact that he was truly a kingly dynast of the Shining Ones. The concept of fairies (the fair folk) was born directly from Dragon and Ring Lord cultures, being a derivative of the Greek 'phare', meaning 'great house'. (it is from this that the word 'pharaoh' also derives). In the Gaelic world, certain royal families (especially those of the Pendragons) were said to carry the fairy blood – that is to say, the fate or destiny of the Grail bloodline and of humankind at large – while the Elf-maidens of the Albi-gens were the designated guardians of the earth, starlight and forest. It is for these reasons that fairies and elves have so often been portrayed as shoemakers and lamplighters, for the fairy cobblers made the shoes which measured the steps of life, while the Shining Ones of the elven race were there to light the way. In national terms, although fairies present a widespread image, they are particularly associated with Ireland, where they are epitomized by the ancient people of the Tuatha Dé Danann. This formidable king tribe was, nevertheless, mythologized by the Christian monks, who rewrote the majority of Irish history to suit their own Church's vested interest in Eire. From a base of the monastic texts (which arose onwards from medieval times) it is generally stated that these people were the supernatural tribe of the agricultural goddess Danaë of Argos, or perhaps of the Aegean Mother-goddess Danu. But their true name, rendered in its older form, was Tuadhe d'Anu – and as such, they were the people (or tribe) of Anu, the great sky god of the Anunnaki. Onwards from the year 751, the Church sought all possible measures to diminish the status of any royal strain emanating from the original Ring Lords so that the fraudulent Donation of Constantine could be brought into play. Henceforth, only the subjugative Church could determine who was and was not a king, while the elves and fairies of the Albi-gens were manoeuvred from the forefront of history into a realm of apparent fantasy and legend. In this regard, it is significant that the Elves in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings are quite unlike the cute little characters of many fairy tales; they are actually larger and more powerful than average mortals. They are also endowed with greater powers of wisdom; they ride magical horses and closely resemble the ancient king tribe of the Tuadhe d'Anu. Settling in Ireland from about 800 BC, the Tuadhe d'Anu hailed from the Central European lands of Scythia, the Black Sea kingdoms which stretched from the Carpathian mountains and Transylvanian Alps, across to the Russian River Don. They were strictly known as the Royal Scyths and their classification as fates or fairies occurred because they were masters of a transcendent intellect called the Sidhé, which was known to the druids as the Web of the Wise. As the Church rose to power following the 8th-century implementation of the Donation of Constantine, so the 'underground stream', which supported the true Albi-gens, found strategic methods of preserving the old culture of the royal bloodline. In the course of this, and based upon a traditional principle of folklore and legend, the fairy tale concept was born – stories which were not unlike many of the parables inherent in the New Testament Gospels. They were likewise contrived 'for those with ears to hear', while others among the uninitiated would perceive them simply as fanciful children's entertainment. A key focal message built into these fairy tales was an understanding of the importance of perpetuating the family line of the Sangréal (Blood Royal), regardless of the power of the bishops and the Church's puppet kings. The whole scenario was presented, time after time, as if it were a struggling nightmare, wherein the female (the Elf-maiden who carried the essential mitochondrial DNA) was out of reach of the Grail prince, so that his torturous quest to find her was akin to the quest for the Holy Grail itself. Consequently, many of the tales which emanated from this base were stories of lost brides and usurped kingship, based upon the Church's subjugation of the Grail bloodline. The fairy tale ideal was essentially geared to relate the truth of these persecutions. They were allegorical accounts of the predicament of the Messianic family – the Ring Lords of the Sangréal, whose fairies and elves (having been manoeuvred from the mortal plane of orthodoxy and status quo) were confined to a seemingly Otherworld existence. They emerged as tales of valiant princes who were turned into frogs; of Swan knights who roamed the Wasteland and of Grail princesses locked in towers, or put to sleep for hundreds of years. In the course of their persecution, the Elf-maidens were pricked with bodkins, fed with poisoned apples, subjected to spells or condemned to servitude, while their champions swam great lakes, battled through thickets and scaled mighty towers to secure and protect the matrilinear heritage of the Albi-gens. These romantic legends include such well-known stories as the Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel. In all cases, the underlying theme is the same, with the princess kept (through drugging, imprisonment or some form of restraint) out of reach of the prince, who has to find her and release her in order to preserve the dynasty and perpetuate the line. It was during the period of France's Carolingian dynasty (the dynasty of Emperor Charlemagne), which began in 751, that the seeds of most of these popular stories were planted, and it is because of the inherent truths which lie behind the stories that we find them so naturally appealing. Some academics argue that fairy tales survive and thrive because they are often based upon a 'rags-to- riches' doctrine, but this is not the case. They survive because deep within the Western psyche is an inherent, inbred awareness that the Grail (symbolised by the Lost Bride) has to be found if the Wasteland is to return to fertility. The Rapunzel story relates that, in order to function as an effective seer, Rapunzel was confined to a tower by an enchantress as a measure of protection against the world at large – in essence to preserve her maidenly virtue and the supernatural power related to that virtue. Hence, as in all similar stories, although the lost bride has been confined (whether by fair means or foul), she always emerges in a fit mental and physical state for the Grail prince. Another important facet of the desired virginal portrayal, as evident in the tale of Rapunzel, is the allegorical symbolism of long hair. Rapunzel's golden locks are presented as being plaited into a lengthy braid which the prince used to scale the tower. Before eventually being freed, however, Rapunzel's hair was cut off by the enchantress, thereby implying the release of the maiden's chastity to the wilderness. The importance of very long hair was that it afforded an appropriate veil of modesty even when in a naked state. Although perhaps physically or metaphorically divested of clothes (as symbolized by the willing or compulsory subordination to another), the Elf-maiden with tresses was never vulnerable; her dignity was always preserved and neither her body nor soul was ever bared until the appropriate time. The oldest complete version of the Ring Cycle comes from the Norse mythology of the Volsunga Saga. This was described by the English poet and designer William Morris as "the great story of the North which should be to all our race what the tale of Troy was to the Greeks". Compiled from more than forty separate legends, the 13th- century Icelandic tale relates to the god Odin, to the kingdom of the Nine Worlds and to a dark forest called Mirkwood – a name later repeated by Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings. It also tells of how Prince Sigmund of the Volsung dynasty is the only warrior able to pull the great sword of Odin from a tree in which the god had driven it to its hilt – as replicated in the Arthurian story of the sword and the stone. Additionally, we learn of the Water-dwarf Andarvi, whose magical One Ring of red-gold could weave great wealth and power for its master – precisely as depicted in all related Ring legends. Contemporary with the Volsunga Saga was a very similar tale which appeared in and around Burgundy in the 1200s: a Middle High German epic called The Nibelungenlied. In this account, which follows a similar path, the hero is called Siegfried and the tale is given a knightly gloss of the Gothic era, while unfortunately losing some of the pagan enchantment of the Northern legend. No musical composer has done so much to preserve the legacy of Ring lore as Richard Wagner, whose renowned opera, The Ring of the Nibelung, was largely drawn from the Burgundian folklore of The Nibelungenlied and, to some extent, from the Volsunga Saga. Over the years, many people have likened Tolkien's wizard, Gandalf, to Merlin of the Arthurian tales. At the same time, Tolkien's Aragorn has been likened to King Arthur but, as Tolkien himself pointed out (in a letter written in 1967), there was really a closer similarity between Aragorn and the historical Charlemagne. The challenge which faced Charlemagne in the 9th century (having been charged by the Pope to establish a viable Empire from various disunited kingdoms) was not unlike that which confronted Aragorn, who reunited the divided kingdoms of Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings. But there was a marked difference in practice, for Aragorn was far more like Arthur in having an advisory wizard, whereas Charlemagne did not because the Church would not consent to royal counsellors outside its own appointees. Aragorn's was, therefore, more of a Gaelic-style environment, with his enemy being the evil Sauron of Mordor. Charlemagne, on the other hand, was supposedly a champion of the Roman Church whose adversaries were the supporters of the unlawfully ousted Merovingian establishment – an establishment to which Aragorn would personally have been well suited. The difficulty one has in understanding Charlemagne is that, for all the apparent Carolingian attachment to the Vatican, he does not seem to have been wholly committed to the Roman ideal and clearly inherited a strong contrary legacy from his mother, who was a daughter of the Merovingian Princess Blanche Fleur. Undeterred by the Donation of Constantine, which had enabled his father, King Pepin, to usurp the Merovingian throne, Charlemagne retained advocates of both the Grail Church and the Roman Church at his Court. He was not even too keen on the idea of becoming Holy Roman Emperor but, on Christmas Day in the year 800, while in the Roman Basilica of St. Peter's in the company of several bishops, Pope Leo III crept up behind him and placed the Imperial crown on his head without warning! Traditionally, the Albi-gens (Elven bloodline) has been identified with water – a concept that can be traced back some five millennia to Tiâmat the Dragon Queen. Her Akkadian name actually means 'salt waters' and had its equivalent in the Hebrew 'tehôm' (or 'tehômot' in the plural), as used in Old Testament references to 'the deep'. The name Mary, which is associated with the Messianic line (as in the Blessed Mary, Mary Magdalen, etc.), was itself linked to the sea (as in the French: 'mer', and its Latin equivalent) – also with water in general. It is an English form, based upon a Greek variant of the Hebrew Miriam along with the Egyptian Mery, meaning 'beloved' (as in Merytaten: Beloved of Aten). For this reason, in some conventual orders, the nuns still use the titular style of Mary in front of their baptismal given names: Sister Mary Louise, Sister Mary Theresa and the like. Alongside the Mary Magdalene movement in 1st-century Provence was that of her colleague Mary Jacob. She was the New Testament wife of Cleopas (as given in the Gospel of John) who had accompanied the Magdalene to Gaul in AD 44, as detailed in The Acts of Magdalene in the Vatican Archives. St. Mary Jacob was a Nazarene priestess, who became better known in Europe as Mary the Gypsy or Mary the Egyptian (from which the word 'gypsy' derived). In England her cult was widespread in medieval times and her Oath of Wedlock was referred to as the Merrie – from which the verb 'to marry' derives, as does the tag applied to Merrie Englande. Often depicted with a fish-tail, Mary the Gypsy was an original 'merrie-maid' (a mermaid), and she was given the attributive name Marina in the Middle Ages. She is portrayed as such alongside Mary Magdalene in a window at the Church of St. Marie in Paris, and her memory is preserved in Maid Marian and the Merrie Men of the Robin Hood legends. In ancient Egypt it was common practice for the pharaohs to marry their sisters in order to progress their kingship through the female line. These wives were often the pharaohs' half-sisters, born of their mothers by different fathers, for it was the mitochondrial DNA of the matrilinear succession that was important to the dynasties. (Although mitochondria is inherited from mothers by both sons and daughters, it is only passed on by the daughters, since this DNA resides within the female egg cells.) It can be seen from plotted genealogical charts of the era that, although Egypt had many successive kingly dynasties, these houses were only renamed and renumbered when a pharaoh died without a male heir. The important thing was that his queen had a female heiress, and it was upon that daughter's marriage into another male line that a new dynasty began. Many pharaohs had a number of strategically chosen wives and often married into the various strains of the original royal blood of Mesopotamia from which the early pharaonic dynasties were themselves descended. In such cases, the crown princes would marry the daughters of their fathers' second or junior queens, thereby perpetuating an apparent patrilinear descent, but in fact heightening the female blood of their line in favour of successive generations. The story of matrilinear royal descent traces back thousands of years to the very dawn of recorded time when the great Anunnaki Lord of the Sky was Anu. He is documented on clay tablets and cylinder seals from the 3rd millennium BC, discovered in the Sumerian delta eden of the Persian Gulf. His queenly consorts were his sisters: Antu, Lady of the Sky, and Ki, the Earth Mother. Anu had two sons: Enlil (whose mother was Ki) and Enki (whose mother was Antu). Enki had two wives, one of whom was his half-sister Nîn- khursag, the Lady of Life. By the same token, Enlil similarly had two wives, including Nîn-khursag who was, therefore, consort to each of her brothers. This deiform family had descended from the great Mother Goddess Tiâmat – described in the Enûma elish (the original Creation account which preceded the writing of the Old Testament's book of Genesis by more than 2000 years) as 'She who bore them all'. The rule of kingly descent through the senior female line appears to have been established from the outset when a dispute over entitlement arose between the brothers Enki and Enlil. The Anunnaki overlords were said to have governed by way of a Grand Assembly of councillors who sat at Nippur. They consisted of eight members (seven males and a female), who held the Rings of divine justice, along with their president, Anu, who held the One Ring to bind them all. This conforms precisely with the Nine Kingdoms of the Volsunga Saga, which cites Odin as the ultimate presidential Ring Lord. As the original god-kings of Mesopotamia, this Assembly was said to have introduced kingly practice which, according to the Sumerian King List (dating from before 2000 BC) was 'lowered from heaven'. The Anunnaki fraternal dispute arose when Anu resigned his presidency of the Grand Assembly, at which point his elder son Enlil became the apparent candidate. His brother Enki challenged this on the basis that, although he was younger than Enlil, he was the senior son and royal successor because his mother, Antu, was Anu's senior sister, whereas Enlil's mother, Ki, was Antu's junior. Therefore, claimed Enki, "I am the great brother of the gods. I am he who has been born as the first son of the divine Anu". As such, it was his mother Antu who held the primary office of queenship, and among her variously recorded titles, the later Kassite Kings of Mesopotamia (from around 1750 BC) called her the Lady of the Fire-stone, granting her the name Barat-Anna. This derived from the Kassite royal stem BRT (rather like the modrn HRH) and from the Akkadian An-na (meaning Fire-stone).

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2004