How Accurate is Berossus' Sumerian King List? | Myths Highlights 

Respect for always teaching historical accuracy Professor.

I appreciate the quality programming on this channel, particularly the commitment to presenting only factual information. I am curious if you have any plans to create a video discussing the origins of the tamkārum, House of Egibi, and the practice of money lending.

Love your work doc, though I'm Not sure if i missed something here. OK the source was bad, we have the tablets to get the real dates from now, but the major point was the dates were very long. I've heard an argument that these dates are exaggerations to try and prove dynasty and right to rule so I was expecting the video to make some kind of counter to the long date, a counter to the date is slightly wrong but still very large doesn't seem a useful rebuttal. Or was the point that we should divide all the numbers by 365 to get years? Thanks in advance

This how people who write history try to make their cultures more legitimate. When one culture runs into another culture that tries to say they're superior in some way, they make stuff up to legitimize their own cultures authority. Edit: Re-writing history certainly has a purpose and I believe this is the most likely case.

Interesting insight! 😊❤

Alaporos just 10800!? Somehow I dont believe in that 😂😂😂

I have long wondered if you shouldn't just divide by 360 and get the real number of years from these lists. It would also better match the later length of reigns.

So ignoring the names being messed up, and not even appearing in the oldest copies of the list, this is what it should ACTUALLY say. Aloros 10 years Alaporos 3 years Amelon 13 years Ammenon 12 years Megalaros 18 years Daonos 10 years Euedoroches 18 years Amempsinmos 10 years Opartes 8 years Xlsuhtros 18 years Total Years 120

I sure love your work. You save me a lot of trouble and help me to look in the right places. Keep doing what you are doing. I suggest your videos all the time. Again, thank you very much for your great work.

Berossus was far from historical reliable but a least his work (preserved in a passage by the same George Syncellus from byzantine times) show that some sumerian legends were still known during helenistic times. Not only his version of the deluge myth is a lot closer to the sumerian one (even the hero being Xisuthtus=Ziusudra,not Utnapishitim or Atrahahis like Babylonian myths) but also preserved some traditions unknown in cuneiform texts: like what happened after the deluge hero was cast away from humankind. Only in his text it was revealed that not only Ziusdura and his wife were granted eternal life,but his daughter and the ark's steersman too. They were not named in the text but I suspect they were Shiduri and Usharnabi,characters who appeared in the end of the Epic of Gilgamesh .

Wouldn’t surprise me if it’s really early theories on precession. The luwian studies institute had a video years ago how the Hittites had deity names for time periods and it might have been a regional cultural thing going back much further in history

Randall is not the expert he presents himself as. Not surprising but very disappointing that there are so many who find him credible. Good work Dr. M.!

"Sumaria." - Society for putting wrong things on top of other wrong things.

Just so that I understand this, when the list say's "years", is that actually days? Or, do you take the number on the list divide by 3,600 and that's the actual years of a Kings reign? For instance, 36,000 ÷ 3,600 = 10. So the actual reign in years is 10? Or is this just all myth? Sorry but I'm confused as heck, LOL.

Who has a copy of the earlier kings list without the predeluvian kings?

I’m not surprised that Carlson used the word “Sumaria” with that unique spelling in his fancy animation…

I believe those dates the way I believe Atlantis actually existed.

I like this topic. Just 46 seconds in, we already have uncertain names, rounded numbers, he did get the definition of antediluvian right though! I fear I am becoming lazy though.

When I was studying to be an archeologist my life was in ruins!

I would like to point out that it is likely that Abydenus did not get his information directly from Berossus. For example in regards to Berossus' astrological and astronomical views apparently the several of the surviving writings that refer to these views, i.e., Vitruvius Pollio, Pliny the Elder and Seneca the Younger got their information from the Philosopher Poseidonios and those writing have not survived. It appear Poseidonios got this info from Berossus' writing directly. In regard to the historical info. Well it appears that Alexander Polyhistor (c. 65 B.C.E.) and Juba (50 B.C.E. - 20 C.E.) got their info directly from Berossus. Although it appears both highly condensed the info. Their works have not survived. The Jewish historian Josephus (First century C.E.) used Berossus but apparently by using Alexander not Berossus directly. Three Christian apologists used Berossus by using Alexander's and Juba's work. Tatianus, Theophhilus and Titus Flavius Clemens. It appears that Juba and Alexander's works were too long and boring so that Abydenus using them further condensed it in another summary. Then a Sextus Julius Africanus wrote a Chronology using Alexander and Juba summarizing it also. And both these works haven't survived either!!! The Christian Eusebius wrote a work using Abydenus and Sextus called The Chronicle which is also lost. But, miracle of miracles, we have an Armenian translation of it. And St. Jerome was nice enough to translate Eusebius' tables into latin. And after all that we get, finally, the Chronology of George Syncellus!!! He probably used Eusebius, Abydenus and Sextus. We have it seems no surviving writing from someone who directly read Berossus. We have some possible excerpts and bizarrely often summaries of summaries of summaries!!!! Is it any wonder what we have is bluntly a mess. It appears that Berossus' actual book was little read in antiquity and the actual book vanished fairly early and scholars preferred to rely on excepts and summaries, possibly because the actual book was impossible or very difficult to find.

Cool! Should have been more effective if you display the actual years in our decimal numbers next to the Sumerian!

Antediluvian surely? Or at a minimum pre-diluvian. If this Randall chap can't spell, I doubt he's got a bright future.

I was reading John Keay history of India the starting part is basically delves how crappy ancient Indians are at record keeping which makes Indian history so contentious. Do you think that what we know about history of India suffers from the lack of written material from let’s say between the period of 7500 BC in Bhirrana to until edicts of Ashoka? Do you think this fuel massive misunderstanding about among the Indian people? For example Brahmi script is supposed to come from Aramaic but I can’t find anywhere if this debate is settled or not unlike Kharosthi. Can you make video about it if possible?

He used that graph to show the significance of 432, your graph could explain the same thing he was trying to set up.

Kiss…..was it easy to write this back in the day….no ….. did they just write anything….like…my mom and I are having a great day…..no never….so why spend the time to do it if it was for nothing

Why not precent The sumeria kinglist with translation

at least the sumerian king list is less exaggerated by 50% on a serious note, are there any known inscriptions/records of solar and lunar eclipses or heliacal rising of stars or culminations of stars/constellations with corresponding dates in the egyptian/sothic calendar with the reigning pharaohs?

I really appreciate the breakdown and explanation. But would like if you added his conclusion based on this, so that we have a clearer picture of WHY he is interpreted the dates wrong. Or if this was just a small correction to a peer. I only know it's the former because I see "After Skool" in the design and I know they usually use unreliable info.

I wonder about the potential that these different numbers signify different traditions within Mesopotamia. Oral traditions show much diversity within them and there is potential that these different numbered years reflect different traditions instead of error.

Hi can you tell me in regved there is a king name Devadas,a channel name hamara ait claim that he was a greek king Please can you verify me for this!!

This channel is one of the few where I genuinely feel bad for not contributing to the Patreon. It seems too good to be true. However, I suppose things like this are possible whenever someone is truly passionate about what they do, regardless of what they get in return. This man is becoming something of a Carl Sagan or Steven Irwin of ancient history, at least in my book. You and your work have my unending appreciation!

Why is he say Sumerian but showing Assyrian?

THis video is too short! Please talk more!

If you delve into mysticism and esoterics then your are supposed to understand, all by yourself, that Jesus walking on water obviously isn’t a literal truth, it is a metaphor for something else. The same with these King Lists, you are supposed to understand that it is a veiled reference to astrological cycles. The 2000BC list and the 900AD list both refer to two sides of the same thing, they are both correct. But the mystery is for YOU to solve. Good start: Hermes Trismegistus

Aliens bro

It is not easy to measure time, what is the unit used?

Why is each king said to hv ruled an even thousand /hundred of years. Remarkable. Why such a division?

I heard from someone, I don’t know who, that the anti-alluvion kings names were more representative of the forces of nature then they were actual names of people. But that’s thirdhand information if you’re getting it from me.

im so confused if you google sumerian king list, it takes you right to the Wikipedia on it and it says it was derived from the clay tablets? just trying to better understand as you say in the beginning it was NOT actually found on any clay tablets?

I feel like reigning for 28.000 years instead of 36.000 is not such a "got ya!" moment. Those numbers still does not make sense.

So stupid ... 😂

👍

The kings list continued after the flood and all dates are accurate Gilgamesh is an accepted historical figure 5th king of Uruk ruled for "126" years and physically powerful... explain please

Lugal u

Great explanation, Doctor.

You know, every time I see something like this, I wonder if any of these people has ever heard of a fish story. A fish is always bigger when you tell the tale than when you pull it out of the water. Those are legendary kings, so their reign will always be longer than the natural human life span by monumental amounts of time. Those may even be mythological kings, meaning their lifespans may take on god-like proportions. One of the first things I was taught in my study of theology was that religious texts will almost never be history. They will almost universally be legend or myth. A good rule of thumb to tell those two apart is the great-grandfather rule. A king in your great-grandfather’s youth will be legendary and it drifts towards mythology as you move farther back towards the “Dawn of time”. And then there is the competition factor. Ramesses II ruled for a staggering 69 years, so every king slipping into legend and myth will have a longer reign, to prove that your kings are greater than their kings. That’s how that 2 lb carp you caught turns into something the size of a blue whale over time. The reign of those antediluvian kings was probably measured in months or days originally and as it slipped into myth, it got twisted into years. That’s as likely an explanation for such staggering numbers as anything else. Even then, there is probably some further exaggeration, because 18,000 days is a little over 55 years. If such long lifespans were even possible, you would see their descendants alive today living for thousands of years still. Those long lifespans would become a dominant trait in the matter of a few centuries, rather than fading away. Yeah, that’s all myth. Anyone who says otherwise is selling you something.

I really love the Sumarian Kings List

That’s some sweet information.

1 Sar = 3600 degrees of a circle not years. 3600 degrees = 10 circles, 10 circles of the Earth around the Sun is what we today call a decade. We still use Sumerian math today, we call it geometry.

Nice class!! 👍👍👍

❤🕊

In the popular oldie, "Atlantis" (the first time I remember hearing the tale), they're referred to as antediluvian.

Someone needs to tell this guy that there was no "Sumaria" or even Sumeria. The area is called Sumer. From this we get the adjective Sumerian. It's like there were Athenian philosophers, but no place called Athenia. (And it should be antediluvian, not "antedeluvian").

Did i understand right that those two king lists are separated by some thousands of years? Yet the names are that similar. I think that is fantastic!

As I recall the Babylonia calendar was divided into 360 days. (please check - 40 yr old memory) what if the actual Reign of these kings was deliberately magnified to give the kingdom a greater sense of legitimacy and authority? Perhaps the Reign lengths could be each divided by a number important to the ruling classes - say, 3600? Perhaps something closer to the truth might be found. Also note: Babelonia recorded the reality of the 'mythical' Biblical Flood. So this was likely a real event, as it is recorded in multiple cultures throughout this region.

Maybe those kings drank A LOT of sum kind of tequila with added vitamins so they lived a long time?

CLICKBAIT

Yeah but dude your excuses are not any better cause you say that it can be divided by 360 so the number is not real and I list doesn't have them so. Your stuff is not any more believable, like when before G Tepe was found we were told civilization only goes back 6 thousand years and you could take that to the bank. You only know that you nothing for sure. People who don't want to believe in any new ideas seems kinda scared to go against settled science which goes against the idea that science is never settled

Sumer…not Sumeria.

As if I'm going to trust actual Sumerian King lists, rather than the work of Berossus who probably visited the temple of Neith at Sais.

Did you know that it is possible to present information without it being an assault upon another person's work.