Hi Alex,
As you say interesting
Have to question though the life span of the kings in thousands of years.
Does the text give any reason why the Kings lived so long? How does that statement relate to the Genesis version?
Isn't a life span of 500 years scientifically reasonable compared to 36,000 years in Sumer?
36,000 divided by 360 days = 100 years.
Indiana Bob
Hey bob,
Well, if you notice on the tablet, we go from 36k years originally down to what we would see after the flood of a hundred years etc... so I don't think you can take the days of the year and divide it into the year. They used a different unit which translates into our units of years. So if you get down to the times of the flood and also divide that by 360 days you now have people living less than a year? I don't think that works. I think the article mentions it the type of units they used to measure years. If not, its mentioned in the Wikipedia that I read which was about this tablet too.
Let me see...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_ListAntediluvian rulers[edit]
"None of the following predynastic "antediluvian" rulers has been verified as historical via archaeological excavations, epigraphical inscriptions, or otherwise. It is possible that they correspond to the Early Bronze Age Jemdet Nasr period culture which ended approximately 2900 BC, immediately preceding the dynasts,[17] if they were not purely mythological inventions.
The antediluvian reigns were measured in Sumerian numerical units known as sars (units of 3600), ners (units of 600), and sosses (units of 60 )
Ruler
Epithet
Length of reign
Approx. dates
Comments
"After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridug. In Eridug, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28800 years."
Alulim 8 sars (28,800 years) Between 35th and 30th century BC
Alalngar 10 sars (36,000 years)
"Then Eridug fell and the kingship was taken to Bad-tibira."
En-men-lu-ana 12 sars (43,200 years)
En-men-gal-ana 8 sars (28,800 years)
Dumuzid, the Shepherd "the shepherd" 10 sars (36,000 years)
"Then Bad-tibira fell and the kingship was taken to Larag."
En-sipad-zid-ana 8 sars (28,800 years)
"Then Larag fell and the kingship was taken to Zimbir."
En-men-dur-ana 5 sars and 5 ners (21,000 years)
"Then Zimbir fell and the kingship was taken to Shuruppag."
Ubara-Tutu 5 sars and 1 ner (18,600 years)
"Then the flood swept over."[citation needed]Excavations in Iraq have revealed evidence of localized flooding at Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara, Iraq) and various other Sumerian cities. A layer of riverine sediments, radiocarbon dated to ca. 2900 BC, interrupts the continuity of settlement, extending as far north as the city of Kish. Polychrome pottery from the Jemdet Nasr period (3000-2900 BC) was discovered immediately below the Shuruppak flood stratum.[19] "
See wiki for more!
Hope that helps answer your question bob.
God bless,
Alex
P.S. Adam lived to be roughly a thousand years and many of his early descendants were close to that age as well.