The Seven Tablets of Creation

The Babylonian poem the internet calls Sumerian. Complete, all seven tablets, in L. W. King's 1902 translation — including the page where the clay breaks off, and what was found since.

$54.95Hardcover · 186 pages · casewrap

Includes the ebook and a map & chronology poster, emailed to you after your order is confirmed.

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Two hardcover copies of The Seven Tablets of Creation side by side.

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One to keep, one to give. Add a second hardcover for $34.95 instead of $54.95 — you save $20.00. $89.90 for the set.

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Quoted by every "ancient aliens" video. Read by almost none of them.

You've probably heard that these tablets describe astronauts, or a planet called Nibiru on a long orbit past Pluto, or a race that engineered mankind. None of that is in the text. In the fifth tablet, Marduk "founded the station of Nibir" as part of setting the stars and the calendar; in the seventh, "Nibiru" turns out to be one of his fifty names — and in Babylonian astronomy, Nibiru is a name for the planet Jupiter, Marduk's own star.

What the tablets do say is stranger than the theories, in a different way: a war between gods, a body split to make the sky and the earth, and a plan to make mankind that the clay itself interrupts mid-sentence, for over a hundred lines. Read it and judge for yourself.

What this isn't: not a Sitchin-style "ancient astronaut" book, not a new translation, not a book about extraterrestrials. It's L. W. King's 1902 translation, typeset properly, with the theories named and set aside on the page above.

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More than a reprint. An edition.

Table of contents page listing the introduction, seven tablets, five related texts, notes, glossary and plates.

The complete 1902 apparatus

The complete 1902 introduction. All seven tablets, numbered as King numbered them, plus five related texts he grouped as "other accounts of the history of creation." Our own notes on what a century of further discovery has changed, a map, a chronology, a pronunciation guide and a glossary of names that shift from tablet to tablet.

Page introducing the missing lines of Tablet VI, marking where King's 1902 text breaks off.

The Gap in the Sixth Tablet

The sixth tablet is the one everyone comes for — and the one the clay treated worst. King had the opening, where Marduk proposes to make mankind "from my blood", and a handful of lines at the end. In between, over a hundred lines are marked "the rest of the text is wanting". We print King's text exactly as he had it, and add a page — free, sent to your inbox from the form below — that tells you plainly what the fragments recovered since 1902 say filled that gap, instead of quietly rewriting King's translation to smuggle it in.

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Glossary page defining Anunnaki, Anu, Ea, Marduk, Tiamat and other names from the tablets.

A glossary that takes sides on nothing but the text

Twenty-six names, places and objects from the poem, spelled the way King spelled them (Anshar, Kishar, Tiamat, Apsû), with modern spellings noted — plus the scholars who recovered the text, from George Smith's first announcement in 1875 to King's own translation in 1902. Every entry checked line by line against King's own text, including the one that matters most: Anunnaki is a title of rank, "offspring of Anu," not a claim about where anyone came from.

Built like it matters.

Format	6 × 9 in casewrap hardcover
Pages	186 pages, cream 60# interior paper
Cover	Oxford red, glossy casewrap, gold-ink frame and title (see FAQ: "Is the gold real?")
Text	All seven tablets as King printed them in 1902, plus five related texts
Translation	L. W. King (British Museum, 1902), newly typeset
Typography	Set in Cardo
Extras	New introduction · map · chronology · pronunciation guide · glossary · notes on 20th-century fragments · five of the six 1902 plates
Made	Printed and bound to order in our print partner's network, then shipped direct to you — US: 12–15 business days, UK: 7–10 business days, both with tracking

Plate reproducing a photograph of a tablet fragment from the 1902 edition.

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Why not the free scan online?

The Akkadian text and King's 1902 translation are in the public domain — you can find scans of the original on archive.org. Here's exactly what this edition adds.

	This edition	Free public-domain scan
Format	Newly typeset, readable book type	Photographed 1902 pages, small serif, uneven scan quality
Navigation	Numbered tablets, table of contents, glossary	None
The gap in Tablet VI	Explained on its own page, plainly	Silent — the reader hits "[The rest of the text is wanting]" with no context
Glossary	26 names defined and cross-checked	None
Map & chronology	Included	None
Format you hold	Printed hardcover	PDF or microfilm scan

Why not the $7–$24 print-on-demand reprint?

There are other cheap paperback reprints of King's translation on Amazon. We looked at three of them on the same day we wrote this page. Here's what we found, so you can decide for yourself.

	This edition	Cheap POD reprints we checked
Both King volumes complete	Yes — full translation, introduction, notes	Not confirmed on any listing we checked: one edition doesn't state whether it includes both of King's original volumes; another is explicitly Volume 2 only (index and glossary, without the tablet translations)
Text quality	Newly typeset from the original translation	One listing states on its own product page that it's a "historical reproduction" from a digitization process, with "occasional errors" possible
Map & chronology	Included	Not mentioned on any listing we checked
Glossary	Included, 26 entries cross-checked against King's text	One listing mentions an index/glossary as part of Volume 2 only; the others don't say
The gap in Tablet VI, explained	Yes, on its own page	Not mentioned on any listing we checked
Format	Hardcover casewrap	Paperback (the editions we checked)
Price range seen	$54.95	$6.90–$23.95 for the more complete-looking paperback reprint; $37–$68 for the Volume 2–only edition

We're not naming these as fakes — we don't have their books in hand, only their own product pages. We're telling you what those pages do and don't say, so you know what you're comparing.

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Leonard William King, D.Litt. (1869–1919)

King was an Assyriologist at the British Museum, in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities. His two-volume Seven Tablets of Creation appeared in 1902, the first edition to present the whole poem as it then stood — every known fragment identified, with a full scholarly introduction. It's the translation this book reprints, newly typeset and checked against the original 1902 scan.

Provenance, in full

Text: Enuma Elish, the Babylonian Epic of Creation — seven tablets, plus five related texts
Translation: L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (London: Luzac, 1902)
Original language: Akkadian, in cuneiform, copied onto clay by Babylonian scribes, probably around 1200–1100 BC in the form we have it
Survival: recovered chiefly from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668–c. 627 BC), excavated by Layard (1845–1851) and Rassam (1852–1854), now in the British Museum
This edition: newly typeset and published by Reed Stylus Press, 2026; every source named inside the book. The translation and King's introduction are in the public domain; the map, chronology, glossary, notes and this introduction are new.

These tablets get quoted a lot online, and misquoted at least as often. We're naming that because it's real and it's probably why you're here. No channel, scholar, or podcast has endorsed this edition, and we won't imply otherwise.

Why we made this

We went looking for a readable, honest edition of the Enuma Elish and found two options: a public-domain scan nobody had bothered to typeset, or a shelf of "ancient aliens" paperbacks that quote the tablets without printing them.
So we built the edition we wanted: King's complete 1902 translation, properly typeset, with the gaps in the clay shown rather than hidden, a glossary for the names that shift from tablet to tablet, and a plain page explaining exactly where the ancient text ends and the theories about it begin.
— Reed Stylus Press

Reviews

This edition ships for the first time in September 2026. There are no reviews yet, and we won't publish one we didn't receive. Verified purchase reviews open with the first deliveries.

Questions

Is this just an old text? What am I actually getting?

Yes — and that's the point. This is L. W. King's complete 1902 translation of the Enuma Elish (the Babylonian creation epic) and five related texts, all seven tablets, with King's full scholarly introduction, plus a new guide: a map, a chronology, a glossary, and notes on what a century of further discovery has changed.

Is this about aliens? Anunnaki, Nibiru...?

No. The tablets don't describe visitors from another planet. "Anunnaki" is a title for a group of the great gods, traditionally explained as "offspring of Anu" — not a species and not a place of origin. "Nibir," in the fifth tablet, is the station Marduk founds while setting the stars and calendar; "Nibiru," one of his fifty names in the seventh tablet, is Babylonian astronomy's name for the planet Jupiter, Marduk's own star. Same name, two tablets, not a planet beyond Pluto.

Why $54.95? Isn't this text free online?

The Akkadian text and King's 1902 translation are public domain, yes — you can find scans on archive.org. What you're paying for is what we add: a newly typeset, readable hardcover edition; a map and chronology; a glossary of 26 names that shift across the seven tablets; notes on what's changed since 1902; five of the six plates from the original edition; and a printed book you can hold, not a photocopy of century-old footnotes.

When will it arrive?

This book is printed and bound to order, not stocked in a warehouse, so every copy is new and it takes a little longer than a shelf book. Allow 12–15 business days from order to delivery in the US, or 7–10 business days in the UK — both with tracking sent to your email once it ships. We currently ship to the US and UK only.

What if I don't like it?

See the 30-Day No-Risk Guarantee above. Full refund within 30 days, no return shipping required.

Is this a religious or "ancient aliens" book? Do I need background to read it?

Neither. It's a primary historical document — a poem Babylonian scribes copied onto clay, in the form we have it, probably around 1200–1100 BC. You don't need any background: the introduction explains who's who, the notes explain the gaps, and the glossary catches anything that shifts.

Is the gold real?

No. The frame and title are printed in gold ink tones on a glossy casewrap, not foil. We'd rather say it than let you find out.