2020-02-01_Fortean_Times

22 FT389

ACambridgeacademic

believeshehas discovere dan

early example offake news,

in the text ofa3,000-y ear-old

Babyloniantale inscribed on

aclaytablet from 700 BC.

TheGilgameshFlood myth

(believedtohave inspired

the OldTestamentaccount of

Noah’sArk,inGenesis6-9) was

examinedby AssyriologistDr

MartinWorthington,aFello wof

St John’s College,Cambridge,

who specialises in Babylonian,

Assyrianand Sumerian

grammar,literature and

medicine. He saysthat nine lines

of the text maybeunderstood in

verydifferent ways.

TheBabylonian deity Ea

(a trickstergod ofwater,

knowledgeand mischief)

apparentlypromisesarain

of food, butconcealedwithin

theselinesare awarningof an

apocalypticfloodtocome. Dr

Worthington argues thatEa

wasmotivatedby self-interest,

andthathetrickshumanity“by

spreadingfake news.Hetellsthe

BabylonianNoah,known as Uta-

napishti,topromise hi speople

thatfood willrain from the sky

if theyhelphim build the ark.

What thepeople don’trealise

is that Ea’s nine-linemessage

is atrick:itisasequence of

sounds thatcan be understood

in radicallydifferentways,

likeEnglish ‘icecream’ and‘I

scream’”.

Contemplating the god’s

duplicity,DrWorthington

said: “He mightwanttoretain

deniability. If asked, ‘Why

didn’tyou warn the people?’

he could say‘Theydecided to

interpret it thatway.That’s

nothing to dowith me’[..] Once

the arkisbuilt,Uta–napishti

and hisfamilyclamber aboard

and survive withamenagerie

of animals. Everyone else

drowns. With thisearlyepisode,

set in mythological time, the

manipulationof information and

language has begun.Itmay be

theearliestever example offake

news”.

Dr Worthington’sresearch

focuseson nine lineswhich,

he says,canbeinterpr eted

contrarily: “Ea’slines area

verbal trickwhichcan be

understoodindifferent ways

whic hare phoneticallyidentical.

Besides the obvious positive

readingpromisingfood, Ifound

multiple negative onesthat warn

of theimpending catastrophe.

Ea is clearly amasterwordsmith

who isable to compress multiple

simultaneous meaningsinto

oneduplicitousutterance”.

In Babylonian,one linereads:

“ina lilati usaznanakkunusi

samut kibati”, whichtranslates

as either “at dawn therewill

be kukkucakes”or “at dawn,

he will rain down uponyou

darkness”.Anothercanbe

translated as “hewill rain down

on youabundance”,butalso

carries an alternative meaning

“he willrain down onyou

abundantly”.

But whywouldagod li e?

Dr Worthingtonexplained:

“Babylonian gods only survive

because people feedthem.If

humanityhadbeen wiped out,

thegodswould have starved.The

god Eamanipulateslanguage

andmisleads people into doing

hiswillbecause itserves his

self-interest. Modernparallels

arelegion!”

Fanciful pressreportsofthe

so-called‘Mummy’s Curse’ or

‘Curse of the Pharaohs’following

HowardCarter’sdisco veryof

Tutankhamun’stomband Lord

Carnarvon’sdeath, both in 1923,

(seeFT386:28-36)constitute

asterlingexampleoffake

news.Itisthought thatDaily

MailreporterArthurWeigall,

frustratedthat Carnarvonhad

grantedexclusivetombaccess

to ri valnewspaperTheTimes,

wasthe first towritesensational

copy suggestingthe Earl’sdeath

wasthe result of an ancient

Egyptiancurseplacedon anyone

whodared enter the tomb. Other

correspondentsswiftl yfollo wed

Weigall .The enduring nature

of the ‘KingTut’sCurse ’storyis

suchthat it maystill befound in

numerous books,blogsand on

websites,despite havingbeen

thoroughlydebunkednumerous

times.

Anotherinstance offake

news appearedin1835, when

theNewYork Sunpublished

astory (25Aug) itclaimedto

have deri vedfromaScottish

newspaper,theEdinburgh

Courant.The sensationalreport

focusedonthe recent discoveries

of eminent astronomer Sir

John Herschel,statingthat

Herschel’s newtelescope,

whentraineduponthe Moon,

had observedvarious animals

living in harmonyamidsta

lunar civilisation.Intotal, the

Sunpublishedsixstories of

fantastical nonsense, including

astounding details of unicorns;

bi-pedal tail-lessbeavers;goat-

likecreatureswithblueskin;

and giantwingedman-bats who

passed theirtime collecting

fruitandholdinganimated

conversations;theyalso

constructed awonderful temple

madeofpolished sapphire

(shadesofHPLovecraft?).The

Moon, itwasclaimed, washome

to trees, oceans andbeaches, all

of whichhad beendiscovered

thanksto “animmense telescope

of an entirelynew principle”.

Theauthorwasgiven as one

Dr Andrew Grant, supposedly

Herschel’s travelling companion.

However,Grant wascompletely

invented–nosuchperson

existed.Eventuallyitwas

announced that these staggering

observations had come to an

end after the telescope had

unfortunately been burned

by the Sun’spowerful rays, its

glass setalight, and Herschel’s

entireobservatoryincinerated.

Theactual authorwas the

Sun’seditor, RichardAdams

Locke,and while Herschelwas

indeedconductingastronomical

observations inSouth Africa at

the time,Locke knew it would

take monthsfor hishoax to be

exposed, sincethesole method

of communicationwiththe Cape

wasbyletter.

Although thismay sound

likeapointlessfarrago of

balderdash,itshould benoted

thattheSun’scirculation

figuresreportedlyincreased

from 8,000to19,000, and sales

remainedmuch high er even

after these storiesdried up.

Herschel himselfwasunhappy,

remarkingthat hisactuallunar

observations couldnevermatch

those ofthe GreatMoon Hoax,

and statinghow irritatingitwas

when membersofthe public

Alternativefactsanddodgydossiershavebeenwithusforavery

OLDFAKENEWS longtime –atl eastsinceoneBabyloniandeitydiscovere dambiguity

ABOVE:The 3,000-year-old clay tablet containing the Gilgamesh Flood myth, which

Dr Worthington believes contains nine lines that can be read in differentways.

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