Is there any linguistic or mathematical basis for interpreting the 'years' or units of reign in the Sumerian King List as the orbital period of Nibiru?

Okay, let's talk about this fascinating topic. Many people are captivated by the Sumerian civilization and its mysterious legends, especially the stories about Nibiru and the Anunnaki. Your question hits right at the core, directly addressing the foundation of this theory.

To cut to the chase, the core answer is: This interpretation has little basis in rigorous linguistics or mathematics; it's largely a modern, imaginative reinterpretation.

Below, I'll explain in plain language why mainstream academia doesn't accept this view, breaking it down into several aspects.

1. Linguistically, Does it Hold Water? (Is "Year" Really "Year"?)

The core of this theory interprets the incredibly long reigns in the Sumerian King List—like tens of thousands of years—as "years" of Nibiru. Let's examine the origin and problems of this idea.

The "Nibiru" Camp's Argument: This theory was primarily popularized by the writer Zecharia Sitchin. He argued that the "year" (Sumerian: mu) in the Sumerian King List shouldn't be understood as our current Earth year. He proposed that the Sumerians had a sacred number šār (or shar), representing 3600. He linked this number to the supposed orbital period of the mythical planet Nibiru, suggesting that "1 year" in the King List was actually 1 Nibiru year, equivalent to 3600 Earth years.
Mainstream Academia's View (Why It's Unreliable):
- mu has a clear meaning: In numerous Sumerian clay tablets, the word mu unequivocally means "year." For example, in thousands of economic, administrative, and legal documents, they record things like "in the fifth mu (year) of King So-and-so" or "this ox is 3 mu (years) old." These are very specific, everyday usages where the context clearly shows it means an Earth year as we understand it. If mu equaled 3600 years, these records would make no sense (an ox living tens of thousands of years?).
- šār is misinterpreted: The word šār in Sumerian can indeed denote the numerical value 3600 (60x60), but its more common meanings are "all," "whole," "universe," or "kingship." Mr. Sitchin selectively picked out the "3600" meaning and assigned it an astronomical significance from his own theory. This is linguistically unsound. It's like seeing the character "万" (wàn) in ancient Chinese texts and insisting it must mean the number "10,000," ignoring its meaning of "all, everything" in phrases like "万事如意" (wànshì rúyì - all the best).
- No evidence supports this conversion: Not a single Sumerian or Babylonian document mentions this "1 reign unit = 3600 Earth years" conversion. It's entirely a later speculation.

A simple analogy: It's like reading Journey to the West and seeing Sun Wukong imprisoned under Five Elements Mountain for "five hundred years." Sitchin's theory is akin to saying: "No, 'year' here doesn't mean an Earth year, but a unit called an 'immortal year,' where 1 immortal year equals 1000 Earth years, so Sun Wukong was actually imprisoned for five hundred thousand years!" This sounds dramatic, but there's no evidence supporting this conversion, and it destroys the context of the story itself.

2. Mathematically, Is There a Pattern? (Number Game or Real Record?)

Dividing those large numbers by 3600 sometimes does yield seemingly "round" numbers, which is part of the theory's appeal.

The "Nibiru" Camp's Argument: For example, the King List records one king ruling for 28,800 years. Dividing 28,800 by 3600 equals exactly 8. Another king ruled for 36,000 years, divided by 3600 equals 10. Wow, it looks like a pattern! This seems to prove their reigns were calculated in Nibiru's orbital periods.
Mainstream Academia's View (Why This is More Likely Coincidence):
- The Sumerians' Sexagesimal System: This is the crucial point! We use a decimal (base-10) system, but the Sumerians used a sexagesimal (base-60) system. This numerical system deeply influenced their culture and mathematics. Our modern timekeeping (60 seconds = 1 minute, 60 minutes = 1 hour) and angles (360 degrees) are inherited from them.
- Symbolic Meaning of Numbers: In the sexagesimal system, 60 and its multiples (like 360, 600, 3600) were highly significant, sacred "large integers." The number šār (3600, i.e., 60x60) was an enormous unit representing "perfection" and "divinity."
- Therefore, those incredibly long reigns are a form of "literary exaggeration" and "mathematical expression" within Sumerian culture. Saying a king ruled for 36,000 years (10 šār) wasn't making a precise mathematical record; it was using the most impressive numbers in their culture to express that "this king, like a god, ruled for an immensely long and glorious period." This was political and theological propaganda, aiming to deify early monarchs and emphasize the legitimacy and antiquity of their rule.
- The data doesn't fully fit: If you look closely at the King List, many numbers aren't divisible by 3600. Proponents of this theory often need to perform "rounding" or offer complex explanations to make all the numbers fit. Explaining them through the symbolic meaning of the sexagesimal system is far more consistent and straightforward.

A simple analogy: It's like us Chinese saying "祝您长命百岁" (zhù nín chángmìng bǎi suì - May you live a hundred years) or "千秋万代" (qiānqiū wàndài - for thousands of autumns and ten thousand generations). We aren't literally calculating 100 years or 1000 autumns. "Hundred" and "thousand" here are symbolic, expressing a good wish and the concept of "extremely long duration." The large numbers in the Sumerian King List served the same purpose.

3. From an Ancient Astronomy Perspective

Did the Sumerians Know of Nibiru? Sumerian and Babylonian astronomical records do mention "Nibiru." However, it refers not to a distant, mysterious planet with a 3600-year orbit. In their astronomical literature, "Nibiru" was typically associated with Jupiter, and sometimes Mercury. It meant "crossing," "ferry," or "point of transition," referring to a specific position in the sky where celestial bodies crossed paths (e.g., the intersection of the celestial equator and the ecliptic).
Mr. Sitchin linked this astronomical term "Nibiru" to the mythical home planet of the Anunnaki and assigned it a 3600-year orbital period. There is no basis for this in ancient astronomical records.

To Summarize

Interpreting the "years" in the Sumerian King List as the orbital period of Nibiru is a very appealing modern myth. It weaves scattered clues (large numbers, šār, the name Nibiru) into a grand and mysterious narrative.

However, from a rigorous academic perspective:

Linguistically: It's a misreading and selective interpretation of Sumerian vocabulary.
Mathematically: These large numbers are more reasonably and directly explained by the Sumerians' own sexagesimal system and its cultural symbolism.
Astronomically: The "Nibiru" mentioned by the Sumerians and the modern legendary "Planet Nibiru" are not the same thing at all.

Therefore, you can view this theory as a very entertaining piece of "historical science fiction" that sparks our imagination about ancient civilizations. But to claim it as a proven linguistic or mathematical fact is far from accurate. Mainstream scholars generally agree that those mythical reign lengths are the Sumerians' poetic depiction of their own distant, sacred past, not a precise astronomical or historical record.