One history · chapter 7 of 11

The Age of Giants: The Nephilim in the Last Centuries Before the Flood

The last centuries before the Flood

A thought experiment

This series asks what history looks like if the old texts are records, not myths. Each claim rests on a quoted text. It is a reading, not an established fact.

The children of the Watchers are the Nephilim, the "mighty men which were of old, men of renown." Hesiod calls them the race of demigods. They grow huge, eat everything people can grow, then turn on the people. The Book of Giants from the Dead Sea Scrolls gives them names and nightmares; one of them, Mahway, can fly, and another is Gilgamesh.

Humans get loud and numerous. Lifespans run to nearly a thousand years, and kings rule for tens of thousands. The experiment has gone wrong in every direction at once, and the council meets.

What the texts say

1 Enoch 7:4 · CharlesAnd when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind.

Book of Giants · summaryOhyah and Hahyah dream of a tablet sinking into water; Mahway flies to Enoch; Gilgamesh is named among them.

Atrahasis II · summaryThe noise of humans keeps Enlil awake; he tries plague, drought, then flood.

Sumerian King ListEight kings rule 241,200 years before "the flood swept over."

Questions people ask about The age of giants

What did the Nephilim do in the Book of Enoch?

1 Enoch 7:4 says 'when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind.' This chapter puts that in the last centuries before the Flood, when the giants ate everything people could grow.

Is Gilgamesh in the Book of Giants?

Yes. The Book of Giants from the Dead Sea Scrolls names Gilgamesh among the giants. In it Ohyah and Hahyah dream of a tablet sinking into water, and Mahway flies to Enoch.

How long did kings rule before the Flood?

The Sumerian King List gives eight kings a total of 241,200 years before 'the flood swept over'. In the same era, human lifespans run to nearly a thousand years. Atrahasis says the noise of humans kept Enlil awake.