About the Book
"When the Sumerians Lived in India. Plato, Myths, and Prediluvian Civilizations" is a bold and unconventional investigation that explores the origins of humanity through a journalistic approach, guided by curiosity and inspired by the words of Plato. The author, a qualified journalist, while not adhering to a traditional academic method, meticulously conducts a philological inquiry that weaves together textual analysis, etymological and semantic research, and conversations with artificial intelligence, to hypothesize the existence of a shared cultural matrix among the most ancient civilizations, with a particular focus on the relationships between Sumerians and Indians. The deliberately provocative title does not suggest that the Sumerians lived in India, but rather that these two cultures, among the oldest known, may have engaged in profound cultural exchanges, leaving traces in their texts and traditions.
The inquiry stems from a reading of Plato, who in his dialogues alludes to a lost humanity, forgotten by the Greeks but preserved in Egyptian temples, where figures like Solon and Pythagoras traveled to learn ancient memories engraved on the walls. Inspired by these suggestions, the author undertook a journey of rereading Sumerian, Akkadian, Indian, Egyptian, and other civilizations' texts, noticing "oddities" that prompted him to take notes. From an initial publication of scattered, seemingly disconnected notes, arose the need to retrace the initial readings to reconstruct the threads of a broader discourse. The result is a work that, while maintaining a rigorous approach, departs from academic method, embracing the style of a journalistic investigation guided by curiosity and discovery.
A central element of the book is the hypothesis that the Harappan civilization, identified with Meluhha in Akkadian texts, may have had significant contact with the Sumerians. This theory, proposed by Samuel Noah Kramer but dismissed by many scholars, finds new strength through a philological analysis that highlights convergences in texts, terms, and cultural structures. The author, supported by isolinguistics and artificial intelligence, explores etymological and semantic roots, analyzing terms that define roles and social profiles in ancient languages such as Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Sanskrit. The conversations with AI, reported in dedicated chapters, enrich the investigation with questions, answers, reconstructions, and linguistic parallels, offering a lively and dynamic dialogue that sheds light on the ancient texts.
The work extends the analysis to the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Mesoamericans, considered reflections of an older humanity, whose traces are lost in the mists of the past. The similarities between these cultures, evident in their texts and social structures, are too consistent to be coincidental, suggesting a common origin. The author hypothesizes an evolution that progressively obscured this ancestral link, without delving into archetypes or religious cults, but focusing on the historical and cultural processes that shaped these convergences.
The book clearly distinguishes textual analysis, based on indisputable literary sources, from speculative hypotheses, which operate within a realm of possibility. It does not offer certainties but invites readers to reconsider the past with new eyes, opening new perspectives for interdisciplinary research. Aimed at scholars, history enthusiasts, and curious readers, "When the Sumerians Lived in India" combines rigor with compelling storytelling, offering a journey that challenges traditional interpretations and stimulates debate on the origins of humanity.
