Who are the Archons in the Gnostic creation story?

Archon means “ruler” in Greek. In the Gnostic creation story, Sophia, the daughter of the Father of Light or the ultimate supreme being created the creator God below her called Ialdabaoth. He was the first Archon and created the world and six other Archons.

In the Gnostic text On the Origin of the World, the six Archons (not including Ialdabaoth) are called Yao (Lordship), Sabaoth (Divinity), Adonaios (Kingship), Eloaios (Envy), Oriaos (Riches), and Astaphaios (Sophia). (Barstone 64-65)

-Barstone, Willis. The Other Bible. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1984.

Zecharia Sitchin’s Alternative History of Mankind

Zecharia Sitchin, author of “The Earth Chronicles”, a series of books published in 1976 that represent Sitchin’s translations of ancient Sumerian texts, suggests that the Earth was visited by an alien race called the Annunaki approximately 432,000 years ago. They came to our planet to mine gold, which they needed to fix their ailing planet.

The Annunaki, which in Sumerian translates to “those who came down from the heavens”, were from a planet called Nibiru, which enters our solar system every so many thousands of years, causing flooding. He claims that about 250,000 years ago, the Annunaki created Homo Sapiens from Homo Erectus to use as slaves to mine the gold needed to fix their planet. He believed that the Annunaki are the Nephilim, the giants or people of renown, noted in Genesis in the Old Testament of the bible.