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103 Sumerian version were attributed to the planet Nibiru as part of a sophisticated scientific cosmogony. The new version then credited Marduk even with the “artful fashioning” of “Man,” with devising the calendar, and with the selection of Babylon to be the “Navel of the Earth.” The New Year festival—the most important religious event of the year—began on the first day of the month Nis- san, coinciding with the Spring Equinox. Calling it in Baby- lon the Akiti festival, it evolved there into a twelve-day-long celebration from the Sumerian ten-day A-.KL.TI (“On Earth Bring Life”) festival. It was conducted according to elabo- rately defined ceremonies and prescribed rituals that reen- acted (in Sumer) the tale of Nibiru and the coming of the Anunnaki to Earth, as well as (in Babylon) the life story of Marduk. It included episodes from the Pyramid Wars, when Destiny Had Fifty Names FIGURE 42