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105 similar that scholars and theologians in Europe debated a century ago whether Marduk was the “Prototype Jesus.”) The ceremonies consisted of two parts. The first involved a solitary boat ride by Marduk upon and across the river, to a structure called Bit Akiti (“House of Akiti’); the other took place within the city itself. It is evident that the solitary part symbolized Marduk’s celestial travel from the home planet’s outer location in space to the inner solar system—a journey in a boat upon waters, in conformity with the concept that interplanetary space was a primeval “Watery Deep” to be traversed by “celestial boats” (spacecraft)—a concept repre- sented graphically in Egyptian art, where the celestial gods were depicted as coursing in the skies in “celestial barques” (Fig. 44). It was upon Marduk’s successful return from the outer and lonely Bit Akiti that the public festivities began. Those pub- lic and joyous ceremonies started with the greeting of Mar- duk at the wharf by other gods, and his accompaniment by the king and priests in a Sacred Procession, attended by ever- larger crowds. The descriptions of the procession and its route were so detailed that they guided the archaeologists who ex- cavated ancient Babylon. From the texts inscribed on clay tablets and from the unearthed topography of the city, it emerged that there were seven stations at which the sacred procession made stops for prescribed rituals. The stations bore both Sumerian and Akkadian names and symbolized a * ror Destiny Had Fifty Names FIGURE 44