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132 and people considered this religious aspect to be all that mat- tered. Its first capital was also called “City of Ashur,” or simply Ashur. The name meant “The One Who Sees” or “The One Who Is Seen.” Yet with all the countless hymns, prayers, and other references to the god Ashur, it remains unclear who exactly, in the Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon, he was. In god lists he was the equivalent of Enlil; other ref- erences sometimes suggest that he was Ninurta, Enlil’s son and heir; but since whenever the spouse was listed or men- tioned she was always called Ninlil, the conclusion tends to be that the Assyrian “Ashur” was Enlil. The historical record of Assyria is one of conquest and ag- gression against many other nations and their gods. Their countless military campaigns ranged far and wide, and were carried on, of course, “in the name of god’”—their god, Ashur: “On the command of my god Ashur, the great lord” was the usual opening statement in the Assyrian kings’ re- cord of a military campaign. But when it came to the warfare with Babylon, the amazing aspect of Assyria’s attacks was its central aim: not just the rollback of Babylon’s influence— but the actual, physical removal of Marduk himself from his temple in Babylon! The feat of capturing Babylon and taking Marduk into captivity was first achieved, however, not by the Assyrians but by their neighbors to the north—the Hittites. Circa 1900 B.c.z. the Hittites began to spread out from their strongholds in north-central Anatolia (today’s Turkey), became a major military power, and joined the chain of En- lilite nation-states opposed to Marduk’s Babylon. In a rela- tively short time, they attained imperial status and their domains extended southward to include most of the biblical Canaan. The archaeological discovery of the Hittites, their cities, records, language, and history, is an astounding and exciting tale of bringing to life and corroborating the existence of people and places hitherto known only from the Hebrew Bi- ble. Hittites are repeatedly mentioned in the Bible, but with- out the disdain or scorn reserved for worshippers of pagan gods. It refers to their presence throughout the lands where THE END OF DAYS