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207 came into view, whereupon all the gods assembled to wel- come the divine couple recited the composition “To the one who grows bright, the heavenly planet of the god Anu” and sang the hymn “The Creator’s image has arisen.” The long texts then described the ceremonial meals, the retreat to the nighttime chambers, the processions the next day, and so on. One can reasonably conclude that Ashurbanipal was en- gaged in collecting, collating, translating, and studying all the earlier texts that could (a) provide guidance to the as- tronomer-priests for detecting, at the first possible moment, the returning Nibiru and (b) inform the king about the proce- dures for what to do next. Calling the planet “Planet of the Heavenly Throne” is an important clue to the royal expecta- tions, as were the depictions on palace walls, in magnificent reliefs, of Assyrian kings greeting the god in the Winged Disc as it hovered above the Tree of Life (as in Fig. 87). It was important to be informed of the planet’s appearance as soon as possible in order to be able to prepare the proper reception for the arrival of the great god depicted within it—Anu himself?—and be blessed with long, perhaps even eternal, Life. But that was not destined to be. Soon after Ashurbanipal’s death, rebellions broke out throughout the Assyrian empire. His sons’ hold on Egypt, Babylonia, and Elam disintegrated. Newcomers from afar ap- peared on the borders of the Assyrian empire—“hordes” from the north, Medes from the east. Everywhere, local kings seized control and declared independence. Of particular impor- tance—immediate and for future events—was Babylon’s “de- coupling” of the dual kingship with Assyria. As part of the New Year festival in 626 B.c.E. a Babylonian general whose name—Nabupolassar (“‘Nabu his son protects”)—implied that he claimed to be a son of the god Nabu, was enthroned as king of an independent Babylonia. A tablet described the start of his investiture ceremony thus: “The princes of the land were assembled; they blessed Nabupolassar; opening their fists, they declared him sovereign; Marduk in the assembly of the gods gave the Standard of Power to Nabupolassar.” The resentment of Assyria’s brutal rule was so great that Darkness at Noon