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208 Nabupolassar of Babylon soon found allies for military ac- tion against Assyria. A principal and freshly vigorous ally was the Medes (precursors of the Persians), who had experi- enced Assyrian incursions and brutality. While Babylonian troops were advancing into Assyria from the south, the Medes attacked from the east, and in 614 B.c.E.—as had been prophesied by the Hebrew Prophets!—captured and burned down Assyria’s religious capital, Ashur. The turn of Nineveh, the royal capital, came next. By 612 B.C.E. the great Assyria was in shambles. Assyria—the land of the “First Archaeologist” —itself became a land of archaeological sites. How could that happen to the land whose very name meant “Land of the god Ashur’”? The only explanation at the time was that the gods withdrew their protection from that land; in fact, we shall show, there was much more to it: the gods themselves withdrew—from that land and from Earth. And then the most astounding and final chapter of the Return Saga, in which Harran was to play a key role, began to unfold. The amazing chain of events after the demise of Assyria be- gan with the escape to Harran of members of Assyria’s royal family. Seeking there the protection of the god Sin, the escapees rallied the remnants of the Assyrian army and pro- claimed one of the royal refugees as “King of Assyria”; but the god, whose city Harran has been since days of yore, did not respond. In 610 B.c.E. Babylonian troops captured Harran and put an end to the Assyrians’ lingering hopes. The contest for the mantle of successorship to the heritage of Sumer and Akkad was over; it was now worn solely, and with divine blessing, by the king in Babylon. Again, Babylon ruled the lands that were once the hallowed “Sumer & Ak- kad”—so much so that in many texts from that time, Nabu- polassar was given the title “King of Akkad.” He used that authority to extend the celestial observations to the erstwhile Sumerian cities of Nippur and Uruk, and some of the key observational texts from the subsequent crucial years come from there. It was in that same fateful year, 610 B.c.E.—a memorable THE END OF DAYS