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218 While we can be certain—for reasons soon to be given— that the observations in all those “Late Babylonian” tablets could not have taken place earlier than 610 B.C.E., we can also be sure that they did not take place after 555 B.c.E., for that was the date when one called Nabuna’id became the last king of Babylonia; and his claim to legitimacy was that his kingship was celestially confirmed because “the planet of Marduk, high in the sky, had called me by my name.” Mak- ing that claim, he also stated that in a nighttime vision he had seen “the Great Star and the Moon.” Based on the Kepler THE END OF DAYS FIGURE 98