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45 into 12 segments of 30 degrees each means that mathemat- ically the zodiacal calendar shifts from one Age to another every 2,160 years. Since the Deluge occurred, according to Sumerian texts, in the Age of the Lion, our zodiacal clock can start circa 10860 B.c.E. An astounding timetable emerges if, in this mathemati- cally determined 2,160-year zodiacal calendar, the starting point of 10800 B.c. rather than 10860 B.c. is chosen: 10800 to 8640—Age of the Lion (Leo) 8640 to 6480—Age of the Crab (Cancer) 6480 to 4320—Age of the Twins (Gemini) 4320 to 2160—Age of the Bull (Taurus) 2160 to O—Age of the Ram (Aries) Setting aside the neat end result that synchronizes with the Christian Era, one must wonder whether it was mere coinci- dence that the Ishtar-Ninurta era petered out in or about 2160 B.C.E., just when, according to the above zodiacal calendar, the Age of the Bull, Enlil’s Age, was also ending? Probably not; certainly Marduk did not think so. The available evidence suggests that he was sure that according to Celestial Time, his time for supremacy, his Age, has arrived. (Modern studies of Mesopotamian astronomy indeed confirm that the zodiacal circle was divided there into 12 houses of 30 degrees each—a mathematical rather than an observational division.) The various texts we have mentioned indicate that as he moved about, Marduk made another foray into the Enlilite heartland, arriving back in Babylon with a retinue of follow- ers. Rather than resort to armed conflict, the Enlilites enlisted Marduk’s brother Nergal (whose spouse was a granddaughter of Enlil) to come to Babylon from southern Africa and per- suade his brother to leave. In his memoirs, known as The Erra Epos, Nergal reported that Marduk’s chief argument was that his time, the Age of the Ram, had arrived. But Nergal counter- argued that it is not really so: the Heliacal Rising, he told Mar- duk, still occurs in the constellation of the Bull! Enraged, Marduk questioned the accuracy of the observa- tions. What happened to the precise and reliable instruments, Egyptian Prophecies, Human Destinies