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The decision of Marduk to stay in or near the contested lands and to involve his son in the struggle for Mankind’s alle- giance persuaded the Enlilites to return Sumer’s central cap- ital to Ur, the cult center of Nannar (Su-en or Sin in Akkadian). It was the third time that Ur was chosen to serve in that ca- pacity—hence the designation “Ur III” for that period. The move linked the affairs of the contending gods to the biblical tale—and role—of Abraham, and the inter- twined relationship changed Religion to this day. Among the many reasons for the choice of Nannar/Sin as the Enlilite champion was the realization that contending with Marduk has expanded beyond the affairs of the gods alone, and has become a contest for the minds and hearts of the people—of the very Earthlings whom the gods had cre- ated, who now made up the armies that went to war on be- half of their creators . . . Unlike other Enlilites, Nannar/Sin was not a combatant in the Wars of the Gods; his selection was meant to signal to people everywhere, even in the “rebel lands,” that under his leadership an era of peace and prosperity would begin. He and his spouse Ningal (Fig. 23) were greatly beloved by the people of Sumer, and Ur itself spelled prosperity and well- being; its very name, which meant “urban, domesticated place,” came to mean not just “city” but The City—the urban jewel of the ancient lands. Nannar/Sin’s temple there, a skyscraping ziggurat, rose in stages within a walled sacred precinct where a variety of structures served as the gods’ abode and the residences and OF GODS AND DEMIGODS