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81 since Marduk had agreed to depart from Babylon and await the oracular celestial time. Marduk’s “until when?” appeal to the Great Gods was not an idle one, for the leadership of the Anunnaki was con- stantly consulting, informally and in formal councils. Alarmed by the worsening situation, Enlil hurriedly returned to Sumer, and was shocked to learn that things had gone wrong even in Nippur itself. Ninurta was summoned to ex- plain the Elamites’ misconduct, but Ninurta put all the blame on Marduk and Nabu. Nabu was summoned, and “Before the gods the son of his father came.” His main accuser was Utu/ Shamash, who, describing the dire situation, said, “all this Nabu has caused to happen.” Speaking for his father, Nabu blamed Ninurta, and revived the old accusations against Ner- gal in regard to the disappearance of the pre-Diluvial moni- toring instruments and the failure to prevent sacrileges in Babylon; he got into a shouting match with Nergal, and “showing disrespect... to Enlil evil he spoke: ‘There is no justice, destruction was conceived, Enlil against Babylon caused evil to be planned.’” It was an unheard-of accusation against the Lord of the Command. Enki spoke up, but it was in defense of his son, not of Enlil. What are Marduk and Nabu actually accused of? he asked. His ire was directed especially at his son Nergal: “Why do you continue the opposition?” he asked him. The two argued so much that in the end Enki shouted to Nergal to get out of his presence. The gods’ councils broke up in disarray. But all these debates, accusations, and counteraccusations were taking place against the increasingly realized fact— what Marduk referred to as the Celestial Oracle: with the passage of time—with the crucial shift of the precessional clock by one degree—the Age of the Bull, the zodiacal age of Enlil, was coming to an end, and the Age of the Ram, Marduk’s Age, was looming in the heavens. Ninurta could see it coming at his Eninnu temple in Lagash (which Gudea built); Ningishzidda/Thoth could confirm it from all the stone circles that he had erected elsewhere on Earth; and the people knew it, too. Gone with the Wind