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98 where he hitched to his chariot his seven weapons, attached the whirlwinds that stir up the dust, and set out against Zu "to launch a terrifying war, a fierce battle": When Zu perceived him. he broke out in rage. With his Brilliance, he made the mountain bright as daylight; He let loose rays in a rage. Unable to identify his challenger because of the dust storm, Zu shouted to Ninurta: "I have carried off all Authority, the decrees of the gods I |now| direct! Who are thou to come fight with me? Ex- plain thyself!" But Ninurta continued to "advance aggressively" against Zu, announcing that he was designated by Anu himself to seize Zu and restore the Tablet of Destinies. Hearing this, Zu cut off his Bril- liance, and "the face of the mountain was covered with darkness." Unafraid. Ninurta "entered the gloom." From the "breast" of his vehicle, he let loose a Lightning at Zu. "but the shot could not ap- proach Zu; it turned back." With the powers Zu had obtained, no lightning bolt could "approach his body." So "the battle was stilled, the conflict ceased; the weapons were stopped in the midst of the mountain; they vanquished not Zu." Stalemated. Ninurta asked his younger brother Ishkur/Adad to obtain the advice of Enlil. "Ishkur, the prince, took the report; the news of the battle he reported to Enlil." Enlil instructed Ishkur to go back and tell Ninurta: "In the battle do not tire; prove thy strength!" More practically, he sent Ninurta a lillu—a missile (pictographically written>——-—)—to attach to the Stormer that shoots the projectiles. Ninurta in his "Whirlwind Bird." he said, should then come as close as possible to the Bird of Zu, until they are "wing to wing." Then he should aim the missile at the "pinions" of Zu's Whirlbird. and "let the missile fly like a light- ning; when the Fiery Brilliance will engulf the pinions, his wings will vibrate like butterflies; then will Zu be vanquished." The final battle scenes are missing from all the tablets, but we know that more than one "Whirlbird" participated in the combat. Fragments of duplicates, found in the ruins of a Hittite archive at a site now called Sultan-Tepe, tell us that Ninurta arrayed "seven whirlwinds which stir up the dust," armed his chariot with the THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN Mount Hazzi—the mountain encountered in the Kumarbi tales— Zu and Ninurta met at the mountainside.