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162 Nergal's African domain and his temple-city, Meslam. They scorched the earth and made the rivers run red with the blood of the Meslam. innocent bystanders—the men, women, and children of the Abzu. The verses describing this aspect of the war are damaged on the tablets of the main text; its details are, however, available from various other fragmented tablets that deal with the "overwhelming of the land" by Ninurta, "a feat whereby he earned the title "Van- quisher of Meslam." In these battles the attackers resorted to chemical warfare. We read that Ninurta rained on the city poison- bearing missiles, which "he catapulted into it; the poison, by it- self, destroyed the city." Those who survived the attack on the city escaped to the sur- rounding mountains. But Ninurta "with the Weapon That Smites threw fire upon the mountains; the godly Weapon of the Gods, whose Tooth is bitter, smote down the people." Here, too, some kind of chemical warfare is indicated: The Weapon Which Tears Apart robbed the senses: Tearing-apart he stretched upon the land; The canals he filled with blood, in the Enemyland for dogs like milk to lick. Overwhelmed by the merciless onslaught. Azag called on his followers to show no resistance: "The arisen Enemy to his wife and child called; against the lord Ninurta he raised not his ami. The weapons of Kur with soil were covered" (i... hidden away); "Azag them did not raise." Ninurta took the lack of resistance as a sign of victory. A text reported by F. Hrozny ("Mythen von dem Gotte Ninib") relates how. after Ninurta killed the opponents occupying the land of the Harsag (Sinai) and went on "like a Bird" to attack the gods who "behind their walls retreated" in Kur, he defeated them in the mountains. He then burst out in a song of victory: My fearsome Brilliance like Anu's is mighty; Against it, who can rise? lam lord of the high mountains. of the mountains which to the horizon raise their peaks. THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN The Tooth skinned them off. In the mountains, I am the master.