The 12th Planet (17 page)

As giver of life to gods and Man alike, Nin
h
ursag was spoken of as the Mother Goddess. She was nicknamed "Mammu"—the forerunner of our "mom" or "mamma"—and her symbol was the "cutter"—the tool used in antiquity by midwives to cut the umbilical cord after birth. (Fig. 48)

•

Enlil, Enki's brother and rival, did have the good fortune to achieve such a "rightful heir" by his sister Nin
h
ursag. The youngest of the gods upon Earth who were born in the heavens, his name was NIN.UR.TA ("lord who completes the foundation"). He was "the heroic son of Enlil who went forth with net and rays of light" to battle for his father; "the avenging son ... who launched bolts of light." (Fig. 49) His spouse BA.U was also a nurse or a doctor; her epithet was "lady who the dead brings back to life."

The ancient portraits of Ninurta showed him holding a unique weapon—no doubt the very one that could shoot "bolts of light." The ancient texts hailed him as a mighty hunter, a fighting god renowned for his martial abilities. But his greatest heroic fight was not in behalf of his father but for his own sake. It was a wide-ranging battle with an evil god named ZU ("wise"), and it involved no less a prize than the leadership of the gods on Earth; for Zu had illegally captured the insignia and objects Enlil had held as Chief of the Gods.

The texts describing these events are broken at the beginning, and the story becomes legible only from the point when Zu arrives at the E-Kur, the temple of Enlil. He is apparently known, and of some rank, for Enlil welcomes him, "entrusting to him the guarding of the entrance to his shrine." But the "evil Zu" was to repay trust with betrayal, for it was "the removal of the Enlilship"—the seizing of the divine powers—that "he conceived in his heart."

To do so, Zu had to take possession of certain objects, including the magical Tablet of Destinies. The wily Zu seized his opportunity when Enlil undressed and went into the pool for his daily swim, leaving his paraphernalia unattended.

At the entrance of the sanctuary,

which he had been viewing,

Zu awaits the start of day.

As Enlil was washing with pure water

his crown having been removed

and deposited on the throne-

Zu seized the Tablet of Destinies in his hands,

took away the Enlilship.

Fig. 47

Fig. 48

Fig. 49

As Zu fled in his MU (translated "name," but indicating a flying machine) to a faraway hideaway, the consequences of his bold act were beginning to take effect.

Suspended were the Divine Formulas;

Stillness spread all over; silence prevailed....

The Sanctuary's brilliance was taken off.

"Father Enlil was speechless." "The gods of the land gathered one by one at the news." The matter was so grave that even Anu was informed at his Heavenly Abode. He reviewed the situation and concluded that Zu must be apprehended so that the "formulas" could be restored. Turning "to the gods, his children," Anu asked, "Which of the gods will smite Zu? His name shall be greatest of all!"

Several gods known for their valor were called in. But they all pointed out that having taken the Tablet of Destinies, Zu now possessed the same powers as Enlil, so that "he who opposes him becomes like clay." At this point, Ea had a great idea: Why not call upon Ninurta to take up the hopeless fight?

The assembled gods could not have missed Ea's ingenious mischief. Clearly, the chances of the succession falling to his own offspring stood to increase if Zu were defeated; likewise, he could benefit if Ninurta were killed in the process. To the amazement of the gods, Nin
h
ursag (in this text called NIN.MA
H
—"great lady"), agreed. Turning to her son Ninurta, she explained to him that Zu robbed not only Enlil but Ninurta, too, of the Enlilship. "With shrieks of pain I gave birth," she shouted, and it was srhe who "made certain for my brother and for Anu" the continued "Kingship of Heaven." So that her pains not be in vain, she instructed Ninurta to go out and fight to win:

Launch thy offensive ... capture the fugitive Zu....

Let thy terrifying offensive rage against him....

Slit his throat! Vanquish Zu! ...

Let thy seven ill Winds go against him.

Cause the entire Whirlwind to attack him.

Let thy Radiance go against him....

Let thy Winds carry his Wings to a secret place....

Let sovereignty return to Ekur;

Let the Divine Formulas return

to the father who begot thee.

The various versions of the epic then provide thrilling descriptions of the battle that ensued. Ninurta shot "arrows" at Zu, but "the arrows could not approach Zu's body ... while he bore the Tablet of Destinies of the gods in his hand." The launched "weapons were stopped in the midst" of their flight. As the inconclusive battle wore on, Ea advised Ninurta to add a
til-lum
to his weapons, and shoot it into the "pinions," or small cog-wheels, of Zu's "wings." Following this advice, and shouting "Wing to wing," Ninurta shot the
til-lum
at Zu's pinions. Thus hit, the pinions began to scatter, and the "wings" of Zu fell in a swirl. Zu was vanquished, and the Tablets of Destiny returned to Enlil.

•

Who was Zu? Was he, as some scholars hold, a "mythological bird"?

Evidently he could fly. But so can any man today who takes a plane, or any astronaut who goes up in a spaceship. Ninurta, too, could fly, as skillfully as Zu (and perhaps better). But he himself was not a bird of any kind, as his many depictions, by himself or with his consort BA.U (also called GU.LA), make abundantly clear. Rather, he did his flying with the aid of a remarkable "bird," which was kept at his sacred precinct (the GIR.SU) in the city of Lagash.

Nor was Zu a "bird"; apparently he had at his disposal a "bird" in which he could flyaway into hiding. It was from within such "birds" that the sky battle took place between the two gods. And there can be no doubt regarding the nature of the weapon that finally smote Zu's "bird." Called TIL in Sumerian and
til-lum
in Assyrian, it was written pictorially thus:
, and it must have meant then what
til
means nowadays in Hebrew: "missile."

Zu, then, was a god—one of the gods who had reason to scheme at usurpation of the Enlilship; a god whom Ninurta, as the legitimate successor, had every reason to fight.

Was he perhaps MAR.DUK ("son of the pure mound"), Enki's firstborn by his wife DAM.KI.NA, impatient to seize by a ruse what was not legally his?

There is reason to believe that, having failed to achieve a son by his sister and thus produce a legal contender for the Enlilship, Enki relied on his son Marduk. Indeed, when the ancient Near East was seized with great social and military upheavals at the beginning of the second millennium
B.C.
, Marduk was elevated in Babylon to the status of national god of Sumer and Akkad. Marduk was proclaimed King of the Gods, replacing Enlil, and the other gods were required to pledge allegiance to him and to come to reside in Babylon, where their activities could easily be supervised. (Fig. 50)

This usurpation of the Enlilship (long after the incident with Zu) was accompanied by an extensive Babylonian effort to forge the ancient texts. The most important texts were rewritten and altered so as to make Marduk appear as the Lord of Heavens, the Creator, the Benefactor, the Hero, instead of Anu or Enlil or even Ninurta. Among the texts altered was the "Tale of Zu"; and according to the Babylonian version it was Marduk (not Ninurta) who fought Zu. In this version, Marduk boasted:
"Ma
h
asti mo
h
il Zu"
("I have crushed the skull of the god Zu"). Clearly, then, Zu could not have been Marduk.