admitted to Enlil's innermost and most sensitive chamber. We read that there Zu "constantly views Enlil, the father of the gods, the god of Bond-Heaven-Earth . . . his celestial Tablet of Destinies Zu constantly views." And soon a scheme took shape: "the removal of the Enlilship he conceives in his heart." "....Zu saw his chance one day as Enlil went to take a cooling swim. "He seized the Tablet of Destinies in his hands" and in his Bird "took off and flew to safety in the HUR.SAG.MU" ("Mountain of the Sky-Chambers"). No sooner had this happened than everything came to a standstill: Suspended were the divine formulas; The lighted brightness petered out; Silence prevailed. In space, the Igigi were confounded; The sanctuary's brilliance was taken off. "....Anu on Nibiru was also informed. It was clear that Zu must be captured and the Tablet of Destinies restored to the Dir-ga. But who will do it? "....Ninurta, Enlil's legal heir, stepped forth to undertake the task, for - as his mother Sud had pointed out, Zu deprived not only Enlil but also Ninurta of the "Enlilship." Ninurta and Zu engaged in a "terrifying war, a fierce battle": Zu and Ninurta met at the mountainside. (Mount Hazzi) When Zu percieved him, he broke out in rage. With his Brilliance, he made the mountain bright as daylight; He let loose rays in a rage. "....But Ninurta continued to "advance aggressively" against Zu." Ninurta, however, was not able to vanquish Zu in his attempt. "....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 tillu - a missile to attach to the Stormer that shoots the projectiles. With this Ninurta "attacked Zu as suggested by his father.... by aiming at the "pinions" of Zu's Whirlwind.... Zu was captured and brought back before Enlil in Nippur; the Tablet of Destinies was reinstalled where it belonged; "Lordship again entered the Ekur, the Divine Formulas were returned." "The captured Zu was put on trial before a court-martial consisting of the Seven Great Anunnaki; he was found guilty and sentenced to death; Ninurta, his vanquisher "cut his throat." "....The defeat of Zu lingered in the memory of the Anunnaki as a great deliverance. Perhaps because of the assumption that the spirit of Zu - representing betrayal, duplicity, and all evil in general - persists in causing ill and suffering, the trial and execution of Zu were transmitted to mankind's generations in the form of an elaborate ritual. In this annual commemoration a bull was chosen to stand for Zu and atone for his evil deed. "Long instructions for the ritual have been found in both Babylonian and Assyrian versions, all indicating their earlier Sumerian source. After extensive preparations, a "great bull, strong bull who treads upon clean pastures," was brought into the temple and purified on the first day of a certain month. It was then whispered into the bull's left ear through a reed tube: "Bull, the guilty Zu are you"; and into the right ear: "Bull, you have been chosen for the rite and the ceremonies." On the fifteenth day the bull was brought before the images of "the Seven Gods Who Judge" and the symbols of the twelve celestial bodies of the Solar System. "The trial of Zu was then reenacted, the bull was put down before Enlil, "the Great Shepherd." The accusing priest recited rhetorical accusasional questions, as though addressed to Enlil: How could you have given "the store treasure" to the enemy? How could you have let him to come and dwell in the "pure place"? How could he gain access to your quarters? Then the play acting called for Ea and other gods to beseech Enlil to calm himself, for Ninurta had stepped forward and asked his father: "Point my hands in the right direction! Give me the right words of command!" "Following this recital of the evidence given at the trial, judgement was passed. As the bull was being slaughtered in accord with detailed instructions, the priests recited the bull's verdict: his liver was to be boiled in a sacrificial kettle; his skin and muscles were to be burned inside the temple; but his "evil tongue shall remain outside." "Then the priests playing the role of the other gods, broke out in a hymn of praise to Ninurta. "....The conspiracy of Zu and his evil plotting remained also in mankind's memory, evolving into a fear of birdlike demons who can cause affliction and pestilence. Some of these demons were called Lillu, a term that played on the double meaning "to howl" and "of the night"; their female leader, Lillitu - Lillith - was depicted as a naked, winged goddess with birdlike feet. The many shurpu ("purification by burning") texts that have been found were formulas for incantations against these evil spirits - forerunners of the sorcery and witchcraft that had lasted throughout the millennia. "In spite of the solemn vows taken after the defeat of Zu to honor and respect Enlil's supremacy and Ninurta's position as second-in-command, the basic factors causing rivalry and contentions had remained - breaking into the open from time to time in the ensuing millennia. Realizing that this