s this opinion upon the passage in the Dibbarra legend[1086] where
the serpent, appealing to Shamash, extols the sun-god's power by
declaring that even Zu could not escape the net of Shamash. There are,
however, grave objections to this view. In the first place, the passage
in question occurs in a defective part of the text, and Harper
himself[1087] is not certain of the restoration that he proposes.[1088]
Secondly, if Shamash conquers Zu, we should expect the sun-god to have
the tablets of fate in his possession. Such, however, is not the case,
and the only god besides En-lil who is represented in the religious
literature of the Babylonians as holding the tablets is Marduk.
Moreover, in a hymn to Marduk, which Harper himself quotes,[1089] the
bird Zu is referred to as among the evil forces captured by Marduk. In
view of this, there seems no reason to question that, in the present
form of the Zu myth, Marduk was introduced as the hero, precisely as, in
the present form of the Tiamat episode, Marduk successfully carries out
a deed from which the other gods shrink in fear. The theological purport
of the myth thus becomes clear. It is to account for the fact that
Marduk holds the tablets which were originally in the hands of En-lil.
Marduk supplants the old Bel. In the Tiamat episode his name is
substituted for that of En-lil, and the latter is represented as giving
his consent to the transfer of his name to the god of Babylon. In the Zu
myth, En-lil's claim to the supreme control of the laws and fate of the
universe is freely acknowledged, but, En-lil being unable to resist the
attack of Zu, it was left for Marduk to capture the bird and thus
acquire by his own efforts what the old Bel had lost through lack of
strength. Babylon replaces Nippur as the center of power in the
Euphrates Valley, and the god of Babylon, naturally, was imbued by his
worshippers with prerogatives that originally belonged to the rival god
of Nippur.[1090]

If this view is correct, Harper's interpretation must be abandoned. The
Zu myth does not represent, as he supposes, an attack upon Marduk as the
symbol of the early morning sun, but upon En-lil, the Bel of Nippur, as
the one who, by virtue of having the tablets of fate in his possession,
controls the laws of the universe and fixes the fate of the gods and of
mankind. The annual rain-storm passing apparently beyond the control of
the gods is viewed as a revolt against En-lil's authority. It is lef