Fifth Tablet

He appointed stations for the great gods, and set in the heavens the stars of the Zodiac as their likenesses. He fixed the year and marked out its limits, setting three stars for each of the twelve months. And according to the days of the year, he set the figures in order.

He founded the station of Nibir to settle their boundaries, so that none might overstep or fall short. He set the station of Bel and Ea beside it, and opened great gates, sheltered on both sides. He made a strong corridor to the left and to the right, and fixed the zenith in the vault of heaven.

He gave Nannar his brightness and placed the night in his keeping. He set him to govern the night, to determine the day, and month by month, without fail, he set him in a crown and spoke to him. At the beginning of the month, when you rise over the land, make your horns project to mark off six days. On the seventh day, make yourself like a crown. On the fourteenth day, he gave further instruction.

Later, the gods, his fathers, looked on the net he had made. They examined the bow and saw how skilfully it had been fashioned, and they praised the work he had done. Then Anu lifted up the bow in the company of the gods and kissed it, and he proclaimed the bow’s names. The first, he said, was Long Wood, and another name followed after it, and a third he called the Bow Star in heaven. And he fixed a station for it.

Of the remaining 57 lines of this tablet only fragments of 17 lines
are preserved, and these yield no connected sense.