as the Babylonian traditions were appropriated. And so secrets about deities rooted in the new knowledge could now be made known. It would seem that the newly appropriated Babylonian lore greatly stimulated awareness that the deities had very important secrets readily knowable by persons who could read the sky. Those who were adept read the sky to explain either what happened in the past or what would happen rather soon. To acquire this knowledge and thereby learn about the behavior of celestial