Long before the epics of Greece, a story was told across the rivers of Mesopotamia about a great bird who tried to seize heaven. Anzu — the lion-headed thunderbird, shimmering in the sun — slipped into the shrine of the high god Enlil and stole the Tablet of Destinies, the very object by which the universe is governed. Mountains trembled; the gods themselves went silent. Only one champion dared answer the call: Ninurta, warrior of the gods, armed with his mother's counsel and the winds of the storm. This edition renders the ancient Epic of Anzu in clear, present-day English while remaining faithful to the meaning and spirit of the oldest surviving copies. Here is a world before the flood of time — a drama of ambition, loyalty, and order restored, told in language that speaks as directly to a modern reader as it did to the scribes of Nineveh. Part of The World Scriptures Library.