46. The Anunnaki worked the mould [for making bricks], their bricks
were ...

47. In the second year [the shrine was as high as] a hill, and the
summit of E-Sagila reached the [celestial] Ocean.

48. They made the ziggurat[1] [to reach] the celestial Ocean; unto
Marduk, Enlil, Ea [shrines] they appointed,

[Footnote 1: This is the word commonly used for "temple-tower." The
famous ziggurat of E-Sagila here mentioned was built in Seven Stages
or Steps, each probably having its own distinctive colour. It was
destroyed probably soon after the capture of Babylon by Cyrus (539
B.C.) and when Alexander the Great reached Babylon he found it ruins.]

49. It (i.e., the ziggurat) stood before them majestically: at the
bottom and [at the top] they observed its two horns.[1]

[Footnote 1: This is the first known mention of the "horns" of a
ziggurat, and the exact meaning of the word is doubtful.]

50. After the Anunnaki had finished the construction of E-Sagila, and
had completed the making of their shrines,

51. They gathered together from the ... of the Ocean (Apsu). In
BAR-MAH, the abode which they had made,

52. He (i.e., Marduk) made the gods his fathers to take their
seats ... [saying]: "This Babylon shall be your abode.