The shift in narrative focus from Nebuchadnezzar to Marduk reflects Marduk's rise in status as the unquestioned head of the Babylonian pantheon in the first millennium BCE, a rise that in all likelihood gained impetus after Nebuchadnezzar returned the Marduk statue from Elam. Assyrian and Babylonian scholars, were presented with an opportunity to explore Marduk's relationship to Assyria and address the religious reforms that had been advanced during Sennacherib's reign in a manner that subtly altered the position of Marduk while remaining sensitive to those earlier traditions. Although the discourse surrounding Babylon's rebuilding and Marduk's return was multifaceted, the reference to this omen indicates that the memory of first Nebuchadnezzar was actively present among the scholars who had access to Esarhaddon and whose reports helped shape his policies. The interest in first Nebuchadnezzar did not end with the restoration of Marduk, and destruction of tablet collections housed there in 612 did not eradicate tablets about Nebuchadnezzar from scribal view.