ii6 FLORA OF THE 



the support of the ' luck-horns,' viz. the realistic date 

 tree head, the conventional head of the sacred tree, 

 and the anthemions, as wholly unrelated. 



On pi. 33 Mr. Goodyear shows several anthemions 

 with eleven leaves. Then on pi. ii, fig. i, he gives 

 lotus buds and rosettes, together with two volutes, 

 supporting a central upright pinnate leaf. I don't think 

 the latter can be interpreted into anything but a date- 

 palm leaf. The figure seems a modification of fig. 2, 

 pi. 67. 



But the most conclusive evidence that one of the 

 Assyrian sacred trees was a date tree is to be found 

 on their cylinders, or seals. Those shown in fig. 53 

 cannot be mistaken for anything but date trees. Fig. 54 

 shows a number of conventionalized date trees. 



Either the pinnate leaves or the hanging bunches 

 of dates, or the horns, stamp them either as allies of 

 the natural tree, or of that highly finished decorative 

 tree of fig. 16. 



The hanging bunches of dates of some, Mr. Goodyear 

 might perhaps be able to say, are meant for lotus buds ; 

 but the pinnate leaves of others cannot be interpreted 

 into lotus petals ! and the two features combined stamp 

 them unmistakably as date trees. The moulds with 

 these same Assyrian trees, found in Tel-el-Amarna 

 (fig. 54^, Ji, t), distinctly prove that the artists of both 

 countries borrowed each other's ideas ; and (fig. 54^) 



