ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 125 



from those tablets. A human figure holds one of these 



in one hand and a 



bunch of dates, or of 



grapes, in the other. 



It may have been a 



sort of ' coat of arms ' 



a b 



of the city of Carthage. Fig. 59.— Pomegranates from Carthage 



_^ tablets, British Museum. 



But what concerns us 



is, that in both there are two fruits on one branch, 

 which occurs in the pomegranate, and not in the lotus. 

 Then b has in addition the characteristic small leaves 

 of the pomegranate, which could not belong to the 

 lotus. Therefore we are justified in concluding that not 

 all such figures were meant by the ancients for lotus 

 seed-pods ; but that some were meant for pomegranates. 

 In Egypt they may mean the former, in Syria and 

 Assyria they may mean the latter. The Roman name 

 of the pomegranate was Malum Piuiiaim, which shows 

 that they knew it in connection with Carthage. The 

 modern botanical name shows the same origin — Punka 

 granatum. And there is little doubt that the Phoenician 

 settlers introduced it there from Syria. The common 

 name ' pomegranate ' is evidently a corruption, of Pomum 

 granatum, an apple or fruit, made up of grains. 



It certainly would have been very .senseless in the 

 Syrians and Assyrians to go to Egypt to copy the 

 lotus seed-pod, when they had a similar fruit, and 



