152 



FLORA OF THE 



stitious notions. In those days the difficulty was to 

 separate the natural from the supernatural. We see 

 the king's helmet often decorated with three tiers of 

 bulls' horns ; we see the same feature on the helmet 

 of the winged genius. 



We find this ' fleur-de-lys ' emblem used as a finish on 

 the top of the same helmets, and on the top of the 

 royal umbrella. At the foot of the sacred fir tree 

 (fig. 25) there is the same emblem. This time it is 

 indistinguishable from the upper half of the 'fleur-de-lys' 

 of heraldry, with only one turn of the tie-rope, as is 

 often seen in the heraldic emblem. We see this same 

 ' fleur-de-lys ' motive, modified in various ways, introduced 

 by Assyrian artists in sculpture, carpentry, furniture, etc. 

 Fig. 77 shows the top and bottom 

 part of a column, in imitation of the 

 stem of a date tree, with its capital 

 and base decorated with a modified 

 ' fleur-de-lys.' Indeed, in all probability, 

 these horn emblems may have given 

 origin to the volutes of the Corinthian 

 „ „ , , ^ and Ionic columns.^ In this Assyrian 



Fig. 77. — Top and bot- -' 



torn of a column, made 1 ii 1 1 ^r 



to imitate a date tree columu thc homs have three turns 



stem, from a tablet 



from Sippara, Perrot of the String by which they were 



and Chipiez, fig. 17. 



tied on. 



' Mr. Goodyear, in his 'Grammar of the Lotus,' does not think so. Sec' 

 discussion under Lotus. 



