i68 FLORA OF THE 



On p. 221, he gives the poetic story of Istar and 

 Tammuz, Istar descended into Hades, in search of the 

 heahng waters, which should restore to Hfe her bride- 

 groom Tammuz, the young and beautiful sun god, slain 

 by the cruel hand of night and winter. At p. 255, he 

 tells us that the sex of Istar was doubtful. She was 

 a goddess who, now and again, was made to masquerade 

 as a god. It would, therefore, seem that the four deities 

 of fig. 87, whether male or female, with bulls or monsters 

 under their feet, are mere incarnations (what we now 

 call illustrations) of the Babylonian astronomical story 

 of the deity Istar.^ 



As we have numerous and very varied representations 

 of the Madonna, so each Assyrian engraver gave his 

 own version of this he- or she-deity. But the question 

 now comes, does the 'healing water' come from Istar's 

 hand to the monster, or from the monster's mouth to 

 his or her hand ? As this deity went to Hades to get 

 the healing water, it may be supposed that the water 

 is pouring from the monster's mouth tozvards the deity. 

 However, I would rather leave this question to be 

 answered by some one else. I have tried to master 

 the tangle of astronomical Babylonian myths given in 

 Prof. Sayce's ' Hibbert Lectures,' but I cannot say I have 

 succeeded yet ; more especially as the tangle grows more 



' Then there is the story of the combat of Bel ]\Ierodac with the dragon 

 Tiamut to rescue the goddess Istar from this monster ; so that these cylinder 

 deities may be a hybridism of more than one story. 



