ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 191 



I think that the date tree in {d) shows us plainly 

 what the middle prong of the trident, pentadent, and 

 ' fleur-de-l}'s,' mean ; it stands for the degraded stein 

 of the tree. Sometimes, by further degradation, the 

 remnants of the tree disappear, and we have the horns 

 alone, as in (/) and {11). 



We commence now to see how the superstition of 

 placing horns on date trees to protect them from the 

 evil eye, in being translated into pictures and hard 

 stone seals, began to be degraded, and eventually 

 passed into a symbol. On large spaces, such as those 

 of the British Museum sculptures, the artist had plenty 

 of room for full display ; but the engraver of seals, with 

 his small spaces, hard stones, and rude tools, must 

 often have been in difficulties. Degradation of the 

 tree followed ; but the important part of the combina- 

 tion — the horns — could not be left out. They were the 

 great charm for keeping away the troubles of the evil 

 eye, or of other devils; and so the tree became reduced, 

 and sometimes was left out altogether. The tree 

 and horns then passed into a simple symbol, modi- 

 fied in numerous ways, according to the fancy of the 

 designer. 



Eventually a thing incomprehensible, but mystically 

 of great importance, was naturally taken up as the 

 badge of royalty — of authority. And so we find the 

 'ankh,' held in the hand of Egyptian gods, the sceptre 



