1008 REPORT OF NATIONAL ItlUSEUM, 1896. 



narrative of the Deluge closely accords both in matter and language 

 with the biblical account as contained in Genesis vi-viii. Xisnthrus 

 or Hasisadra, the hero of the Babylonian account, corresponding to 

 the Biblical Noah, is informed by a god of the coming flood and ordered 

 to build a ship to preserve himself, his family, and friends, and various 

 animals. After he had sent out divers birds (a dove, swallow, and 

 raven) he landed on the mountain Nizir, in Armenia, and offers a sacri- 

 fice to the gods, after which he is transferred to live with the gods. 

 The originals were found during the British excavations in the Valley 

 of the Euphrates and Tigris, and are now preserved in the British 

 Museum, in London. There was also exhibited a cast of some of the 

 original fragments now preserved in the British Museum. 



Cast of a colossal human-headed winged lion, 11 by 9 feet; 

 original of yellow limestone in the British Museum. It was found by 

 Sir Austen H. Layard in 1816 at Kuyunjik on the site of ancient Mne- 

 veh, and is supposed to belong to the period of Asurnazirpal, who 

 reigned 884-860 B. 0. Figures of composite animals of stone or metal, 

 sometimes of colossal size, were placed by the Assyrians at the entrances 

 to the temples of the gods and the palaces of the kings. They were 

 considered as emblems of divine power, or genii (Assyrian, shedu), and 

 believed to "exclude all evil." Lions were also placed "beside the 

 stays" and on either side of the steps of the gilded ivory throne of 

 Solomon. 1 Some Assyriologists connect the Assyrian winged and com- 

 posite beings with those seen by the prophet Ezekiel in his vision of 

 the "chariot," as described in the first chapter of his prophecies, and 

 the cherubim guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden- and those 

 carved on the Ark of the Covenant.-' Parallels are also found in the 

 religious figures of other peoples, as the sphinx of the Egyptians and 

 Persians, the chimera of the Greeks, and the griffin of northeastern 

 mythology. It would seem that the composite creature form was 

 intended to symbolize either the attributes of divine essence or the vast 

 powers of nature as transcending that of individual creatures. 



The winged lion, called "Nergal," was also sacred to Anatis and to 

 Beltis, the goddess of war. 



Cast of the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II, King of 

 Assyria 860-824 B. C. The original of black basalt, which is now pre- 

 served in the British Museum, was accidentally discovered by Sir 

 Austen Henry Layard at Nimrud, on the site of the Biblical Calah,-^ 

 about 19 miles below Nineveh. The obelisk is about 7 feet high. The 

 terraced top and the base are covered with cuneiform script containing 

 a record of Shalmaneser's campaigns nearly to the last year of his long 



' I Kings X, 19, 20. 

 - Genesis iii, 24. 



"Exodnsxxv, 18, etc. Compare also the "four living creatures" in Revelations 

 V, 14; vi, 1. 

 * Genesis x, 12. 



