ASURBANIPAL'S HOUNDS 375 



sometimes is, in a sense suggesting fishing by a harpoon or 

 spear, or as typical of victory, but rather as a symbolical act 

 of homage and propitiation to the unknown deities of the deep. 



A later Assyrian king, Asurbanipal, no doubt from the 

 value which the test of use in his many hunting expeditions 

 afforded, regarded the dog from a point of view very different 

 from that apparently taken by some of his subjects. 



To judge by an old Assyrian prayer, " From the dog, the 

 snake, and the scorpion, and whatever is baneful may Merodach 

 preserve us, ' ' the general feeling was that of fear. 



But five clay models preserve for us representations of some 

 of the king's favourite hounds, with their names inscribed upon 

 them. The appropriateness of their names betrays their 

 master's familiarity with canine traits, as we detect from 

 Chaser of the Wicked, Conqueror of the Foe, Biter of his Enemy, 

 Mighty in his help. He crossed the road and did his bidding ! i 



At Harran (according to al-Nadim), dogs were considered 

 sacred and had offerings made unto them, a statement which 

 is strengthened by the divine title at Harran of My Lord with 

 the Dogs, which seemingly points to Marduk and his four 

 dogs, the name of one of which, Iltehu, " the Howler," is as 

 characteristic to-day as it was five thousand years ago. 



In the Bible it is curious to note the low position of the dog. 

 It is rarely spoken of with approval. Possibly the existence 

 and proclivities of the numerous packs of pariah dogs account 

 for the fact. Tobit seems the only person who makes his 

 dog his companion, and then only when on journeys. 2 



Over two hundred kinds of fish are enumerated in the 

 catalogue of Asurbanipal's library at Nineveh : the attachment 

 of the fish determinative constitutes our authority. No writer, 

 even Dr, Boulenger, has classified or identified the fishes of 

 Assyrian representations as thoroughly as Montet and others 

 have those of the hieroglyphs, 



^ W. Hayes Ward, op. cit., p. 41S, states the dog appears in cylinders 

 very early — chiefly as guardian of the flock. Cf. Figures 391, 393, 394, 395. 

 He is seen in the late Babylonian: cf. Figs. 549, 551, 552, and later still in 

 hunting scenes, Figs. 630, 1064, 1076 and 1094, which last shows in a very 

 spirited manner four dogs in a fight with two lions. The dog running away is 

 fairly " making tracks ! " 



* Cf. Tobit V. 16, and xi, 4. 



