308 On Scriptural and profane Accounts 
I shall collect in a note (*) the passages of 
ancient authors which prove that Belus, Ni- 
nus, Ninyas, Semiramis and Sardanapallus 
were really worshipped as gods among the 
Assyrians ; the only one of them with regard 
to whom any doubt can exist is Sardanapal- 
lus, who is certainly not commonly said to 
have been worshipped; yet if we consider. 
that his statue was found in the splendid tem-— 
ple of Hierapolis, particularly devoted to the 
worship of Semiramis, we shall ‘conclude 
that he must have been considered by those 
who placed it there in some very different light 
from the effeminate and voluptuous prince, 
the disgrace of his, nation and of humanity. 
The fact indeed, that all these Assyrian prin- 
ces were also gods, has not escaped those who 
have written upon this history, (°) but none 
of them, as far as I have seen, have drawn 
the proper inference from the fact, with the 
exception of M. Court de Gebelin, in his 
Monde Primitif: 4. 495. who has, however, 
endeavoured to support his opinion by false 
etymologies. 
Three ways only can be conceived in which 
this coincidence of the divinity and the sove- 
reign can be accounted for. 1. The sovereigns 
may have been deified for their exploits and 
other merits. 2. The sovereigns may have 
