AKT. 4 ANCIENT ORIENTAL SEALS CASANOWICZ 7 



(Merodach) and the dragon Tiamat, taken from an early cosmogonic 

 story of the conflict between order and disorder at the creation of 

 the world. Tiamat. symbolizing chaos, is usually represented as a 

 griffin or composite monster.^- Marduk attacks her with a scimitar 

 or crooked sword, a dagger, or with bow and arrow. 



Another subject frequently represented in many variations is that 

 of the " Sacred Tree " or " Tree of Life." Like the fight between 

 Marduk and Tiamat, it belongs to the north. It is distinctly As- 

 syrian in type, but it is also found to some extent in Persia and 

 Syria. Sometimes winged genii, holding a cone and a basket or pail, 

 are seen on either side of the tree, or a king accompanied by an 

 eagle-headed winged genius ; sometimes a priest of Ea, the god of the 

 deep, clad in fish scales (identifying himself with the god) is in 

 attendance. On some of the seals of this group the standard of the 

 god Ashur, consisting of the winged sun disk with the bust of the 

 god in the center, hovers over the tree. The conventionality is mani- 

 fested here in a pronounced degree as to give to the tree most 

 fantastic forms. In fact the meaning of this theme is still obscure. 

 The general assumption is that it symbolizes the fertilizing of the 

 date palm (pi. 5 ^^). 



Of the gods represented on the cylinders Sin, the moon god, and 

 Shamash, the sun god, are the ones "most frequently selected. Sin 

 is often indicated by the crescent of the moon over or near his 

 figure. Shamash is represented as a majestic figure, seated on a 

 throne, or stepping over a mountain, or passing through gates, 

 symbolizing sunrise. Frequently also rays or streams are depicted 

 as issuing from his shoulders, sj^mbolizing, respectively, the bene- 

 ficient warmth of the sun and the fertilizing water, which are 

 within the province of the great orb and which are so essential to 

 life. Next to these great gods, Ishtar, the goddess of love and 

 fecundity, and Adad (Hadad) or Raman ("the thunderer"), the 

 god of storm, often appear on the seals. 



On the flat or stamp seals usually a solitary figure, priest or sup- 

 pliant, stands praying Avith raised hands before an altar or column 

 which is surmounted by the emblem of some god (pi. 6, No. 5). 



Not all events and objects pictured on the seals necessarily have 

 a meaning. The Mesopotamian artists seem to have been affected 



^- Ouly on two seals extant is Tiamat represented as a serpent, one is in the Metropoli- 

 tan Museum of Art in New York (a cast of wliich is on exliibition in the National 

 Museum, see pi. 3, No. 1), the other in the British Museum in London. Doctor Ward, Seal 

 Cylinders, p. 202, remarks : " We may conjecture * * * that it was directly from, 

 them that the Israelites got the story of the serpent tempter" (pis. 3 and 4). 



" Compare Edward R. Tylor in Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, 

 vol. 12 (1889-90), p. 383, especially p. 388. Another plausible interpretation of this 

 frequent scene on Assyrian sculptures is that the figures are plucking the fruit of the 

 Tree of Life. Compare Benjamin W. Bacon in the Annual of the American School of 

 Oriental Research, vol. 5, for 1923-1924, pp. 12 and 18. 



