THEORY OF ACHILLES' SHIELD. 307 



It appears probable, then, that the description of 

 Achilles' Shield is an interpolation the poet's own 

 -work, however, and brought in by him in the only 

 way he found available. The description clearly refers 

 to the same object which is described (here, also, only 

 in part) in the ( Shield of Hercules.' The original 

 description, doubtless, included all that is found in 

 both ' shields,' and probably much more. 



What, then, was the object to which the original 

 description applied? An object, I should think, far 

 more important than a warrior's shield. I imagine 

 that any one who should read the description without 

 being aware of its accepted interpretation would con- 

 sider that the poet was dealing with an important 

 series of religious sculptures, possibly that he was 

 describing the dome of a temple adorned with celestial 

 and terrestrial symbols. 



In Egypt, there are temples of a vast antiquity, 

 having a dome, on which a zodiac or, more correctly, 

 a celestial hemisphere is sculptured with constellation- 

 figures. And we now learn, from ancient Babylonian 

 and Assyrian sculptures, that these Egyptian zodiacs 

 are in all probability merely copies '(more or less 

 perfect) of yet more ancient Chaldean zodiacs. One 

 of these Babylonian sculptures is figured in Rawlin- 

 son's f Ancient Monarchies.' It seems probable that 

 in a country where Sabasanism, or star-worship, was 

 the prevailing form of religion, yet more imposing 

 proportions would be given to such zodiacs than in 

 Egypt. 



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