ASURBANIPAL’S HOUNDS aro 
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 ! } 
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, Jitebu, ‘‘ 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.? 
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. 
1 W. Hayes Ward, op. cit., p. 418, 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 ! ”’ 
2 Cf. Tobit v. 16, and xi, 4. 
