318 On a Cylinder and certain Gems, [No. 124. 



on a string round the middle, as with the amulets of a somewhat similar 

 shape worn by children in this country, his conjecture is in all pro- 

 bability correct. The figures and emblems on the cylinder have yet 

 to be explained. The man holding a dagger, is perhaps in the 

 act of binding himself to some compact, religious or civil, the con- 

 ditions of which are expressed in the inscription in the presence of a 

 priest, some emblem having reference to the rite, being apparently 

 the image of a bird, being set up between the two ? Or is the supposed 

 priest in the long striped robe a female figure? I have taken much 

 pains to arrive at even a plausible conjecture respecting the up- 

 right emblem, as a clue would be readily found to the meaning of the 

 whole, could this type be traced. All I can say on the subject is, that 

 such an emblem is figured in Rich's Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon, in 

 No. 1. a. of the plates which illustrate that interesting notice. " No. 1," 

 says Mr. Rich, " is a black stone of an irregular shape (in part broken and 

 defaced,) about one foot in length, and 1\ inches in breadth. The figures 

 on it a and b, have been supposed to represent the Zodiac of the Baby- 

 lonians ;" an inscription is partly legible, I should observe, on the stone, 

 written in the first form of Cuneiform writing. The figures on the 

 stone (a) are those of a dog, or wolf, and of a bird seated upon a staff or 

 rest, set upright in the ground. The shape and attitude of the bird 

 would incline one to conclude that the artist intended to represent a 

 crow or raven. The idea that the emblem is Zodiacal, is, I think, borne 

 out by the nature of the figures on (b), the other part of the same 

 stone, which represent an antelope, a human head with ram's horns, an 

 altar, two human figures, and others which are indistinct. I am more 

 impressed with the theory of the Zodiacal character of the bird emblem, 

 from having found it with other similar figures, in a plate Vol. II. of 

 Kerr Porter's Travels. 



I have by me drawings by the late Edward Conolly of several similar 

 rude figures of birds, of which he gave me the following notice : " These 

 are from Seistan ; these small copper images are however found in the 

 ruins of old cities in all parts of this country, and have been dug out of 

 topes." Mr. Rich observes, " small figures of brass or copper are also 

 found at Babylon :" (?) of a similar description with the above. (?) 



This suffices to establish the fact, that such an image as that figured 

 on the cylinder, was for some purpose as yet unknown to us, but having 

 reference, probably, to a religious rite, in common use among the ancient 



