WILD OX AND ITS EXTERMINATION 6i 
habits of a rhinoceros. With regard to the claims 
■of any member of the antelope group, it may be 
observed that all the Syrian species are harmless 
unless wounded or hard pressed by hunters, nor 
do they possess extraordinary strength. Considering, 
then, that the rccm is described as a two-horned 
animal of great strength and ferocity, that it was 
evidently well known and often seen by the Jews, 
that it is mentioned as an animal fit for sacrificial 
purposes, and that it is frequently associated with 
bulls and oxen, the inference is that a wild member 
of the same group is referred to. Moreover, the 
allusion in Psalm xcii. v. lo, " But thou shalt lift up, 
as a reeym^ my horn," seems to point to the mode in 
which oxen use their horns, lowering the head and 
then tossing it up. If this inference, which is very 
generally accepted,^ be true, the aurochs is doubtless 
the animal indicated by rccm. Moreover, repre- 
sentations of the aurochs undoubtedly occur in some 
of the sculptures discovered by Sir H. Layard at 
Nineveh ; and an obelisk of Tiglath-Pileser's time 
(1120-1110 B.C.) depicts a young aurochs under the 
name of rimi? This last instance seems to settle 
the question as to the identity of the rccm with the 
aurochs. 
It may be added that in the opinion of Dr. Diirst 
the Biblical phrase, " bulls of Basan," likewise refers 
to the wild bull. 
Some of the most striking representations of the 
aurochs are to be found among the sculptures of the 
palaces of the Assyrian kings, more especially 
^ See J. U. Durst, Die Rinde7' von Babylonien, Assyrien, and 
Agypten, Berlin, 1899. 
2 Ibid. p. 10. 
