84 SEAL CYLINDERS OF WESTERN ASIA. 
emblem of the goddess, as a vase or a thunderbolt may be the emblem of the deity. 
A curious case is seen in fig. 235, where three figures approach the goddess, behind 
whom is a cypress tree, with two birds, hardly swans, looking up to it. Fig. 236 1s 
again of the period of Gudea, and the goddess carries her club, and the three usual 
figures approach. We have the small kneeling Gilgamesh and another small figure. 
This cylinder is peculiar in that the ends are enlarged to imitate a metal setting. 
We occasionally see the impression of such an enlargement on the tablets. For a 
unique case in which the goddess seems to be borne with a swan in an animal- 
boat, see fig. I10. 

It may be well to add a perhaps later case of this goddess seen in fig. 237, 
where the worshiper is led, as frequently, and we have the vase before the goddess 
and its accompanying “libra.” But what is remarkable is the serpent caduceus 
with two heraldic antelopes. 
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In connection with these cylinders which seem clearly to represent Bau, or 
Gula, may be placed fig. 238, a decidedly archaic cylinder, in which, although all 
the figures are beardless, the seated deity appears to be a goddess. It is quite 
unusual to have a goddess represented with streams and fish, like the god Shamash 
(figs. 288, 289). Behind the illegible inscription is a figure, presumably male, with 
a staff, and in somewhat the attitude of the porter of a gate, and behind him is the 
object which Heuzey regards as the post of a gate. Other examples in which the 
same goddess appears are shown in figs. 240, 241, 242. 
In fig. 239 we have two registers, with a seated bearded god in the upper register 
and a seated goddess in the lower. In the upper the worshiper, following the guide, 
is led by the hand, and in the lower the worshiper follows the guide and carries a 
basket. There is a slender tree, like a poplar, in the upper and a palm in the 
lower. One would suspect that the god was Ningirsu and the goddess Bau. 
