THE SEATED SHAMASH: WITH RAYS OR STREAMS. 101 
bas-relief was found by the Arab diggers they ran to Mr. Rassam, shouting that they 
had found Noah with his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet. In honor of the 
discovery Mr. Rassam killed an ox and made them a great feast. The accom- 
panying inscription says: “Image of the god Shamash, the great lord, dwelling 
in E-Barra, within Sippara.”’ In this case the rays about the god are absent and 
there is no indication of mountains. The only special attribute of the seated god 
is the rod and ring, but the god’s identity is assured by the accompanying inscrip- 
tion, as well as by the god’s disk on the table before him. 
We can have no doubt of the identity of the god with rays from his shoulders 
in the case of the cylinders figured in this chapter. That is sufficiently proved by 
the Shamash worshipped by Hammurabi, as well as indicated by his notched 
weapon and the gate associated with him. He is the same god who sits in judg- 
ment over the bird-man. ‘The procession of figures which approaches him usually. 
represents worshipers with offerings, although the presence of his consort Aa, or 
Malkat, as the last of the procession, so frequent in the cylinders of the next period, 
and whom we see on the Sippara stele of the Sun-god, might at first suggest that 
this was the scene of the judgment of the soul in the future world. The presence 
of the sign for Shamash in the oldest form on several of these cylinders is further 
almost conclusive evidence of the identity. 
But the question as to the identity of the seated god with streams will hardly 
admit a less assured answer, and it is beyond question Shamash. He carries the 
notched weapon of Shamash. We have seen, in figs. 270, 270a, that both rays and 
streams belong to the god. We shall observe that the standing Shamash receiving 
the bird-man (fig. 291) is surrounded by streams. The seated Shamash in judg- 
ment on the bird-man we shall also see to be regularly surrounded by streams and 
fish, and in one case also in a boat (fig. 293). If that is Shamash, then there can 
be little doubt that this is also Shamash. ‘This seated god with streams is also 
accompanied by the sign for Shamash (figs. 270, 279, 280, 282, 283). Further, the 
general composition of the scenes on these cylinders with streams is the same as 
we see in those in which the god has only rays, with the same processions. At the 
same time too much weight must not be given to this fact. The argument against 
this being Shamash is presented by Heuzey, who connects these cylinders, also 
those in which the god holds in his hand a spouting vase, with Ea, the god of the 
waters (““Sceau de Goudéa’’). But for the discussion of this subject see the chapter 
on “The Spouting Vase.’’ My own conclusion is that, whether with or without 
rays, the seated god with streams is usually Shamash, although we shall find occa- 
sion later, in Chapter xvI, to observe that the seated god without rays or streams, 
a very generalized form, may be Ea or Sin. 
The approaching figures I take to be the worshiper, with or without a goat 
as offering and with or without a servant carrying further offerings in a pail, 
accompanied not by priests but by divine attendants, and especially by the god- 
dess Aa, or Malkat, the wife of Shamash. The identity of Aa will be considered in 
Chapter xxxt. It is as reasonable, as much in consonance with the religious notions 
of the Babylonians, that the wife and attendants on the god should be considered 
as present with the god, as that he should himself be considered not as an image, 
but as a real and living god. The worshiper comes before the god and not merely 
into his temple before an idol. 
