CHAPTER XXIII. 
ALLATU UNDER THE BENT TREE. 
An extremely interesting and very peculiar scene is shown on a large concave 
cylinder of black serpentine in the Louvre (fig. 399).* While this seal is so gener- 
ally in the style of the older Chaldean art that there can be no doubt of its authen- 
ticity, 1t yet presents features not to be paralleled elsewhere. The sun, or star, for 
it is impossible to tell whether it represents Shamash or Ishtar, is of very unusual 
size and shape, as if it had been carelessly or ignorantly made, while the attitude 
or the action of all the other figures has but one parallel. It contains two scenes, 
both unusual. In one a bearded god sits on a stool before a tripod with ox’s feet,} 
on which is a broad open vase from which rises smoke or flame. The god has in 
one hand a rod, and holds the other hand against the flame as if to warm it or to 

accept the smoke of the offering. This action seems to express the idea of the pleas- 
ure the gods had in the “sweet savor”’ of the fumes of their sacrifice and incense. 
He has on his head the elaborate high turban, and the lower part of his body is 
clothed with a flounced skirt. In front of his head is an apparently unskilful repre- 
sentation of the sun, with lines radiating single or double from the center, instead 
of having alternating rays and streams. ‘This peculiarity, however, does not seem 
enough to cast suspicion on the cylinder which otherwise appears quite genuine. 
Before the god and his tripod altar stands a worshiper in a long, simple, fringed 
garment, and with a shaved head, as in the Gudea sculptures. In his lifted hand 
he holds an uncertain object, which may be a vase of the shape of a cornucopia, 
or it may even be a bone of an offering which he lifts to his mouth, as if he were 
feasting with his god. Separated from this scene by a short linear inscription is 
the second very extraordinary scene. A slender tree, with branches, is bent com- 
pletely over till its top touches the ground, to form a sort of protecting tent, or 
canopy, over a kneeling goddess. On her head is the high turban; her hair falls 
in a tress behind her back; she wears a long simple garment that falls from her 
shoulders, and she reaches forward her hand towards an approaching figure. This 
is a bearded god who appears to rise from the ground, of whom only the upper 
part of the body is seen. On his head is the same high-pointed headdress, or turban, 

* This cylinder is figured in de Sarzec’s “ Découvertes,” 30 bis, No. 17; also discussed by Heuzey, “ Origines,” pp. 192, 
193; Maspero, “‘ Dawn of Civilization,” p. 681. 
¢ For a seal with ox’s feet, see fig. 30. 
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