150 SEAL CYLINDERS OF WESTERN ASIA. 
with a ring at the top (is this ring seen elsewhere?) that is worn by the kneeling 
goddess. He reaches to the goddess a club or mace, which she seems ready to 
accept. Outside of the bent tree stands a strong, bearded god or demigod. His 
headdress is of two horns simply and unlike that worn by the god and goddess 
under the tree. He wears a short, flounced garment which reaches from his waist 
to his knees. With one hand he seizes a branch of the tree over the goddess’s head, 
and in the other he holds an ax, which rests against the tree, as if to cut it. One 
foot is lifted and rests on the top of the tree which touches the ground. 
As I have said, this cylinder seems to be genuine. If not, it is the work of a 
most consummate forger, and it is difficult to imagine that a forger could conceive 
so elaborate and admirable and novel a design. The only things about it which 
might arouse suspicion are the drawing of the sun and the little ring at the top 
of two headdresses. The cylinder is in good condition, except for a small 
abraded portion where the smoke or flame rises from the vase before the seated 
god. When I examined this cylinder in the Louvre, through the courtesy of M. 
Heuzey, I thought I was able to trace the smoke from the hand past the abraded 
portion, clear to the vase. 

As Heuzey has said, the story of a god attacked is not unfamiliar in mythology. 
He regards this cylinder as giving us a representation of a myth not yet found in 
the inscriptions. The goddess might seem to be protected, or hidden, under a 
tree which has bent over to conceal her. The attacking figure, perhaps a demigod 
like Gilgamesh, is not trying to bury her under the tree, but, as his ax shows, is 
trying to cut away the tree which hides her. But she will be protected by the god 
who comes as her champion and who holds the war-club in his hand. Such has 
been taken to be the interpretation of this picture, from the design itself, which 
is of extraordinary vigor and complexity. The other scene of worship is of special 
interest also, because we see that the seated god is expressing his satisfaction with 
his worshiper, by accepting with his hand the odor or flame of the offering. 
I know of but one other cylinder of this type, a smaller and much less elaborate 
one, concave, and of green serpentine, belonging to the J. Pierpont Morgan Library 
(fig. 400). Here we have a seated deity, apparently a goddess, in a flounced gar- 
ment and with the high turban, under the bent tree. She has her hand raised. In 
front of her a bearded deity, with the same high headdress as the goddess, attacks 
the tree, apparently pulling it over rather than cutting it down. His raised foot 
reaches beyond the tree. From his shoulders there radiate rays. Behind this scene 
a worshiper stands with hand raised. I see in this cylinder no evidence that it is a 
forgery, although one must be constantly on his guard against forgeries that may 
have been copied from other cylinders or from figures published in books. I have 
never seen a complete forgery in stone of this variety, which would appear not to be 
accessible to forgers except as found in old cylinders themselves; and old cylinders 
that are badly worn are likely to be recut along the lines of the original engraving. 
