ASSYRIAN CYLINDERS: BEL AND THE DRAGON. 199 
The usual dragon is a quadruped, with the head and fore legs of a lion, the hind 
legs of an eagle, a short tail of a bird, and a body covered with feathers. In the bas- 
relief from Nimrdid, the phallus has the head of a snake. As figured in the bas- 
relief the god has four wings and carries a thunderbolt in each hand; and his 
peculiar weapon, the sickle-shaped scimitar, hangs by his side, as does also a 
third slender weapon. On the cylinders the god may shoot his three-pronged 
arrow of lightning from a bow. He is usually accompanied by a smaller figure, 
much like Tiamat, which is probably to be regarded as one of the evil spirits 
which he called to his aid; for this form is not peculiar to Tiamat, but may be 
given to any demon of storm or pestilence. 
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Perhaps the best example of these cylinders is shown in fig. 565. It is also 
probably one of the oldest, as it is one of the largest of the class. Here the weapons 
of the god are the bow, a quiver, and an ax. He is accompanied by a monster 
which differs from ‘Tiamat not only in size but also by having a tail like a dog, or, 
more likely, a scorpion. In the field are a sacred tree, a winged disk (which may 
here be Shamash and not Ashur), the crescent of Sin, the star of Ishtar, a fish, and 
two ovals which are usually regarded as female emblems, but which are quite as 
likely to be the Egyptian eye. 
For some years the only known example of this design was that figured by 
George Smith in his “Chaldean Account of Genesis” (revised ed., p. 114). This 
cylinder is now in the Metropolitan Museum and is shown in fig. 566. It appears 
to be later than the former. The god has from his shoulders the double ray, or 
quiver, often seen in the later Assyrian figures of gods. ‘Iwo worshipers are figured, 
one kneeling; also the oval or rhomb, the winged disk, and the seven dots, which 
seem to represent the Igigi or perhaps, as Hommel says, the god of the planet Saturn. 

Another excellent example of this design appears in fig. 567. Here we have 
two scenes, one the fight of Marduk with the dragon, the other a worshiper before 
his goddess Ishtar. Marduk shoots with a bow and carries his scimitar in his 
belt. Here the dragon seems to stand on a mountain, which 1s a startling variation 
from the myth as we have it, inasmuch as Tiamat is a creature of the ocean rather 
than of the land. Another example is shown in fig. 568. Here a second deity follows 
the god and carries his thunderbolt for him. In fig. 569 the god also seems to have an 
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