ASSYRIAN CYLINDERS: BEL AND THE DRAGON. 201 
which attached to this design in a later period is seen in fig. 577. Here two gods, 
or, rather, the same one duplicated for symmetry, unite in lifting a dragon by the 
hind legs, much in the attitude of Gilgamesh. It will be observed that the deity 
has the short garment with horizontal stripes, of a Hittite god, while a worshiper 
stands before Ishtar, after the Assyrian style. 
In two cases we have the composite dragon replaced by the serpent. It has 
been mentioned that in one version of the story the description and dimensions 
show that the figure of the serpent was in mind. One of these is known as the 
“Williams Cylinder,” first described by me in the “ Bibliotheca Sacra,” 1881, p. 224, 
in an article on “The Serpent Tempter in Oriental Theology,” and from there it 
was copied by Professor Sayce in his revised edition of Smith’s “The Chaldean 
Account of Genesis,” p. go. This cylinder was obtained by the Rev. W. Frederick 
Williams, an American missionary in the region of Mosul. He bought it from an 
Arab, who had just come over the river from Layard’s diggings near Mosul in 1857. 



Mr. Williams presented it to his brother on learning soon after that a son had been 
named after him; and it passed from the hands of this son, Prof. Frederick Wells 
Williams of Yale University, into my possession and that of the Metropolitan 
Museum. It is shown in fig. 578. The god thrusts at the serpent’s mouth with a 
lance or similar weapon. The serpent is very long and has a peculiar horned head. 
There is one worshiper and probably an attendant deity. In the field are also the 
crescent, the rhomb, the seven dots (one missing), and two small trees. 
Since the discovery of this unusual cylinder, the British Museum has secured 
another of remarkable interest, first published by C. W. King (fig. 579). The 
serpent is not only horned, but he has two short arms and two hands. The god 1s 
armed with thunderbolts in each hand and is followed by a companion deity with a 
club. A worshiper stands before the serpent and god. In the field are a star, the 
sun in a crescent, and a rhomb. : 
These two seals are of great importance for the fresh version they give of the 
myth. They show us that in the region where these cylinders were made a form of 
