ASSYRIAN CYLINDERS: BEL AND THE DRAGON. 203 
ence. A very handsomely engraved cylinder is shown in fig. 585, where the god 
is evidently Marduk with his scimitar, and the dragon is, with the exception of 
the bird’s head, the conventional Tiamat. We have also a peculiarly developed 
sacred tree. But in fig. 586, another elaborate cylinder, the design is considerably 
confused, and Marduk and Gilgamesh are combined in one. The face is that of 
Gilgamesh, and the hero, or god, holds the two griffins in the attitude familiar with 
Gilgamesh when he lifts up the lion. 
From conceiving of the dragon as a monster having a bird’s head as well as 
legs and tail, and feathers over the body, the transition was not difficult to regarding 
it as entirely a bird. But for this the favorite form was that of an ostrich and not 
of an eagle or vulture. The eagle was already the emblem of a god and was regarded 
as a bird of good omen. But the ostrich was the largest bird known, a mysterious 
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inhabitant of the deserts, swift to escape and dangerous to attack. No other bird 
was so aptly the emblem of power for mischief. ‘To conquer the ostrich was a feat 
like that of overcoming the buffalo or the lion. Accordingly in the period about 
the eighth and seventh centuries B. C., when the Assyrian glyptic art was at its best, 
the contest of Marduk with an ostrich was a favorite subject. ‘The feathers of the 
ostrich attracted the skilful hand of the engraver. A good example of this is seen in 
fig. 587, where Marduk, with his scimitar lifted above his head, seizes an ostrich 
by the tail, while another smaller ostrich precedes. In this case the smaller one 
does not seem to be aiding the god, but rather to be fleeing also from him. We 
may probably consider it as taking the place of the small dragon on the older seals, 
but misconceived by the artist. 
More frequently the god seizes the ostrich by the neck. Such a case is shown 
in fig. 588. The four-winged god with his right hand holds his scimitar, and with 
the left hand chokes the ostrich, while the owner of the seal looks on in worship. 
