210 SEAL CYLINDERS OF WESTERN ASIA. 
a lion-headed winged creature, which has the tail of a lion, but apparently the body 
of a horse. In this case we have the remains of what was a rude guilloche border. 
In fig. 633 the centaur has the body of a lion and attacks a lion. 
In other cases the god takes the head and wings of an eagle, such as was called 
Nisroch in the earlier days of Assyriology, when the name of Nisroch was imagined 
to be somehow derived from a Hebrew word for “eagle”; but it is more likely 
that the name “ Nisroch”’ is a corruption for either Marduk or Nusku. 
A good example of this is shown in fig. 634, in which both the god and his 
antagonist are eagle-headed, while between them is the bull over which they seem 
to be fighting. This style is much like that of the ninth century, of the time of 
Assurnazirpal. In fig. 635 two winged gods appear to be fighting over a prostrate 
bull, while between them is a winged sphinx with his head turned backward. We 
have another very neat example in fig. 636. Here the god seizes a bull by the tail 
and, reaching his other hand behind him, touches the same bull’s mouth. In 
fig. 637 a wingless god seizes two ibexes by the horn. The scene 1s inclosed by 



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two spear-pointed columns and below are a crook and a trident. In fig. 638 the 
god is again wingless and holds a scimitar and seizes a lion by the head. It is very 
doubtful whether in such cases as these we are to consider the god as Marduk or 
any other chief deity. He is quite as likely to be one of the multitude of subordinate 
protecting powers which the Assyrians loved to represent as guarding their palaces 
and temples, like the cherubs of the Hebrew religion and the Amshasbands of 
Zoroastrianism. Yet it is one of these winged subordinate deities that is kneeling 
before the god as he seizes the bull, such a figure as stands by the sacred tree. 
In the study of the Persian seals we shall have occasion to observe the develop- 
ment, or rather the degradation, of this motif of Bel and the dragon. It became 
dominant in the Avestan religion, but was less developed in Persian art. It appears 
early in Egyptian and in the contest between Horus and the serpent Apep (figs. 
639, 640); and we may presume that it was by the combination of the Assyrian (or 
Babylonian) story of Bel and the Dragon with the Egyptian story of Horus and Apep 
that we get the two examples (figs. 578, 579) with the serpent. It was confused with 
the myth of Gilgamesh, and in this form reached Greek art and mythology, so that 
Hercules strangled both lions and serpents. We still retain it in the story of Saint 
George and the dragon (fig. 647), the saint being simply another form for Marduk. 
