dd We SEAL CYLINDERS OF WESTERN ASIA. 
that these are female figures, and we do not see, as in the archaic forms of the Greek 
Gorgon, either the protruding tongue or the wings. This is more likely to be some 
figure corresponding to the giants with whom Zeus and the other gods fought, 
although their legs do not take the form of serpents, as in the Gigantomachia. 
Another example, apparently somewhat later, is shown in 644. The “giant” 
appears to be bearded and has a horned headdress. He is attacked on each side 
by a god, one of whom lifts an ax. There is a worshiper of the Assyrian type, and 
there are also the crescent, the seven dots, and the asheras of Marduk and Nebo. 

With these three cylinders may be compared a fourth (fig. 645) of a quite unusual 
type, in that it gives us only the head of the “giant” and the head of a fantastic 
animal. The human head is clearly bearded from the mouth, and so not a feminine 
necklace ornament, and we see the same kind of curls as are shown in fig. 642. 
‘There are also a star, a rhomb, and a crescent over the ashera of Marduk. 
In the case of these designs we have beyond question a conflict between a god 
and his foe, the monstrous enemy being completely overcome. In fig. 646, however, 

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the same personage seems more definitely to be assimilated to Gilgamesh. The 
position, the dress, and the crown are as in the designs just shown, but he lifts by 
the leg two ibexes attacked by winged lion-like monsters, while a small four-winged 
deity attacks the two monsters. Yet it is not at all clear that this design has any 
genetic relation with the Chaldean notion of the fight between Bel and the dragon. 
Indeed it is probable that it has an independent origin. It may have a relation to 
the Egyptian Bes, who was in Egypt a foreign god; and on the other hand it is not 
unlikely that it is related to the Greek Gigantomachia. 
