ASSYRIAN CYLINDERS: THE SPOUTING VASE. 215 
same seal, with his foot on his conventional mountain. It is especially appropriate 
that Ea should be figured as supplying water to the creatures of the deep, the goat- 
fish Capricorn and the man-fish, in whom Heuzey recognizes Oannes. This also 
makes Gilgamesh the attendant of Ea. The goat-fish is the special emblem of 
Ea, and forms the base of the seat, in the kudurrus or so-called boundary stones, 
on which the column of Ea, with the ram’s head, rests, as shown in the chapter on 
the Emblems of the Gods. For other and much later examples of a god seated or 
standing on the goat-fish, see figs. 755-758. 
Another beautiful design of the same nature (fig. 650) is given by Heuzey, 
from the impression on a tablet of a cylinder which contained an inscription stat- 
ing that it belonged to “Gudea, patesi of Shirpurla,” or Tello. For description 
see fig. 368a. We can hardly doubt that the seated god is Ea. 
M. Heuzey speaks of the god with serpents (Ningishzida) as helping the god 
to support the vase by his hand under it. We may, however, imagine that he is 
receiving it, to present it, as the god’s gift of water, to Gudea. The god is abun- 
dantly supplied with water, as shown by these ten gushing streams, and has 

many more vases which he can continuously supply to the world. One seems to 
see the descent from the upper to the lower waters, the “tzamat eliti”’ and the “tra- 
mat shapliti,” on a fragment in King’s “Seven Tablets of Creation,” 1, p. 197. The 
design would then not only honor the god as the giver of water to the world, but 
would also honor Gudea as the patesi, who had, by making canals, supplied irri- 
gation for his subjects. It must be remembered that no work of rulers was held to 
be more important than the digging and repairing of canals. They repeatedly 
claim in the record of their achievements the honor of having thus provided for the 
sustenance and welfare of their people. For an interesting variation see fig. 39a, 
where a goddess appears to be rising out of the vase with the stream, but such may 
not have been the intention of the artist. 
The cases are few in which Ea can be recognized in the Babylonian art. It 
must be remembered that he was a primitive god, whose worship went much out of 
fashion, because he was the god of Eridu, a city which early lost its preéminence. 
Marduk became the chief local god of Babylon, and other cities had their special 
deities, but the favorite popular gods of the people were Shamash, Sin, and Ishtar; 
the Sun, the Moon, and Venus. In Chapter xvi, on the Seated God, evidence has 
been given to show that in some cases it is not easy to distinguish Shamash from 
Sin, and equally Ea may have been figured in much the same way. But I can not 
agree with Heuzey in thinking that the seated god with streams and fish is usually 
Ea. It is more likely to be Shamash. 
