ASSYRIAN CYLINDERS: THE TREE OF LIFE. 225 
acorn. On one side is the figure of a deified king in the niche in which Assyrian 
kings loved to have themselves sculptured in bas-relief on a rock near their con- 
quests; and on the other side is a female figure in the attitude of worship, probably 
before the king. Behind her, in the field, is an ibex, over what may possibly be 
two lotuses. Another case in which we have the triple figures over the winged disk 
is shown in fig. 683, where the disk, developed completely into the form of the god 
Ashur (or Ahura-mazda), is supported by two composite figures, half man and half 
bull. Between them is the sacred tree with fruit like acorns. Behind them on one 
side is a worshiper and on the other a winged figure holding a basket in one hand 
and lifting a fruit in the other. ‘This cylinder is reported to have been found in 
the Hauran, east of the Jordan. Another cylinder with a similar design is given 
in fig. 1153. Here, however, under the triple symbol of Ashur (or Ahura-mazda) 
and on each side of the sacred tree, the supporting composite figures have the 
upper body of a man, the legs of an eagle, and the tail of a scorpion. The tree is 



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685 682 
utterly conventionalized into an arch surrounding nds 
the female worshiper with hand lifted, and on the other a male deity. The remain- 
ing space of the seal is taken up with a figure of a god carrying in his arms two deer 
and two ibexes; he is in front view like Gilgamesh. There is a single small star 
in the field. That this design is not purely Assyrian is clear. It contains an Ara- 
maic inscription, which epigraphically seems to belong to about the fifth or sixth 
century B. C. and may be read, “ Belonging to Midbart,” a feminine name. Similar 
and also with an Aramaic inscription is fig. 684. Here we have the triple Ashur, 
the sacred tree, the two supporting figures, half man and half bull, a worshiper on 
one side, and on the other a divine figure carrying an ibex, also a rhomb and other 
uncertain emblems, and an inscription which Levy uncertainly reads: “Son of 
Whaharangs 
An excellent example, which may be regarded as somewhat earlier, appears in 
fig. 685. Here the figure of Ashur with short wings is of the more Assyrian type, 
the tree is very simple, and the two man-bulls are of the fullest size on each side, 
with one hand to Ashur and one to the tree. Behind them stands a single winged 
god with a star over his feathered hat or crown. ‘This crown seems to suggest a 
Persian or Elamite origin. In each hand the god holds the head of an ibex by the 
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