ASSYRIAN CYLINDERS: THE TREE OF LIFE. 229 
ing the tree against invasion. This instantly suggests to us the dragon, generally 
pictured on the vases as a serpent, which guarded the tree with golden apples of the 
Hesperides. 
The functions of the winged figures, genii or gods, differ. The two figures we 
have just been considering, with hands uplifted, have their relation to the winged 
disk and in part to the tree; the winged genii have their relation to the tree and 
also equally to the worshiper; not to the disk above the tree. They vary much in 
form, being sometimes indistinguishable from such a god as Marduk, but more 
frequently simple winged figures with cone and pail, or at least one of them. Or 
they may be clothed in the fish-skin, or with the fish body, or with the body of a 
scorpion, or taking the form of a griffin. Indeed, the artist may take almost any 
liberty he pleases with these fantastic figures. Only this is clear, that they are kindly, 
beneficent beings, and in some way relate the worshiper to the tree. It is to be 
observed that this winged genius is not confined to its attendance on the sacred 
tree. We observe such a case in fig. 704, in which the attendant spirit stands behind 
the goddess Ishtar, worshiped by the figure in front of her. Even more instructive 
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is fig. 705 where the attendant figure, in this case with bird’s legs, standing behind 
the goddess, holds both the cone and the pail, although there is no sacred tree. 
It is evident that he carries these objects for the benefit of the worshiper rather 
than to fertilize the blossoms of the tree. 
The tree itself deserves some further consideration. As has been said, it was 
originally and normally a palm, because the palm is the most beneficent of all trees. 
That it was a palm ought to be clear from the mention of the tree in the Bible. In 
Ezekiel 41: 18, we read in the description of a temple: “It was made with cherubim 
and palm-trees, and a palm-tree was between cherub and cherub on the walls”; 
and we are told, verse 25, “On the doors of the temple cherubim and palin-trees, 
like as were made on the walls.”” In I Kings 6: 29, we are told of Solomon’s temple: 
“He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim 
and palm-trees and open flowers.” ‘These are plainly the sacred tree between the 
winged figures on the Assyrian monuments, these winged figures corresponding to 
the biblical cherubim. To be sure it later ceased to be a naturalistic date-palm 
and became a mere ornamental and conventional tree, but not losing its fruits, 
and yet the fruit or bud or flower, whatever it may be, is no longer the pendulous 
bunch of dates, but terminates the branches. It may take the shape of an acorn, 
