EMBLEMS OF DEITIES. 401 
11. The Column, Ziggurat, or Wedge of Nebo: The usual representation of 
Nebo on the cone seals, where it appears a multitude of times with that of Marduk’s 
spear-head, is that of a double column (4, c), and is so certified on the relief of Bavian. 
In its fuller form it has, however, a wedge on the divine seat (a), over an animal 
precisely like that of Marduk (No. toa). On the stone of Nebuchadnezzar I. (fig. 
1287), however, the animal appears to be a goat. The close relation between Mar- 
duk and Nebo in Babylonian worship and the fact that their two columnar emblems 
are usually associated are the sufficiently satisfactory reasons for assuming that 
the wedge emblem also represents Nebo, inasmuch as on the kudurrus it usually 
accompanies that of Marduk. ‘The conclusion is 
further supported by the bas-relief (fig. 1273) figured 
by Weissbach, “Babylonische Miscellen,” on which 
Shamash-resh-usur, King of Sukhi and Maer, near _ 
the mouth of the Habor, worships the figure of “& 
Adad, behind whom is Ishtar, each of the two deities > ; iE 
being designated by an inscription. Corresponding to Ishtar is a broken figure of a 
deity, probably Shala. Above, the spear-head symbol of Marduk is accompanied 
closely by the wedge, doubtless of Nebo. Here the wedge takes the place of the 
double column which usually accompanies the spear-head. 
In fig. 1302 two superposed wedges accompany the spear-head of Marduk, 
both on their common animal. Before them stands a worshiper and Adad with 
his ax stands on his bull. The accessories are the sun in crescent, the star, the 
crescent, the fish, the seven dots, and the rhomb. 




1305 138054 1805b 
On the stone of Merodach Baladan I. (fig. 1288), as usual, Nebo follows Mar- 
duk; but here his dragon is inclosed in a Ziggurat, intended perhaps to suggest that of 
Birs Nimrud. On the cone seals he appears very frequently with Marduk, as in figs. 
1298, 1301, 1303. The wedge is a very appropriate emblem for the god of letters, 
but what is the origin of the double column it is not easy to say. From the representa- 
tion in c (de Morgan, fig. 388, p. 179) it would seem to consist of two or more rods 
bound together. For a possible explanation, however, see No. 50, the crook, of this 
chapter. The column is occasionally single and solid, as in fig. 1304. For an ex- 
26 
