EMBLEMS OF DEITIES. 409 
is properly accompanied by the so-called “libra,” which stands upright on the lower 
part of the field. But there is little reason to believe that the latter represents a 
balance. ‘The vase in the older seals has the definite shape of an aryballus, but 
later it would hardly be recognized as a vase and the lower part seemed slit with 
vertical lines, as if showing the dropping of water. In the case of one cylinder of 
the older period we see the vase turned on its side and the wide stream falling to 
the ground (fig. 129). The protuberance on the “libra” is usually a little above 
the middle, which unftts it to be a balance, and sometimes it is a complete circle, 


as in fig. 1306, where, most unusually, the vase is beside it. See also fig. 1307, 
where the double “libra” suggests the symbol of Nebo. The “libra”? appears so 
often that 1t would seem that it should be easy to discover what it is the emblem of, 
but I am unable to offer any sure conclusion. Possibly it is the object like a mace 
held in the hand by figures like Gilgamesh or Eabani, on each side of a god or other 
object, which Heuzey takes to be the post of a gate, and so the symbol of the gate 
or of the god who is its warder; or, more likely, it is the rod and circle held in the 
hand of a chief god, as in figs. 323-327. Prof. W. Max Miller suggests that it 
is a stand. 
32. The Bull: We have seen that the bull is related to Adad, the bellowing 
god of thunder, who carries the lightning in his hand. The bull is led by the god 
with a cord attached to a ring in its nose. But the bull 
was also related to the Moon-god Sin, probably because 
of the shape of the horns of the bison of the Elamite 
forests and mountains. It is occasionally seen leaping 
into the lap of a god (figs. 317, 318), who may be Sin. 
In the case of the bulls attacked by Gilgamesh there is no 
emblem intended, but simply wild beasts conquered by 
the hero, as Hercules destroyed dangerous animals. 

—=—S—— 
33. Human-headed Bull: Under the feet of a god is [324] (331 
occasionally seen, on the Babylonian cylinders, a bull lying down, with a human 
head. Precisely the same figure has been found in bronze or stone (fig. 322), as 
shown in Heuzey (“Cat. Ant. Chald.,” pp. 269, 287; “Monuments Piot,”’ v1, plate 
x1; 7b., vil, plate1). ‘This bull seems to be the foot-stool of the seated Shamash, and 
is hardly to be related with the figure of either Eabani or the human-headed bull 
with which Gilgamesh fought, in the early Chaldean cylinders. 
34. The Crane or Goose: For the discussion of this emblem ¢ 
see Chapter x11 on Bau-Gula, in which attention is called to the 
frequency with which this bird accompanies the goddess, although [34] 
not confined to her. 
