420 SEAL CYLINDERS OF WESTERN ASIA. 
the composite figures each side of the serpents in the Gudea vase. The very 
frequent use of the serpent as a caduceus or weapon is considered in No. 30 of 
Chapter LxIx. 
BIRDS. 
The Eagle or Hawk: One chapter of this volume is devoted to “Etana 
and the Eagle” (Chapter xxi1). There we have Etana borne by the eagle to 
heaven. In Chapter Iv, on archaic cylinders, we see again a mythological eagle 
seizing with its talons two lions or other animals. ‘This eagle is always drawn 
in a heraldic attitude, and there is one case given, as early as Gudea, where the 
eagle has two heads. But the two-headed eagle is rather characteristic of Hittite 
art, as seen in fig. 825. Possibly the eagle is confounded with the vulture, but the 
latter appears rather on the Hittite seals. In certain seals of probably the Assyrian 
period a god attacks three eagles (hgs. 507) 598). The eagle is apt to be one of the 
elements that enter into the composition of various fantastic mythological creatures 
(such as Tiamat, Chapter vii1) and the monsters with which the god fights in the 
Assyrian representation of Bel and the Dragon. The composite creature brought 
before Shamash for judgment (Chapter xv) has the body of an eagle and the upper 
portion human, while the Tiamat figures make the head that of a lion. We must 
regard the wings and tail of the solar disk as belonging to the eagle. For the rela- 
tion of the eagle, or hawk, to the Persian simurgh, see page 237 in the discussion of 
the Tree of Life, Chapter xxxvill. 
The Vulture: The true vulture, with the long naked neck, is hardly to be 
seen on the Babylonian or Assyrian cylinders, or is not distinguished from the 
eagle; but in the Syro-Hittite cylinders we occasionally see this purely Egyptian 
form, which represents the protecting goddess Nut. Probably it was introduced 
at the time of the Egyptian invasions of the eighteenth dynasty. Examples are in 
figs. 813, 835, 917. 
The Ostrich comes in only at a late period as taking the place of ‘Tiamat in 
the conflict with Bel. A very fine case is seen in the cylinder (fig. 42) belonging 
to an Armenian king. ‘The ostrich was exceedingly well drawn, showing perfect 
familiarity with this bird, which must at that time have lived in the Arabian desert 
and perhaps elsewhere in the neighborhood of Assyria. The god sometimes 
attacks one ostrich and sometimes two ostriches. See figs. 587-597, 687. 
The Stork: It is by no means clear what the bird is that so frequently appears 
with the goddess Bau-Gula (figs. 230-234). Sometimes it rather appears to be a 
goose, and sometimes a crane. The stork feeds in winter in great flocks in the 
swamps of Babylonia, and builds in the neighborhood. ‘The importance of the 
goose in Egypt might suggest that this is the bird figured with the goddess, and at 
times elsewhere. It would appear to be a crane which we see looking up on each 
side of a cypress in fig. 235. Inasmuch as a bird like a bustard appears on the 
kudurrus (figs. 1284, 1289, 1290), we might expect it on the cylinders, but I am not 
sure that it appears, unless it may be the same as that which looks like a goose, etc. 
The Swan: In one or two archaic Babylonian or Assyrian seals we have 
clearly the swan repeated to form one register of the design (fig. 93). It also 
appears on an altar or table, as if for sacrifice (fig. 735). 
The Goose: In addition to what is said above, under “The Stork,”’ it would 
seem to be the goose which we see in such a case as fig. 408. 
