Is supposed to represent Oannes, Dagon, or some other fish god. It is
copied from Lajard, Sur le Culte de Venus, pl. xxii., 1, la, and is thus
described, "Statuette inedite, de gres houiller ou micace, d'un brun
verdatre. Elle porte par devant, sur une bande perpendiculaire, un
legende en caracteres Syriaques tres anciens (Cabinet de M. Lambert, a
Lyon)." I can find no clue to the signification of the inscription. It
would seem paradoxical to say that there is something in common between
the bull-headed deity and Oannes. It is so, nevertheless. One indicates,
par excellence, physical, and the other sexual, power. That Oannes may,
for the Assyrians, represent a man who played a part with them similar
to that of Penn among the Indians of Pennsylvania, I do not deny; but,
when we find a similar fish-god in Philistia and Hindostan, and know
that Crishna once appeared as a fish, the explanation does not suffice.
It is curious that Jesus of Nazareth should be called "a fish"; but
this only proves that the religion of Christ has been adulterated by
Paganism.
Figs. 1 and 4 are illustrations of the antelope as a religious emblem
amongst the Assyrians. The first is from Layard's Nineveh, and in it we
see carried in one hand a triply branched lotus; the second, showing the
regard for the spotted antelope, and for "the branch," is from Bonomi's
Nineveh and its Palaces.
Fig. 2 illustrates Bacchus, with a mystic branch in one hand, and a cup
in the other; his robe is covered with spots arranged in threes. The
branch is emblematic of the arbor vitae, or tree of life, and its powers
of sprouting. Such a symbol is, by outsiders, figured on the houses of
newly married couples amongst the Jews of Morocco, and seems to indicate
the desire of friends that the man will show that he is vigorous, and
able to have many sprouts from the tree of life. It will be noticed
that on the fillet round the god's head are arranged many crosses. From
Hislop's Two Babylons, and Smith's Dictionary, p. 208.
Figs. 8 and 5 are intended to show the prevalence of the use of spots
on priestly dresses; they are copied from Hislop's Two Babylons,
and Wilkinson, vol. vi., pi. 88, and vol. iv., pp. 841, 858. For an
explanation of the signification of spots, see Plate iv., Fig. 6, infra.
Fig. 1 represents an Assyrian priest worshipping by presentation of the
thumb, which had a peculiar signification. Sometimes the forefinger is
pointed instead, and in both cases the male is symbolised. It is taken
from a plate illustrating a paper by E. C. Ravenshaw, Esq., in Journal
of Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xvi., p. 114. Amongst the Hebrews,
and probably all the Shemitic tribes, bohen, the thumb, and ezba, the
finger, were euphemisms. They are so in some parts of Europe to the
present day.* The hand thus presented to the grove resembles a part
of the Buddhist cross, and the shank of a key, whose signification is
described in a subsequent page.