ASSYRIA.

A study of the Assyrian symbols of royalty, which I recently had an

opportunity of making at the British Museum, has led me to the conclusion

that, in Assyria, during many centuries, a perfect equilibrium was

maintained throughout the state which, by a strict coördination of all its

parts, represented a harmonious entity.

An observation I have made, which may be worth noting, is that Assyria

seems to occupy, in relation to Babylonia, somewhat the same position as

Peru to the more ancient and greater centres of culture in Mexico and

Central America. In the latter the original ground-plan of the archaic

civilization seems to be lost and hidden under the ruin and devastation

caused by the growth of diverging cults. In Peru and Assyria alike we seem

to have examples of organizations starting afresh on the old plan or

reversions to the primitive type of civil and religious government in

which simplicity, order, balance and harmony were again restored and

maintained. If I may venture to hazard a general observation about the

ancient civilizations of Western Asia I should say that, whereas the

primeval centre of primitive pole-star worship in Babylonia had, in course

of time, brought forth as its highest development the monotheism of the

Israelites, and as its lowest the cults of Ishtar and Bel, it also appears

to have given birth to a reproduction of its former self, to the Assyrian

empire, in which the most ancient form of culture was preserved intact,

and in time spread its influence not only to other nations but also back

to Babylonia itself.

As in Peru, it appears to have been the policy of the kings of Assyria,

who had before them the results of an opposite course pursued at

Babylonia, to discountenance the manufacture of symbolical images and the

establishment of minor centres of government, the leading motive being to

maintain the ideal of an absolute centralization of temporal and spiritual

government and power. It is the opinion of leading Assyriologists that

Assyria was a colony founded by Semitic Babylonians and this conclusion is

corroborated by the view I have advanced, namely, that, as Babylonia

degenerated and abandoned the primeval ideas which nourished the germ of

monotheism, those who adhered to this ideal after prolonged struggles

separated themselves from their ancient mother, and founded new colonies,

the administration and religion of which they established according to

their wider experience and more advanced intellectual and moral

development. A characteristic of Assyria seems to have been the

institution of two male rulers, the high-priest and the king and the cult

of the diurnal and nocturnal heaven, of day and night. As these features

are in marked contrast to the Babylonian male and female rulers and the

cult of heaven and earth and the reproductive principles, it would seem as

though they had developed themselves from a prolonged cult of heaven alone

by the inhabitants of Northern Babylonia, or that they were the result of

a reform led about by the abuses to which the Babylonian cult had led. A

curious development worth mentioning, even out of its chronological order,

was when the Assyrian king Esarhaddon placed his two sons as single rulers

upon the thrones of Babylonia and Assyria. It is known that these two

brothers ruled in peace during twenty years and that then a great

rebellion against the Assyrian rule took place, which ended in the

conquest and destruction of Babylonia and the death of its king, whose

half-brother, the Assyrian ruler Asurbanipal, thus became the sole ruler

of Assyria and Babylonia.

Professor Jastrow tells us that, “as compared with Babylonia, Assyria was

poor in the number of her temples.... The Assyrian rulers were much more

concerned in rearing grand edifices for themselves. While the gods were

not neglected in Assyria, one hears much more of the magnificent palaces

erected by the kings than of temples and shrines.”

The above data suffice to show that the tendency of the Assyrian monarchs

was to indulge in self-glorification and to forget what some of his

subjects never could: that his position had originally been that of an

earthly representative only of a higher central, celestial power. As among

some branches of the Semitic race, the conception of a divinity became

more and more elevated until it reached the ideal of the Yahwe, “the only

true god who was jealous of other gods and could brook none beside him.”

To these uncompromising adherents of pure monotheism the royal titles of

the Assyrian kings who styled themselves the rulers of the centre, of the

four quarters of the earth and of the heavens, must indeed have appeared

as a sacrilege.

The existence of such opposite views clearly explains the ultimate

outbreak of hatred and war between monotheistic Israel and Juda and the

ancient empires of Western Asia which shared, with them, a remote but

common origin.

Returning to Assyria we find that this empire also, as it extended its

four-fold capital Assur into four provinces and developed the cult of the

high central power and the Heaven and Earth, gradually prepared in turn

its own downfall by an inevitable process of disintegration. In time two

great capitals grew up, situated to the northeast and northwest of the

ancient metropolis of Assur, the original seat of the “kings of the four

regions.” These capitals were Ninive, divided into four cities, and

Arbela, also a “four-city.” The fact that the latter capital was the seat

of Ishtar worship, further proves that, at one time, a definite separation

of cults had also supervened in Assyria and that Assur and Ninive may at

one time have been respectively centres of Polaris and sun worship. It is

well known that when about B.C. 606 the great Assyrian empire was

destroyed, it had four royal residences: Ninive, Dûr-Sarrukîn, Kalash and

Assur, which were then burnt and levelled to the ground, never to be

rebuilt.

Let us now examine the emblems of “divine royalty” exhibited on the famous

portrait stelæ of Assyrian kings preserved at the British Museum which

strikingly confirm the view I advanced that the four-spoked wheel of

Shamash on the Sippara tablet was the ancient restored image of the

“primitive sun” Polaris and of circumpolar rotation.

The Assyrian kings on the British Museum stelæ are represented as wearing

the cross, between the signs for the moon and planet Venus, that occurs on

the Sippara tablet. The four-spoked wheel thus explains itself as a

“wheel-cross” and is found to have been employed in Assyria alternately

with the plain cross; for the portrait statue of Asurnasirpal (about B.C.

880) represents the king wearing a chain about his neck from which hangs a

cross between the Ishtar and moon emblems, and next to a symbol

representing the lightning bolt of Ramman. In the background, next to the

king’s head, five emblems are sculptured, three of which are identical

with those hanging from the chain, _i. e._ the eight-rayed “sun” of

Ishtar, the moon Sin and the lightning bolt of Ramman. The _fifth emblem_

consists of the royal conical cap with four horns and is represented

separately to the right while the other four symbols form a compact group.

In the text Assur, Ramman, Sin, Shamash and Ishtar are invoked. As the

symbols of Ishtar and Sin can be identified by the Sippara tablet, and the

winged disk unquestionably pertains to Assur and the lightning bolt to

Ramman, we find that the cap, simulating the central “holy mound” with

four horns, must be the symbol of the remaining god Shamash. This

inference appears to be corroborated by the circumstance that the

_seventh_ month was sacred to Shamash and that it was in this month that

the lord of the holy mound built the seven-staged tower of Babylon. These

facts authorize us to formulate the conclusion that the four-spoked wheel

of the Sippara tablet, the cross hanging to the king’s chain and the

four-horned cap which, like the “square altar with four horns,” simulated

the “holy mound,” were alike symbols of Shamash, the “primitive Sun.”

On his portrait-stela king Shamsi-Rammanu the younger (B.C. 825-812), the

grandson of Asurnasirpal, wears the cross only, hanging from his

neck-chain and in the text invokes, according to Dr. von Luschan, only

Nindar, who has been proven to be Shamash under another name or title.

Nindar is identified in Professor Jastrow’s hand-book with Ninsia, “a god

of considerable importance, imported perhaps from some ancient site of

Lagash” ... who “disappeared from the later pantheon.” ... (_op. cit._ pp.

90 and 91). It is interesting to find that the king, who like his ancient

predecessor the Patesi or religious chief Shamsi-Ramman (B.C. 1850) bears

the name of the god Shamash, wears as his only ornament the cross which so

obviously expresses the royal title, “lord of the four regions.”

From Professor Jastrow (p. 107), we learn that it was customary for the

early rulers of Babylon, at the beginning or the close of their dedicatory

inscriptions, to parade a list of the divinities associated with the

districts that they controlled. Gudea, for instance, enumerates eighteen

deities, and these may be taken as indicative of the territorial extent of

Gudea’s jurisdiction. This custom affords an interesting explanation of

the sculptured emblems of divinities and the invocations of their names on

the above stelæ and shows that Asurnasirpal and his grandson ruled four

districts from a fifth situated in the centre, whose emblem was the mound

with four horns or the cross, both emblems of the royal “lord of the four

regions.”

Bearing this custom in mind, we next note that, on his stela at the

British Museum, Shalmaneser II, the son of Asurnasirpal, invokes not only

three different divinities, but also one more than his father or son. His

invocation is to Ashur, Shamash and Ishtar and to the Babylonian triad

Anu, Bel and Ea. The emblems of the first three divinities are the same as

on the stelæ of his father and son, _i. e._ the winged disk, the

mound-shaped, horned cap and the eight-rayed star. To Anu, Bel and Ea

pertain the emblematic lightning bolt and moon which are clearly visible;

and a third, almost effaced, group which, upon examination by Mr. Pinches,

revealed the presence of six stars or circles. Dr. von Luschan infers that

originally the group consisted of seven circles and was the same as that

sculptured on the stelæ of Sargon (at Berlin), the bas-reliefs at

Nahr-el-Kelb and at Bavian. On each of these the circles are grouped in

two horizontal rows of three circles while the seventh circle stands to

the right, in front and midway between both rows.

If we assume that the lightning bolt pertained to Anu, the upper, and the

moon, the emblem of Night, to Ea, the lower firmament, we find that the

seven-fold group falls to the lot of Bel and seems to coincide exactly

with the recorded fact that the famous zikkurat of Bel at Babylon, for

instance, consisted of seven stories; and that it was known as “the house

of the seven divisions [regions] of the world,” and that Babylon actually

was at one time a seven-fold state, with seven “mountains”=gods=earthly

rulers.

Final, positive proof that Assyria, under Sargon II and Esarhaddon, like

ancient Babylon, was organized into seven “districts,” seems to be

furnished by the seven symbols carved on their stelæ, accompanied by the

group of seven circles which obviously expresses the same as the cuneiform

character in the inscribed invocation, namely, the word “seven-fold-one”

or “seven in one,”(102) which was obviously an appropriate designation for

the empire as a whole, consisting as it did of seven tribal districts,

associated with the seven directions in space to each of which was

assigned a god, a mountain house, a color, an animal, a celestial body, a

day and a symbol.

An extremely suggestive juxtaposition of the numeral seven and a circle

containing a group of five circles, resembling a flower with four petals,

occurs on the Bavian tablet already cited, on which are also carved two

emblems: the moon and winged disk; one compact detached group consisting

of four altars (three surrounded by horns and one surmounted by a ram’s

head) and a second detached group consisting of a base into which four

staffs or sceptres are inserted. These recur on the fine Sendschirli stela

of Esarhaddon about which a few words remain to be said. It exhibits the

numeral seven=the “seven in one” sign before the king, accompanied by four

divinities mounted on animals, the first two being the god riding a double

monster, and the seated goddess, both wearing the cone on the high royal

cap. Carved close to the king’s hand is the group of four staffs or

sceptres, inserted in a horizontal base, which appear to be the emblems of

his lordship over the four regions. Three of these are the same as on the

Bavian relief: the first surmounted by a cone-shaped object(103) beneath

which are two hanging ends of ribbons; the second consisting of a plain

single staff, split so as to form two; the third surmounted by two animal

heads, each with a single horn. The fourth sceptre on Esarhaddon’s stela

is like that represented as inserted into one of the altars on the Bavian

stela, and terminates in a recurved ram’s head. The fourth in the Bavian

group of sceptres somewhat resembles the trident tripartite emblem which

occurs on the Sargon stela and the Esarhaddon stela of Nahr-el-Kelb

(_figured_ by Dr. Luschan, _op. cit._ p. 20).

A fresh examination of the bas-relief of Maltaya, described by Layard and

already alluded to, reveals a suggestive differentiation in the

representations of the seven divinities in a row, at each end of which,

facing the procession, stands a king. Considering that in Assyria there

were governors, the _limmi_, who held offices of limited duration and gave

their names to their years of office, the query naturally suggests itself

whether the two “kings” may not also have ruled for fixed periods of seven

years, each one of which bore the name of one of the seven divisions.

It being an accepted fact that the institution of the Sabbath was of

Chaldean and Babylonian origin, it is permissible to assign to the same

source the institution of the seven-year period described in Leviticus

XXV: “But the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land....

And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven

years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee

forty-nine years.... And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year”....

Addressing to Assyriologists an appeal for fuller knowledge concerning the

ancient calendar periods of Babylonia-Assyria, I now revert to the Maltaya

bas-relief and point out that, of the seven divinities, the two principal

ones, a god and goddess, wear a form of cap encircled by horns and

surmounted by a cone. One of these two deities is distinguished from all

others by his larger size and by the fact that he stands on a double

animal and heads the procession holding a recurved sceptre in his hand.

Behind him follows the goddess Ishtar, holding a large ring in her right

hand. Her throne, as on the Sendschirli stela, exhibits a ring surmounting

its high back, to the side of which a group of four circles or disks are

attached. As several centres of Ishtar cult, already mentioned, have been

designated as fourfold cities it seems possible that the four disks

alluded to this fact, while the ring crowning the top of the throne, and

that she holds, constitutes one of her emblems.... However this may be,

both monuments exhibit kings associated with the number seven and Ishtar,

the seated goddess, associated with the number four; facts which claim

further investigation and may lead to interesting verifications of the

numerical systems of the Assyrians. It should be mentioned here that the

heads of the five remaining divinities, on the Maltaya bas-relief, are

surmounted by a wheel with spokes and that one holds a recurved sceptre,

like that of the first, another bears the lightning bolt of Ramman, while

three carry the same peculiar double symbol also held by Shamash on the

Sippara tablet. It consists of a large ring like that held by Ishtar and a

short staff possibly a fire-stick. In each case the fingers of the right

hand of the deity clasp the middle of the staff and the ring and the

appearance of the combined rod and circle closely resembles the upper

portion of the Egyptian crux ansata. Professor von Luschan has, indeed,

expressed the opinion that the ring or circle (of Ishtar) the rod and

circle (of Shamash) and the crux ansata must have analogous meanings, a

view I fully share and shall further support in dealing with the Egyptian

symbol.

The following data will be found to substantiate further the evidence

produced concerning the seven-fold organization of Babylonia-Assyria. One

of the finest bas-relief tablets at the British Museum excavated by Layard

from the ruins of Asurnasirpal’s palace at Nimroud represents in its

centre the sacred conventionalized ashera=tree, above which is the winged

circle, from the centre of which issues the half figure of the god Assur

(_cf._ fig. 71, 1). To its right stand two winged figures wearing the

conical crown with four horns, and necklaces from which hang its

reproduction in miniature, also the cross, the symbol of Ishtar and the

moon. To the left of the tree stand two personages, wearing the high cap

with a flat top, central cone and hanging ends, such as are frequently

represented as worn by the kings. The natural inference would be that the

winged figures wearing the cap with horns represent high-priests and that

a double hierarchy corresponding to the dual monarchy probably existed at

one time, the result being “four lords,” two celestial and two

terrestrial, corresponding to the “four regions,” two of which pertained

to the Above or the heaven and two to the Below or earth. A curious

indication that at one time there were four separate rulers of the four

regions is furnished by the cap with four horns and the altar whose four

corners terminated in horns, when they are connected with the passage in

Revelations XVII, which refers to Babylonian symbolism and states: “And

the ten horns that thou sawest are ten kings.” Professor Jastrow states

that “similar horns existed on the Hebrew and Phœnician altars,” and that

“if we may believe Herodotus, the great altars at Babylon were made of

gold” (p. 652).

Doubtlessly, Assyrian texts contain a fund of information yet inaccessible

to students, concerning the constitution of the state and the

modifications it may have undergone in course of time. An exhaustive study

of the symbols connected with Assyrian kings at different dates, in

connection with the text relating his conquests and foundations of

temples, may yet reveal the occasional assumption or usurpation by a

single individual of different degrees of power and, possibly, the

ultimate separation and antagonism of hierarchy and monarchy.

The employment in Assyria and Babylonia of the tree, as a sacred symbol,

should next be considered, first, in relation to the other symbols to

which great religious importance was attached. The significance of the

zikkurat, or seven-staged tower, has already been discussed. Another

feature was “the great basin known as ‘Apsu,’ the name, it will be

recalled, for ‘the deep’ [_i. e._ the lower firmament]. The name indicates

that it was a symbolical representation of the domain of Ea. The zikkurat

itself being an attempt to reproduce the shape of the earth, the

representation of the ‘apsu’ would suggest itself as a natural accessory

to the temple. The zikkurat and the basin together would thus become the

living symbols of the current cosmological conceptions. The comparison

with the great ’sea’ that stood in the court of Solomon’s temple,

naturally suggests itself, and there can be little doubt that the latter

is an imitation of a Babylonian model” (Jastrow, _op. cit._ 653). It is

evident from the above that the adoption of the sacred basin as the symbol

of Ea would naturally be simultaneous with that of miniature “basins” and

water bowls and jars, employed for holding the sacred water used in the

cult of the Below. Reflection shows that, in the zikkurat, the seat of

Bel=the image of the earth, and in the “Apsu” the watery deep and lower

firmament of Ea, we have the sacred emblems of two deities of the

Babylonian triad only. The emblem of Anu, the Heaven or upper firmament,

is missing and it is naturally in the cult of Anshar=Ashur that it must be

sought for. The following data will sufficiently show that it was the tree

or pole and, in all probability, the fire-stick that were connected with

the cult of An-shar=“all that is above,” or “on high.” The resemblance of

the name Ashur to the word for tree or pole, the “Ashera” of the

Phœnicians and Hebrews, suggests, moreover, the probability of their

common origin.

An interesting question on which I have not, as yet, been able to obtain

information, relates to the mode of producing fire, resorted to by the

Babylonian-Assyrians. The element was, of course, associated with heaven,

and the fire-god under the name of Gibil or Nusku was termed the “son of

Anu.” Shamash himself also figures as a personification of fire and it

seems probable that, in the Babylonian temples in the centre of the square

altar, a fire was originally kept perpetually burning as an image of

Polaris. As great stress is laid upon the purifying effect of fire as on

that of water in Babylonian literature, it is easy to trace the origin of

the offering of burnt sacrifices to the idea that, cast into the sacred

fire, they became purified and absorbed into its essence, _i. e._ accepted

by the sacred living image of the central star-god. It seems extremely

probable that the primitive employment of a fire-stick by the priesthood,

for the production of “celestial fire,” may have played an important rôle

in causing the stick, and thence the pole and tree, to have become the

adopted symbol of Anu. So little is known even about the origin of

“tree-worship” itself in ancient Babylonia-Assyria that Professor Jastrow

advances the following statement (p. 689).

“On the seal cylinders there is frequently represented a pole or a

conventionalized form of a tree, generally in connection with a design

illustrating the worship of a deity. This symbol is clearly a survival of

some tree worship that was once popular. The comparison with the _ashera_

and pole worship among Phœnicians and Hebrews is fully justified and is a

proof of the great antiquity of the symbols which, without becoming a

formal part of the later cult, retained in some measure a hold upon the

popular mind.

“ ‘Ashur’ became the god of Assyria as the rulers of the city of Ashur

grew in power ... in the various changes of official residences that took

place in the course of Assyrian history ... the god took part and his

central seat of worship depended upon the place that the kings chose for

their official residence ... there was always one place—the official

residence—which formed the central spot of worship. There the god was

supposed to dwell for the time being. One factor, perhaps, that ought to

be taken into consideration, in accounting for this movable disposition of

the god was that he was not symbolized exclusively by a statue.... His

chief symbol was a standard that could be carried from place to place....

The standard consisted of _a pole_ surrounded by a disk enclosed within

two wings, while above the disk stood the figure of a warrior in the act

of shooting an arrow (_cf._ fig. 65, 5).... The standard ... which was so

made that it could be carried into the thick of the fray in order to

assure the army of the god’s presence(104) ... followed the camp

everywhere and when the kings chose to fix upon a new place for their

military encampment ... the standard would repose in the place selected”

(Jastrow, _op. cit._ p. 194). To one who like myself has devoted years to

the study of the symbolism of primitive people and is familiar with the

ancient Mexican image of the “lord of the North” standing in the centre of

a horizontally-placed cross-figure, and with the Chichimecan custom, on

taking possession of new territory, to shoot arrows towards the cardinal

points, the Ashur standard suggests a single explanation, namely, that it

was the symbol of celestial, central rulership and that the god, standing

on a staff which could be turned and aiming his arrow towards the four

directions in succession, was an expressive image of Polaris and

Septentriones.

Further ideas associated with the tree by the Babylonian-Assyrians are

clear since Professor E. B. Tylor has so conclusively shown that certain

bas-reliefs represent the act of artificially fertilizing the palm tree by

scattering the male blossom from its cone-shaped bunch, over the female

palm. In each case this rite is being performed by figures with human

bodies and large wings, _i. e._ high priests of heaven, and it seems

evident that it symbolized the mystic life-producing union of heaven and

earth or of the male and female principles of nature which marked the

Babylonian-Assyrian New Year’s Day. Given these associations of thought,

it is easy to see how the New Year became the festival of New Life and how

the fertilized tree became the “tree of life,” and its sculptured image a

memorial of a new year, possibly recording some record of the actual

marriages which took place in the state on that day. The decipherment and

comparison of the inscriptions on such tablets, by skilled Assyriologists,

can alone enlighten us on this point, but enough appears apparent to

explain how the tree could have become associated in Assyria not only with

life, but with the life and growth of the state. Moreover the tree or pole

itself, named ashera, may well have appeared to some Euphratean people, to

express the name Ashur sufficiently clear to become its symbol and

“canting arms.”

The adoption of the shaft or pole, as a symbol of the Celestial Centre,

may easily be explained by the fact that, stuck into the ground and

watched from a certain position, its upper end would seem to touch Polaris

and it thus supplied wandering star-observers with a point of fixity in

space which, being transportable, facilitated the registration of

circumpolar rotation. During many centuries the image of the “crooked

serpent,” Nakkasch, the constellation which could be seen each night

winding its way around the pole, must have deeply impressed itself upon

the minds of the primitive star gazers of the Euphratean valley, and

conveyed suggestions of imagery, one of which may have created the

Phœnician caduceus. At a later period when Ursa Major became circumpolar,

the “seven lights of heaven” became in turn associated with the stable

centre and suggested, in time, the seven-branched candlestick of the

Hebrews which is to this day constructed with a central or principal

holder, associated with stability. It is remarkable to note the same

ancient fundamental association in the elevated and beautiful imagery

employed by the descendant of ancient Euphratean star-worshippers, in

Revelation IV, in describing his vision: “... And, behold, a throne _was

set_ in heaven, and _one_ sat on the throne.... And there were seven lamps

of fire burning before the throne.... And before the throne there was a

sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne and round

about the throne were four beasts....”

The idea cited by Mr. Robert Brown, of the sacred pole-tree with golden

apples guarded by the constellation Nakkasch, has already been mentioned

and to this ancient image should be added the celestial tree of life set

in the midst of the garden of Paradise, whence “went out a river to water

the garden and from thence it was parted and became four heads.”... It is

as easy to see how the standard of Assur, which always marked the central

place of worship, should have been evolved, as it is to realize why the

fire-stick, rod or sceptre should have been adopted by monarchs as an

emblem of central rulership, and why, finally, each centre of government

should have adopted some specific symbol which, mounted on the staff,

became its tribal or national emblem. It does not appear hazardous to

designate as such the ornamented staffs already described, which are

represented on the bas-reliefs, in groups of four, a number agreeing with

that of the “four regions.” It has already been pointed out that a group

of four sceptres, corresponding to the royal title “lord of four regions,”

is carved close to the hand of Esarhaddon on the fine Sendschirli tablet

at Berlin.

In Babylonia, the local deity of Girsu was entitled “the lord of the true

sceptre,” “the lord of the right-hand sceptre,” a name which implies that,

where dual rulership prevailed, a distinction was made between right-hand

and left-hand sceptres, a point to which I shall revert later on in

dealing with Egypt. In Northern Assyria when the cult of Nabu superseded

that of Marduk, his temple was named “the house of the sceptre of the

world” and Nebuchadnezzar declares that it is he “who gives the sceptre of

sovereignty to kings to rule over the land” (Jastrow, _op. cit._ 129).

Simultaneously with the staff, the cross and wheel also became emblems of

sovereignty. It has already been shown that the cross and four-spoked

wheel of Shamash were synonymous signs. It remains to be shown how the

wheel was employed in Babylonia and Assyria as an emblem of royalty. The

representation of Shamash at Sippar exhibits his wheel resting, in a

perpendicular position, on a table. Attached to the wheel are two cords

which are held by a “god” and his consort, who appear to be directing the

course of the wheel. We thus see that, whereas the disk or wheel of Assur,

the central god, revolved on its own axis, and was provided with wings,

signifying aërial and celestial motion, the wheel of Shamash was

associated with a “lord and lady,” and the symbolism appears to express

that they were the directors of the “wheel of the law” of terrestrial

government. It is well known that, beside the throne, the emblem of

permanent repose, the Assyrian monarchs also used the chariot as a royal

prerogative.

In the Gilgamesh epic the goddess Ishtar, on conferring sovereignty upon

Gilgamesh, says: “I will place thee on a chariot of lapis-lazuli and gold,

with wheels of gold....” On studying the Nimroud bas-reliefs in the

British Museum I noted the fact that the trappings of the horse driven by

king Asurnasirpal, who is represented as standing in his two-wheeled

chariot, are decorated with crosses. It is impossible not to recognize the

affinity of the “wheel of the law” and the “lord of the wheel” of India

with the Assyrian symbols of Polaris and of central rulership and to

appreciate the naïve ingenuity of the idea of making the driving of the

chariot by the king represent his control of the rotating wheels of state

and government of the four quarters from a stable centre.(105)

As another example of the Assyrian employment of the cross-symbol, the

bas-relief at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, should be mentioned, as it

displays a winged bird-headed human figure, whose garments are embroidered

with crosses.

King Asurnasirpal, who is alternately figured on his throne or in his

chariot, is frequently represented as wearing on his garments and

bracelets another familiar and expressive emblem of centralization and

unity in diversity, the composite flower or rosette.

The sacred ship or ark of the Babylonian temple remains to be discussed.

Diodorus Seculus says that, according to Babylonian notions, “the world is

‘a boat turned upside down’ and resting on the waters. The appearance in

outline of this image presented the three divisions of the universe: the

heavens=Anu upheld by the serpent body of Tiamat; the earth, the dwelling

of Bel-Marduk, the ‘chief of gods;’ and the watery deep or ‘Apsu’ beneath,

the dwelling of Ea” (Jastrow). This imagery authorizes the inference that

the sacred ship or ark was associated with this conception of the earth as

a boat resting on the line dividing the sky from the watery deep. It can

readily be seen how a maritime people would be inclined to fancy that the

celestial bodies floated in the sky on invisible boats and that a single

one among them was apparently resting on a stable rock or mountain around

which other stars circled perpetually. That an analogous train of thought

should have caused the ultimate consecration of a tabernacle in the form

of a ship, to the central deity, entitled “the great mountain,” appears as

inevitable as the idea that all life proceeded from this source. Professor

Jastrow tells us that the early significance of the custom of carrying the

gods in consecrated ships became lost, but that it survived in Babylonia

and Egypt and that the ark of the Hebrews appears, similarly, to have been

originally a ship of some kind. I am indebted to Dr. Wallis Budge for the

interesting information that each day, in the temple of Ptah at Memphis,

an image of the god Seker was dragged around the altar by the priests.

Bringing the preceding tentative study of the ancient civilization of

Babylonia-Assyria to a close, I venture to affirm that, imperfect as it

is, it clearly establishes certain important points connected with the

present investigation. It demonstrates that a primitive pole-star worship

existed and still exists in the Euphratean valley, accompanied by the

employment of the swastika or cross-symbol and by the identical

fundamental set of ideas which form the basis not only of other Asiatic,

but also of the American civilizations. The Middle is associated with

special sanctity, fixity and supremacy of power and rule, extending in

rotation over the Above and Below and Four Quarters. This seven-fold

division of the universe extended throughout the entire organization of

the state and gave rise to certain logical developments of thought and

symbolism, analogous to those which have been traced elsewhere.

Postponing further comment, investigation will next be transferred to the

valley of the Nile, whose inhabitants, at various periods of their

history, came closely into contact with the people of Asia Minor.