[433] "Each of the Babylonians," says Herodotus (i. 195), "carries a seal and a walking-stick carved at the top into the form of an apple, a rose, a lily, an eagle, or something similar, for it is not their habit to use a stick without an ornament."
[434] Loftus, Travels, p. 212.
[435] See Art in Ancient Egypt, vol. i. p. 145, note 3.
[436] Les Fouilles de Chaldée, communication d'une Lettre de M. de Sarzec, par Léon Heuzey, § 1 (in the Revue archéologique for November, 1881).
[437] Art in Ancient Egypt, vol. i. pp. 127 et seq.
[438] M. Oppert has translated this text in full in a work entitled: L'Immortalité de l'Âme chez les Chaldéens (Annales de philosophie chrétienne, vol. viii. 1884), and he has reproduced his version with a few modifications of detail in Fragments Mythologiques (Quantin, 1881, 18mo). M. Halévy has given long extracts from the same document in an article in the Revue des Études Juives (October-December, 1881), entitled: Les Inscriptions peintes de Citium, § 2; he has returned to the same subject in an article in the Revue archéologique (July, 1882), L'Immortalité de l'Âme chez les Peuples sémitiques. We reproduce his translation as the most recent. Herr Schrader has devoted a whole book to the translation and explanation of this same myth (Die Hœllenfahrt der Istar, Giessen, 1874).
[439] See M. Clermont-Ganneau's L'Enfer assyrien, first part (Revue archéologique vol. xxxviii. and plate xxv.). The second article, which should have contained the explanation of this little monument, has never appeared, to the great regret of all who appreciate the knowledge and penetration of that learned writer at their proper value. The first article is nothing but a detailed description, which we abridge. Certain doubts were expressed at the time of its publication as to the authenticity of this object; nothing, however, has happened to confirm them. Both in composition and execution it is excellent. M. Péretié, moreover, was not one to be easily deceived. M. Clermont-Ganneau described and illustrated this bronze plate from photographs, but since his paper appeared he has again visited the East and seen and handled the original.
[440] M. Clermont-Ganneau reminds us that this peculiarity is repeated in a monster on one of the Nimroud reliefs (see Layard, Monuments, series ii. plate 3).
[441] See above, p. 72, and Figs. 3, 10, 11, 12. See also the notes to M. Clermont-Ganneau's article. He has no difficulty in showing how general was the use of these emblems.
[442] See page 65.