DIVINE EMBLEMS ON A CHARTER OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR I.
Brit. Mus., No. 90838.
A similar result follows if we examine the relation of a Babylonian deity to his sculptured emblem, by means of which his authority or presence could in certain circumstances be secured or indicated. The origin of such emblems was not astrological, nor is it to be sought in liver-augury: they were not derived from fancied resemblances to animals or objects, presented either by constellations in heaven, or by markings on the liver of a victim. It is clear that they arose in the first instance from the characters or attributes assumed by the gods in the mythology; their transference to constellations was a secondary process, and their detection in liver-markings resulted, not in their own origin but in that of the omen.[18] In the earliest period the emblem of a city-god might symbolize his city's power,[19] and those of other deities expressed some quality in the character of their possessor, or were drawn from a weapon, object or animal with which they were associated in tradition.[20]
Another class of images were the animal forms, also drawn largely from the mythology, which adorned the earlier temples and were reproduced in enamelled brickwork on secular buildings by the Neo-Babylonian kings. Most of these, in the later as in the earlier periods, were placed near temple-entrances, and where stone was so plentiful that it could be used in bulk in the structure of buildings, the doorways themselves were carved in the same way. That animal forms were employed to symbolize sound is suggested by the representation of a great harp or lyre on a Sumerian-bas-relief, in which the figure of a bull surmounting the sound-case is evidently intended to suggest the peculiarly deep and vibrant tones of the instrument.[21] Moreover, on cylinder-seals engraved with the figure of the Sun-god emerging from the Eastern Gate of heaven, two lions are often set immediately above the opening doors, and in one specimen the gate-pivots rest upon a second pair arranged symmetrically below them.[22]
FIG. 70.
SUMERIAN HARP.