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 [pg 362] 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 [pg 363] 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 [pg 364] 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 [pg 365] 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, [pg 366] the emblem of permanent repose, the Assyrian monarchs also used the chariot as a royal prerogative.