Feb.4] PROCEEDINGS. [1890.'garden,'and giisur — As. nuru, 'light,'Gis-gan-gusurmightbe read
"The-Tree-of-the-Garden-of-Light." This radiant Tree is further
described as being the ' weapon ' (power) of the gods Ea and
Merodax,and the mulmulla * is one of the weapons of Merodax in
his fight withthe Dragon. TheTreeis placed " in the midst of the
abyss,"andit is impossible to avoid comparingit with the "Tree-of-
life"placed"in the midst" of the Biblical Gan-Eden. Without
any intention of trenching upon other meaningsand beliefswhich
may be connected withthe subject, I may observethat" the Garden
of God," whateverelse the expression signifies, is the star-lighted
splendourof space, the calm abodeof "the movinggemsof night,"
as Aratos callsthem. It has some centralpoint,the heart of the
universe, the special abodeof life, whether,as has been thought,
hardby Alycone, or whether, as seems heresuggested, in Scorpio,
typeof primaeval darkness anda starting-point and foundation;\
for the stars which form the " Tree-of-light" are evidently those
which Ptolemycalls " the three bright onesin the face " (of the
Scorpion),/3, B, and ir Scorpionis, whichare fixed in line, andmight
well represent the trunk of a tree or the stem of a plant. The
ideograph"-fy^, Ak. zi, As. napistu, 'life,'"originallyrepresented
a flower growingup with open leaves";J and the mystic Flower,
Plant,or Tree of Life, of which thereare so many representations
on the monuments, reappearsin many mythologicalsystems. We
find it in the Aryan Soma-Haoma,the Irminsul, the Winged Oakof
Pherekydes, the Tree in which Europa (= Ereb, "the West")
appears on Kretan coins, and the Norse Yggdrasil. The very
similar ideograph "-J!-^, Ak. gi, "a reed," shows in the linear
Babylonianform,a good representationof the gigantic reedof that
country; and this plant had a mystic significance,for an Incantation
reads:—
" The huge reedof gold, the pure reedof the marsh,
Thepuredishof the gods,
Thereedof the double white[divining]cup which
determinesfavour."§Thethree stars/9, <5, and it Scorpionis form the 17thArabian
moon-station,calledEl Iklil, "theCrown"
* Vide sup.,p. 184. t Vide Proceedings,Feb.,1889,p. 145.
J Prof. Sayce,in Transactions, VI, p. 473.
§ W.A.I. IV, 5, 6, Col. V, lines 37-9,ap. Sayce.
197