Feb.4] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1S90.
Line 27, Star No. XXIII.
tB TO t^ I
Kakkab Masu(?) sar |
The-Starthe-Hero, the king \
-Ml zft? V t^f ^ 4^fc "EH
Bilu sa ziri (ina) arakhTasritu I). P. Lugal - tud - da
The-lordof seed ; (in) the-month Tisri the Lusty-king.
Thereadingof ^"eTi an almost uniqueform,is very doubtful;
but there is no uncertainty as to the Xing-star, whichis, in the
wordsof Ptolemy, "the centreoneof the three brightonesin the
body [of the Scorpion], a reddish-yellow, called Equal-to-Ares"
(WvTaiirj-i), Marsbeing "the red planet." It is named Sar, Ak.
Lugal, "the King," and,similarly,Ul Saru, " the-Luminary-of-the-
King,"is one of the titles of Mars. Thisstar, CorScorpionis,is
describedby way of explanation as " the lord of seed " in connexion
with" the month Tisri,"the 7th month, September-October. Now
the original Sign of the seventh month, as I have elsewhereen
deavouredto show, was the Altar; andin art the Signs of the
seventhandeighthmonthswereat times representedby a Scorpion
withits claws (afterwardsthe Sign X»/W)graspinga circlef (circular
Altar),originallythe solar circle. A variant phaseof the Scorpion is
the zodiacal Cancer,the Crab, the Sign of the fourth month,which
is called Su Kulna, " the-Seizer-of-seed." Theoriginalgoldenseed
of heaven is the Sun, which,as in various mythologies,is seized and
swallowedup by the Darkness, symbolizedin monstrous anddra-
konticform. Thisis the primary meaning,andit is in the month
Tisri thatthe waning autumn Sunbeginsto succumb to his foes.
Theremayor may not be also a secondary referenceto agricultural
operations, but these do not form the basis of archaic symbolism,
inasmuch as man's observation of nature preceded any regular
agriculturalcourse. Thereader mayrememberin this connexion
the gigantic bicorporealScorpion-coupleof sun-guarders, encountered
by the hero Gisdhubar; andon the Stone of Nebuchadnezzar I. the
Scorpion stretchesout its Claws towards the solar Lamp.\ When
- Vide R. B., Jr., TheLawof Kosmic Order, Sees, xiii, xvi,xviij The
HeavenlyDisplay,p. 65.
- Vide Lajard,Cultede Milhra, PI. XLV, Fig.14.
J Vide R. B., Jr., The Heavenly Display,Fig.77, p. 84.
198