Feb.4] PROCEEDINGS. [1890.the principle of kosmic harmony is grasped, the Scorpion which
slew the Sun, becomes its guardian ;* Darkness receivesthe Sun
into its care, and safelyreproducesthe solar Circle,Egg,or Lamp.
Similarly,in the Egyptian religious-mythologythe Scorpion is styled
" the Daughter [i.e.,mythologicallyspeaking,the ' Successor '] of the
Sun."| TheStarAntaresis, moreover, identifiedwithLugal-tudda,J
patrondivinityof Marad nearSippara,andregardedby the Semites
as their Zu (= 1. "Stormy-wind," and 2. a kind of vulture), whom
ancient legends showas hostile to the other gods,andas stealing
"thetabletsof destiny," the god of the lightning and giver of fire to
man ; and it is interesting to find that the ideograph »-fc=|yy,gir,
pictoriallyrepresenting'blade,''sting,'or "pointed tail,"means"to
strike,"'scorpion,''plough,'and'lightning.' As the Ak. tab is "to
seize," Girtab ("the Scorpion") is " the-Seizer-and-stinger," "the
torment of a scorpion, whenhe striketh a man," beingcompared
with the burning of lightning. Cor Scorpionisformsthe 18th Arabian
moon-station,calledEl Kalb ("theHeart").
Line 28, Star No. XXIV.
tBf £^< 1 s£ y ^4T g=
Kakkab Nitax-bat | pa - gar a - sig
The-StarMan-of-death; | the corpse, the fever.%
Thisgroupwill be e Serpentarii ( Yad, " the Hand ") and f Serpen-
tarii. In modern astrology,whichcontainssomesingularsurvivals,
the Hand of Ophiuchus is said to be a star "evilin influence."
Representations of serpent-holding divinitiesare common on the
monuments.|| In W.A.I. IV, 3, Col. I, 1, we read (ap. Sayce):—
"Thediseaseof the head coils(likea serpent) in the desert." The
Man-of-deathwouldseemto be " Ophiuchus huge,"whostandson
the Scorpion andholdsthe Snake.
Line 29, Star No. XXV.
Kakkab Tsir | Tlu Nin - ki - gal
The-Starof-the-Snake. \ The-goddess Queen-of-t/ie-Greal-Region.
VideLajard,Cultedc Mithra, PI. LIV, C, Fig. 13, which showsa Scorpion
on eachside of the leonine Sun.
t t'unertal Ritual,Cap.LXXXVI. X Vide sup.,p. 194.
§ For the rendering of the latter part of this line I am indebted to Mr. Berlin.
11 Vide R. B. Jr., The HeavenlyDisplay,p. 85.
199