June3] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY. [1890.
significancemaybe. Theimportanceof the palm-tree in the Meso-
potamianregionis measured by trie fact thateven in modern ages
a failure of the date-crop amountsto a famine. Kaempfermentions
the Turks beingturnedbackfroman expedition againstBassoraby
the threat of cutting downthe male palmsin the invaded district,so
as to leave the soldiers withoutsupplies; but this step, calamitousto
the population, beingdelayedin execution, the invasion was accom
plished.* Thusit is no wonder thatthe Assyrian wingedbeingswho
carry in their hands the fertilizing cones, should occupyso con
spicuousa place beforethe eyes of the nation on the palace-walls of
Nineveh. Theirhighdivinerankis shown by their prominenceand
theirassociationwith the sun. But any confident suggestionas to
theirnames,or even the decision whether theyrepresent the fer
tilizingwinds,or national deitieswhosefertilizinginfluencecomprised
or was typified by the process of fecundating the date-palm, must
be left to be settled by other evidencethanthatwhichI can deal
withhere.
It has to be remembered, however, thatthere appears on the
Assyrianmonumentsanotherquasi-humanfigurecarryingthe palm-
cone(Plate I, fig. 3). Thisis the deity clothedin the skin of the
fish, or with a fish-tail, whom Prof. Sayce identifies with Ea or
Oannes.t At first sight the marine nature of this beingseems
incongruouswiththe cultivation of the date-palm, but the record of
the Chaldean historian Berossosoffersa solution of the difficulty.
Thedescriptionof Oannes, whoappearedon the Erythnean sea-
coastof Babylonia, and of whom a representation waspreserved in
the historian's time,amountsto identification withthe figure on the
monuments. His body was that of a fish, withanotherheadunder
the fish's head,and humanfeetjoinedto the fish's tail. Nowto
this Oanneswere attributed the originsof Babylonian civilization,
and among otherarts he made them distinguish the seeds,and
showed them howto collect the fruits. In his hands, therefore,
the cone andbucketmaybe the symbols of a god of agriculture.
Passing from the significanceof the winged beings in the
religion and art of Assyria itself, we come to their world-wide
influence amongother nations whoadopted them,probably with
littleexactpreservationof their original meaning. Thussince the
* Kaempfer, p. 706.
t Sayce, " Religion of Ancient Babylonians,"p. 131.
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