June3] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCH.EOLOGY. [1890.name, and not only wasthe conventional sacredtree of Assyria
depictedbesideit, but this was understood to be the date-palm. The
typesfromwhichthe visionary livingcreaturesmodelledthemselves
in the prophet's mindin his vision on the banks of the river Chebar,
standthusalmostcompletelyopento the modern student.*
As an example of the transplanting of Assyrian types,PlateIV,
fig. 17, represents a group fromPersepolisillustratingthosecombina
tionsof winged animalswith treesand othersacredobjectswhich
are commonlyengravedon cylinders, etc. It is hard to guesswhether
theycontinueto embody somereligiousconception,or have passed
intothe merely decorativestage,but there is still evident in them a
consciousnessof meaning whichmakestheirdetailsinstructive. In
the present figure, the drawing of the palm-tree is important, for
aboveits almost naturalisticshaftthe head of the palm standsup as
a half-rosette. Thecomparisonof these withthe complete rosettes
in the figure, makes it probable that the latter wereintended as
representingthe head of the palm seenfromaboveor below. Such
rosettesare known in Assyrian ornamentaccompanyingcones,leaves,
and fan-headsof the palm (see Layard,"Monuments," 1st series,
pi. 34-38), and it seems a reasonable explanationthat,the wheel-like
objectsto which winged deities are presenting the cone in the
enamelledarchivoltat Khorsabad maybe the palm-trees. In Plate
III,fig. 16, I give a sketch of a group fromthisremarkableseries,
which strikingly recalls the alternate cherubim and wheels of
Ezekiel'svision. In Plate IV, fig. 18, is part of the decoration of
the Francois Vaseat Florence, whichshowsgroupsof the nature
of that of Persepolis travellingintoGreekart, the tree beforewhich
the griffins stand beingthe well-marked conventional palm-group
of the Assyrian monuments. In more degenerateformsthe art-
studentmaytracethe influence of such groupsin the ornamentation
of the Renaissance, as in the Loggie of the Vatican.
It is needless for me to bring forwardevidencehereon a topic
now becoming acknowledged in classical archaeology, that the
Assyrianwingeddeitieswhosenatureandfunctionshavebeenhere
remarked upon are the predecessors of the winged genii whose
gracefulformspervadeGreek,Etruscan,and Romanart. In later
times,whenChristianitybecamean imperial religion,the Victories
andCupidsandguardian geniiof pagan Romewithslightchange* Ezck. x, xl; I Kings, vi, vii; 2 Chron. iii.'>
392