Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden ; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.

They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Isa. xlvi. 1–7.

The Apocryphal epistle of Jeremy, which, though not of canonical authority, is yet of undoubted antiquity, (See 2 Maccab. ii. 2,) contains many interesting particulars concerning the gods which, in his day, were worshipped at Babylon. Among these the practice represented in this bas-relief is mentioned. "Now shall ye see in Babylon gods of silver, and of gold, and of wood, borne upon shoulders, which cause the nations to fear. . . They are borne upon shoulders, having no feet, whereby they declare unto men that they be nothing worth." (Baruch vi. 4, 26.)

In this procession four idols are represented, each carried on the shoulders of four men; we do not, however, see the whole, for the scene is but a fragment; the foremost quaternion was preceded by one at least, (how many more we know not), for the two hinder porters, and the extremity of the platform which they carry, are seen at the edge of the slab. The first then that appears is a female clothed in a long robe, of a pattern somewhat like our plaids, the hair flowing down on the shoulders in two masses of curls; she wears a square mitre, embraced by three pairs of horns, and crowned above with a

star or sun. She is seated in a straight high-backed chair, sidewise to the spectator, but with the face turned towards us in full. In her right hand is a fan, and in her left a thick ring.

The second figure is also a female, almost exactly identical with her predecessor. She is, however, in profile; her square mitre has only one horn on each side, and the fan in the right hand is replaced by an object not very clear, but resembling a massive oval ring.

The third idol is not more than half-size, a standing figure, at the front of a box or shrine, slightly projecting at the top, and reminding one of the box often used to shelter a clergyman while performing the burial service in bad weather. This box is placed on a high chair, the back of which is surmounted by a ball. The idol is only partially exposed, but it is beardless, and therefore female; appears to have a round cap, destitute of horns; is clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and bears in the left hand a ring, in the right an uncertain object. There are trifling variations of form in the chairs or thrones of all these three.

The fourth is a male figure in the act of walking; he is clothed in a tunic of similar pattern, reaching to the knees, his arms and legs bare; like the goddesses, he is girt with a broad girdle. His head is uncovered, his hair and beard copious, and curled in the usual manner; two pairs of horns, of bovine form, spring from his head, and project in a double curve, before and behind. His right hand wields an axe, his left grasps, by the middle, three waved

beams, representing, in the manner afterwards familiar in the Greek and Roman representations of Jove, the lightnings or thunderbolts.

These figures agree very nearly with the deities which Diodorus tells us were worshipped in the great temple at Babylon, and whom he names Belus, Aera, and Rhae. The first of these was in a walking posture, the second standing; the third, seated in a chair of gold. We may suppose one of the females to have been Mylitta, Beltis, or Astarte, but which of them, and who are represented by the other two we cannot determine. It is possible, that, in the later times of the empire, the attributes, and even the names, formerly united in one divinity, may have come to be assigned to separate deities, and that these appellations Beltis, Mylitta, and Astarte, may, at one time, have been synonymous, and at another, distinct.

There is a remarkable representation, not uncommon on the monuments, even of the early period, which appears to symbolise the supreme Deity. It is a circle furnished with the expanded wings of a bird, within which is placed a human figure, crowned with the sacred or bull-horned cap, but merging from the waist downward into the spread tail of a bird. This seems the only object to which the act of worship is represented. "The king is generally standing or kneeling beneath this figure in the circle, his hand raised in sign of prayer or adoration. . . . The same symbol is also seen above him when in battle, and during his triumphal return. It is never represented above any person of inferior rank, but

appears to watch especially over the monarch, who was probably typical of the nation. When over the king in battle, it shoots against the enemies of the Assyrians an arrow, which has a head in the shape of a trident. If it presides over a triumph, its action resembles that of the king, the right hand being elevated, and the left holding the unbent bow; if over a religious ceremony, it carries a ring, or raises the extended right hand."* Sometimes the human bust is not seen, the circle furnished with wings and tail, or with wings alone, seeming to be substituted for the more complete form.

FEROHERS.

Symbols, more or less closely resembling these, are common, not only on Chaldaic monuments, but also on those of Persia, of the Achæmenian dynasty, and even on those of Old Egypt. Mr. Vaux states that the figures represent on the Persian sculptures the beings called Ferohers, tutelary spirits or angels; the supposed prototypes or representatives of every reasonable being that was destined to appear upon the earth. It is remarkable that spiritual beings of high power and authority seem spoken of in the Book of Daniel, as having peculiar guardianship, either for good or evil, over nations; but the very limited exLayard's Nineveh and its Remains, ii. 447.

tent of our acquaintance with the angelic world, precludes almost any attempt to explain passages so enigmatical. It is the part of humble faith to receive the revelations of the Spirit of God, whether we can explain them or not.*

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.

Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. Dan. x. 13, 20, 21; xi. 1; xii. 1.

The notion of guardian deities seems to have been familiar to the Assyrians long before the rise of the Persian monarchy, as we have seen in Col. Rawlinson's readings of the inscriptions. Assarac or Asshur was the tutelary of Assyria; it is therefore no wonder that Assyrian worshippers should assign to him the chief place in the national honour, and even address him as the principal of the gods; and thus the characters, which at first seem inconsistent, of supreme deity, and Feroher or guardian angel, might easily be united in him who was figured under the symbol of the god of the winged circle.

There is, however, another object commonly present in scenes representing religious homage; and

I would refer the reader to some interesting observations on this subject in an article entitled "The Ministry of Angels," in Kitto's Journal of Sacred Literature for January, 1852, pp. 296, 297.