Genesis and Semitic tradition . late Hon. S. Wells Williams. It represents, to quoteDr. Wards detailed explanation, a fleeing serpent, withits head turned back toward a deity, who is swiftly pur-suing it, and who smites it with a weapon. The otherfigures in the seal have no relation to the pursuit of theserpent by the god. They are put in by the engraversimply to fill up the space, although all separately sig-nificant, no doubt. The small kneeling figure probablyrepresents the owner of the seal. The two other figuresbehind the god represent no recognizable deities, andmay be meant for priests.
Genesis and Semitic tradition . late Hon. S. Wells Williams. It represents, to quoteDr. Wards detailed explanation, a fleeing serpent, withits head turned back toward a deity, who is swiftly pur-suing it, and who smites it with a weapon. The otherfigures in the seal have no relation to the pursuit of theserpent by the god. They are put in by the engraversimply to fill up the space, although all separately sig-nificant, no doubt. The small kneeling figure probablyrepresents the owner of the seal. The two other figuresbehind the god represent no recognizable deities, andmay be meant for priests. Filling up the smaller spacesare the female emblem /ere/?, six planets, or perhapsstars of the Pleiades, and two smaller branches, which itwould be hazardous to regard as representing the twotrees of the garden of Eden (Bibliotheca Sacra, 1881,p. 224).. THE SERPENT OF THE TEMPTATION 71 To understand the significance of this seal, it mustbo compared with others. For this purpose Dr. Wardselects a cylinder made familiarby George Smith. It will beBeen, says Dr. Ward, that thisis very much like Dr. Williamscylinder. The dragon, whichcorresponds with the serpent iu the latter, is in the attitude of retreat, and turns its headback toward its pursuer, who is running rapidly and who>1 n:ots it with an arrow. The figure of the priest is thesame (reversed), and of the kneeling owner, as also therepresentation of the minor accessories, the stars andthe /creis, although the winged circle, emblem of the su-preme power, replaces the crescent of the is also a figure of a winged monster representedunder the feet of Bel, for which there was not room onDr. Williams cylinder, but where an indistinct line ortwo indicates that it was in the mind of the was very likely an attendant of the Dragon, or possi-bly of Bel. . We
Size: 2107px × 1186px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishern, booksubjectbible
