Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/107

Rh The Assyrians appropriated the emblem in question, sometimes with hardly a modification upon its Egyptian form (Fig. 18), but more often with an alteration of some significance. In the centre of the symbol and between the outspread wings, appears a ring,

FIG. 18. The winged globe ; from Layard.

and, within it, the figure of a man draped in flowing robes and covered with a tiara. He is upright, in some cases his right hand is raised as if in prayer, while his left grasps a strong bow (Fig. 19) ; in others he is stretching his bow and about to launch a triple- headed arrow, which can be nothing but a thunderbolt.

Fig. 19. The winged globe with human figure; from Layard.

The meaning attached to this plastic group by the Assyrians is made clear to us by the important place it held in the religious imagery of the Aryans of Media and Persia. These people, the last born of the ancient Asiatic world, borrowed nearly the whole of