e.... Yahwe is assigned the role
of Bel-Marduk, the division of the work of creation into six days is
definitely made and some further modifications introduced ..."
(Jastrow, _op. cit._ pp. 452-453).

102 Dr. von Luschan (_op. cit._ p. 22) translates this cuneiform sign,
which exists in Babylonian and Assyrian forms, as "Siebeneinigkeit"
and emphasizes the fact that it is employed in the singular form.
The inference that it may designate not only the Pleiades but more
probably Ursa Major corroborates the view that the mystic number
seven impressed itself upon the human mind by its association with
the Septentriones.

103 The fact that the mountain was the symbol of the centre of the earth
and of Bel, throws light upon the meaning of the clay cones which
were "very common votive objects in Babylonia especially in the
earlier periods." They would have been appropriately used in the
cult of Baal, the personification of the male principle, and are
indeed usually represented as offered by male worshippers. That the
cones in some cases represented the conical bunch of the male
blossom of the palm tree may also be conjectured.

104 An interesting complement to this is furnished by the texts of
oracular messages sent by the goddess Ishtar to King Ashurbanapal
who seems to have been a fervent disciple of the theological school
of Arbela. On one occasion, when the king's army was in a
predicament, Ishtar appears at night and declares: "I walk in front
of Ashurbanapal, the king, who is the creation of my hands." On
another occasion the oracle-giving medium reports to the king:
"Ishtar, dwelling in Arbela, came with quivers hung on her right and
left sides with a bow in her hand and girded with a pointed
unsheathed sword. Before thee [_i. e._ the king] she stood and like
the mother that bore thee [with maternal kindness] Ishtar, supreme
among the gods, addressed thee commanding: 'Be encouraged
[literally, look up] for the fray. Wherever thou art, I am.' " The
images of Ashur aiming his arrow and Ishtar with an unsheathed
pointed sword recall the biblical description of the flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (Genesis
III).

105 It is interesting to trace to the same origin the "quadriga" which