and forming a cruciform figure, which, by the way, it is interesting to
compare with the Mexican Calendar stone and its four rays. Each of the
spaces between these pointed rays is filled by a group of wavy lines which
appears to simulate some fluid flowing from the centre, which is formed by
a series of concentric circles. The quadruplicate peculiar partition of
the disk assumes special importance when it is realized that, in the niche
above the head of Shamash, a miniature production of the _disk recurs
between the familiar conventional images of the moon and a disk containing
eight rays or spokes_. According to Dr. Felix von Luschan (Mitth. aus der
vorderasiat. Abth. der Kgl. Museen, Heft XI, p. 24), the inscription opens
with the invocation to "ilu Sin, ilu Shamash u ilu Ishtar," a fact of
double interest, because Ishtar is termed the "twin-sister of Shamash" in
an Assyrian hymn, and because the inscription obviously identifies the
moon as the symbol of Sin, the four-spoked wheel as that of Shamash and
the eight-spoked wheel as that of Ishtar. As the king, in his inscriptions
expressly states that he has restored on the tablet the image of Shamash
according to an ancient model, for the guidance of future artists, it is
evident that departures from the original cult of Shamash had taken place
in his time and that he was making an attempt to reestablish it. The
extreme antiquity of the cult of Shamash may, indeed, be inferred from the
fact that about B.C. 1850, the king, Shamsi-ramann, bore the god's name as
a divine title. About B.C. 1350, moreover, a temple was built to Shamash
in Ashur.

I shall treat, further on, of the evidences showing that the cult of
Polaris gradually became a secret one known to the initiated only, while
popular worship was directed to the sun, moon, and morning and evening
stars, etc. Meanwhile the following passages from Professor Jastrow's
hand-book will elucidate the Babylonian Assyrian cult of the Four
Quarters.

"The zikkurat was quadrangular in shape. The orientation of the four
corners towards the four cardinal points was approximate. Inasmuch as the
rulers of Babylon from a very early period call themselves 'king of the
four regions,' it has been supposed that the quadrangular shape was chosen
designedly."... "The title 'king of the four regions' was an old one that
pertained to the kings of Agade.... The city of Arbela, at one time the
seat of the cult of Ishtar, was named 'the four-