is easy to trace the origin of
the offering of burnt sacrifices to the idea that, cast into the sacred
fire, they became purified and absorbed into its essence, _i. e._ accepted
by the sacred living image of the central star-god. It seems extremely
probable that the primitive employment of a fire-stick by the priesthood,
for the production of "celestial fire," may have played an important role
in causing the stick, and thence the pole and tree, to have become the
adopted symbol of Anu. So little is known even about the origin of
"tree-worship" itself in ancient Babylonia-Assyria that Professor Jastrow
advances the following statement (p. 689).

"On the seal cylinders there is frequently represented a pole or a
conventionalized form of a tree, generally in connection with a design
illustrating the worship of a deity. This symbol is clearly a survival of
some tree worship that was once popular. The comparison with the _ashera_
and pole worship among Phoenicians and Hebrews is fully justified and is a
proof of the great antiquity of the symbols which, without becoming a
formal part of the later cult, retained in some measure a hold upon the
popular mind.

" 'Ashur' became the god of Assyria as the rulers of the city of Ashur
grew in power ... in the various changes of official residences that took
place in the course of Assyrian history ... the god took part and his
central seat of worship depended upon the place that the kings chose for
their official residence ... there was always one place--the official
residence--which formed the central spot of worship. There the god was
supposed to dwell for the time being. One factor, perhaps, that ought to
be taken into consideration, in accounting for this movable disposition of
the god was that he was not symbolized exclusively by a statue.... His
chief symbol was a standard that could be carried from place to place....
The standard consisted of _a pole_ surrounded by a disk enclosed within
two wings, while above the disk stood the figure of a warrior in the act
of shooting an arrow (_cf._ fig. 65, 5).... The standard ... which was so
made that it could be carried into the thick of the fray in order to
assure the army of the god's presence(104) ... followed the camp
everywhere and when the kings chose to fix upon a new place for their
military encampment ... the standard would repose in the place selected"
(Jastrow, _op. cit._ p. 194). To one who like myself has devoted years to