of darkness.  This figure commonly bears in the right hand either a pomegranate or a pine-cone, while the left is either free or else supports a sort of plaited bag or basket. [PLATE CXLII., Fig. 6.] Where the pine-cone is carried, it is invariably pointed towards the monarch, as if it were the means of communication between the protector and the protected, the instrument by which grace and power passed from the genius to the mortal whom he had undertaken to guard.  Why the pine-cone was chosen for this purpose it is difficult to form a conjecture.  Perhaps it had originally become a sacred emblem merely as a symbol of productiveness after which it was made to subserve a further purpose, without much regard to its old symbolical meaning.

The sacred basket, held in the left hand, is of still more dubious interpretation.  It is an object of great elegance, always elaborately and sometimes very tastefully ornamented.  Possibly it may represent the receptacle in which the divine gifts are stored, and from which they can be taken by the genius at his discretion, to be bestowed upon the mortal under his care.

Another good genius would seem to be represented by the hawk-headed figure, which is likewise found in attendance upon the monarch, attentively watching his proceedings.  This figure has been called that of a god, and has been supposed to represent the Nisroch of Holy Scripture; but the only ground for such an identification is the conjectural derivation of Nisroch from a root nisr, which in some Semitic languages signifies a “hawk” or “falcon.”  As nisr, however, has not been found with any such meaning in Assyrian, and as the word “Nisroch” nowhere appears in the Inscriptions, it must be regarded as in the highest degree doubtful whether there is any real connection between the hawk-headed figure and the god in whose temple Sennacherib was assassinated. [PLATE CXLII., Fig. 5.] The various readings of the Septuagint version make it extremely uncertain what was the name actually written in the original Hebrew text.  Nisroch, which is utterly unlike any divine name hitherto found in the Assyrian records, is most probable a corruption.  At any rate there are no sufficient grounds for identifying the god mentioned, whatever the true reading of his name may be, with the hawk-headed figure, which has the appearance of an attendant genius rather than that of a god, and which was certainly not included among the main deities of Assyria.

[Illustration:  PLATE 143]

Representations of evil genii are comparatively infrequent; but we can scarcely be mistaken in regarding as either an evil genius, or a representation of the evil principle, the monster—­half lion, half eagle—­which in the Nimrud sculptures retreats from the attacks of a god, probably Vul, who assails him with thunderbolts. [PLATE CXLIII., Fig.  I.] Again, in the case of certain grotesque statuettes found at Khorsabad, one of which has already been represented, where a human