[189] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, T.G.  Pinches, pp. 118, 119.

[190] It is suggested that Arthur is derived from the Celtic word for “bear”.  If so, the bear may have been the “totem” of the Arthur tribe represented by the Scottish clan of MacArthurs.

[191] See “Lady in the Straw” beliefs in Brand’s Popular Antiquities, vol. ii, 66 et seq. 1899 ed.).

[192] Like the Etana “mother eagle” Garuda was a slayer of serpents (Chapter III).

[193] Vana Parva section of the Mahabharata (Roy’s trans.), p. 818 et seq., and Indian Myth and Legend, p. 413.

[194] The Koran (with notes from approved commentators), trans. by George Sale, P-246, n.

[195] The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, E. Wallis Budge (London, 1896), pp. 277-8, 474-5.

[196] Campbell’s West Highland Tales, vol. iii, pp. 251-4 (1892 ed.).

[197] Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, p. 141.

[198] Adi Parva section of the Mahabharata (Hymn to Garuda), Roy’s trans., p. 88, 89.

[199] Herodian, iv, 2.

[200] The image made by Nebuchadnezzar is of interest in this connection.  He decreed that “whoso falleth not down and worshippeth” should be burned in the “fiery furnace”.  The Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, were accordingly thrown into the fire, but were delivered by God. Daniel, iii, 1-30.

[201] The Assyrian and Phoenician Hercules is discussed by Raoul Rochette in Memoires de l’Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (Paris, 1848), pp. 178 et seq.

[202] G. Sale’s Koran, p. 246, n.

[203] In the Eddic poem “Lokasenna” the god Byggvir (Barley) is addressed by Loki, “Silence, Barleycorn!” The Elder Edda, translation by Olive Bray, pp. 262, 263.

[204] De Nat.  Animal., xii, 21, ed.  Didot, p. 210, quoted by Professor Budge in The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, p. 278, n.

[205] Isaiah, lvii, 4 and 5.

[206] The Golden Bough (Adonis, Attis, Osiris vol.), “The Gardens of Adonis”, pp. 194 et seq. (3rd ed.).

[207] Daniel, iv, 33.  It is possible that Nebuchadnezzar, as the human representative of the god of corn and fertility, imitated the god by living a time in the wilds like Ea-bani.

[208] Pronounce ch guttural.

[209] On a cylinder seal the heroes each wrestle with a bull.

[210] Alexander the Great in the course of his mythical travels reached a mountain at the world-end.  “Its peak reached to the first heaven and its base to the seventh earth.”—­Budge.

[211] Jastrow’s trans., Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 374.

[212] Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (1912), J.H.  Breasted, pp. 183-5.