f victory, as the god of justice, as the terror of evil
doers and the protector of the just. The great god of the Assyrians was, of
course, the god of battles, the director of armies, and in that capacity,
the spouse of Istar, who was no less warlike than himself. His name was
often used, in the plural, to signify the gods in general, as that of Istar
was used for the goddesses. No myth has come down to us in which he plays
the principal part, a fact which is to be accounted for by his
comparatively late arrival at a position of abstract supremacy.[111]

In the Babylon of the second Chaldee empire there was, it would seem, a
double embodiment of the divine superiority, in Merodach, the warrior god,
the god of royalty, and Nebo the god of science and inspiration. In Chaldaea
the power of the priests and learned men did not yield before that of the
monarch. And yet a certain latent and instinctive monotheism may be traced
in its complex religion. There were, indeed, many gods, but one was raised
above all the others, and, whether they turned to Merodach or Nebo, the
kings loved to style themselves the worshippers of the "Lord of Lords,"
_Bel Beli_.[112]

Like Assur at Nineveh, this supreme deity was sometimes called, by
abbreviation, _Ilou_, or god, a term which was employed, with slight
variants, by every nation speaking a Semitic tongue.[113]

But in spite of their aspirations and the august _role_ assigned to their
Merodach, their Nebo, and their Assur, Chaldaea and Assyria succeeded no
better than Egypt in giving a fit embodiment to the sovereign moderator of
the universe, to the king and common parent of gods and men. Their art was
without the skill and power required for the creation of an image which
should be worthy of the mental idea. Neither the temples of Nineveh nor
those of Babylon had an Olympian Jove.

Assur came nearer to the acquisition of a supreme and unique godhead than
any of his rivals, but we do not know with any certainty what features were
his in plastic representations. Some have recognized him in a group which
often occurs on the historic bas-reliefs and cylinders, here floating over
a field of battle, there introduced into some scene of adoration. You are
at once struck by the similarity of the group in question to one of the
commonest of Egyptian symbols--the winged globe on the cornice of almost
every temple in the Nile valley. Long before they had penetrated as
conquerors to Thebes and Mem