snakes, fit emblems of the poisonous
and "death-dealing" Evil One.

Some further representations of Ormazd occur in the Sassanian
sculptures; but Ahriman seems not to be portrayed elsewhere. Ormazd
appears on foot in a relief of the Great Arta-xerxes, which contains two
figures only, those of himself and his divine patron. He is also to be
seen in a sculpture which belongs probably to Sapor I., and represents
that monarch in the act of receiving the diadem from Artaxerxes, his
father. In the former of these two tablets the type exhibited in the
bas-relief just described is followed without any variation; in the
latter, the type is considerably modified. Ormazd still carries his huge
baton, and is attired in royal fashion; but otherwise his appearance is
altogether new and singular. His head bears no crown, but is surrounded
by a halo of streaming rays; he has not much beard, but his hair, bushy
and abundant, flows down on his two shoulders; he faces the spectator,
and holds his baton in both his hands; finally, he stands upon a
blossom, which is thought to be that of a sim-flower. Perhaps the
conjecture is allowable that here we have Ormazd exhibited to us in a
solar character, with the attributes of Mithra, from whom, in the olden
time, he was carefully distinguished.

Ormazd seems to have been regarded by the kings as their special
guardian and protector. No other deity (unless in one instance) is
brought into close proximity with them; no other obtains mention in
their inscriptions; from no other do they allow that they receive the
blessing of offspring. Whatever the religion of the common people, that
of the kings would seem to have been, in the main, the worship of this
god, whom they perhaps sometimes confused with Mithra, or associated
with Anaitis, but whom they never neglected, or failed openly to
acknowledge.

Under the great Ormazd were a number of subordinate deities, the
principal of whom were Mithra and Serosh, Mithra, the Sun-God, had been
from a very early date an object of adoration in Persia, only second
to Ormazd. The Achaemenian kings joined him occasionally with Ormazd
in their invocations. In processions his chariot, drawn by milk-white
horses, followed closely on that of Ormazd. He was often associated
with Ormazd, as if an equal, though a real equality was probably not
intended. He was "great," "pure," "imperishable," "the beneficent
protector of all creatures," and "the beneficent preserver o