st place as a god of
fertility, his other attributes are at once included. A god of
fertility is a corn god and a water god. The river as a river was a
"creator" (p. 29), and Ashur was therefore closely associated with the
"watery place", with the canals or "rivers running round about his
plants". The rippling water-rays, or fertilizing tears, appear on the
solar discs. As a corn god, he was a god of war. Tammuz's first act
was to slay the demons of winter and storm, as Indra's in India was to
slay the demons of drought, and Thor's in Scandinavia was to
exterminate the frost giants. The corn god had to be fed with human
sacrifices, and the people therefore waged war against foreigners to
obtain victims. As the god made a contract with his people, he was a
deity of commerce; he provided them with food and they in turn fed him
with offerings.

In Ezekiel's comparison of Assyria to a mighty tree, there is no doubt
a mythological reference. The Hebrew prophets invariably utilized for
their poetic imagery the characteristic beliefs of the peoples to whom
they made direct reference. The "owls", "satyrs", and "dragons" of
Babylon, mentioned by Isaiah, were taken from Babylonian mythology, as
has been indicated. When, therefore, Assyria is compared to a cedar,
which is greater than fir or chestnut, and it is stated that there are
nesting birds in the branches, and under them reproducing beasts of
the field, and that the greatness of the tree is due to "the multitude
of waters", the conclusion is suggested that Assyrian religion, which
Ashur's symbols reflect, included the worship of trees, birds, beasts,
and water. The symbol of the Assyrian tree--probably the "world tree"
of its religion--appears to be "the rod of mine anger ... the staff in
their hand"; that is, the battle standard which was a symbol of Ashur.
Tammuz and Osiris were tree gods as well as corn gods.

Now, as Ashur was evidently a complex deity, it is futile to attempt
to read his symbols without giving consideration to the remnants of
Assyrian mythology which are found in the ruins of the ancient cities.
These either reflect the attributes of Ashur, or constitute the
material from which he evolved.

As Layard pointed out many years ago, the Assyrians had a sacred tree
which became conventionalized. It was "an elegant device, in which
curved branches, springing from a kind of scroll work, terminated in
flowers of graceful form. As one of the figures last desc