of is fire and much wood:
the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle
it."[400] When Nineveh was about to fall, and with it the Assyrian
Empire, the legendary king, Sardanapalus, who was reputed to have
founded Tarsus, burned himself, with his wives, concubines, and
eunuchs, on a pyre in his palace. Zimri, who reigned over Israel for
seven days, "burnt the king's house over him with fire"[401]. Saul,
another fallen king, was burned after death, and his bones were buried
"under the oak in Jabesh".[402] In Europe the oak was associated with
gods of fertility and lightning, including Jupiter and Thor. The
ceremony of burning Saul is of special interest. Asa, the orthodox
king of Judah, was, after death, "laid in the bed which was filled
with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the
apothecaries' art: and they made a very great burning for him" (_2
Chronicles_, xvi, 14). Jehoram, the heretic king of Judah, who "walked
in the way of the kings of Israel", died of "an incurable disease. And
his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers"
(_2 Chronicles_, xxi, 18, 19).

The conclusion suggested by the comparative study of the beliefs of
neighbouring peoples, and the evidence afforded by Assyrian
sculptures, is that Ashur was a highly developed form of the god of
fertility, who was sustained, or aided in his conflicts with demons,
by the fires and sacrifices of his worshippers.

It is possible to read too much into his symbols. These are not more
complicated and vague than are the symbols on the standing stones of
Scotland--the crescent with the "broken" arrow; the trident with the
double rings, or wheels, connected by two crescents; the circle with
the dot in its centre; the triangle with the dot; the large disk with
two small rings on either side crossed by double straight lines; the
so-called "mirror", and so on. Highly developed symbolism may not
indicate a process of spiritualization so much, perhaps, as the
persistence of magical beliefs and practices. There is really no
direct evidence to support the theory that the Assyrian winged disk,
or disk "with protruding rays", was of more spiritual character than
the wheel which encloses the feather-robed archer with his
trident-shaped arrow.

The various symbols may have represented phases of the god. When the
spring fires were lit, and the god "renewed his life like the eagle",
his symbol was possibly the solar wheel or