There is a Hindoo legend which relates that Sevah had an encounter with a tiger, "whose mouth expanded like a cave, and whose voice resembled thunder." He slew the monster, and, like Hercules, covered himself with the skin.[74:2] The Assyrians and Lydians, both Semitic nations, worshiped a Sun-god named Sandan or Sandon. He also was believed to be a _lion-killer_, and frequently figured struggling with the lion, or standing upon the slain lion.[74:3] Ninevah, too, had her mighty hero and king, who slew a lion and other monsters. Layard, in his excavations, discovered a _bas-relief_ representation of this hero triumphing over the lion and wild bull.[74:4] The Ancient Babylonians had a hero lion-slayer, Izdubar by name. The destruction of the lion, and other monsters, by Izdubar, is often depicted on the cylinders and engraved gems belonging to the early Babylonian monarchy.[74:5] Izdubar is represented as a great or mighty man, who, in the early days after the flood, destroyed wild animals, and conquered a number of petty kings.[74:6] Izdubar resembles the Grecian hero, Hercules, in other respects than as a destroyer of wild animals, &c. We are told that he "wandered to the regions where gigantic composite monsters held and controlled the rising and setting sun, from these learned the road to _the region of the blessed_, and passing across _a great waste of land_, he arrived at a region where _splendid trees were laden with jewels_."[74:7] He also resembles Hercules, Samson, and other solar-gods, in the particular of _long flowing locks of hair_. In the Babylonian and Assyrian sculptures he is always represented with a marked physiognomy, and always indicated as a man with _masses of curls over his head_ and a large curly beard.[74:8] Here, evidently, is the Babylonian legend of Hercules. He too was a _wanderer_, going from the furthest East to the furthest West. He crossed "a great waste of land" (the desert of Lybia), visited "the region of the blessed," where there were "splendid trees laden with jewels" (golden apples). The ancient Egyptians had their Hercules. According to Herodotus, he was known several thousand years before the Grecian hero of that name. This the Egyptians affirmed, and that he was _born_ in their country.[75:1] The story of Hercules was known in the Island of Thasos, by the Phenician colony settled there, five centuries before he was known in Greece.[75:2] Fig. No. 4 is from an ancient representation of Hercules in conflict with the lion, taken from Gorio. [Illustration: Fig. No. 4]