Let it not be supposed that the reasons in favor of the idea that the Omphalos became the staff of Æsculapius are entirely insubstantial. Remains of ancient art furnish excellent proof of it. Müller says: “In a Pompeian picture, Æsculapius has beside him the Omphalos, which is entwisted with the well-known net, composed of στέμµατα. We see from this that this symbol of Apollo was also transferred to his son. On the coins of the gens Rubria, likewise, it is not an egg, as is usually asserted, but _the Omphalos placed on a circular altar that is encircled by the Æsculapian serpent_.”[167] To one versed in the history of Phœnicia and other Oriental countries, the Omphalos is very certain to be viewed in another light than as a symbol of a “high place,” or mount[168] of worship. In the great Tyrian Temple of Baal Melkarth, which Herodotus went to see and admired much, and of which that of Solomon, or, rather, of Jehovah on Mount Moriah was almost a copy, even to the two pillars in front,—symbols of the sun-god,—were certain similar stones, carefully preserved and duly reverenced. These, it is well known, were of procreative import; they were phallic in character.[169] Was the Omphalos of similar significance? There is little reason to doubt that it was often regarded in that light. “In the earliest times,” says Müller, “a conical pillar, placed in the street and called Apollo Agyicus, sufficed to keep in remembrance the protecting and health-bringing power of the god.”[170] The staff, then, in the hand of Æsculapius may have had its prototype in the Phallus,—truly both an expressive and sublime symbol, when contemplated by pure, enlightened minds. But, notwithstanding what I have said, one might present some arguments in favor of the view that the staff of Æsculapius had its true prototype in a magic wand or symbol of office. As will be pointed out later, the Accadio-sumerian, Silik-mulu-khi, the beneficent son of Hea, subsequently Marodach or Marduk of the Babylonians and Assyrians, a healing divinity, from whom the conception of Æsculapius may have partly sprung, carried a reed when attending to his duties.