Sometimes, again, we have a representation of a god seated in a boat as seen in Fig. 54. It is impossible to say who the god is, though his divine character is clearly demonstrated by the horned cap. From the emergence of branches, or what may be flames of fire and streams of water from his shoulders, it seems a fair assumption on the part of Dr. Ward that the god is none other than Shamash, the sun-god. The boat is being propelled through the river or canal by two oarsmen, who, together with the god, are standing in the boat. The two men have different head-gears, but all three are clad solely in the old Sumerian skirt. Reeds to the height of the occupants of the boat are growing in the water, and a very primitively executed wild-boar is haunting this quaintly depicted marsh. Both bow and stern of the boat are similarly shaped, and are curved upwards to a great height. If the god be Shamash, it seems probable that here, as elsewhere, he is represented as traversing the heavens in his bark. Another series of archaic cylinder-seals is concerned with the heroic feats of Gilgamesh and Ea-bani, two mythological beings whose conquests over bulls and lions won for them a reputation and a fame which lasted right down to the latter days of Assyrian history. We have an impression of one of the most primitive of the Gilgamesh seals in Fig. 55. The hero stands between two bisons, one of which is being attacked by a lion and the other by a leopard, while the inhuman and semi-bestial Ea-bani is attacking the lion from behind. The occurrence of the spotted leopard is specially noteworthy, as it hardly ever occurs on later cylinders, while the presence of bisons which only haunt the highlands is an additional archaic touch, and is a further indication of the antiquity of this seal, which must have been engraved at a time when the recollection of his mountain origin was still fresh in the Sumerian’s mind, for in the later period of Babylonian art, the bison gives place to the swamp-loving buffalo. All the details of the seal betray the same primitive characteristics, and, as usual, there is no inscription.