justification for the isolated and exclusive position that it here holds. [Illustration: FIG. 59.] Another group of Babylonian seals belonging to different periods show the dramatic conquest of the deity over the winged dragon. One of the earliest, best preserved, and most instructive examples of these, is a shell cylinder preserved in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, also published by Ward[133] (cf. Fig. 59). The dragon has the wings and hind part of an eagle, while his fore-legs and head are those of a lion; between the wings upon his back stands a nude goddess brandishing lightning in either hand. The dragon is harnessed to a four-wheeled chariot, the front part of which is higher than the back, while a god of disproportionate size is driving the chariot and flourishing a whip in his left hand. The lion-headed dragon is apparently vomiting, and his action recalls that of one of the expiring lions on the bas-reliefs of Ashur-bani-pal. It may, however, be meant to represent the ejection of venom, though if this is the case it has not been very happily rendered. Before this group of supernaturals, stands the worshipper who is in the act of presenting an offering of uncertain character upon an altar. [Illustration: FIG. 60.] [Illustration: FIG. 61.] But sometimes gods and heroes are found side by side on the same seal, as is the case on the seal reproduced in Fig. 60. The horn-capped and seated deity is Shamash, the Sun-god, from whose shoulders rays of light proceed, while from his lap issue streams of living water. The god is clad in a long mantle hung from the right shoulder, while the left arm and shoulder are left bare, and he is seated on a three or four-legged stool. Before him is a crescent, and behind him is a star mounted on a kind of stand, while in his presence a typical scene is being enacted; two heroes are laying low a lion—one of them has his left foot on the lion’s head and is grasping the tail of the upturned beast with his left hand, while he is about to drive a knife into its rear quarters with his right. The other hero is holding himself in readiness with a little hatchet; his head-gear differs from that of his comrade in being spiked, but in all other respects the two are alike. This seal is made of pink marble, and is now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. One class of deities was intimately associated with the serpent, and a god’s body is sometimes represented as being formed of a serpent coil, as is the case in the cylinder-seal reproduced in Fig. 61. The god in this case is sitting opposite to a goddess who is likewise seated, and holds a shallow cup in her hand; above her arm is the crescent, and behind her is the mounted star as in Fig. 60. The star as here represented is identical with the early Sumerian ideogram and determinative for god, and, doubtless has that signification here. The goddess has a long robe reaching down to the ankles, but her left arm and shoulder are free, as