disappear and it did so; and when he commanded it to reappear it did so. [Illustration: Shamash the Sun-god setting (?) on the horizon. In his right he holds a tree (?), and in his left a ... with a serrated edge. Above the horizon is a goddess who holds in her left hand an ear of corn. On the right is a god who seems to be setting free a bird from his right hand. Round him is a river with fish in it, and behind him is an attendant god; under his foot is a young bull. To the right of the goddess stand a hunting god, with a bow and lasso, and a lion. From the seal-cylinder of Adda ..., in the British Museum. About 2500 B.C. [No. 89,115.]] Then the gods saluted him as their king, and gave him the insignia of royalty, namely, the sceptre, the throne and the _pala_, whatever that may be. And as they handed to him these things they commanded him to go and hack the body of Tiamat in pieces, and to scatter her blood to the winds. Thereupon Marduk began to arm himself for the fight. He took a bow, a spear, and a club; he filled his body full of fire and set the lightning before him. He took in his hands a net wherewith to catch Tiamat, and he placed the four winds near it, to prevent her from escaping from it when he had snared her. He created mighty winds and tempests to assist him, and grasped the thunderbolt in his hand; and then, mounting upon the Storm, which was drawn by four horses, he went out to meet and defeat Tiamat. It seems pretty certain that this description of the equipment of Marduk was taken over from a very ancient account of the Fight with Tiamat in which the hero was Enlil, i.e., the god of the air, or of the region which lies between heaven and hell. Marduk approached and looked upon the "Middle" or "Inside" or "Womb" of Tiamat [1], and divined the plan of Kingu who had taken up his place therein. In the Seventh Tablet (l. 108) Marduk is said to have "entered into the middle of Tiamat," and because he did so he is called "Nibiru," i.e., "he who entered in," and the "seizer of the middle." What the words "middle of Tiamat" meant to the Babylonian we are not told, but it is clear that Marduk's entry into it was a signal mark of the triumph of the god. When Kingu from the "middle of Tiamat" saw Marduk arrayed in his terrible panoply of war, he was terrified and trembled, and staggered about and lost all control of his legs; and at the mere sight of the god all the other fiends and devils were smitten with fear and reduced to helplessness. Tiamat saw Marduk and began to revile him, and when he challenged her to battle she flew into a rage and attempted to overthrow him by reciting an incantation, thinking that her words of power would destroy his strength. Her spell had no effect on the god, who at once cast his net over her. At the same moment he made a gale of foul wind to blow on her face, and entering through her mouth it filled her body; whilst her body was distended he drove his