M84 Thus ceremonies intended to hasten the departure of winter are in a sense attempts to repeat the creation of the world. M85 In Babylon and India the myth of the slaughter of the dragon may have been acted as a magical ceremony to hasten the advent of summer or of the rainy season. New-year festival of Zagmuk at Babylon. 337 P. Jensen, _Die Kosmologie der Babylonier_, pp. 84 _sqq._; M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, pp. 677 _sqq._; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_,3 pp. 371, 384 note 4, 402, 427, 515 _sqq._; R. F. Harper, _Babylonian and Assyrian Literature_ (New York, 1901), pp. 136, _sq._, 137, 140, 149; M. J. Lagrange, _Études sur les religions sémitiques_2 (Paris, 1905), pp. 285 _sqq._ 338 L. W. King, _Babylonian Religion and Mythology_, pp. 88 _sqq._ 339 See C. P. Tiele, _Geschiedenis van den Godsdienst in de Oudheid_, i. (Amsterdam, 1903) pp. 159 _sq._; L. W. King, _op. cit._ p. 21; H. Zimmern. in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_,3 p. 399; M. Jastrow, _Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens_, i (Giessen, 1905) pp. 117 _sqq._ 340 P. Jensen, _op. cit._ pp. 85 _sqq._; M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 679; H. Zimmern, _op. cit._ p. 515; M. J. Lagrange, _op. cit._ p. 286. 341 P. Jensen, _op. cit._ p. 87; M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 681; H. Zimmern, _op. cit._ pp. 402, 415; R. F. Harper, _op. cit._ p. 136. 342 P. Jensen, _Assyrisch-babylonische Mythen und Epen_, p. 29; L. W. King, _Babylonian Religion and Mythology_, p. 74. 343 This appears to be substantially the view of H. Zimmern (_op. cit._ p. 501) and of Karppe (referred to in _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, _s.v._ “Creation,” i. coll. 941 note 1). M86 Part played by the king in the drama of the Slaughter of the Dragon. M87 Suggested reconciliation of the totemic with the cosmological interpretation of the Slaughter of the Dragon. 344 A. Moret, _Du caractère religieux de la royauté Pharaonique_ (Paris, 1902), pp. 18 _sqq._, 33 _sqq._ 345 Clement of Alexandria. _Strom._ v. 7. p. 671, ed. Potter. 346 A. Erman, _Die ägyptische Religion_ (Berlin, 1905), pp. 10, 25. 347 John Parkinson (late Principal of the Mineral Survey of Southern Nigeria), “Southern Nigeria, the Lagos Province,” _The Empire Review_, vol. xv. May 1908, pp. 290 _sq._ The account in the text of the mystery surrounding the Awujale is taken from A. B. Ellis, _The Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa_ (London, 1894), p. 170.