The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

ings as eagles.") There is allusion to the 'I wings*'of an Assyrian king in Isa. 8:6-8.As the horn is the ancient symbol of power, theseAssyrian bulls, though human-headed, neverthelessshow horns curving round their headgear. The reasonwhy the horn is used as a symbol of kingly authorityand power appears, from certain sculptures discoveredby Layard when excavating Babylon, to be directlyowing to Nimrod's prowess as a great hunter. In awoodcut in his Nineveh and Babylon, page 605, Layardsllows the Assyrian Hercules (that is, "Nimrod theGiant " as he is called in the Septuagint version ofGenesisj without weapons attacking a bull. Havingconquered the bull, he sets its horns on his head as atrophy of victory, an evidence of his great power inbeing able to overcome so strong an animal. Thuscrowned he is now represented as encountering a lion,the king of beasts. This accounts for the ancient customamong Eastern nations of kings and chiefs wearinghorns on their heads as evidence of their powerarid authority (Smith's Bible Dictionary, Art. " Horn ").The Satyr8 and the Cod Pan.In the Armenian version of the Chronicle of Eusebius,Ninus stands first in the list of Assyrian kings. Thisagrees with the Scriptural notice of Nimrod, who issaid to have been the flrst to become mighty, and tohave had the first kingdom. According to Pherecydes,Kronos or Saturn w?: "the flrst before all others thatever wore a crown (Tertullian, De Corona Militis,cap. 7, Vol. ii, p. 85). Here is therefore an additionalproof that Kronos or Saturn was Nimrod. It explainswhy the Greek Bacchus was represented as wearinghorns, and why he was frequently adaressed by theepithet of " Bull-horned" (Orphic Hymns : Hymn 11, To