x PREFACE.

strength with intellectual power, the addition of the wings
denoting swiftness or ubiquity. The sphynx is always
represented in a sitting posture; the Nimroud bull, on the
contrary, is figured standing. ‘A human figure with the
wings and tail of a bird, enclosed in a circle, is the type of
Ormuzd, the great God of the Zoroastrian system.”

“The thrones or arm-chairs supported by animals and
human figures, resemble those of the ancient Egyptians.
They also remind us of the throne of Solomon, which had
‘stays (or arms) on either side, on the place of the seat, and
two lions stood beside the stays, and twelve lions stood
there, on the one side and on the other, upon the six steps.’ ”
The prophet Ezekiel, who had beheld the Assyrian sculp-
tures, when seeking to typify certain divine attributes, chose
the forms that were not only familiar to himself, but to
those whom he addressed. “He chose the four living
creatures, with four faces, fowr wings, and the hands of a
man under their wings on four sides, the faces being those

of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle—the four creatures