A figure unearthed among the ruins of Babylon. From Lenormant.]
been interpreted as the soul of Semiramis, and may represent either a dead person or the goddess of the dead, and the same idea is expressed in a little figurine of the Greek islands which shows us a
[Illustration: AMULET[28] OF THE MYCENAEAN PERIOD.]
female deity with a dove on her head. We can scarcely be mistaken if we interpret this little figurine as an amulet denoting the goddess whose emblem is the dove. Whether the figure represent the goddess herself with her emblematic bird or whether it be the portrait of a dead person protected by the dove, is of secondary importance. The main truth on which we insist here is that the dove is the emblem of the great goddess to whom people look for salvation in the dark beyond. Thus flocks of pigeons enjoyed great liberties in Hierapolis, the holy city of Syria,--probably in the same way that the pigeons in St. Mark’s place are befriended in Venice both by the inhabitants and by foreign visitors.
Another emblem of the goddess of womanhood is the fish, as is fully described in Lucian’s most interesting treatise “On the Syrian Goddess.” In Egypt Isis has been represented with a fish surmounting her head as an emblematic ornament.
In some parts of Greece the hare or rabbit has also been sacred to Aphrodite, unquestionably on account of the fertility of that animal. Even to-day in Christian times the Easter hare and the egg are the symbols of spring, and the Easter festival cannot be celebrated without them.
A remarkable monument has been discovered in Boghaz-Köi in Cappadocia. It represents a procession of gods standing on their symbolic animals, and what interests us mainly is that it portrays the meeting of a god and a goddess, he standing on human beings, she on an animal which is apparently a lioness. Among her followers is a man on a leopard and two figures standing on a double-headed eagle. The idea of this symbol was carried to Europe by crusaders and became the emblem
of the Holy Roman empire; it is still retained in the imperial arms of Austria and has also been accepted by the Czar of Russia. The subject of this monument in Cappadocia is still considered as under question. There is no explanation and there are no ancient books that can throw light upon it. But the composition speaks for itself. We see here the great goddess meeting the heroic god--whatever names they may have borne.