Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/96

A HISTORY OF ART IN CHALD.EA AND ASSYRIA. confused army of demons, of those beings who enjoyed the control of not a few of the mysterious agencies whose apparent conflict and final accord are the causes of the life, movement, and equi- librium of the world. When the intellect had arrived at this doctrine, calmness and serenity fell upon it. Each deity became a person with certain well-defined powers and attributes, a person who could not escape the apprehension and the appeals of mankind with the facility of the changing and fantastic crowd of demons. His dwelling-place could be pointed out to the faithful, whether it were in his own FIG. 14 Gods carried in procession ; from Layard's Monuments of Nineveh, first series, pi. 65. peculiar star, among the eternal snows upon the summits of the distant mountains, or near at hand, in the temple built for him by his worshippers. Such a deity could be approached like a sove- reign whose honour and interest are bound up with his word. So long as by prayer, and still more by sacrifices, the conditions were observed on the suppliant's side, the god, invisible though he was, would do his duty and protect those with whom he had entered into an unwritten contract. But in order to establish this mutual relationship between gods and men, it was necessary that the former should be brought