Note 61.3 — Chapter IV · Anthropomorphism and Theriomorphism in Asia Minor and the Mediterranean.

Again, the relief on the gate at Sinjerli61.3 affords us another clear example of a divinity only partly anthropomorphic: a god with the body of a man and the head of a lion; as he bears a hunting weapon in one hand and a hare in the other, and on each shoulder a bird is sitting, we may regard him as a deity of the chase. Finally, from certain cuneiform texts found at Boghaz-Keui, and recently published and interpreted by Professor Sayce,61.4 we gather that the eagle, probably the double-headed eagle which appears as an ensign on Hittite monuments, was deified; for we appear to have a reference to “the house” or temple “of the eagle” (Bit Id Khu), and this fact may help to explain the figure of a man’s body with a bird’s head on a relief of Sinjerli.62.1