One of these is the wild bull-often represented on the bas-reliefs as a beast of chase, and perhaps mentioned as such in the inscriptions.

This animal, which is sometimes depicted as en-gaged in a contest with the lion, must have been of vast strength and boldness.

It is often hunted by the king, and appears to have been considered nearly as noble an object of pursuit as the lion.

We may presume, from the practice in the adjoining country, Palestine, 96 that the flesh was eaten as food.
[Illustration: PLATE 28] The other animal, once indigenous, but which has now disappeared, was called by the Assyrians the _mithin,_ and is thought to have been the tiger.

Tigers are not now found nearer to Assyria than the country south of the Caspian, Ghilan, and Mazanderan; but as there is no conceivable reason why they should not inhabit Mesopotamia, and as the _mithin_ is constantly joined with the lion, as if it were a beast of the same kind, and of nearly equal strength and courage, we may fairly conjecture that the tiger is the animal intended.