DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0447
SCULPTURE
4i5
ing oblique squares. The opposite face of the altar also has a sunken panel, within
which, above the middle, are three bovine heads in relief, of slightly varying sizes and
shapes, though the general form of all is the same. Above this panel two more horns
appear; the space between them is plain, but for an ornament like the lower part of an
acanthus leaf, which is carved upon it above the central head. The two ends of the
altar are each provided with heads similar to those described above, but are otherwise
quite plain. These reliefs illus-
trate an archaic period of the art
of sculpture among a people who
probably had not long practised
the art of stone-carving. The
principal face of the altar — that
with the relief of the bull — shows
a considerable degree of finish
and of careful composition. The
reverse is lacking in both of these
qualities, being somewhat crudely
wrought and unsymmetrically
drawn. The character of the
sculpture is of a type common to
almost all archaic work, but, curi-
ously enough, is more suggestive
of early Greek sculpture than of Assyrian or Hittite prototypes. The proportions of
the bull and the shape of its head recall those features in the well-known moscophoros
of Athens, although the Nabatasan monument presents none of the refinements of
modeling or delicacy of finish which greater skill and a finer medium have imparted to
that in Athens.
Si‘. sculptures. There are great quantities of fragments of sculpture at Si‘, in
and around the ruined temple of Ba‘al Samm and its forecourts. Many of these
fragments belong undoubtedly to the period of the Roman Empire, but others prob-
ably were contemporaneous with the Nabataean architecture upon this ancient site.
The mutilated remains of the figures of men and animals lie usually not far from the
architectural fragments of the buildings with which they were, in all probability, origi-
nally connected; the cruder, more archaic pieces being found among the ruins of
the Nabatasan buildings, and those of more classic type near the fallen gateways
which we have assigned to the period of the early Antonine emperors. The portrait
statues of Herod the Great, Maleichath, and others, which stood upon the pedestals
within the portico of the temple, as described on page 337, seem to have been inten-
tionally mutilated, and even broken into small fragments; but there were other sculp-
4i5
ing oblique squares. The opposite face of the altar also has a sunken panel, within
which, above the middle, are three bovine heads in relief, of slightly varying sizes and
shapes, though the general form of all is the same. Above this panel two more horns
appear; the space between them is plain, but for an ornament like the lower part of an
acanthus leaf, which is carved upon it above the central head. The two ends of the
altar are each provided with heads similar to those described above, but are otherwise
quite plain. These reliefs illus-
trate an archaic period of the art
of sculpture among a people who
probably had not long practised
the art of stone-carving. The
principal face of the altar — that
with the relief of the bull — shows
a considerable degree of finish
and of careful composition. The
reverse is lacking in both of these
qualities, being somewhat crudely
wrought and unsymmetrically
drawn. The character of the
sculpture is of a type common to
almost all archaic work, but, curi-
ously enough, is more suggestive
of early Greek sculpture than of Assyrian or Hittite prototypes. The proportions of
the bull and the shape of its head recall those features in the well-known moscophoros
of Athens, although the Nabatasan monument presents none of the refinements of
modeling or delicacy of finish which greater skill and a finer medium have imparted to
that in Athens.
Si‘. sculptures. There are great quantities of fragments of sculpture at Si‘, in
and around the ruined temple of Ba‘al Samm and its forecourts. Many of these
fragments belong undoubtedly to the period of the Roman Empire, but others prob-
ably were contemporaneous with the Nabataean architecture upon this ancient site.
The mutilated remains of the figures of men and animals lie usually not far from the
architectural fragments of the buildings with which they were, in all probability, origi-
nally connected; the cruder, more archaic pieces being found among the ruins of
the Nabatasan buildings, and those of more classic type near the fallen gateways
which we have assigned to the period of the early Antonine emperors. The portrait
statues of Herod the Great, Maleichath, and others, which stood upon the pedestals
within the portico of the temple, as described on page 337, seem to have been inten-
tionally mutilated, and even broken into small fragments; but there were other sculp-