DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0148
I 16 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
wear the Assyrian pointed cap, and are protected by an umbrella, start out
in chariots from a fortification with battlements. Out of the first chariot the
hunter has dismounted, and, kneeling, shoots at a frightened deer just leaping
off of the curious mountain in front. Before a second mighty hunter on the
mountain summit, a second deer flies ; while, beyond, the hostler feeds the
wearied horses, and a fourth hunter cuts up the prey suspended from a tree.
In all this scene, there is no sign of religious symbolism or protecting deity.
But behind the last-named hunter follows clearly a religious rite. Here an
altar burns ; over it hovers the winged disk of Egyptian art ; before it is a
standard, bearing, no doubt, a vase of liquid offering ; and in front sits a wor-
shipper,— one of those grandees protected by the umbrella, familiar to us from
Assyrian reliefs. A mountain, from the side of which a mammoth mask spouts
water, and on the summit of which a deer quietly grazes, and a hare leaps,
separates This scene from the tumult that follows. There a curious winged
being holds in its protecting arms the royal chariot (similar in form to that
occurring in Assyria), safely out of reach of the huge, hairy beast below,
who seems to be hurling a stone. The next chariot has run down one of
these beasts, and another is stamped upon by a hunter. Another hunter
seems to be aiming at the large bird, in form like the sacred hawk of Egypt,
floating above. Around the whole scene a scaly serpent coils its length.
Here we have, then, older Assyrian and Egyptian elements heterogeneously
thrown together; but, of these, neither the full, puffy style of the one, nor the
severely stern style of the other, seem followed in this mimicking art.
On Greek soil also, but more sparingly, and on a few of the islands,
objects of a kindred character have been found. So the ancient tombs at
Menidi and Spata in Attica, the sacred altis at Olympia, the island of
Rhodes, and, more than all, Cyprus, have yielded objects which are decidedly
Phoenician in type.'+7
These varied objects, especially in Italy and the islands, have been found
frequently with genuine Egyptian works, such as small sliabti, inscribed
scarabs, vases, and the like, showing that where the Phoenicians carried their
own wares, whether from their cities, Tyre and Sidon, in the mother-land, or
from her proud colonies, such as Carthage, there they introduced likewise the
work of other countries. These latter are of greatest importance, by way of
comparison, in deciding the age of the Phoenician works with which they are
found.
But, besides the objects of whose Phoenician or Egyptian origin there
can be no doubt, there are very man)' which seem imitations only of such
Phoenician samples, often rude variations on them, and recognizable from
their material, peculiar to the country where they are found ; from their sub-
jects, foreign to Phoenician wares ; and frequently from a greater crudity of
style.'43
wear the Assyrian pointed cap, and are protected by an umbrella, start out
in chariots from a fortification with battlements. Out of the first chariot the
hunter has dismounted, and, kneeling, shoots at a frightened deer just leaping
off of the curious mountain in front. Before a second mighty hunter on the
mountain summit, a second deer flies ; while, beyond, the hostler feeds the
wearied horses, and a fourth hunter cuts up the prey suspended from a tree.
In all this scene, there is no sign of religious symbolism or protecting deity.
But behind the last-named hunter follows clearly a religious rite. Here an
altar burns ; over it hovers the winged disk of Egyptian art ; before it is a
standard, bearing, no doubt, a vase of liquid offering ; and in front sits a wor-
shipper,— one of those grandees protected by the umbrella, familiar to us from
Assyrian reliefs. A mountain, from the side of which a mammoth mask spouts
water, and on the summit of which a deer quietly grazes, and a hare leaps,
separates This scene from the tumult that follows. There a curious winged
being holds in its protecting arms the royal chariot (similar in form to that
occurring in Assyria), safely out of reach of the huge, hairy beast below,
who seems to be hurling a stone. The next chariot has run down one of
these beasts, and another is stamped upon by a hunter. Another hunter
seems to be aiming at the large bird, in form like the sacred hawk of Egypt,
floating above. Around the whole scene a scaly serpent coils its length.
Here we have, then, older Assyrian and Egyptian elements heterogeneously
thrown together; but, of these, neither the full, puffy style of the one, nor the
severely stern style of the other, seem followed in this mimicking art.
On Greek soil also, but more sparingly, and on a few of the islands,
objects of a kindred character have been found. So the ancient tombs at
Menidi and Spata in Attica, the sacred altis at Olympia, the island of
Rhodes, and, more than all, Cyprus, have yielded objects which are decidedly
Phoenician in type.'+7
These varied objects, especially in Italy and the islands, have been found
frequently with genuine Egyptian works, such as small sliabti, inscribed
scarabs, vases, and the like, showing that where the Phoenicians carried their
own wares, whether from their cities, Tyre and Sidon, in the mother-land, or
from her proud colonies, such as Carthage, there they introduced likewise the
work of other countries. These latter are of greatest importance, by way of
comparison, in deciding the age of the Phoenician works with which they are
found.
But, besides the objects of whose Phoenician or Egyptian origin there
can be no doubt, there are very man)' which seem imitations only of such
Phoenician samples, often rude variations on them, and recognizable from
their material, peculiar to the country where they are found ; from their sub-
jects, foreign to Phoenician wares ; and frequently from a greater crudity of
style.'43