Part 6 (1/2)
Our s.p.a.ce will not admit of our pursuing this subject much further. We cannot give descriptions of all the twenty _paterae_,[777] p.r.o.nounced by the best critics to be Phoenician, which are contained in the museums of Europe and America. Excellent representations of most of these works of art will be found in Longperier's ”Musee Napoleon III.,” in M.
Clermont-Ganneau's ”Imagerie Phenicienne,” and in the ”Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquite” of MM. Perrot et Chipiez. The bowls brought from Larnaca, from Curium, and from Amathus are especially interesting.[778]
We must, however, conclude our survey with a single specimen of the most elaborate kind of _patera_; and, this being the case, we cannot hesitate to give the preference to the famous ”Cup of Praeneste,” which has been carefully figured and described in two of the three works above cited.[779]
The cup in question consists of a thin plate of silver covered over with a layer of gold; its greatest diameter is seven inches and three-fifths.
The under or outside is without ornament; the interior is engraved with a number of small objects in low relief. In the centre, and surrounded by a circle of beads, there is a subject to which we shall presently have to return. The zone immediately outside this medallion, which is not quite an inch in width, is filled with a string of eight horses, all of them proceeding at a trot, and following each other to the right.
Over each horse two birds fly in the same direction. The horses' tails are extraordinarily conventional, consisting of a stem with branches, and resembling a conventional palm branch. Outside this zone there is an exterior and a wider one, which is bounded on its outer edge by a huge snake, whose scaly length describes an almost exact circle, excepting towards the tail, where there are some slight sinuosities. This serpent, whose head reaches and a little pa.s.ses the thin extremity of the tail, is ”drawn,” says M. Clermont-Ganneau, ”with the hand of a master.”[780]
It has been compared[781] with the well-known Egyptian and Phoenician symbol for the {kosmos} or universe, which was a serpent with its tail in its mouth. ”Naturally,” he continues,[782] ”the outer zone by its very position offers the greatest room for development. The artist is here at his ease, and having before him a field relatively so vast, has represented on it a series of scenes, remarkably alike for the style of their execution, the diversity of their subject-matter, the number of the persons introduced, and the nature of the acts which they accomplish. . . . The scenes, however, are not, as some have imagined, a series of detached fantastic subjects, arbitrarily chosen and capriciously grouped, a mere confused _melee_ of men, animals, chariots, and other objects; on the contrary, they form a little history, a plastic idyll, a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. It is a narrative divided into nine scenes.” (1) An armed hero, mounted in a car driven by a charioteer, quits in the morning a castle or fortified town.
He is going to hunt, and carries his bow in his left hand. Over his head is an umbrella, the badge of his high rank, and his defence against the mid-day sun. A quiver hangs at the side of his chariot. He wears a conical cap, while the driver has his head bare, and leans forwards over the front of the car, seeming to shake the reins, and encourage the horses to mend their pace. (2) After the car has proceeded a certain distance, the hunter espies a stag upon a rocky hill. He stops his chariot, gets down, and leaving the driver in charge of the vehicle, ensconces himself behind a tree, and thus screened lets fly an arrow against the quarry, which strikes it midway in the chest. (3) Weak and bleeding copiously, the stag attempts to escape; but the hunter pursues and takes possession of him without having to shoot a second time. (4) The hour is come now for a rest. The sportsman has reached a wood, in which date-bearing palms are intermingled with trees of a different kind. He fastens his game to one of them, and proceeds to the skinning and the disembowelling. Meanwhile, his attendant detaches the horses from the car, relieves them of their harness, and proceeds to feed them from a portable manger. The car, left to itself, is tilted back, and stands with its pole in the air. (5) Food and drink having been prepared and placed on two tables, or altars, the hunter, seated on a throne under the shadow of his umbrella, pours a libation to the G.o.ds. They, on their part, scent the feast and draw near, represented by the sun and moon--a winged disk, and a crescent embracing a full orb. The feast is also witnessed by a spirit of evil, in the shape of a huge baboon or cynocephalous ape, who from a cavern at the foot of a wooded mountain, whereon a stag and a hare are feeding, furtively surveys the ceremony.
(6) Remounting his chariot the hunter sets out on his return home, when the baboon quits his concealment, and rushes after him, threatening him with a huge stone. Hereupon a winged deity descends from heaven, and lifting into the air chariot, horses, charioteer, and hunter, enfolds them in an embrace and saves them. (7) The ape, baffled, pursues his way; the chariot is replaced on the earth. The hunter prepares his bow, places an arrow on the string, and hastily pursues his enemy, who is speedily overtaken and thrown to the ground by the horses. (8) The hunter dismounts, puts his foot upon the prostrate ape, and gives him the _coup de grace_ with a heavy axe or mace. A bird of prey hovers near, ready to descend upon the carcase. (9) The hero remounts his chariot, and returns to the castle or city which he left in the morning.[783]
We have now to return to the medallion which forms the centre of the cup. Within a circle of pearls or beads, similar to that separating the two zones, is a round s.p.a.ce about two inches in diameter, divided into two compartments by a horizontal line. In the upper part are contained three human figures, and the figure of a dog. At the extreme left is a prisoner with a beard and long hair that falls upon his shoulders. His entire body is naked. Behind him his two arms are brought together, tied by a cord, and then firmly attached to a post. His knees are bent, but do not reach the ground, and his feet are placed with their soles uppermost against the post at its base. The att.i.tude is one which implies extreme suffering.[784] In front of the prisoner, occupying the centre of the medallion, is the main figure of the upper compartment, a warrior, armed with a spear, who pursues the third figure, a fugitive, and seems to be thrusting his spear into the man's back. Both have long hair, but are beardless; and wear the _shenti_ for their sole garment.
Between the legs of the main figure is a dog of the jackal kind, which has his teeth fixed in the heels of the fugitive, and arrests his flight. Below, in the second compartment, are two figures only, a man and a dog. The man is prostrate, and seems to be crawling along the ground, the dog stands partly on him, and appears to be biting his left heel. The interpretation which M. Clermont-Ganneau gives to this entire scene lacks the probability which attaches to his explanation of the outer scene. He suggests that the prisoner is the hunter of the other scene, plundered and bound by his charioteer, who is hastening away, when he is seized by his master's dog and arrested in his flight.
The dog gnaws off his right foot and then attacks the left, while the fugitive, in order to escape his tormentor, has to crawl along the ground. But M. Clermont-Ganneau himself distrusts his interpretation,[785] while he has convinced no other scholar of its soundness. Judicious critics will be content to wait the further researches which he promises, whereby additional light may perhaps be thrown on this obscure matter.
In its artistic character the ”cup of Praeneste” claims a high place among the works of art probably or certainly a.s.signable to the Phoenicians. The relief is high; the forms, especially the animal ones, are spirited and well-proportioned. The horses are especially good. As M. Clermont-Ganneau says, ”their forms and their movements are indicated with a great deal of precision and truth.”[786] They show also a fair amount of variety; they stand, they walk, they trot, they gallop at full speed, always truthfully and naturally. The stag, the hare, and the dog are likewise well portrayed; the ape has less merit; he is too human, too like a mere unkempt savage. The human forms are about upon a par with those of the a.s.syrians and Egyptians, which have evidently served for their models, the a.s.syrian for the outer zone, the Egyptian for the medallion. The encircling snake, as already observed, is a masterpiece.
There is no better drawing in any of the other _paterae_. At best they equal, they certainly do not surpa.s.s, the Praenestine specimen.
The intaglios of the Phoenicians are either on cylinders or on gems, and can rarely be distinguished, unless they are accompanied by an inscription, from the similar objects obtained in such abundance from Babylonia and a.s.syria. They reproduce, with scarcely any variation, the mythological figures and emblems native to those countries--the forms of G.o.ds and priests, of spirits of good and evil, of kings contending with lions, of sacred trees, winged circles, and the like--scarcely ever introducing any novelty. The greater number of the cylinders are very rudely cut. They have been worked simply by means of a splinter of obsidian,[787] and are barbarous in execution, though interesting to the student of archaic art. The subjoined are specimens. No. 1 represents a four-winged genius of the a.s.syrian type, bearded, and clad in a short tunic and a long robe, seizing with either hand a winged griffin, or spirit of evil, and reducing them to subjection. In the field, towards the two upper corners, are the same four Phoenician characters, twice repeated; they designate, no doubt, the owner of the cylinder, which he probably used as a seal, and are read as _Harkhu_.[788] No. 2, which is better cut than No. 1, represents a king of the Persian (Achaemenian) type,[789] who stands between two rampant lions, and seizes each by the forelock. Behind the second lion is a sacred tree of a type that is not uncommon; and behind the tree is an inscription, which has been read as _l'Baletan_--i.e. ”(the seal) of Baletan.”[790] This cylinder was found recently in the Lebanon.[791] Nos. 3 and 4 come from Salamis in Cyprus, where they were found by M. Alexandre Di Cesnola,[792] the brother of the General. No. 3 represents a robed figure holding two nondescript animals by the hind legs; the creatures writhe in his grasp, and turn their heads towards him, as though wis.h.i.+ng to bite. The remainder of the field is filed with detached objects, scattered at random--two human forms, a griffin, two heads of oxen, a bird, two b.a.l.l.s, three crosses, a sceptre, &c. The forms are, all of them, very rudely traced. No. 4 resembles in general character No. 3, but is even ruder. Three similar robed figures hold each other's hands and perhaps execute a dance around some religious object. Two heads of oxen or cows, with a disk between their horns, occupy the s.p.a.ces intervening between the upper parts of the figures. In the lower portion of the field, the sun and moon fill the middle s.p.a.ce, the sun, moon, and five planets the s.p.a.ces to the right and to the left. Another cylinder from the same place (No. 5)[793]
is tolerably well designed and engraved. It shows us two persons, a man and a woman, in the act of presenting a dove to a female, who is probably the G.o.ddess Astarte, and who willingly receives it at their hands. Behind Astarte a seated lion echoes the approval of the G.o.ddess by raising one of his fore paws, while a griffin, who wholly disapproves of the offering, turns his back in disgust.
On another cylinder, which is certainly Phoenician, a rude representation of a sacred tree occupies the central position. To the left stands a wors.h.i.+pper with the right hand upraised, clad in a very common a.s.syrian dress. Over the sacred tree is a coa.r.s.e specimen of the winged circle or disk, with head and tail, and fluttering ends of ribbon.[794] On either side stand two winged genii, dressed in long robes, and tall stiff caps, such as are often seen on the heads of Persians in the Persepolitan sculptures, and on the darics.[795] In the field is a Phoenician inscription, which is read as {...} or _Irphael ben Hor'adad_, ”Irphael, the son of Horadad.”[796]
Phoenician cylinders are in gla.s.s, green serpentine, cornaline, black haemat.i.te, steat.i.te, and green jasper.[797] They are scratched rather than deeply cut, and cannot be said ever to attain to any considerable artistic beauty. Those which have been here given are among the best; and they certainly fall short, both in design and workmans.h.i.+p, of many a.s.syrian, Babylonian, and even Persian specimens.
The gems, on the other hand, are in many cases quite equal to the a.s.syrian. There is one of special merit, which has been p.r.o.nounced ”an exquisite specimen of Phoenician lapidary art,”[798] figured by General Di Cesnola in his ”Cyprus.”[799] Two men in regular a.s.syrian costume, standing on either side of a ”Sacred Tree,” grasp, each of them, a branch of it. Above is a winged circle, with the wings curved so as to suit the shape of the gem. Below is an ornament, which is six times repeated, like the blossom of a flower; and below this is a trelliswork.
The whole is cut deeply and sharply. Its Phoenician authors.h.i.+p is a.s.sured by its being an almost exact repet.i.tion of a group upon the silver patera found at Amathus.[7100]
Of other gems equally well engraved the following are specimens. No. 1 is a scarab of cornaline found by M. de Vogue in Phoenicia Proper.[7101]
Two male figures in a.s.syrian costume face each other, their advanced feet crossing. Both hold in one hand the _ankh_ or symbol of life. One has in the left hand what is thought to be a lotus blossom. The other has the right hand raised in the usual att.i.tude of adoration. Between the figures, wherever there was s.p.a.ce for them, are Phoenician characters, which are read as {...}, or _l'Beka_--i.e. ”(the seal) of Beka.”[7102] No. 2, which has been set in a ring, is one of the many scarabs brought by General Di Cesnola from Cyprus.[7103] It contains the figure of a hind, suckling her fawn, and is very delicately carved. The hind, however, is in an impossible att.i.tude, the forelegs being thrown forwards, probably in order to prevent them from interfering with the figure of the fawn. Above the hind is an inscription, which appears to be in the Cyprian character, and which gives (probably) the name of the owner. No. 3 introduces us to domestic life. A grand lady, of Tyre perhaps or Sidon,[7104] by name Akhot-melek, seated upon an elegant throne, with her feet upon a footstool, and dressed in a long robe which envelops the whole of her figure, receives at the hands of a female attendant a bowl or wine-cup, which the latter has just filled from an _oenochoe_ of elegant shape, still held in her left hand. The attendant wears a striped robe reaching to the feet, and over it a tunic fastened round the waist with a belt. Her hair flows down on her shoulders, while that of her mistress is confined by a band, from which depends an ample veil, enveloping the cheeks, the back of the head, and the chin. We are told that such veils are still worn in the Phoenician country.[7105] An inscription, in a late form of the Phoenician character, surrounds the two figures, and is read as {...} or _l'Akhot-melek ishat Joshua(?)_--i.e. ”(the seal) of Akhot-melek, wife of Joshua.”[7106] No.
4 contains the figure of a lion, cut with much spirit. MM. Perrot et Chipiez say of it--”Among the numerous representations of lions that have been discovered in Phoenicia, there is none which can be placed on a par with that on the scarab bearing the name of 'Ashenel: small as it is, this lion has something of the physiognomy of those magnificent ones which we have borrowed from the bas-reliefs of the a.s.syrians. Still, the intaglio is in other respects decidedly Phoenician and not a.s.syrian.
Observe, for instance, the beetle with the wings expanded, which fills up the lower part of the field; this is a _motive_ borrowed from Egypt, which a Ninevite lapidary would certainly not have put in such a place.”[7107] The Phoenician inscription takes away all doubt as to the nationality. It reads as {...}, or _'Ashenel_, and no doubt designates the owner. No. 5 is beautifully engraved on a chalcedony. It represents a stag attacked by a griffin, which has jumped suddenly on its back. The drawing is excellent, both of the real and of the imaginary animal, and leaves nothing to be desired. The inscription, which occupies the upper part of the field to the right, is in Cyprian characters, and shows that the gem was the signet of a certain Akestodaros.[7108]
There are some Phoenician gems which are interesting from their subject matter without being especially good as works of art. One of these contains a representation of two men fighting.[7109] Both are armed with two spears, and both carry round s.h.i.+elds or bucklers. The warrior to the right wears a conical helmet, and is thought to be a native Cyprian;[7110] he carries a s.h.i.+eld without an _umbo_ or boss. His adversary on the left wears a loose cap, or hood, the {pilos apages} of Herodotus,[7111] and has a prominent _umbo_ in the middle of his s.h.i.+eld.
He probably represents a Persian, and appears to have received a wound from his antagonist, which is causing him to sink to the ground. This gem was found at Curium in Cyprus by General Di Cesnola.
Another, found at the same place, exhibits a warrior, or a hunter, going forth to battle or to the chase in his chariot.[7112] A large quiver full of arrows is slung at each side of his car. The warrior and his horse (one only is seen) are rudely drawn, but the chariot is very distinctly made out, and has a wheel of an a.s.syrian type. The Salaminians of Cyprus were famous for their war chariots,[7113] of which this may be a representation.
The island of Sardinia has furnished a prodigious number of Phoenician seals. A single private collection contains as many as six hundred.[7114] They are mostly scarabs, and the type of them is mostly Egyptian. Sometimes they bear the forms of Egyptian G.o.ds, as Horus, or Thoth, or Anubis;[7115] sometimes cartouches with the names of kings as Menkara, Thothmes III., Amenophis III., Seti I., &c.;[7116] sometimes mere sacred emblems, as the winged uraeus, the disk between two uraei,[7117] and the like. Occasionally there is the representation of a scene with which the Egyptian bas-reliefs have made us familiar:[7118]
a warrior has caught hold of his vanquished and kneeling enemy by a lock of his hair, and threatens him with an axe or mace, which he brandishes above his head. Or a lion takes the place of the captive man, and is menaced in the same way. Human figures struggling with lions, and lions killing wild bulls, are also common;[7119] but the type in these cases is less Egyptian than Oriental.
Phoenician painting was not, like Egyptian, displayed upon the walls of temples, nor was it, like Greek, the production of actual pictures for the decoration of houses. It was employed to a certain extent on statues, not so as to cover the entire figure, but with delicacy and discretion, for the marking out of certain details, and the emphasising of certain parts of the design.[7120] The hair and beard were often painted a brownish red; the pupil of the eye was marked by means of colour; and robes had often a border of red or blue. Statuettes were tinted more generally, whole vestments being sometimes coloured red or green,[7121] and a gay effect being produced, which is said to be agreeable and harmonious.[7122] But the nearest approach to painting proper which was made by the Phoenicians was upon their vessels in clay, in terra-cotta, and in alabaster. Here, though, the ornamentation was sometimes merely by patterns or bands,[7123] there were occasionally real attempts to depict animal and human forms, which, if not very successful, still possess considerable interest. The n.o.ble amphora from Curium, figured by Di Cesnola,[7124] contains above forty representations of horses, and nearly as many of birds. The shape of the horse is exceedingly conventional, the whole form being attenuated in the highest degree; but the animal is drawn with spirit, and the departure from nature is clearly intentional. In the animals that are pasturing, the general att.i.tude is well seized; the movement is exactly that of the horse when he stretches his neck to reach and crop the gra.s.s.[7125] In the birds there is equal spirit and greater truth to nature: they are in various att.i.tudes, preening their feathers, pecking the ground, standing with head erect in the usual way. Other vases contain figures of cows, goats, stags, fish and birds of various kinds, while one has an attempt at a hippopotamus. The attempts to represent the human form are certainly not happy; they remind us of the more ambitious efforts of Chinese and j.a.panese art.
CHAPTER VIII--INDUSTRIAL ART AND MANUFACTURES
Phoenician textile fabrics, embroidered or dyed--Account of the chief Phoenician dye--Mollusks from which the purple was obtained--Mode of obtaining them--Mode of procuring the dye from them--Process of dyeing--Variety of the tints-- Manufacture of gla.s.s--Story of its invention--Three kinds of Phoenician gla.s.s--1. Transparent colourless gla.s.s--2. Semi- transparent coloured gla.s.s--3. Opaque gla.s.s, much like porcelain--Description of objects in gla.s.s--Methods pursued in the manufacture--Phoenician ceramic art--Earliest specimens--Vases with geometrical designs--Incised patterning--Later efforts--Use of enamel--Great amphora of Curium--Phoenician ceramic art disappointing--Ordinary metallurgy--Implements--Weapons--Toilet articles--Lamp- stands and tripods--Works in iron and lead.