Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/260

 2 2S A History of Art in Chald.ea and Assyria. hermits, cut at the time when monastic life was first developed and placed where we see them with the idea of at once desecrating pagan idols and sanctifying a site which they had polluted. In Phrygia and Cappadocia we found many rock-cut chambers in which evidence of the presence of these pious hermits was still to be gathered. In some, for instance, we found the remains of religious paintings. As examples we may mention the royal tombs of Amasia, which were thus converted into oratories. 1 The composition contains four figures. Two in the middle face each other and seem to be supported by animals resembling dogs in their general outlines. They are crowned with tiaras, cylin- drical in shape and surrounded with horns. One of these figures has its right hand raised and its left lowered ; his companion's gesture is the same, but reversed. The general attitudes, too, are similar, but the head of one figure has disappeared, so that we can not tell whether it was bearded like its companion or not. They each carry a sceptre ending in a palmette and with a ring attached to it at about the middle of the staff. In the centre of this ring a small standing figure may be distinguished. Behind each of these two chief personages, and near the frame of the relief, two subordinate figures appear. In attitude and costume they are the repetition of each other. Their right hands are raised in worship, while in their left they hold short, ball-headed sceptres. The two figures in the centre must represent gods. The king is never placed on the backs of living animals in this singular fashion ; but we can understand how, by an easily-followed sequence of ideas, such a method of suggesting the omnipotence of the deity was arrived at. Neither did the kings of the period we are considering wear this cylindrical tiara. In the palaces of the Samonids it is reserved for the winded bulls. It is larger than the royal tiara, from which it is also distinguished by its embracing horns. Finally, the ringed sceptre is identical with the one held by Samas, in the Sippara tablet (Vol. I. Fig. 71). No one will hesitate as to the real character of these two personages ; the only point doubtful is as to whether the one on the left is a god or a goddess. The mantle worn by the right hand figure is wanting ; but the question cannot be decided, because the head has been completely destroyed. In any case, the difference of costume 1 Perrot and Guillaume, Exploration archéologique de la Galatie, vol. i. pp. 367- 373, and vol. ii. plates 72-80.