Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/480

 456 History of Art in Antiquity. Fic. 221.— Cylinder, agate, loin M. G. Schlumbergcr points rather. to Assyrian models.* Thus the two sphinxes, which form a pendant to each other, are human-visaged and wear a tiara like the bulls who act as guardians at the gates of Assyrian palaces (Fig. 224). Variegated Their paws are raised as if fig. 222.— som- .. J. M^sT.A..*«.i«, to Shield the sacred plant in- l^^^^j;;;;- terposing between them. The upper part of the field is occupied by the winged disc, and above, as in all the monuments of the Achsmenids, appears the figure of the deity. The head is mutilated. Right and left of the god are a crescent and a star, whilst two palms form the side borders. An Aramaic inscription in characters of the Persian epoch runs from right to left above the sphinxes. The letters are distinct and well formed. The text by itself is sufficient proof of the authenticity of the monument It may be thus translated : "Seal of Mitras, the son of Saili." Mitras is a Persian name^ and its presence upon the en- graved stone is an additional reason why we should connect it with the group we have just described. It comes from Bei- routh, and may have been engraved in Syria for some official of the Great King. The composition bears the mark of the eclecticism which cha- racterizes Phoenician taste, and the fact that the text is written in a Semitic lan- guage is not without significance. A certain number of cones exhibit no other form beyond the symbol of Ahuri-Mazda, the shape of whose tiara points to the Persian epoch (Fig. 225). The last monument of this series was found, like one of the exemplars already described, on the Cimmerian Bosphorus (Fig. ^ Philippe Bbrgbr, Cylindie perae avec l^nde anm^enne*' (GaMefU anJU., 1888, pp. i43t >44>> Fig. 333. — Cone. Louvre of seal, 2 c. DuuBCter Fic. aa4.— Cylinder, amber. Brown Ly Google