Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/276

 256 IliSTOUY OK ART IN Pll ITS I )l-:i'KNI )ENCIKS. indications ol the r ligious habits <>! these peoples. The arrange- ments of the building clearly point to an ark or tabernacle analogous to the ark of the Hebrews and destined to hold sacred objects, a sort of /vw/w, 1 with its harain, or reserved inclosure, in which all the precious objects ol the nation were grouped. Perhaps steles, or metal slabs, inscribed with the religious laws of the nation, were deposited there. ... In any case, we may guess that these cellar were called Ihcba '' ark " by the Phoenicians, as well as by the Hebrews, and that all the more because this word, like the object itself, appears to be Egyptian in its origin. . . . Here, as in the tabernacle of the Jews, metal ornaments and precious stuffs seem to have been lavished." The Maabed has been seen by all the travellers who have visited that part of the Syrian coast, but the minute exploration which M. Renan made of the whole site of Amrit led to the discovery of the remains of two more tabernacles previously unknown. They stand in a laurel brake near the spring known as the A'in-cl-IIayat, or fountain of serpents'! 1 The better preserved of the two is broken into seven or eight fragments. After having measured the pieces and made a separate drawing of each, M. Thobois succeeded in making a restoration, in which nothing was left to conjecture (Fig. iSS). The chapel in question was a monolith. It was carried on a cubical block ten feet square, which, in its turn, stood on a base composed of two huge stones, which raised it above the level of the marsh. The surface of this base was considerable smaller than that of the block of stone it supported ; so that the latter overhung it on all four sides to the extent of about a yard. On two sides of the larger rock the remains of a flight of steps, leading to the platform of the cella, mi^ht be traced. The cella itself, which was about eighteen feet o o high, was crowned with one of those cornices made up of urxi of which we have already given the details (Fig. 61). The ceiling of the tabernacle was a flattened arch like that of the Jlfaabect, but its plainness was relieved by two great pairs of wings sculptured upon it ; the one having for centre the globe flanked by two unci ; the other, apparently, an eagle's head. About five-and-thirty feet to the east of the tabernacle just 1 Kaaba means a building in the shape of a cube. 2 RKNAN, Mission. p. 67. 3 Ibid. pp. 68-70, and plate ix.