Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/337

 THE TEMPLES OF Gozo AND MALTA. and deserves to figure on a larger scale (Fig. 229) on account of its resemblance to a type of altar often met with in Syria (Fig. 191). Here as at Gozo the fragments of a cone have been found ; its base instead of being elliptic, as at the Giganteia,is circular. 1 In this same room (A) seven small figures carved in the local limestone were picked up ; they are now in the Library of Valetta. In the absence of anything that may be called an attribute it is difficult to decide whether these are votive statuettes or idols, or, as the Maltese scholars think, the seven Cabeiri. 2 Their heads have dis- appeared ; they were probably metal additions for there are no FIG. 228. Altar. Hagiar Kim, Height 2% inches. Diameter of its table 14^ inches. From Caruana. marks of breakage. At the neck there is simply a hollow, and, in two of the figures, a pair of small sockets. The workmanship is so rough that it is difficult to determine the sex. Most of the statuettes are nude (Fig. 230), but two seem to be dressed in long robes (Fig. 231) ; some are seated, others crouched on their heels. At the back of one a long tress of hair falls to the feet. At first sight the fullness of the chest seems to hint at the feminine gender, but there is no certain indication. All the figures are fat to deformity. The sculptor, if we may give him such a title, has wished thus to suggest that his gods or his men, as the case may be, were beings

1 LA MARMORA, plate ii. figs. 9, 10. 2 CARUAXA. Report, p. 30.