Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/72

 HISTORY OK ART IN PIKKNICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. consecrated to Tanit, of which such vast numbers have been discovered within the last few years, were decorated. 1 In these curious monuments we find architectural motives thoroughly Greek in character reproduced side by side with forms and symbols that can only be explained by the Phoenician religion. Pavilions in which the figure of a worshipper (Fig. 13) I'"IG. ii. Carthaginian coin. Silver. or a collection of sacred emblems (Fig. 14) are inclosed have triangular pediments supported by fluted pilasters, the latter crowned with Ionic capitals. There are acroteria at the three angles of the pediment. These acroteria appear again at the angles of a pediment in which we find the tympanum occupied by a mother-goddess (Fig. 15). Here the proportions of the FIG 12. Carthaginian coin. Liccirum. pediment are not Greek, but, on the other hand, the cornice below is decorated with a well marked egg-moulding. In one of the most curious of these little monuments we encounter a clearly defined Ionic capital surmounted by a crescent moon, which supports in its turn a bust of Tanit. Above the face of the 1 PH. BERGER, Lettre a M. Fr. Lenormant stir ks Representations figurces des Steles puniques de la Bibliothcque nationale (Gazette archcologique, 1876-7).