Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/186

 164 HISTORY OF ART IN PHOENICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. In all the figures hitherto decribed it has been impossible to avoid recognizing the Phoenician goddess from whom Cyprus derived most of its fame. After her the most important divine personage in Cypriot religion and in the Cypriot studios seems to have been a god who quickly became confounded with the Greek Herakles. His image is found in all collections of Cypriot anti- quities ; and it is likely that one, at least, of the ruined temples at Athieno was dedicated in his honour. FIG. 109. Limestone statuette. Height 10 inches. New York Museum. Some of his characteristics seem to be taken from that " Egypto- Phoenician figure of the god Bes in which we see, perhaps, the oldest existing caricature." l We know that Bes was sometimes figured as a great hunter and slayer of monsters (Figs. 19 and 1 flEUZEX'PagpffsiZtrte et le Dieu Bes {Bulletin de Correspondance hellenique, 1884, p. 162).