Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/193

 FIGURES OF DIVINITIES. the task which was to be known in after years as the carrying off of the herds of Geryon. To the left of the spectator Hercules stands naked upon an elevation of the ground. He wears the lion's skin on his back ; the tail hanging down between his legs. His left leg is advanced. His body is almost effaced and his head has disappeared. The right arm, only partly visible, is raised and bent at the elbow ; the hand, no doubt, brandished a club or some such weapon. At the feet of the god stands a personage about half his height. The relief is divided into two stages, and the figure of Hercules was originally tall enough to run through both. Sfc^^ifiB&L>* FIG. in. Bas-relief from Athieno. Height 21 inches. New York Museum. From Ceccaldi. In the upper stage the three-headed dog Orthros faces the god. At first sight it looks as if he had already been transfixed by a dart, but on looking more closely we see that the point of the arrow is turned towards Hercules. There is no possibility of mistake ; in order to add to the terrors inspired by such an animal, the sculptor has actually provided him with a kind of pike, a strange detail which was not borrowed by the artists of a later age. In the lower story we see the herds of Geryon ; bulls, cows and calves, crowding on together. Behind them comes the shepherd Eurytion, who is naked like the god ; at least he is practically