Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/211

 MEN. 187 The lyre must have been used chiefly to accompany hymns, prayers, and the chants of processions as they approached the altars of the goddess ; but the instrument which governed the feet of the dancers must have been the flute, whose clear and lively notes presided at all abandoned rites. M. Piot has a stone statuette, in excellent condition, which shows the form of the instrument and the way it was played (Fig. 125). It is what is called the double flute, although its principle and mode of use are quite distinct from those of a real flute. The two tubes are both of the same length, and apparently of the same calibre, which is curious, as they must have been used to give different notes, which implies that they were not similar. The flat mouthpieces and the leather bands, called op/3em by the Greeks, may be easily dis- tinguished. The latter were used to relieve the pressure upon the y FIG. 124. Player on the Lyre. Limestone. Height 5 inches. cheeks and to increase the force of the muscles. The person here figured was no doubt a professional musician ; he wears a skull-cup similar in general shape to that of the lyrist in Fig. 1 24. This skull-cap seems to have been commonly worn by the ministers of the temple ; we find it again upon the head of a person in whom it is easy to recognize a sacrificing priest (Fig. 126). He is a young, beardless man, round and full in general form. He carries a ram on his shoulders, holding it by its paws. 1 The meaning of all these is clear enough, but in some of those figures with conical bases which belong to the very beginnings of plastic industry, nothing but the general intention can be grasped. 1 In another example we find a goat so carried. DOLLL, Die Sammlung Cesnola, No. 99.