Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/229

 ANIMALS. 205 In another example it is a bull's head (Fig. 138), but here the figure is covered with a long and wide mantle which leaves nothing visible but the hands. A variant on this type shows the same individual raising his hands to his muzzle, in the gesture of one about to lift off a mask or sham head. Here perhaps we may see the true explanation of what is otherwise difficult to understand. There is nothing to suggest that animal-headed gods were ever FIG. 137. Man with head of a frog. Limestone statuette. New York Museum. worshipped in Cyprus, but it is possible that these figures are sculptured jokes ; what we should call caricatures. Cypriot art never showed the skill or power of invention which would justify us in supposing that it attempted to provoke a laugh by exaggerat- ing human features till they approached those of certain beasts. On the whole the most likely hypothesis appears to be this : It is probable enough that in some of the great functions carried out in