Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/257

 GEMS. 233 a Phoenician lapidary or whether the inscription was put on after- wards, either for the Persian officer himself or for some native of the country who may have turned the seal to his own use. We have, then, no reason to believe that the Phoenicians them- selves ever adopted the cylinder. If the fashion had become general, we should find examples decorated with motives taken now from Assyria and now from Egypt, but nothing of the kind has been encountered either in Syria itself, or at Carthage, or in Sardinia. Speaking generally, we may say that there are no Phoenician cylinders. And this makes it all the more strange that they should occur in Cyprus in considerable numbers. This curious fact was first brought to light by the discovery of the treasure of Curium, which comprised among its other precious objects a certain number of cylinders, mostly in green serpentine ; l others in the same style have been found among the ruins of the temple and at other points in the city. In the tombs at Salamis FIG. 150. Cylinder in opaque carnelion. Mr. Alexander di Cesnola found similar objects in still greater numbers ; their material was in most cases either hematite, steatite, or jasper. 2 The first question suggested by these cylinders is : Were they made in the island, or were they imported ? Now in the first place only a very small minority three out of more than a hundred bear cuneiform inscriptions : they were found at Curium.* It would seem that if the engraving had been done in a country where 1 CESNOLA, Cyprus, pp. 316 and 387. In plates xxxi. and xxxiii. of this work thirty-two cylinders are figured : General di Cesnola does not tell us whether he made a selection or whether he has given us all. 2 This we are told by Mr. KING speaking, no doubt, on Cesnola's authority who was charged to describe the rings and other gems comprised in the Curium treasure (Cyprus, p. 355). 3 See chapter xii. of the book entitled, Salaminia (Cyprus) : the History, Treasures, and Antiquities of Salamis in the Island of Cyprus, i vol. 8vo, London, 1882. VOL. II. H II