Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/402

 364 HISTORY OF ART IN PHOENICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. famous in the time of Homer, we have only drawn attention to the more important examples, to those which may be considered as types. The reader now has before his eyes the more significant of these vessels with the explanations, often conjectural, to which their ornaments give rise, and the descriptions of those which do not invite explanation. We have yet to give a glance at the products of Phoenician workshops as a whole ; to give an account of the condi- tions under which this industry was followed, and of the methods it employed ; to describe its defects and merits ; finally, to ascertain how prolific the Phoenician ateliers were, and how great the quantity of objects they exported may have been. This done, we shall be able to appreciate the influence such objects may have had upon those who admired and bought them, upon the progress of art, in fact, and upon the development of ideas. The first thing to strike us is that perpetual mixture of Egyptian and Assyrian forms to which we have already pointed as a leading characteristic of Phoenician art (Figs. 270, 271, 274). It was from Egypt, however, that by far the most was borrowed. This is shown by the continual occurrence of hieroglyphs, royal ovals, &c, ; while no cuneiform letters have yet been encountered. The latter were known to Phoenicia, but the bonds uniting her to Egypt were much tighter than those drawing her to Assyria. The Assyrians appeared later on the scene, and they appeared as enemies, as hard and greedy conquerors. Egypt, on the other hand, was the first instructress of Phoenicia, who, to the end, accepted her supremacy, and was amply repaid for her docility by the profit the connection brought her. But perhaps the principal reason was simply that the hieroglyphs were far more decorative than the wedges, far better adapted to pleasantly fill a space. Finally, it was Egypt that set the fashions if I may use such a phrase in the East until the rise of Miletus, Corinth, and Athens. In covering their metal work with motives taken from the Nile valley the Phoenicians ministered to a prevailing taste and profited by the vogue of all things Egyptian. In these days such counterfeits do not deceive us. Hieroglyphs with a sense to them are very rare on Phoenician monuments. As a rule the artisans of Tyre and Carthage copied the first letters they hit upon, just as those of the middle ages copied Arabic inscriptions, or the potters of Delft copied Chinese .figures and characters. Nowhere do hieroglyphs occupy a more important