Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/46

 24 HISTORY OF ART IN PHOENICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. began to strike money in imitation of Lydia and Greece, he appeared on the obverse of the first pieces of silver issued by the Kings of Tyre, of Kition, and other Syrian colonies, to stay there till the time of the Seleucidae (Figs. 21 and 22). The influence of Greek art may be traced in this series of coins from the very beginning. While the two conceptions, the Phoenician Hercules and the Hercules of Greece, tended towards fusion, their images were gradually approaching the same result. This we shall find to be the case in that island of Cyprus in which the worship of the god seems to have been at least as widespread as in Syria, and where monuments are more numerous and in better condition. In Phoenicia itself the same idea was embodied in figures in the round which now survive only in a single fragment from Amrit. In a cave near the. Maabed (Vol. I. Figs. 39 and 40), one of those depots, of which several have been found in Cyprus, a certain quantity of fragmentary limestone statues were discovered. 1 The best preserved pieces are now in Paris, in the FIG. 21. Coin of Kition. Gold. FIG. 22. Coin of Gades. Silver. From De Luynes. From Duruy. collection of M. Louis de Clercq ; there are about fifty heads and only three torsos, of which only one has managed to take care of its own head. In this last-named fragment it is easy to recognize a Hercules with his lion's skin, belonging to the time when Phoenician sculptors had begun to draw their inspiration from Greece. We should have liked much to have figured this in- teresting torso. 2 Phoenician artists often represented their deities on thrones, in attitudes of tranquil gravity. In a statuette of this kind from Am- rit we have already recognized a goddess, Astarte perhaps (Vol. I. 1 Upon this find see two letters, from GAILLARDOT and PERETIE respectively, in the Mission de P/ienicie, pp. 850 and 851. 2 While we cannot but lament that M. de Clercq should have refused us permis- sion to reproduce his treasures, we must here convey our thanks to him for allowing us every facility for their inspection. It is natural enough that he should wish himself to be the means of presenting them to the public ; but it is desirable that such a publication should not be too long delayed. The crowning honour of any collection is to afford materials for the better knowledge of man and his story.