Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/66

 44 HISTORY OF ART IN PHOENICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. she occupies and the whole character of the work prove her to be a goddess. There is a necklace about her throat and a string of large balls about her loins, while her legs are encased in a scanty petticoat ; her hands are placed upon her abdomen in such a way that the ends of her fingers are thrust beneath her girdle. 1 On each side of her there is a bending plant and under its shade a seated woman, entirely naked, with one hand upon her head and long hair falling upon her shoulders. These women are not in an attitude of worship ; perhaps the whole three compose a divine group, an emblem, like the Assyrian Nana, of the tripartite moon. 2 It may be noticed that the head of the central figure is very disk-like, We reproduce this monument in spite of its date, because its theme at least is uncommon and distinguishes it from the ordinary Fu'. 39. Phoenician cone. Actual size. run of things made during the Graeco- Roman decadence. It helps us to imagine what some of the sacred statues in the oldest temples of Palestine and Syria must have been down to the last days of paganism. The relief from Ascalon bears witness to the vitality of a very end type, a type which even after the final triumph of the Greek genius and style, remained faithful to its oriental physiognomy. It is curious to find an echo from so remote a past still making itself heard on the very eve of the day when Christianity was to overturn the altars and break the images of the dying faith ; but those monuments in which theme and execution both belong to a very distant age are more interesting still. In 1851 M. de Saulcy 1 In a very ancient terra-cotta from Cyprus we find the female divinity in almost exactly the same attitude (see Vol. I. Fig. 150). 2 DE LONGPERIER, Musee Napoleon III., description of plate xxxii.