Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/82

 60 HISTORY OF ART IN PHOENICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. of Hannibal, which would bring the stele down to the early years of the second century B.C. As we have already shown by more than one example Greek forms predominate in those steles dedicated to Tanit which have been found in thousands on the site of Carthage (Vol. I. Figs. 13, 14, 15, 1 6, 29, 30, 71, 82, 83, 192). Ionic columns supporting pediments, volutes, eggs, triglyphs, acroteria, palmettes, and other motives taken from Hellenic architecture, appear again and again. The symbols to which these things afford a frame alone preserve their Phoenician character, and betray the origin of the work. On most of the steles the divinity is figured only by emblems or parts of her body : such as the open hand in the act of blessing. On a very few reliefs we find her bust or even her whole person, which is always strangely heavy in design (Fig. 51) and proves FIG. 51. Votive stele from Carthage. French National Library. that if the artisans who chiselled these ex-votos had Greek models before their eyes, they were not the people to profit greatly by the example they gave. The seed fell on an ungrateful soil ; the beauty of the human form did not arouse the curiosity of the Semitic sculptor ; he took no pleasure in studying it and rendering it in all its variety ; his dry and abstract draughtsmanship reminds us of nothing so much as of the art of the Herald's College (Fig. 52). Sometimes he is guilty of real savagery, as in this sketch of a profile and an adoring or blessing hand (Fig. 53). Another strange thing is the dancing divinity with a satyr's tail (Fig-. 54). Her head has disappeared, but her right breast and ample stomach can still be descried. In her right hand she holds what may be a thyrsis ; her only garment is a sort of elementary cummerbund,