Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/123

 General Outlines of Sardinian Civilization. 105 hand (Fig. 56). Date trees, however, are not a European growth, but belong to Africa, and if introduced to Sardinia, it was not for the fruit, which cannot mature there, but simply for ornamental purposes ; for the Phoenicians seem to have carried with them some of their native plants and have tried to acclimatize them in their various colonies. 1 Moreover, from the day that the islanders entered into relationship with Carthage, the palm device met their eyes everywhere ; 2 be it on their stelae, columnar capitals, or coins. 3 Nor has its symbolism ceased ; for with us it is still the emblem of triumph, and shares to a great extent the high estimation in which the oak and laurel are held. When and where did it receive its symbolical value ? It cannot have been in Greece, where the palm was not indigenous. Its conventional treatment was adopted by the Romans, from whom it has passed to us ; but it was an importation, and its origin must be sought among the people of Syria and those of the Afric continent ; hence the Sardinian bronze in question would represent one of the oldest examples of native art. The following words which we have to offer will complete this demonstration. As far as we can judge from information furnished by native scholars, the bulk of the industrial productions of the nuragh people are distinguished by typical characteristics, which are met here and there on soil subject to Punic rule and in Punic nécropoles. Thus statuettes akin to those of the Teti repository, have been discovered at Uta, near Cagliari (Fig. 53), and at Sulcis, one of the earliest Phoenician stations in the island. 4 The Spano collection is supposed to possess a votive boat dug up at Tharros ; 5 in any case, daggers, swords, and stilettos were there recovered, identical with those of the Teti repository ; 6 whilst arrow-heads in both places are identical in shape, save in the matter of material, which is bronze in the former, and iron in the latter.' Again, bronze knobs or buttons and armlets have been disinterred around towers and maritime cities ; and what is still more decisive is the fact that the scabbards of the hiding-places and the centre of the 1 Clermont-Ganneau, L'Imagerie Phénicienne, p. 113. So did the Saracens long after them. The palm and date trees which form so charming a feature of the Riviera gardens were due to them. — Editor. 2 Hist, of Art, torn. iii. p. 460, fig. 336. 3 Ibid., p. 265, Fig. 253. 4 Pais, Boll, p. 166, 1884. 5 Ibid., p. 116, 1884. 6 Ibid., pp. 128, 132, 137. ' Ibid., p. 143.