Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/259

 Elevation of the Temple. 235 l" " l ""fc Fig. 149. -Wall surrounding Inner Court. Our aim is confined to giving a general, not a particular idea of the elevations ; hence the restoration of the twin pillars, " Iakin and Bo'az," respecting which opinion is divided, will find no place here. Some hold that they were an integral part of the edifice, and supported the door lintel, over which was a wide projecting cornice forming a kind of penthouse ; x 4 whilst others, with whom we incline, maintain that they stood slightly in advance of the façade, and were not incorporated with it. 2 Examples of these odd pillars, standing in the position we have placed them, and with attributes that leave no doubt as to their import, might be multiplied, be it in Cyprus 3 or in Syria, notably in the stelas and diminutive archaic temples in metal and terra-cotta dis- interred at Carthage (Fig. 150). To the same class belongs a terra-cotta in the Louvre collection, figuring a temple presumably, in honour of the Asiatic Venus. 4 - _ At first sight the columns seem to support the penthouse in front of the doorway ; closer examina- tion, however, enables one to perceive that the mounting or capital is a floral device, out of which emerges a point not likely to have served as cushion ; whilst a primitive plinth projecting be- yond the wall, at either side of the doorway, indicates that the pillars were a little in advance of the fane. If the potter displaced them from their true position and put them close against the pent- FlG. 150. — Carthaginian Stela. Corpus Inscript. Scmitkarum, Pars i. p. 281. house, it was to reduce the relief of his composition and guard against breakage, for similar monuments were dispatched all over 1 De Vogué, Le Temple, Plate XIV. 2 De Saulcy, Hist, de F Art Judaïque, 3 Hist, of Art, torn. iii. pp. 1 19-122. [864. Plan du Temple de Solomon, K. L. 4 Ibid., torn. iii. Fig. 208.