Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/377

 Industrial Arts. 347 Multitudinous allusions are found in ancient writers of great stores of the precious metals among Eastern princes, treasured up for State emergencies, whilst they were visible symbols of wealth and exalted state, and as such displayed in costly tissues or orna- ment about their dusky locks and swarthy skin. The style and forms of the ornaments seen in Israelitish towns and hamlets, whether supplied by Sidonian workshops or of native fabrication — these, as a matter of course, less finely wrought — were akin to the numerous examples published in our volume on Phoenicia, to which we refer the reader. 1 The prodigious quantities of small furniture and jewellery, found even now all over the Mediterranean basin, testify to the commercial activity of the Phoenicians. It is not to be supposed, therefore, that they would have neglected to avail themselves of the opening which offered so near home, and that hawkers from the coast failed to penetrate every nook and corner of Syria. Besides these, there were travel- ling silversmiths who exercised their handicraft wherever customers were to be found, even as I have often and often seen the same class of workers establish themselves in many a Roumanian and Greek hamlet with their portable furnace, crucible, and small stock-in-trade. If a woman is in want of a personal ornament she takes from her hoard a few coins, according to her means, and in a little while sees them turned into a bangle, a clasp for the waist, or earrings, the artificer deducting a small percentage from the original sum. These primitive goldsmiths were doubtless Phoeni- cian or natives who had learnt the art of the former. The infer- ence that at this school the Israelites acquired sufficient proficiency to pass muster among their countrymen is borne out by the fact that the names of " those who were wise in cunning works in gold, in silver, and in brass," have been preserved {Exod. xxxi. 1-16, xxxv. 30-35, xxxvi. 1—3). The ancient Semites of Palestine had no coined money ; their commercial transactions were carried on by barter in kind or metals, generally silver, which was carefully weighed by the contracting parties. Gold must have been re- stricted to personal ornament, for nowhere do we come across a passing allusion to payments having been effected in that commo- dity. 3 We have seen how important was the art of the potter in 1 Hist, of Art, torn. iii. chap, x. § 5. 2 Gen. xxiii. ; xlvi. 6 ; lv. i, 2 ; Jer, xxxii. 9. The shekel seems to have been worth from 12 to 15 grams,