Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/383

 Industrial Arts. 353 tentatively deciphered as Molochith. In other examples the characters are uncertain or obliterated, but in every instance enough remains to identify them with those of the Silwan and Ezekiel's monuments. There is reason, there- fore, to refer these vases and broken - up frag - ments to the era of Jeremiah, perhaps even earlier, whilst the names that appear on them were probably those of the potters in whose workshops they were manufactured. It has been erroneously sup- posed that the best-pre- served legend is capable of being divided into Molech, god, and ziph, a proper name or a mere translatable word, expressive of one of the attributes of the deity : " The all - seeing," for example. 1 But against this theory is the unquestionable fact, that names compounded of Molech were borne by Israelites under the kings, so that it is difficult to pronounce whether the names in question were borne by Jews or Phoenician craftsmen established at Jerusalem. However that may be, English excavations have brought to light a number of specimens of a different character from the above, which are of undoubted Punic origin, faithfully reproducing the types which we have studied in Cyprus. They are of yellowish colour, profusely ornamented with barred and in- terlaced patterns of dark red. The largest exemplar is a fragment 1 This interpretation was proposed by M. J. B. Greene {Quarterly Statements, pp. 304-311, 1881). We follow the opinion of Ganneau as more plausible and likely. The lamed, equivalent to the possessive genitive, suggests the factory or the potter " ziph " or " zeph," originator of the vessel, rather than its dedication to one of the Baalim. The proper name Ziph or Zapha occurs but once in the Old Testament (1 Chron. iv. 16). vol. 1. 2 A Fig. 241. — Vase unearthed at Jerusalem, rians, Elevations, and Sections, Plate XLV.