Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/148

 132 A History of Art in Sardinia and JuP/EA. lutely nothing of Eastern Asia Minor previous to the Median invasion, and our inability to decipher the inscriptions renders darkness more complete. Again, these bas-reliefs v^ere meant as a reminiscence of a victory obtained over the Saces, which was celebrated throughout the Median empire in a national festival under the name of " Sacae " (Saces) ;^ whilst M. Kiepert sees in the figures with tall conical caps the warlike Scythians (Saces) who invaded Media,^and whose power was felt in Anterior Asia, down to Alyattesand Cyaxares I.^ Finally, Barth, moved by more peaceful sentiments, recognizes a pageant of a domestic character : the marriage of Aryenis, daughter of Alyattes, with Astyages, son of Cyaxares, which put an end to the war between Media and Lydia. More than this, he fancied he saw the solar and lunar discs, in the hands of the twin monstrous figures carved in the small hollow ; which he argued were symbolic of the total eclipse reported by Herodotus as having so frightened the soldiers that they could not be induced to fight, and thus led to the conclusion of peace/ We found nothing of the kind on the stone in question (L M in plan. Figs. 315, 316). According to us, not an historical composition, but rather a concrete expression of the religious ideas and the images of the deities worshipped by the nation who carved them should be sought here. This, our assumption, is borne out by the winged figures, which do not belong to the material world (letter D in plan, Plate VHI.). If in Assyrian bas-reliefs of a marked historical colouring, winged genii, more or less fantastic deities, are encoun- tered, they are almost always associated with the solemn act of prayer and sacrifice ; analogous to the subject which we think we can divine here. But they never mix with the human crowd ; and when introduced in hunting or war episodes, their exalted position, the sacred ring around their middle, and outstretched wings, leave undoubtful their divine origin. We unconsciously feel that, though in it, they are not of it ; hence, notwithstand- ^ Asie Mineure (yUnivers pittoresque), p. 615. ^ Their invasion lasted twenty-eight years.— Editor. ^ Kiepert. ArchceMogische Zeitung, Berlin, 1843, P- 44- Herodotus vii. 64. Barth. Reise von Trapezimt nach Scutari^ P« 45' M, left by the blocking out, and stars or spheres were made out of this amorphous, insignificant mass.
 * The sculptor forgot to remove the thickness around the finger-tips, in figure