Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/164

 146 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud^a. It was a place of great importance in antiquity, when a celebrated temple to Anaitis stood here, which attracted people to worship at the shrine from all parts of Asia. The traditions attaching to the spot, though long forgotten, have still the power to make it the one great meeting-place for Anterior Asia.^ Pterium, the capital of the district, the head of an important pass, situated midway between Sinope and Tarsus, was on one of the high roads followed by the trade of the interior ; and as such could not but have a sanctuary of its own. The leading idea which per- vaded the rites celebrated here was doubtless connected with one of the many divine dual forms variously called Baal and Ash- toreth, Tammuz and Bdaltis, Sandan and Mylitta, Reshep and Anait, Adonis and Aphrodite, Atys and Cybele — according to the localities in which they were worshipped — albeit all were originally mere epithets of one supreme, formless God. In Him was embodied the twofold principle of all terrestrial generation, the male and female, without which life could not be produced. But for the general worship, this pure and abstract monotheism was obliged to borrow symbols and images, in order to convey to the imagina- tion the duality expressed by two persons.^ What was the appellation borne by the twin deities of Cappa- docia ? - It is impossible to say; but we shall not greatly err in assuming that the female manifestation was closely allied to the Cybele of the Greek Pantheon ; conceived by the Hellenes, in their ignorance of her true origin, as having been born at Pessinus, where she had a famous temple. Cappadocian civilization is certainly older than the Phrygian — the latter borrowed largely from the former, even, it may be, this divine type and appellation. Classic art represents the Phrygian goddess in a chariot drawn by lions, with a turreted cap, the prototype of the mural crown seen in all the figures of the group to the right ; ^ the first figure standing on a panther or lioness. Numerous are the examples of a similar disposition in the 1 With regard to Zileh and its ancient sanctuary, see Exploration Archeologique de la Galatie, pp. 459-466; G. Perrot, Souvenirs d'un Voyage en Asie Mineure^ p. 378. If there ever was a fair near Boghaz-Keui, it probably fell into desuetude after Croesus's expedition, when the country became little better than a wilderness. 2 De Vogue, Melanges dArcheologie Orientals. Inscriptions Pheniciennes de Cypre, pp. 41-85. ^ In the first figure of the dexter row, considerably larger than the rest, this detail is perceptible {Exploration Archeologique^ p. 356).