Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/266

 248 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud^a. uncovered/ hence it has no claim to be considered as a Hittite peculiarity. On the other hand, the frog does not occur in the inscribed stones of Northern Syria, whilst the attitude of the bull and bird is foreign to Hittite art, wherein lack of skill is manifest, in that the figures, without exception, are drawn in profile, and quiescent ; whereas here the bull is full face, and the bird is flapping its wings preparatory to flying away.^ Representations of human and animal forms, when transferred to a system of writing, must of necessity undergo simplification to suit their new sur- roundings, albeit preserving their natural characteristics; when these are absent, we have no right to assume that the sign we have before us is the portraiture of the original form. The same doubts are felt with regard to Fig 379. It shows three figures of widely different aspect ; whom M. Menant identi- FiG. 379. — Cylinder. Hemat. Menant, Les Pierres Gravies^ Fig. 1 12. Fig. 380.— Cylinder. Hemat. Menant, Les Pierres Gravees, ii. Fig. 113. fies as Egyptian, Chaldaean, and Hittite; the latter carrying a standard surmounted by a winged disc. They move towards two kings or gods, standing in a bower or cella, framed by a wide interlaced border. One of the personages holds the crux ansata, and is distinguished by an Egyptian headdress. " A most fasci- nating theory, '' writes M. Menant," would be to recognize in the figures of the bower Hittite and Egyptian kings, brought together for the purpose of concluding an alliance, which Egyptians, Chaldseans, and Hittites are to witness." Against this hypothesis is the overwhelming objection, that if one of the figures is an Egyptian god or hero, the long robe and peculiar headdress of the other recall the mitred bulls of Nineveh, and point to Chaldaea as their original home. Again, the artistic way with which the ^ Hist, of Art, torn. ii. Fig. 327. Lajard, Culte de Mithra, Plate XXIX. i, Plate XLIX. i. ^ Wright, The Empire, Plate IV. H. V., fourth line on the left. See also Lajard {^Culte de Mithra, Plates XXX I. 7, and XL. 3), where, amongst others, are two intaglios of marked Chaldaean character.