Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/51

 TF^R Writing of the Hittites. 35 IIITTITE CYPRIOTE oflo q[]d I e )•( y' jT ^a ku -^ ;^a ^^ te to 7X ff" mm TTLe^rrio m <D mo V YH - ^ " ^' n I& ^ t. jt ^ it dt ^ At the outset, it seems as if comparison of the Cypriote cha- racters, the values of which are nearly all known, would enable us to make out the value of the original Hittite pattern. But great difficulty is encoun- tered in restoring the perfect initial form, with any de- gree of certainty or even verisimili- tude, from the late abridged sign. The primitive outline is still to be traced in a certain number of hieroglyphs, as will be seen in the annexed table by Professor Sayce (Fig. 263). The idea of juxtaposing Fig. 263.— Comparative Table of Hittite and Cypriote Hieroglyphs, certain Hittite cha- racters of which he had endeavoured to determine the values, and which he thought denoted voices or consonants followed by a vowel, along with eight corresponding Cypriote signs, was suggested to him by Dr. Isaac Taylor, and the result was as unexpected as it was satisfactory. With the exception of " se " and " u," which are open to criticism, the resemblance was so close in each case as to be almost identical (see fig.)/ In a word, the Cypriote syllabary bears the same relation to the sculptures of Asia Minor and the Hamathite inscriptions, as the Egyptian demotic and hieratic modes of writing do to the monumental hieroglyphics on pylons and sepulchres. It is needless to dwell upon the importance of the " Hittite Ques- tion," or remind the reader that to deal with it under all its aspects would involve a whole volume. Excellent and reliable though Dr. Wright's work may be, it can lay no claim to originality, and is but a compilation, leaving many things unsaid. Thus, to name but one, no attempt is made clearly to define the art of the Hittites, who excelled in the portraiture of the human and animal
 * Wright, The Empire^ p. 178.