Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/64

 48 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.^a. lions of Assyrian palaces, one on each side of the doorway through which you passed to enter the private apartments of the sovereign.^ The size of the lions, 2 m. high by 3 J m. from head to tail, confirms this hypothesis ; ^ they were supposed to guard the en- trance to the palace or town, even as in the present day the petty lord of a district in Turkey, whose castle generally commands a defile, is called Dere-bey, '* guardian of the pass." The modern Kurds, albeit less civilized than the Hittites in the time of Khitisar, of the Ramses, and the Thothmes, in some respects may be considered as their successors. Like the earlier inhabitants, they love to erect strongholds at the entrance of a narrow gorge, or upon inaccessible summits, with walls thick enough to ensure their safety and guard them against sudden attacks. But the parallel ends here, for their prototypes did something more than provide the bare necessities of existence. Long usage with a certain degree of refinement of life, had stimulated them into elaborating an art of their own, or, if the term be deemed too ambitious, industrial productions. Some of these, their citadels, for instance, bear witness to their skill in the science of self-defence. Their kings lived in houses, in which their images and that of their deities were sculptured, along with inscriptions that we cannot read as yet, but doubtless containing their names, the recital of their peaceful avocations and warlike deeds, mayhap their prayers and thanksgivings. ^ Hist, of Art ^ torn. ii. p. 282. 2 The measurement is only approximative, the scale having been obtained by- photographing a man of the escort with one of the lions. We have also the drawing of a still larger lion before us, sculptured on a slab 4 m. long by 2 m. 30 c. high, dis- covered by Haynes, the American traveller, at Aslan-tach, the *' lion-stone," in the plain of Serug. We do not reproduce the monument, because we think it posterior to Hittite art. The execution, at once more skilful, but destitute of vigour and lightness of touch, is a later development, and betrays Assyrian origin. Decidedly Assyrian is also the peculiar conventional mode of figuring the fore-paws of the animal, full face and in profile at the same time, a detail never seen on Hittite monuments. Moreover, as far as our experience reaches, we have no reason to suppose that the tribes which made use of the Hittite writing ever crossed the Euphrates; and the Kurdish village, where the lion under notice was found, is on the right bank of the river, ten hours from Birejik, and twelve on the south-west of Urfa. M. Sterrett writes : " Some two hours and a half from Arslan Tachi, in Cataonia, the Wolfe Mission came upon a very archaic lion, which was forthwith photographed. At a place called Jegin, a short way west of Albistan, the Rev. H. Warden, of the American Mission, discovered a Hittite inscription, which covered the sides of a quadrangular stela, of which he made a careful copy."