Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/79

 Sculpture. 63 of them. On the flat side, in a shallow niche, stands the full-face figure of a king or priest, cut in low relief. The head and shoulders are gone, but enough remains to show that he wore a richly embroidered costume. On the breast is a pectoral, with meanders and rosettes running round it, like the patterns on the monuments of Assyria. The border of the mantle, which alone remains, was of no less ornamental description. It is open in front, showing a closely plaited fine tunic, akin to that of early Greek statues. In his hand is carried some object, perhaps a sceptre ; but, whether priest or king, he was certainly an exalted personage, taken in his gala dress. On the fragment of another stone, also in the British Museum, is figured an officiating priest, whose attributes and details — the earrings, for example — are closely allied to those of the monuments of Nineveh.^ Finally, a slab, likewise from Jerabis, represents a figure clad in a long robe reaching to the ankles, and shoes curled up at the end. In his left hand, which is outstretched, is held a sceptre by the middle, or, as some think, one or more arrows. The lines of the inscribed characters, in great part preserved, are high up on the stone and about the sides of the image.^ The sculptures that we have brought together are but the first instalments of a peculiarly interesting series, which, it is to be hoped, fresh discoveries will render complete at no distant date, and form a pendant to the royal stelas of Assyria, published by us in a former volume.^ The day that shall unravel the mystery of Hittlte hieroglyphs will also reveal the names of the kings who struggled with Seti and Ramses, with Shalmaneser and Sargon ; names that we only know from Theban and Ninevite inscriptions, but which a native Pentaur may have engraved along with his own version of the campaigns on the banks of the Orontes. Meanwhile, where are we to look for these royal stelas ? Were they set up in the temples, in the adjoining courts, or in the halls of the sovereign ? We know not ; for no building, whether at ^ Wright, The Empire^ Plate XIX. If we have not reproduced the two last- named figures, it is because they are almost Assyrian in execution. As the limits of our space do not allow of our publishing all the monuments that have been recovered in North Syria, we have confined our selection to those distinguished by quaint, peculiar aspect, so as to bring in a few specimens recently discovered. These, as a natural consequence, are not found in Mr. Wright's work. » Wright, The Empire, Plate IX. " Hist, of Art, tom. ii. Fig. 69, p. 306, and Plate XII.