statuaries; they understood how to introduce variety into the attitudes
of those whom they represented, and even into the movements of the
horses. Note, in this connection, the steeds of the two cavaliers in
front; one of them holds up his head, the other bends it towards the
ground. The draperies are also cleverly treated, especially those of the
foot soldiers who bring up the rear, and resemble in many respects
the costume of the Greeks. On the other hand, the types of divinity,
repeated four times at the two ends of the monument, have nothing that
is Hellenic about them, but are borrowed from the Pantheon of Phoenicia.
Even in the procession itself--the train of horsemen, footmen, and
chariots, which is certainly the sculptor’s true subject--there are
features which recall the local customs and usages of the East. The
conical caps of the two cavaliers closely resemble those which we see on
the heads of many of the Cyprian statues; the parasol which shades the
head of the great person in the first _biga_ is the symbol of Asiatic
royalty; lastly, the fan-shaped plume which rises above the heads of all
the chariot horses is an ornament that one sees in the same position
in Assyria and in Lycia, whensoever the sculptor desires to represent
horses magnificently caparisoned.”[737]
Sarcophagi recently exhumed in the vicinity of Sidon are said to be
adorned with reliefs superior to any previously known specimens of
Phoenician art. As, however, no drawings or photographs of these
sculptures have as yet reached Western Europe, it will perhaps be
sufficient in this place to direct attention to the descriptions of them
which an eye-witness has published in the “Journal de Beyrout.”[738] No
trustworthy critical estimate can be formed from mere descriptions,
and it will therefore be necessary to reserve our judgment until
the sculptures themselves, or correct representations of them, are
accessible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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