The land of the Hittites : $b An account of recent explorations and discoveries in Asia Minor, with descriptions of the Hittite monumentsGarstang, John
History
The land of the Hittites : $b An account of recent explorations and discoveries in Asia Minor, with descriptions of the Hittite monuments
Garstang, John
Hittites; Turkey -- Antiquities
The stone sculptured with the representation of a Ceremonial Feast is
reported to have been found, together with ‘lance heads and potsherds,’
in a vineyard of Marash.[234] This is another of that class of monument
of which we noted the wide distribution and varying features in
connection with that found at Kara-burshlu. In this case both figures
are seated. They are presumably but not necessarily female. They are
clad in long robes; details of the bust are not visible, and it is only
the relative smallness of the feet and hands, and certain fulness in
the treatment of the bodies, that offer a suggestion of their sex. They
are seated on high square chairs with backs that curl away at the top,
and their feet rest upon low square footstools. A table between them
has straight legs, of which only two are shown, ornamented in some way
at the feet. On the table are three round bread-cakes and a cup. The
figures are _vis-à-vis_: each one stretches out the further hand, the
left one holding a cup, the other a round mirror of familiar Egyptian
shape. Their other hands are drawn back and only just protrude from
their cloaks; each seems to hold the same sort of object, ‘perhaps a
vase or pomegranate.’[235] The garment is curious, being continuous
over the head-dress, and descending to the ankles, with a fringe or
border all along the edge and round the bottom. There is a waistband to
each figure, which is seemingly composed of separate strands, but it is
difficult to understand its attachment.[236] The head-dress is singular,
being cylindrical in shape, recalling most nearly that of the Turkoman
women.[237] The faces of the persons are ill-drawn and unnatural, but
prominence is given to the straightness of nose in line with the receding
forehead[238] and to the fulness of the lips. Above and between the heads
there are traces of a considerable inscription in relief, of which the
signs towards the sides can be made out with some certainty; but the
middle portion is too worn to enable one to study the sequence of the
characters, or even to decide whether they form two groups, one referring
to each person. The whereabouts of this stone is uncertain, but casts are
in the Berlin Museum. Its height is 49 inches and width 35 inches; it is
just over 15 inches thick. The material is basaltic stone or dolerite.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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