Page 188 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

THE LEVANT IN THE SECOND MILLENNIUM B.C.

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Figure 75. Victorious homecoming, on ivory inlay from Megiddo

ance of provisions107 for the feast depicted in figure 74. This would seem to be a cele­
bration of the victory, as it is in figure 75. The furniture illustrated in this scene is purely
Asiatic - one tends, anachronistically, to say: Assyrian (cf. Plate 114) - but no such scene
has been rendered in Mesopotamian art since Early Dynastic times. One wonders
whether the feasts depicted in Egyptian tombs supplied the prototype, especially since
the attendant who stands comfortably with his arms crossed while he talks to two of the
guests recalls figures from the Memphite tomb of Horcmheb.108 The lotus held by the
ruler is an affectation of Egyptian culture.
The engraved inlay of figure 75 shows even more clearly how Egyptian formulas in­
fluenced the art of the Levant. On the right the prince returns from the war, with two
naked captives bound to the head-stalls of his horses. They are preceded by one of his
warriors. The king is protected by a design which is confused in a characteristically
Levantine manner, but which has certainly an Egyptian prototype, be it Mut-vulture,
Horus-falcon, or winged sun-disk. The drawing of small plants all over the field also re­
calls Egyptian usage. To the left the prince sits on an elaborate sphinx-throne - unknown
in Egypt - and accepts a lotus and a long fringed towel from a lady in Syrian dress (cf.
Plate 151). She is followed by a lute-player, while behind the throne two butlers are
busy near a large mixing-vessel and a serving-table with two cups or rhyta in the shape
of animal heads. These are known throughout the Near East - in Anatolia, Cyprus,
Crete, and elsewhere - and appear regularly among the tribute brought to Egypt by the
people of these regions as depicted in Theban tombs.109 The birds remain unexplained
and have no parallels in the Egyptian renderings of feasts. They seem a fortuitous addi­
tion of the engraver. The freer treatment of Egyptian themes might point to a fourteenth-
century date, for in Ramessid times Egyptian motifs seem to have been more slavishly
imitated.110
The engraving from Megiddo in figure 75 is obviously related to the stone sarco-
phagus of figure 76. This was found in a tomb at Byblos, together with fragments of a
vase inscribed with the name of Ramses II and the ivory plaque of plate 149A. At a later
date the tomb was re-used for the interment of a local ruler called Ahiram, as an inscrip­
tion engraved on the edge of the coffin lid tells us. Palaeographers are much concerned
with the exact date of the inscription, but this problem we can ignore since the inscrip-
: tion is a later addition.111
The thirteenth-century ruler for whom the coffin was carved is shown on a throne
closely resembling that of figure 75. The table on which his food is placed recalls
' our
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