Page 280 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

NOTES

even among the Hittites the shawl was a woman’s even metal wire is used for ornaments; but in
garment. On another stele (Schaeffer, The Cunci- ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia it is con-
j'onn Texts of Ras-Shamra-Ugarit, plate xxxi) two ncctcd with the Goddess of Birth - see Journal of
figures arc explicitly related to one another. It Near Eastern Studies, m, 198 ff.
is' a crude piece of carving, lacking not only the 64. H. J. Kantor, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies,
clarity and surcncss of line of plate 141, but also the VI> 255; cf. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, xxvii
modicum of plasticity of its hands, knees, and face. (1941), 113 ff., csp. plate xx.
The figures of the other stele stand out with sharp ^ For a criticism of Schaeffer’s opposite view- p. 151
edges before a background roughly cut away, and point, see Bibliotheca Orientalis, vm (Leiden, 1951),
the detail is engraved. Its interest lies in a mixture ot ^ ^
derived and native features. The winged disk 66. C. F. A. Schaeffer, Ugaritica, ir, 8-18, inter­
crowns the scene, as it docs on Egyptian steles, prets the decoration of the plate as if it were the
but it is Syrian in design. The god’s throne is a rendering of an actual adventure of a ruler of
piece of Egyptian furniture, his crown is Syrian Ugarit.
and his gesture and dress arc Syrian or Babylon­
ian; the standing figure who seems to offer the god 67. The rope attached to the dog’s collar is a loop p. 152
refreshment was supposed by the discoverer to through which the leash was passed. The dogs
be the king of Ugarit, but his beardless face and were released by letting the leash slip through the
head-dress suggest an Egyptian, not a Semitic loop-
king; moreover, the royal serpent seems to be 68. Bruno Meissner, Bcitrdgc zur altoricntulischcu
fastened to the front of his crown. If this view is Archacologic (Leipzig, I934)> 1-14- A. Moortgat,
correct, the staff he holds might be crowned with Die bildende Kunst dcs alien Orients und die Berg-
thc ram of Anion, and the whole scene would volkcr (Berlin, 1932), increases confusion by the use
appear as a chauvinistic interpretation of the of the term ‘Bildgedanke’, which effectively pre­
city’s relations with Egypt, Pharaoh being shown vents him from distinguishing the role in a work of
doing homage to El, the chief god of Ugarit. art of three separate tilings: actuality, imagination,
r-149 59. The hair star on the shoulders of lions is too and style.
widely distributed in both space and time to be 69. Tomb of User, N. de Garis Davies, Five
relevant here. See Helene J. Kantor’s article in Theban Tombs, plate xxii, reign of Thutmosis L
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vi. Tomb of Userhet, reign of Amcnliotcp II. Wresz-
inski, Atlas zur Aegyptischen Kulturgeschichtc, 1,
p. 150 60. The engraved lines arc generally thought to
plate 26A.
represent horns and the figurine to render a god.
But several figures in the round show that the horns 70. Georg Karo, Die Schachtgrdbcr von Mykenai,
of the divine crowns were not rendered in this plate xxiv, no. 240. So also the horses on the
way; they were separately made and stood out sword blade, ibid., plate Lxxxvi.
from the side of the head and curved forward. So, 71. Part of the archives of Akhenaten’s capital has p. 153
for instance, in a fine figurine from Ras Shamra been recovered; it is known as the ‘Tell cl Amarna
(C. F. A. Schaeffer, The Cuneiform Texts from Ras- letters’, and consists of reports and appeals for help
Shamra-Ugarit, plate xxxiii). A stone head from from Egypt’s allies and vassals in Asia which dis-
Djabbul, now in the Louvre, shows the same cn- close the ascendancy of the Hittites and their
graved lines (Contenau, Manuel, n, 1016; Moortgat, methods of intimidation and indirect aggression.
Berg volkcr, plate ix, a proper profdc), but here the 72. Sidney Smith has collected the evidence and p. 154
w ole headgear is rendered more clearly. The felt discussed the the location of the 4 preserves with
C° Prcsscdto the back and sides of the elephants’ on the Euphrates, near Meskinch, in The
head by a metal diadem which splays out in front Statue of Idrimi (London, 1949), 4§ ff- Goetze ad- !
into our strips hammered flat and curving upwards, vocatcs (like Gardiner and Albright) a location in
n t us lead they arc, however, connected by a the Upper Orontes valley, north-west of Hama, in
show StnP’ Whidl °Ur br°nZC fl3urinc docs not Journal of Cuneiform Studies, iv (1950), 230.
73. J. FI. Breasted, Records of Ancient Egypt, 11,
61. Frankfort, Cylinder Seals, plates xlii(f) and
xliv(g). 233, § 588.
74. Antiquaries7 Journal, xxvin (1948), 14.
62. Antiquaries7 Journal, xix (1939). plate xviii, 3.
75. P. Montet, Byblos ct Vfigyptc, 220. These may
3- he spectacle spiral is easily produced when- date from the thirteenth century, as do other
251