Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/211

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Syrian Sculpture. 181 which they engraved with figures of their gods, etc. The cylinder signet of Darius I. has been preserved. It repre- sents two warriors in a chariot, one directing the steed, the other standing behind the driver drawing a bow. A lion reared on its hind-legs appears calmly to await the dis- charge of the arrow, and above the group hovers the Ferouher. Asia Minor and Syria. The sculptures of Asia Minor and Syria betray the influence of all the neighbouring nations, and cannot be said to have any distinctive character of their own. The most ancient monuments of Asia Minor are the rock-cut bas-reliefs at the town of Bogas Koei, in Galatia. They consist of two processions; and the general style of the grouping and costumes is a combination of the Babylonian and Persian. We see the working of Assyrian influence in a marble chair, discovered in the same place, which has lions chiselled in relief upon it much resembling those of the portals of Nimrud. At the village of Nymphi, near Smyrna, there is a colossal bas-relief figure of a king, cut in a wall of rock, wearing the Egyptian pschent (a conical cap or crown with a spiral ornament in front). In Syria there are also many relics of Egyptian and Assyrian art : on a wall of rock, north of Beyrout, there are bas-reliefs in honour of the victory of Barneses the Great, side by side with others commemorating Assyrian triumphs. The Hebrews no doubt employed some sculpture — for we read of Jacob erecting a pillar over the grave of Bachel