Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/481

MiiDAL Engraving. 457 226).* It represents the combat of the great king with two Greek warriors, recognizable from the helmet. The former, habited in the usual long robe and fluted tiara, brandishes a long pike against the foe, whilst with the right hand he uses the bow to parry the thrusts of his antagonist. One of the Greek warriors has already Mien, and the other seems about to follow. A winged disc, of Assyrian type rather than Persian, appears above the scene. 'V^'here and by whom was this seal engraved ? It is hard to say. But for the fact that victory all over the line ^'^SSrig^;;; seems assured to the Persian champion, we should p^l^*^ be tempted to see in it an imitation of Oriental art executed by some Greek artist settled on the Bosphorus, the boundary line of the Asiatic and Hellenic world. But would Hellenic pride, with its contempt for Barbarians, ever have con- sented to give such a turn as this to the combat ? Our list could be easily lengthened out, but the specimens, and more especially the Persian coins we have figured, are sufficiently distinct to enable the reader to single them out in collections of engraved stones, when they happen to be mixed with ' ,,a.-c>,inu«. chalcedony, those of other countries.* The term " Persian coins " is applied by us to such pieces as were struck, in this period, by the Achaemenidae in precisely the same con- ditions as those attending on the seals, a selection of which has been placed before the reader. M£DAL ENGKAVIiiG. The designation of "Persian coinage" must be understood within the same limitations as "Persian intaglios," except that these are far in advance of coined money as artistic productions. Of course it is not probable that seals were of Persian workmanship ; ' Antiijuith du Bosphore Cimmerien, Plate XVI. Fig. 5. • Some few engraved stones, akin to those we have figured, will be found in the "Catalogue d une collection d'intatlles asiatiques," published by A. de Gobineau {Revue arc*/., N.S., 1S74, torn. xxviL). See particularly Not. 47-6a Digitized by Google