Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/215

MEN. 191 Museum of New York, we find it difficult to distinguish between the images of priests and those of private worshippers, of kings, soldiers, or merchants. Such pedestals as were still standing were without inscriptions. The few dedicatory texts discovered there or elsewhere, in the island, were separated from the statues to which they referred. The point, however, is of slight importance. Both priests and laymen, as we should call them, were governed by the same ideas when they raised their statues in the sanctuary. And all these statues, when in good preservation, have one common characteristic ; they all hold in their hands something in the nature of an offering, as a symbol of homage. The most frequently recurring attributes are the patera ; l the pyx or incense box ; 2 the alabastron, or perfume bottle ; 3 fruits or flowers ; 4 branches of foliage (Vol. I. Fig. I95), 5 the head of a bull, 6 and FIG. 128. Cypriot head. Height 12 inches. New York Museum. From Ceccaldi. pigeons (Fig. 73). 7 In one instance we find a clove perched on a pyx. 8 Almost all these statues are male or at least appear to be so. There are, however, a few figures of draped women holding a flower against their chests, sometimes with the right hand, some- times with the left, while the disengaged arm hangs down at the side (Vol. I. Fig. 196, and Vol. II. Fig. 92). One of these wears her head covered with a scarf which hangs down at the back over the nape of the neck and even to the shoulders, while in the other the hair 1 DOELL, Die Sammlung Cesnola, No. Si. 2 Ibid. Nos. 8 1, 82, 105, 123, 127. 3 Ibid. No. 114. 4 Ibid. Nos. 108, 109. 5 Ibid. Nos. 8 1, 82, 83. " Ibid. No. 124. 7 Ibid. Nos. 80, 91, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100. s Ibid. Xo. 136.