Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/41

FIGURES OF DEITIES. But it is not always easy to distinguish between this type and another very like it, that of the god Bes. Ptah and Bes have much the same physical conformation, but the muscularity of Bes is more virile, his short ears are placed very high on his head, he FIG. 16. Coin ascribed to Arvad. French National Collection. has the hanging tongue and contracted face of a Gorgon. His costume, too, is peculiar : he wears a panther's skin and his head is often crowned by a coronet of tall feathers. These accessories are not always present, and sometimes we may feel certain doubts as to the identity of the figure, but as a rule the difference is well FlG. 17. Ptah. Glazed earthenware. Louvre. Actual size. marked, and in spite of a few common features the two types are sufficiently distinct. vol. ii. pp. 125-134). In this image Dr. Parrot sees the copy of a congenital malformation noticed by himself in certain living subjects, and named by him malformation achondroplastique. His note 5s illustrated by a photograph taken from a child of seven, which recalls the more obvious features of the Embryonic Ptah in a very striking way.