The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1879-10-08


Gift of the Aramao-P Phnnicians. AS the
Oldest form of the Greek letters does not
differ much from that exhibited on the
famous Moabite stone, it is apparently
safe to infer that the alphabet Of Cadmus
was brought to the West at date not
very far removed from that Of Mesha and
Ahab say about 800 B. c. tits equally
safe to anticipate the discovery of objects
earlier than the ninth century B. @. bear
ing traces of other species Of Phemcian
influence.
The second fact to which allusion has
been made is the existence of pottery Of
the same material and pattern on all the
most ancient sites Of the Greek world
however distant from one another. This
pottery has been found, for instance, at
Mvlena and Tiryus, at Athens, IN
Rhodes, in Cyprus. It's Of drab color
and is ornamented with geometrical and
other figures in black and maroon red.
At a later period the patterns become
more complicated and artistic. Flowers,
animals, and at length men and women,
supersede the simple lines, and the pot
terry gradually passes into the Corinthian
or Pheniko-Greek. 1t is said to take
little experience to distinguish the early
drab from the red clay Of the later Hell
lenic era.
There seems to be reason to conclude
that as far back as the sixteenth century
B. c. the Phenicians were trading be-
tween Assyria and Egypt, and held an
advanced position in commerce and the
fine arts. They were, as is well known,
the great carriers of the ancient world,
They dealt largely in slaves and purple,
and both were to be found upon the shores
or in the seas Of Greece. The recent ex-
cavations at Hissarlik, Thera, Cyprus,
and other places seem to show traces OF
Phenician commerce and civilization IN
/ Greece at least FIVE centuries before the
introduction of the alphabet Of Cadmus.
These indications are far too numerous
and minute to be mentioned here The
argument is cumulative and nearly IRE
sistible. A few examples must stand for
all. The delneation which DIR. Schlle-
mann at Hissarlik took for an OWLS head
is now believed to be rude imitation OF
the human face. The curious vases en-
which these owl-hke human faces are
found re-appear, but in finer shape,
among the spoils of conservative Cyprus
This island, recently grown into such po-
htical Importance, lay midway between
Greece and Ph@nicia, and was occupied
by mixed population Of Aryans and
Semites.
Strictly speaking Phenicia had no ma
tive art Its artists were schooled on the
Nile and the Euphrates but improved
upon their models. There seems indeed
to have been also small amount Of orig
inality in the Phenician work, but at
present it is only suspected in the shapes
given to some Of the vases, and in pic
lures of the polypus, the murex, and the
butterfly. Ph@nician art exercised a
marked influence in the 7th and 8th cen
turies B. C. upon Assyria; but was only
giving back in better form what it had
received from that source. The Assy-
rians and Babylonians had themselves
borrowed from the earlier Accadian race
1t is a notable fact that the art Of AS
syria, of Phpnicia, and of prehistoric
Greece, is in a great measure the same
The prototype of Hercules is the hero oi
Chaldan epic perhaps four thousand
years old. The earliest traces Of the
/ Greek columnar architecture, and of Greek
art in general, are to be sought for in the
buildings and engravings Of old Chaldea
/ Mr.. Sayce was at once struck by the As
svrian character of the sculpture about
the Gate of Lions at Myken@. The pot
terry that has been dug up there is Of the
Phenician type Essentially the same
representation of the Babylonian goddess
| Artemis-Nana have been discovered not
only all over Greece, but over the whole
area traversed by the Phenicians. The
archaic period of Babylonian art is thought
to have closed with the rise Of Assyria in
the 18th century B. c. The second pc
riod of western art is signalized by GER
tain objects in the tombs at Myken@r
where the intagios are no longer Babylo-
nian but distinctly Assyrian. One OF
these Is hunting scene, with the hunts
man in a chariot. The lion on one Of the
gold prisms is equally Assyrian. Of later
date, apparently, but Of the same school,
is conflict between a man IHercules p
and lion, in which the man is more Of a
western type.
Phenician influence continued to be
felt up to the end of the 7th century BIC.
During the earlier part of the second pc
riod of Phenician influence, Assyrian cul-
ture found other channels of communica-
ton with the west, besides those afforded
by Phenicia and her colonies. One Of
these channels was through Asia Minor,
Phrygia had muchi in common with Greece.
The legends of Midas and Gordius belong
to Greek mythology The golden sands