We publish some of these bronzes as specimens of the original and
unadulterated Shemitic art.
The first, in fig. 22, is a statuette with some Egyptian touches; but
Fig. 22.
the next, and fig. 23, are of progressive barbarism—all characterized
by the peculiar head-dress in the shape of a horn, the “ exalted horn ”
of the Scriptures, which, down to the present day, has endured in the
national ornament of the Druse females. The ugliness of these, no
less than of the Sardinian statuettes,—scarcely reconcilable with commonly
received ideas about the wealth and display of the merchant-
princes of Sidon and Tyre, and the power of Carthage,—ought not to
throw a doubt upon their Shemitic origin ; for, according to Herodotus,
115 ugly and distorted representations were not excluded from
among the Phoenician forms of godhead.
116 Herodotus, III. 87.
Fig. 23.
E shmun, (Puhzky Coll.)
“ Winckelman’s guess,” says Gerhard, in his often quoted essay, “ that elegance might
have been the principal feature of Phoenician art, is not borne out by the extant idols; these
are rude and intended to strike terror, like the idols of Mexico.116 . . . . All the oriental elements
in Greek and Etruscan art,” he continues, “ formerly attributed to Phoenician influence,,
can be traced to quite different countries of Asia, first to Candaules and Croesus of
Lydia, but if we ascend to the source—to Babylon and Nineveh. According to the remains
of Phoenician monuments, the merit of this nation must be restricted to the clever use of
some peculiar materials, for instance, bronze, gold, and ivory, glass and purple; and to
their mediating assistance afforded to the higher art of inner Asia, by copying their forms,
and by carrying them to the west.”
Tbe Sbemites being destitute of bigber national art, it is to tbe
Egyptian and Assyrian monuments tbat we are indebted for tbe preservation
of tbe ancient Shemitic cast of features, wbicb has remained
unchanged for thirty and more centuries.117 We could not have
recognized them in tbe works of their own artists, who either imi-
116 Gerhard, op, ¡¡it., p. 17, 21.
117 See examples in Types of Mankind, chapter iy. “ Physical History of the Jews.”