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HOME :
Biblical Antiquities :
Phoenician Artefacts : Phoenician Sculpture of a Boat
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Phoenician Sculpture of a Boat - RP.092
Origin: Lebanon
Circa: 600
BC
to 500
BC
Dimensions:
6" (15.2cm) high
x 18.5" (47.0cm) wide
x 5.25" (13.3cm) depth
Collection: Biblical
Medium: Terracotta
Additional Information: SOLD
£9,000.00
Location: UAE
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| Description |
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The Phoenicians were one of the most important
civilisations of the
ancient world, and flourished from around 1500 to
300 BC. Their
world was centred on Northern Israel, Lebanon
and Syria, while their
sphere of conquest and influence extended
throughout the
Mediterranean and even beyond the Pillars of
Hercules (the Straits of
Gibraltar) and into the Mediterranean-Atlantic.
Their power was due
primarily to their mastery of seamanship – which
they developed to a
whole new level during their pre-eminence – and
extremely well-
organised administration which was strengthened
by extensive use
of the alphabet. Indeed, it was the Phoenicians
who introduced the
alphabet to the Greeks, who in turn passed it onto
the rest of the
Western World. They were essentially Canaanites,
to whom they were
identical in sociocultural and material terms, the
only difference
being the massive range over which their cultural
remains and
heritage can be found. Phoenician society was
comparatively stable
when compared to the changeable fortunes of
other Eastern
Mediterranean cultures, primarily due to its broad
royal, political and
religious foundations. The town of Byblos became
a major hub for
trade all over the Fertile Crescent, followed by
Tyre and Sidon;
overseas territories notably included Carthage
(founded 814 BC), but
they either took over or culturally dominated
trading ports from
Cyprus to Malta, Spain, Portugal and Sardinia.
They traded in purple
dye (“Tyrian Purple”), textiles, luxury ceramics,
silver, tin (with
England) and glass, explored down the west coast
of Africa as far as
the Gulf of Guinea, and may even have
circumnavigated Africa in
around 600 BC.
Their artistic output is usually on a small scale –
enabling it to be
easily transported and traded – and made of high-
value materials
such as glass and precious metal. Phoenician
styles are largely
derivative, being informed by sources as varied as
Cyprus, Egypt,
Assyria and Greece, and has been described as an
amalgam of pre-
classic models and perspectives, often with
regionalised local
stylistic variants. The use of ceramic figures
seems to have been
religious in origin, with shrine figures (or baetyls)
depicting a wide
range of the deities and legendary figures from
Mediterranean
mythology. Clay tableaux show these figures being
displayed in
niches, worshipped at a familial or group level, and
they were also
sometimes interred with the dead. Depictions
range from the
classical-naturalistic to the schematic or even
grotesque. Specific
members of the pantheon include Baal (or Baal-
Hammon, to whom
children were sacrificed), Eshmun (god of healing
and the arts),
Melqart (the Phoenician equivalent of
Poseidon/Neptune) Bes (an
Egyptian household god resembling an ugly
dwarf), Tanit (the patron
goddess of Carthage) and Astarte (an indigenous
Phoenician
goddess). Various other deities cannot be
specifically identified. It is
notable that the gender bias is very strong
towards goddesses. The
significance of individual gods or figures cannot
be ascertained in
most cases. As with most societies, any figure
with greatly
exaggerated sexual characteristics is usually
associated with fertility,
although most figures are likely to represent
personages whose
significance has been lost to us.
- (RP.092)
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