This beautiful ceramic sculpture is a votive
figure
from the middle of the first millennium BC,
and
represents a deity in the Phoenician
pantheon. It
shows a goddess standing on a plain
integral
base, a receptacle at her feet, and dressed in
a
long toga-like robe with a central wide sash.
The
head is very finely rendered, with large,
almond-
shaped eyes, a long nose and a slight smile
on
finely-modelled lips. The style is reminiscent
of
the Archaic Period Greek statues with which
it is
roughly contemporary. The back of the piece
is
almost completely plain, implying that it was
always meant to be viewed from the front
rather
than in the round, which is appropriate for
figures
destined for shrines. The condition of the
piece is
excellent, and it retains some calcareous
concretions from its long interment in the
Mediterranean.
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.
The current piece was recovered from the
floor of
the Mediterranean; the manner in which it
and
associated pieces were found suggests that
it
might have been part of a naval shrine
aboard the
doomed vessel, although it is also possible
that it
was being taken to a Phoenician outpost in
order
to form part of a shrine for a prosperous
household. In either case, this is an
exceptionally
attractive and historically fascinating piece
that
would take pride of place in any collection of
the
genre.
Moscati, S. (ed.). 1988. The Phoenicians.
John
Murray Publishers, London.