Cilicia, its former history and present state; with an account of the idolatrous worship prevailing there previous to the introduction of Christianity . skin. Isthis an oriental form ofHercides? We know from the cylinders thatthe Babylonians had their Hercules. Also, a left hand of a Hercules holding his club; the lions skin fall-ing over it. The Assyrian Hercules was also represented holding amace in his hand. It is remarkable, however, that among the many and various repre-sentations that occur of Hercules among the Cilician terra-cottas, we do not find any of the representations pre-cisely
Cilicia, its former history and present state; with an account of the idolatrous worship prevailing there previous to the introduction of Christianity . skin. Isthis an oriental form ofHercides? We know from the cylinders thatthe Babylonians had their Hercules. Also, a left hand of a Hercules holding his club; the lions skin fall-ing over it. The Assyrian Hercules was also represented holding amace in his hand. It is remarkable, however, that among the many and various repre-sentations that occur of Hercules among the Cilician terra-cottas, we do not find any of the representations pre-cisely identical with that of the AssyrianHercules, Sandon or Sandok, also calledDayyad the himter. One head of Hercules is radiated : it is a magniticent head, and the profile is like the finest figures of that deity whicli have come down to our times; nor will it suffer by comparison with any of them, making allowance for the material. Among the Cilician terra-cottas are NO. 56.—HEADS OF ARIADNE AND two heads iu tlic act of kissing; the BACCHUS. female seems to be crowned with ivy, the crown of the other is obliterated. These may not improbably re-. THE FIR-CONE. 217 present Bacchus and Ariadne. The ivy forbids us calling it Cupid andPsyche. There is also a fragment of a vessel worked into the head of the In-dian Bacchus. Also a remarkable fragment of a figiu-e in bold relief:a naked, old, fat, ugly man, bald-headed, bearing a thyrsus and a wine-cup, which he seems to have been making free use of. It will be remembered that Bacchus brought his thyrsus, sur-moimted by the pine or fir-cone, from the East, when he returned fromhis Indian expedition ; and this is probably an Indian, or, at aU events,an Oriental Bacchus. M, Lajard has shewn in an elaborate essay* the connexion betweenthe cone of the cypress and the worship of Venus in the religious sys-tems of the East. Layard hesitates to identify the object held by the winged figures ofthe Assyrian monuments, and evidently, from thei
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookidciliciaitsfo, bookyear1862
