The Open court . very latest coins and gems, when there is a metope-like constructionshown above the cone, there is no sign at all of a roof above thecentral portion. The wings give the whole structure a superficial 466 THE OPEN COURT. resemblance to the primitive (and therefore Phoenician-influencing?)Cnossian fresco at Mycenae, which was also constructed mainly ofwood. In the British Museum Gem (Fig. 5) where an extra storeyis added, the side wings have a further growth. The date may belater, but at least the gem shows that the three-storied chambersof Solomons Temple can be combined with an
The Open court . very latest coins and gems, when there is a metope-like constructionshown above the cone, there is no sign at all of a roof above thecentral portion. The wings give the whole structure a superficial 466 THE OPEN COURT. resemblance to the primitive (and therefore Phoenician-influencing?)Cnossian fresco at Mycenae, which was also constructed mainly ofwood. In the British Museum Gem (Fig. 5) where an extra storeyis added, the side wings have a further growth. The date may belater, but at least the gem shows that the three-storied chambersof Solomons Temple can be combined with an open-court open court is clearly indicated here by the awning above ° But most clearly of all, a coin of Byblos (Fig. 6) showing thetemple there, shows the open court arrangement. The porch-likebuilding on the left can readily be subtracted as the accretion ofa later age; but the portion on the right has no resemblance at allto architecture other than Phoenician. The cone is not the sort of. Fig. 6. COIN OF BIBLOS. EMPEROR MACRINUS^ 2I7-218 A. D. From Donaldson, Architecture Numismatica; also Perrot and ChipiezHist, of Art in Phoenicia, Vol. I, fig. 19. steeple the imperfect perspective ability of the die-cutter makes itlook at first sight, but is in the center of the open space, aroundwhich a very obvious, though inebriate, peristyle is shown. Theaddition of rooms outside the peeristylar court would be in perfectkeeping with the possibilities of the type, although this shrine neednot have had them. The pseudo-Lucian,-^ whose credulous account of the Syriangoddess contains a description of this temple or one in its closevicinity, mentions many details not given on the coin, but suppliesus with nothing more believable than the story of the two pillars(Priapi) standing in the porch—believable, that is, if we take of ^ This does not seem to be the moon-crescent of the goddess, for its endsare attached to the pylon-uprights at the sides. The sitting doves a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887
