Art
The Hebrews, like many other nations, did noi t Jtcel equally in all branches of art. In litera- ture and poetry they have shown great ability in all ages down to the present time. In music they were apparently quite the equal of their neigh- bours, judging from the variety of instruments named and the frequent references to singing and playing, and in modern times they fully sustain this character.
But, on the contrary, in mechanical arts, in form and design, and in representations, they showed an inability amounting to positive aversion. That this aversion was not on religious grounds alone is evident on seeing that, when sculptured figures were made for the temple, the chief^ artist in metal was a Tyrian half-breed, and there was not among the Jews ' any that can skill to hew timber like the Sidonians' (1 K 5*).
Probably the aversion and the prohibition to imitate natural forms acted and reacted on each other, so that all ability was lost. We find in earlier times that, on the contrary, artistic work is attributed entirely to Hebrews shortly after the Exodus, when the Egyn. training and skill would be still possessed (Ex 35**).
There does not appear to be much that can be distinctively marked as Jewish or Palestinian in the motives of design ; many of the elements that we can trace in the scanty remains showing Egyp. or Bab. origin. What original style Pal. posscsscil amonfj the Amorites was mostly <lestroyed by *.\w Ilcb. invasion. This can be traced best in tin' pottery, as, though simi)le in forms and material, it IS the most continuous series that we aave. The Amorito .
shows jjood and original forms of a pure style ; the Phfcnician is entirely difTerent, but also well shaped and original ; but the Jewish pottery has no original motives, and is merely a degra- dation of the Amorit«, running down into complete ugliness and baseness (see PoTTEKY). In architec- tural forms there appears to be little that is distinct from Egj'p. sources. The details have 158 ART ARTAXERXES been noticed under Ap.
chitecture ; but the general impression is that a plain and simple masonry with some locaj features was overlaid by foreign designs. The motive of a row of bucklers liiin^iing over a parapet is suggested in the nioditi- cation of Gr. metopes and triglyphs on the so-called ' Tomb of Absalom ' ; and it appears to be an early I • I. ~ r o JEWISH DECOltATION, DERODIAH 'TOMB OP ABSALOM.
* feature, as Solomon made two hundred targets and three hundred sliields of beaten gold for the house of the forest of Lebanon. The shields were used by the guard (1 K 14'-^), but the targets may have been decorative. The tapering form of the ^Ioabite Stone is rather akin to Assyr. than Eg;yp. types. And the horns upon the pillars (Ionic volutes) belong to the same source.
lu surface decoration some late examples seem to reflect a national style, as we do not know of any external source for them. The graceful design of plant forms decoratively treated over the door of the so-called tombs of the Judges (perhaps Maccabsean), the later and more classical foliage work of the so-called tombs of the kings (Herodian), and the great golden vine which Herod placed over the front of the temple, point to a treatment of surfaces which is most nearly akin to some Egyp.
work that is probably of Slesopotamian motive. In the plant decoration of the columns, etc. of Akhenaten's palace at Tel el-Amarna there is the same flowing style of foliage covering the surfaces, and the motive of this may well have come from northen. Syria or Mesopotamia, like other influ- ence:^ of that reign. In the absence of any details about early Syrian art, it seems that we may per- haps see in this one of its features, which lasted until the Greek period.
That surface decoration was a main feature of the richer Jewish work is sho^vn by the details of the temple : ' He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim, and palm trees, and openings of flowers, within and without' (1 K 0^), and the doors were likewise decorated (w.', "). On the bronze bases of the lavers were ' lions, oxen, and cherubim ' (1 K 7^), and 'cherubim, lions, and palm trees' (v.**).
This frequent decoration with palm trees is singularly un-Egyp., and points to a Mesopo- tamian influence, as palm trees and winged genii are very characteristic of that style. Of sculpture in the round the most striking examples must have been the great cherubs of olive wood, iilated with gold, which stood in the most holy place. Their height of ten cubits, or fifteen to twenty feet, shows that they were joined and built up of many pieces, like the lesser statues in Egypt.
The wings, stretching out to a width equal to the height, were also, of course, joined on. The po.sition of the.se cherubs was not at all like that described of the similar figures on the mercy- seat of the ark ; the latter were face to face, but those of the temjile stood side by side, both facing one way.
The most holy place was twenty cubits wide; of each cherub ' from the uttermost part of one wing unto the uttermost part of the citlit-r were ten cubits,' mid they stood ' so that the wing of the one touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house' (1 K C*'-''). They appear to have only had two wings each, like those of the mercy-seat, and in this resembled Egyp. cherubic figures, while the Assyr.
many-winged figures are more akin to the four-winged of Ezekiel or the six-winged of Revelation. In actual artistic work only two-winged figures appear to have been made. But we must not hastily suppose that these were direct copies of the winged figures of Egypt ; the Heb. figures were male, while the Egyp. protective winged figures were always female, and often specialised as Isis and Nepthys.
The symbolic meaning of these statues is outside of our scope here ; but the strange duality of two equal figures placed side by side is parallel to the two great columns before the temple, and the curious feature of a double entrance to porches with a central pillar, as seen in the tombs.
Figures of animals were also made, as the brazen serpent, which was still treasured and worshipped down to the time of Hezekiah ; also the twelve oxen of Solomon, which seem to have been done away with by Ahaz, as there is no mention of thera in the plunder (Jer 52) after he had removed the brazen sea from them (2 K 16").
This unnatural motive of placing a great vessel on the backs of animals is unknown in Egypt, unless in some of the Asiatic goldsmith's work ; but the same idea appears in Syria, where the goddess ^edesh stands on a lion's back. In embroidery we see another sign of Asiatic rather than Egyp. influence. No embroidered robes appear on Egyp. figures, at least until post-Exodic tmies ; whereas in Babylonia and Assyria dresses are constantly represented as being embroidered with elaborate patterns.
The Egyp. system was that of appliq^U work of leather, which was elaborately carried out in complex patterns ; and such a style of decoration still survives in the usual tent-linmg of Egypt, where pieces of various coloured cloths are all stitched on to the backing in a pattern, and elaborate inscriptions cut out and applied in the same way.
The mention of large figures upon the curtains and vail of the tabernacle appears as if they were appliqui ; but they are only on the linen curtains, so that leather work of this kind is not implied. On the other hand, the makin" of gold wire by cuttin^up sheet gold is specially described for the ephod (Ex 39'), and this shows that dresses were certainly embroidered with thread. LOrni AA'D BUD PATTERN (Egyptian), misnamed in I'alestine as BELL AKD POMEGRANATE.
Until some extensive and well-directed excava- tions may open up for us the remains of Syrian and Jewish art, it is hopeless to do more than indicate the mere outlines. These seem to show a native Syrian style, influenced mainly by Mesopotamia, but also in some respects by Egypt. A single good slab of stone might teach us tar more than all we know at present. W. M. Flinders Petrie.