§ I Hittite Monuments in Syria
The Hittite art of Syria is derived from Assyrian art; it has nothing original either in the conception of its forms or in its technical execution. To characterise it in one word, we might call it Assyrian art interpreted by barbarians. In all its manifestations it is inferior to its model, like the works of the barbarians who copied Greek and Roman art. In imitation of the Assyrians, the Hittites confined themselves almost exclusively to sculpture in bas-relief. At Marash, on the Pyramus in Cilicia, it is true, a fragmentary torso has been obtained; but this is almost the only example of a Hittite statue in the round that we can cite. This figure, of coarse workmanship, is dressed in a fringed cloak like that which is to be seen everywhere on the walls of Ninevite palaces.66
The bulls and other winged monsters, placed at the entrance of Assyrian and Persian palaces, which keep the mean between statuary and the bas-relief, also find their parallel among the Hittites. There is at the Imperial Museum at Constantinople a basalt lion, found at Marash, the head and neck of which are completely disengaged from the stone block; the fore paws are even with the front surface of the wall, and the body of the beast is continued round the corner. Thus it is sculptured on two sides in imitation of the Ninevite bulls, and the extent of servility in the copy is finally proved by an inscription in Hittite hieroglyphs covering the fore paws, in accordance with the singular fashion observed at Nineveh.
Assyrian influence is even more obviously conspicuous at Carchemish, a fact to which witness is borne by two figures standing on a crouching lion, which remind us of the rock sculptures of Sennacherib at Bavian and Malthaiyah.67 Is not a pseudo-Assyrian style also to be detected in this figure68 (fig. 150) surmounted by the winged disk, with his tunic open in front? However, his cylindrical tiara, his twisted hair, and the peculiar disks which he holds in his two hands, are features which the artist did not copy from Mesopotamia.
Like the Babylonian Istar, the Hittite Astarte is represented standing, in full face and entirely nude; she holds her breasts with the same indecent gesture, the first example of which belongs to the plastic art of Chaldæa. Nevertheless Astarte is winged and crowned with a conical tiara which are peculiarities of Hittite symbolism. The priestess performing adoration before her is veiled, like the figures of Assyrian women.
Sculptures in debased imitation of the Ninevite reliefs were ranged on a series of slabs in the Hittite palaces, as at Khorsabad or Kouyunjik. At Sinjerli, M. O. Puchstein found still in place, that is to say, lining the lower portion of the wall of an edifice, a complete set of bas-reliefs representing a deer hunt, a man struggling with a fantastic genius, and a train of prisoners of war.69 In another tell in the same region, three slabs placed end to end contain a scene from a lion hunt; the king is in his chariot with his charioteer, and draws his bow. Everything here—the form of the chariot, the harness of the horses, the costume of the prince covered with his coat of mail—betrays a copy of Ninevite sculpture. Even the lion, the anatomical forms of which are learnedly reproduced, brings to our memory the hunting expeditions of Assurbanipal. But at the same time the inferiority of the imitator is conspicuous in the arrangement of the scene, which lacks life and movement: the lion allows the javelins to be thrust into his eye and haunches in the most benevolent manner. What a difference from the vigour and litheness of the terrible beasts which bound roaring around the hunters, true sons of Nimrod!
When we leave the regions which lie near the Euphrates, the imitation of Assyria, though equally perceptible, is, perhaps, less servile and more free; a larger number of original elements enter into the composition of the scenes. At Rum-Qalah a bas-relief represents a bearded personage, wearing a cap, and dressed in a long tunic, drawn apart as if in imitation of the form of the drooping wings of Assyrian genii. At his girdle he carries a dagger; in his left hand is a sort of lyre, in his right a palm-branch; the handle of a leathern bag is passed over his arm. The coarseness of the workmanship makes the imitation itself almost unrecognisable. On a basalt stela at Marash (fig. 153) two women, sitting on chairs with backs, are separated by a table similar to those that we have seen in Assyria; the costume of these women has also much analogy to the Ninevite garments; however, their high tiara, under their long veil, seems to be indigenous. The same characteristics of imperfect and coarse imitation are to be observed in other pieces of sculpture from the same place; the only features which are particularly original are the expression of the faces, the diadem, and the arrangement of the hair: the spectator feels that he is on the confines of a territory which is already coming under the direct influence of the Hellenic art of Asia Minor.70
According to these examples, two groups of clearly distinguished Hittite monuments may be established in Syria itself: those of Carchemish and the region of the Euphrates, which are colourless copies of Assyrian works; and those of western Syria and especially of Cilicia, which, though also derived from Ninevite art, separate themselves from it to a greater extent, are ruder, and contain elements at once more original and more barbarous. As peculiar characteristics of the Hittites, we will point out the diadem, the high cap of the women, to which a long veil is fitted, and, above all, the shoes with turned-up points. These shoes, worn by men and women, have been described as the chief mark of the Hittite monuments; however, it must not be forgotten that these shoes are still worn, in our own day, not only in Syria but throughout Asia Minor, by the most various races.