30 DESCRIPTION OF AX ANTIQUE PLAQUE IN REPOUSSE. 



skirt scarcely reaching to his knees, and is bare footed. On the 

 extreme left, David's father (Jesse) is seated on a block of -svood 

 or stone, with his right hand resting on a rug, or skin of some 

 animal. He appears to be intently regarding the prophet's 

 operations. 



Three female figures (David's mother and two sisters) are 

 standing behind .Tesse. The mother, distinguished by the wife's 

 cap or head-covering worn by married women of the Hebrew 

 nation, looks on with complacency, Avhile the two daughters 

 appear to be engaged in animated conversation. 



To the right of Samuel, two of David's brothers stand look- 

 ing on, and smiling contemptuously at the prophet's selection 

 of the younger brother in preference to themselves. One 

 of the brothers appears to be wearing a cuirasse or a coat 

 of mail ; both are bare headed, and both wear leggings or 

 greaves with decorations below the knees. 



In centre of the background David is again depicted seated 

 and holding a harp, an erect figure (perhaps the prophet's 

 servant) stands before David and is holding a shepherd's crook ; 

 sheep are represented browsing behind an altar of incense, the 

 smoke from which is ascending in dense volumes. In the lower 

 foreground is a harp, a sling with four or five stones, a wallet 

 or bag, and a shepherd's crook, the head of which is of peculiar 

 shape. 



In the background on the extreme left is a Date Palm, then 

 (prominently depicted) a view of a fortified city or castle with 

 the sea in front and two ships sailing under its walls, a hill at 

 the rear with a castle or fort on the summit and cedar trees on 

 the side. The view evidently represents either Tyre or Zidon,. 

 both ancient cities of Phcenecia, about 24 Roman miles apart. 

 The former " rock-bound Tyre," the city of which, at period of 

 the reign of David and Solomon, Hiram was king, and became 

 noted for his intiuuite commercial relations with Israel. 



The British iMicyclopoedia intimates respecting Zidon or 

 Sidon " that on division of the land of Canaan, Sidon fell to the 

 tribe of Asher, but was not conquered for a thousand years, when 

 (B.C. 820) its king, Tennes, betrayed the city into the hands of 

 Artaxeres Oehus, ou which occasion the Sidonians, rather than 



