March 29, 1888] 



NATURE 



513 



various other forms, as the Hittite names Pais and Pisiris, 

 and of names ending with the termination -beg^ as Sathekh- 

 beg, or Suki-beki. The wearing of the pig-tail agrees with 

 the reversal of the order in Khita-sar, since, in accord- 

 ance with the MongoHan idiom, the order would be 

 reversed ; and, having regard to such names as Genghis, 

 Usbeg, &c., there is no difficulty in accounting for the 

 ending in Pisiris and Sathekh-beg. 



We may come, then, rationally to the conclusion that 

 men of a race cognate with the Mongols gained the 

 supremacy in some of the Hittite cities ; that this ascend- 

 ancy had its influence on some proper names, and perhaps 

 on other words, but did not change the language of the 

 entire population. If this had been previously Semitic, 

 it remained such. The wearers of the pig-tail did not 

 require their subjects to arrange their hair in the same 

 fashion ; and, similarly, they did not attempt to change 

 their language. If they had made the attempt, it would 

 in all probability have been abortive. 



Allusion has been made to the rock-sculptures found at 

 various places through the length and breadth of Asia 

 Minor. Among these, pre-eminence must certainly be 

 assigned to the very remarkable bas-reliefs at Boghaz- 



Keui, in Cappadocia, a place not far distant from Eyuk, 

 already mentioned, and also near the Halys. Here, 

 where there was, no doubt, originally a chasm or rift in 

 the rocks, closed at one end, the surface of the rocks 

 seems to have been prepared, and a sort of gallery 

 formed. On the two sides of this gallery some sixty or 

 seventy figures have been executed, forming what may 

 be regarded as two processions, which meet on a grand 

 tableau, engraved on the rock at the closed end, in the 

 persons of a male and female figure of much greater 

 height than the rest. Each of these figures seems to be 

 presenting to the other a sort of flower or plant, an 

 arrangement similar to what is to be seen on a seal very 

 lately discovered at Tarsus. The male figure, in the 

 Boghaz-Keui bas-relief, stands on the bended heads of 

 two persons clad in long robes, who in all probability are 

 priests. Each of these figures wears, like that above, a 

 pointed cap, and the curious triangular ornamentation of 

 the skirts of their dresses is very noticeable. The 

 principal male figure has in his hand a sceptre terminating 

 in a ball, and beside him is an animal, said to be a bull, 

 also wearing a pointed cap. If the animal is really a 

 bull, it was probably introduced partly to show by con- 



FiG. B. — Central bas-relief at Boghaz-Keui. 



trast the relatively gigantic size of the male figure 

 standing beside it. Behind the principal figure is a long 

 procession of some forty other figures, nearly all of which 

 are evidently male, and among them are two winged 

 deities, one of these being apparently the same god that 

 is, or was recently, to be seen on a bas-relief at Jerablus. 

 Twelve figures in the extreme rear are in the act of 

 running. They have conical caps, but differ from the 

 sceptre-bearing kings, if we may so call them, at the 

 front, in the grand tableau. These hindmost figures we 

 may take to be common soldiers. It is, however, a pro- 

 cession of female figures to the right of a spectator in the 

 rock-gallery to which the principal interest belongs. 

 Each of these, from the more gigantic female figure in 

 the grand tableau to the twentieth in the rear, has on 

 her head a tall cap or crown. This is the so-called 

 *' mural crown." In its origin this mural crown probably 

 represented the wall of a city ; and the figure bearing it 

 was most likely originally the personification of a city. 

 If, however, this was its origin, it must have become in 

 time diverted from its original use ; and, having regard 

 to the male procession, it cannot be regarded as likely 

 that each of the female figures represents a distinct 

 city. Each of these figures has what has been called a 



bato7t or stick. But it is very noticeable that this so-called 

 baton is in most, probably in all, cases distinctly curved ; 

 a fact which — so it seems to me — probably denotes that 

 it is an unstrung bow. If this is the case, we shall then 

 have a procession of female warriors. Their attire in 

 other respects would be consistent with the idea of their 

 being priestesses, and, if so, the combination of warrior 

 and priestess would precisely accord with one well-known 

 view of the Amazons. It is remarkable, too, that the 

 place where these sculptures are found is not very far 

 from the locality by the River Thermodon and the Black 

 Sea, which the Greeks assigned as the head-quarters of 

 the Amazons. What, then, is the general view to be taken 

 of this remarkable bas-relief.'' Some have thought that 

 the whole idea is religious, and that at least the two 

 figures meeting in front of the two processions are deities. 

 But how is it, then, that these figures are without wings, 

 seeing that there are winged deities in the male procession ? 

 Their mere greatness of size would not show that they 

 are other than persons of kingly and queenly rank. I 

 should not think, however, that the artists who executed 

 this sculpture were commemorating any contemporary 

 event. Probably they were concerned with some notable 

 event in the past, when a king and queen met to ratify an 



