38 REV. J. LESLIE PORTER, D.D. 
existed in the time of Homer ; and, secondly, that they are 
exhibited to us as proceeding from a Phoenician source” 
(p. 133). Again he writes with greater fulness (p. 520) :— 
“The Homeric poems give us a view substantially clear of the 
state of art in the time of the poet. They also contain concep- 
tions of the principle of art, so vivid as perhaps never to have 
been surpassed. And, unless I am mistaken, they indicate to 
us the source from which the specific excellence of Greek art, 
in its highest form, proceeded. By the term art I understand 
the production of beauty in material forms palpable to the 
eye; whether associated with industrial purposes or not... .. 
There are many works of art mentioned in Homer; but, in 
the whole of them, it is associated with some purpose of 
utility. The greatest of them all is the Shield of Achilles. 
Next, perhaps, the armour of Agamemnon, various bowls, 
the baldric of Heracles, the golden clasp of the mantle of 
Odysseus. In all of them living form is represented. There 
are other objects belonging rather to mere decoration. Such 
are the necklace of gold and amber, carried by the Phoinikes 
(Phoenicians) to Surie, the couch of Penelope, and the bur- 
nished sheets of copper in the palaces of Alkinoos and 
Menelaos.. There are also works of simple mechanical skill, 
such as the airy net of metal worked by Hephaistos.”’ 
Hephaistos was the Phoenician Vulcan to whom tradition 
attributes the invention of work in metals. He was like the 
Tubal Cain of the Pentateuch (Gen. iv. 22). And with his 
wonderful metal-work, here mentioned by Homer, may be 
compared the no less wonderful ‘‘nets of checker-work, and 
wreaths of chain-work,” made for the capitals of Jachin and 
Boaz (1 Kings vii. 17). Mr. Gladstone rightly adds, after 
a critical review of the whole subject, that ‘‘in most of the 
cases where a true work of art is mentioned ””—by Homer— 
“it is referred directly to Sidon or the Phcenician.” The 
description of the works in gold, silver, and brass given by 
Homer throughout the Iliad and Odyssey remind one forcibly 
of the works of Hiram in the Temple and Palace of Solomon. 
One would almost imagine the Greek poet had the sacred 
and royal buildings of Jerusalem before his mind when he 
wrote these lines, which I give in the version of Pope :— 
The front appear’d with radiant splendours gay, 
Bright as the lamps of night, or orb of day. 
The walls were massy brass ; the cornice high 
Blue metals crown’d in colours of the sky ; 
Rich plates of gold the folding doors incase ; 
The pillars silver, on a brazen base ; 
Silver the lintels deep-projecting o’er, 
And gold, the ringlets that command the door. 
