40 REV. J. LESLIE PORTER, D.D. 
type of letter, to the effect that the cup was dedicated to 
Baal-Lebanon by a certain Hiram. It is now in the French 
National Library. But who was this Hiram? Was he the 
artist who made the cup, or was he Solomon’s friend, Hiram, 
King of Tyre? We cannot tell. The style of workmanship 
and the form of the letters are both archaic, and may be, 
probably are, of the age of Solomon. It is at least interesting 
to find on the fragment the familiar Scripture name, which is 
not a common one (see History of Art in Pheiicia and 
Cyprus, 1. 90; 11. 340). 
Another patera, or bowl, of beautiful workmanship, was dis- 
covered about ten years ago at Preeneste, one of the oldest 
cities of Italy. Itis of silver, overlaid with gold, and is covered 
with figures arranged in concentric circles—in the centre a 
group of men fighting, in the next circle horses, and in the 
outer horses and chariots, resembling those on Phoenician 
coins. A Phoenician inscription on the patera gives the name 
of the maker or owner. Numerous patere, similar in form 
and style of ornament, have been found by Di Cesnola in 
Cyprus, and are figured in his splendid book. One is able 
from them to see how the original designs of the Phoenicians, 
borrowed from both Egypt and Assyria, were gradually 
developed into the more bold, chaste, and artistic forms of the 
Greeks. The archaic style prevailed in the decoration of 
Solomon’s buildings—modified, of course, so as to exclude 
everything opposed to the monotheistic principles and lofty 
moral feelings of the Jews. The Phoenicians had almost a 
monopoly of artistic work in metal, from the earliest historic 
period down to about the sixth century B.c. ‘They attained 
to great skill and excellence; but more, perhaps, in the 
extreme minuteness and delicacy of their manipulation than in 
the excellence of their designs. In this respect they resembled 
the Persians, Indians, and Japanese of our own day. The 
Greeks at first adopted the Phoenician models, but their 
superior taste and artistic genius soon enabled them to excel 
to such an extent that competition became impossible. They 
studied mainly the various phases of human life, and their 
chief aim was to imitate them, transferring the visible symbol 
of every movement, act, and thought to marble or metal. 
Their range of artistic study was much wider and more 
instructive than that of either Jew or Phoenician. The beauty, 
grace, and majesty of the human face and form were the main 
inspiring objects of the Greek artist, who was able in his 
ideal conceptions to look beyond and beneath the mere out- 
ward mould, and to give expression to thought, passion, and 
intellectual power. 
