700 THE ANCIENT HITTITES. 



adopted in the Orient by the Seljuk sultans (in 1217 a. d.). and from 

 them descended through the German emperors, its lirst appearance on 

 their coat of arms being in 1345. 



Among nonreligious sculptures, tombstones will first be mentioned. 

 Fig. 3, page 003, and probably fig. 1, pi. i, are such representations. 

 They are stone slabs of human size, provided at the bottom with a stone 

 peg to fit into a socket to keep it in an upright position. Upon the 

 fore side the dead is invariably represented sitting at a meal, alone or 

 with another person. Before him or, in the latter case, between them, 

 is seen a table with crossed legs, resembling our camp stools, upon 

 which food and drink are set. P'ig. 3 shows two women, each hold- 

 ing in one hand a pomegranate (or a spindle?), while in the other hand 

 one woman has a mirror, the other woman a bowl which she carries 

 to the mouth. Besides these we have the lower parts of two human 

 statues, provided with inscriptions. The execution is very stiff and 

 shows oidy feeble attempts at reproducing the folds of the drapery. 

 Of animals, the lion is most frequently represented. Head and chest 

 stand out free from the stone slab, while the body is merely in relief, 

 as the work was foi" a gate ornament, and had to be represented with 

 one half of the body fitted into the wall. 



Regai'ding th(» character of the Hittite sculptures, that is, those thus 

 far known, they nuist l»e considered as rude, childish, and stitf, though 

 improvements and cfiorts to enliven the rigurescan not l)e denied. As 

 we are not abU^ to read the inscriptions on the sculpture no date can 

 be assigned to the work, and we are therefore unable to describe the 

 historical development of Hittite art. A conclusion from purely 

 artistic view points, considering the manifold circumstances which 

 influence civilized life, would easily lead astray. Thus sculptures 

 found in two difierent places, some of which may be very rude, while 

 others point to a considerably higher degree of art, may belong to the 

 same period. The explanation of this would be that the former dec- 

 orated the palace of a petty unimportant prince without the means to 

 engage the best artists of his time, while the latter come from a con- 

 temporaneous, but powerful and rich ruler. Only when productions 

 of difierent art degrees are found in the same place is a chronological 

 arrangement of them to a certain extent justified. This is the case at 

 Senjirli. Here were found at the southern gate of the city wall sculp- 

 tures which are certainly older than those of the southern gate of the 

 citadel wall. But the material is too meager for establishing a develop- 

 ment in detail. 



Most of the sculptures are executed in low relief. In the crudest 

 the representation is a simple outline, within which muscles, drapery 

 folds, and other details are merely indicated by awkwardly incised 

 lines, so that the legs or wings of animals sometimes appear as merely 

 mechanically attached to the body. This line drawing betrays metal 



