Английская Википедия:Byblos figurines

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The Byblos figurines

The Byblos figurines or Phoenician statuettes are approximately 1,500–2,000 ex-voto statuettes found in ancient Phoenician temples in Lebanon, primarily in Byblos, but also in Kamid al lawz. The statuettes date to the second millennium BC and are made of bronze, silver, or copper alloy.[1]Шаблон:Sfn[2] The Byblos figurines are considered to represent the best example of their kind across the Levant.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Most of the figurines were found in the Temple of the Obelisks, in which 20 votive deposits and pitchers containing a variety of such figurines were found, along with a smaller, but important group of them found in the neighboring Temple of Baalat Gebal.[3][1][2] The figurines have been adopted to represent the Lebanese Tourism Ministry.[4]

Use

The majority of the statuettes were found at archaeological sites in sealed pottery jars, together with tools, weapons, jewelry, and other ritual objects.Шаблон:Sfn

The first group found was located at the Temple of Baalat Gebal and information about them was published by archaeologists Montet and Dunand. Both originally considered the figurines to be "foundation deposits".Шаблон:Sfn Following further discoveries at the Temple of the Obelisks, Dunand suggested that perhaps, they might be assemblages of "offering deposits" for festivals.Шаблон:Sfn In 1966, however, Negbi and Moskowitz suggested instead, that the various objects discovered were hidden away in haste, ahead of an impending catastrophe.Шаблон:Sfn

Description

The statuettes measure 3–38 cm tall, mostly represent males, and have tangs projecting from their feet that would have allowed them to be placed onto bases.[1] Most wear cone-shaped hats resembling the labbade[5] while some resemble the Egyptian hedjet and others wear helmets,[1] signaling an intensification of relations with Egypt during the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties.Шаблон:Sfn Some are nude and others wear short kilts.[1] Originally, many were armed with a stick, dagger, mace, or axe.[1] Based on an inscription on a large obelisk at the Temple of the Obelisks, the male ones are interpreted to resemble Resheph, the Phoenician deity of war and plague.[1]

The figurines have been described as "crude, stereotyped, mass-produced".Шаблон:Sfn It is likely that they were produced in Byblos to be used as ritual offerings. Moulds for similar, but less numerous styles of statuettes, were found at the Phoenician excavations at Nahariya.Шаблон:Sfn

They are interpreted as votive offerings because they were not found in graves and were not dispersed widely enough to be part of exchange networks.Шаблон:Sfn The Lebanese archaeologist Maurice Chehab formulated a suggestive hypothesis about these figurines saying that "a good number of statuettes, placed in these vases, are depicted in full motion and wearing the Шаблон:Lang or conical cap, which is still in use in certain regions of Lebanese high mountain. This headdress was held on the head by a chinstrap. One of the ex-votos included several dozen of these statuettes so similar that one can imagine that they represented a troop that would have offered their sponsors [effigies] to the temple before embarking."Шаблон:Sfn

Gallery

National Museum of Beirut

The figurines on display at the National Museum of Beirut are pictured below:

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Bibliography

External links