IX.

Syrian, Phoenician, and Palestinian Art

Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine were on the land route between Asia Minor and Africa, and the ancient art of this area always shows the influence of those who conquered, passed through, or traded with its inhabitants. Mesopotamian-style cylinder seals from the Jamdat Nasr period were found at Megiddo in Israel and at Byblos, the capital of Phoenicia; in a later period the Hurrians of northern Syria specialized in seal cutting. Pottery, works in stone, and scarabs were influenced by dynastic Egypt beginning in the 29th century bc. Bronze figurines from Byblos of the early 2nd millennium are more distinctly Phoenician, as are daggers and other ceremonial weapons found there. Although the motifs used by local artisans came from beyond the immediate region—Crete (Kríti), Egypt, the Hittite Empire, and Mesopotamia—the technique embodied in crafted objects found at Byblos and Ugarit (with its Hurrian and Mitanui cultural strains) is distinctly Phoenician. Phoenician goldsmiths and silversmiths were skilled artisans, but the quality of their work depended on their clientele. Ivory work was always of the highest standards, probably because of Egyptian competition. Phoenicians sold their wares all over the Middle East, and the spread of Middle Eastern style and iconography, like the alphabet, can be attributed to these great traders of antiquity.