The Iron Age. 8. The Northern Levant in the Iron Age (c B.C.) B. Catalogue. Pre-Achaemenid: Provenanced

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1 The Iron Age 8. The Northern Levant in the Iron Age (c B.C.) B. Catalogue (i) Pre-Achaemenid: Provenanced Most of these sites are in the border region between modern Turkey and Syria. The terracottas illustrate a variety of cultural traditions in Iron Age Syria, primarily on the line of the river Euphrates or to the west of it. Many came to the Ashmolean Museum through (Sir) Leonard Woolley, who began his career in the Museum a few years before he took over the excavations at Carchemish in 1911, then directed for the British Museum by D.G. Hogarth, who was Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. The young T.E. Lawrence, who became acquainted with both men through his connections, first as a schoolboy, then as an undergraduate, with the Museum, was a member of the Carchemish excavation team. At the time of the excavations ( ) at Carchemish (Djerablus), the Berlin to Baghdad railway was being built under German direction in the vicinity. The earth-moving operations required by this project revealed many local graveyards, both of the Bronze and the Iron Ages, rapidly exploited by antiquities dealers in Aleppo. Both Woolley and Lawrence rescued, and then Woolley (1914; ; cf. Moorey 1980) published a number of grave-groups of the pre-achaemenid and the Achaemenid Iron Age. In , after his famous excavations at Ur in Iraq, Woolley returned to excavate at Tell Atshana (Alalakh) and Al Mina. The latter excavation is represented in this section; the former in the Bronze Age section of this catalogue. (a) Carchemish (Jerablus) The British Museum excavations at Carchemish ( ; 1920; Hogarth 1914; Woolley 1921) in modern Turkey, the only major excavations at a site now on the border between Syria and Turkey in a military zone, are better known for the Iron Age sculptures and monumental inscriptions than for the cemeteries and houses of the seventh century B.C. they revealed. This settlement, at the major ford on the Euphrates linking eastern and western Syria, had been occupied from prehistoric times. By the last major phase of its occupation, in the first half of the first millennium B.C., it was an enormous city. The original tell ( citadel mound ) on the river was within an inner town protected by earthen ramparts beyond which lay the outer town, with its own defensive circuit. The excavators traced the lines of fortification and excavated some houses of the seventh century in the inner town and a public quarter extending from the water-gate on the river round the base of the citadel mound. It was here, following in the footsteps of earlier trial excavations, that they uncovered the sculptured wall facades and inscriptions, as well as the monumental gateways of a series of public buildings, including the temple of the city s Storm God. The carved stone orthostats belonged primarily to two royal generations from about 920 to 880 B.C. (Suhis II and Katuwas), with some eighth century additions. Most of the small finds, including the figurines, belong to the period immediately preceding the sack of the city by the Neo-Babylonian army in 604 B.C. In view of T.E. Lawrence s subsequent renown this excavation and the objects he and Woolley then acquired locally for the Ashmolean Museum have achieved a certain notoriety independent of their archaeological significance. As Woolley (1954, 72) reported: When Hogarth [Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum] undertook a season s experimental work at Carchemish in the winter of he called upon Lawrence, who had been travelling in Syria and working on the Crusader castles, to join him. In the following year I took Hogarth s place and gladly fell in with his suggestion that I should keep Lawrence, whom I had known slightly since he was a boy at the Oxford High School; at Carchemish then he and I worked together until the summer of

2 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS 353. Headless female standing figurine; crudely handmodelled; baked; pink core, cream slip; standing, columnar form; left arm missing; right arm bent round, with hand on breast; broken feet protruding below ankle-length garment. AN (36) (Given by T.E. Lawrence) H: 9cm. W: 4cm. (base) Horse s head, damaged; handmodelled; baked; pink core, cream slip; disk-shaped eyes; mane represented by piece of applied clay running from the brow, between the ears (broken) and down the neck; applied clay band round the neck. AN (Given by T.E. Lawrence with AN above) W: 4.5cm H: 4.5cm Horse s head, fragmentary; handmodelled; baked; pink core, cream slip; ears and back of head only; applied blob in the centre of the neck below the ears; applied band of clay round neck just below head. AN (Given by T.E. Lawrence with AN above) H: 6cm Detached male (?) head; handmodelled; baked; buff core, cream slip; incised central parting across top of head; hair, rendered by applied strips, falls in vertical curls all round, framing the face at the front; applied facial features now battered; damaged collar or necklace. AN ( Jerablus Railway ; no details recorded) H: 4.5cm W: 4.2cm Forepart of a horse, legs missing; handmodelled; buff fabric with cream slip; details prominently rendered in applied clay ( snow man technique); crescentic mane with applied clay strips set vertically at intervals; pointed ears (damaged); applied eyes and central dots on the brow; applied band running under the chin, with another round lower neck; broad applied band with three blobs across lower chest. AN ( Jerablus marked in pencil; probably originally acquired through T.E. Lawrence) L: 7.5cm H: 8.5cm. (b) Deve Hüyük I As Woolley ( ; 1939) made clear in his accounts in the Liverpool Annals and his popular books (Woolley 1953, 69) the objects which he recovered from tombs at Deve Hüyük, about twenty-five miles west of Carchemish in the Sajur Valley, came to him in 1913 through peasants looting grave-yards revealed by cuttings for the Berlin to Baghdad railway then under construction. On the northeast lip of this hollow (i.e. in the Deve Hüyük tell) lay the ancient cemeteries, which last winter (of 1913) some fifty peasants were busily plundering in full view of the Bagdad railway passing within a quarter of a mile of the hill (Woolley , 115 6). Two cemeteries were represented, one (I) dating broadly to the seventh century B.C. before the destruction of Carchemish in 604 B.C. the other (II) to the time of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, probably in the later fifth and early fourth centuries B.C. (cf. Moorey 1980). The earlier burials were cremations, the later ones inhumations. Woolley (1953, 69) placed great confidence in the integrity of the tomb groups he published: the antiquities would be unpacked and carefully arranged by the finders into the respective tomb-groups (they were very good about that). A more sceptical approach is safer; but, where they can be checked, most of the associations are plausible. The so-called snow-man technique of hand-modelling terracottas, generally unpainted, does not appear to survive into the Achaemenid Persian period

3 IRON AGE: CATALOGUE THE NORTHERN LEVANT IN THE IRON AGE 358. Standing female with child; handmodelled; baked; greenish-cream core, cream slip; columnshaped with concave base (chipped); projecting hairstyle with three strips of applied clay set vertically; double pellets at the centre of the brow; pinched nose, applied pellet eyes; no ears or mouth depicted; single band necklace; arms bent round with hands on the breasts; single bracelet on each wrist; child, facing over her shoulder, held close to the body by the left arm; child has applied pellet eyes, a pinched nose and single band necklace. AN (Deve Hüyük I ( found in a painted (cremation) pot ); acquired through C.L. Woolley. H: 10.1cm. W: 3.9cm. Woolley 1914, pl. XXVIb.1; Moorey1980, 100 no. 427, fig Horse-and-rider; handmodelled; baked; buff core; pinkish buff slip; broken on right side; right foreleg missing; the horse s eyes, mane and elaborate chest piece are modelled in applied clay; applied pellet and band on short tail; two bands on lower left leg. Rider schematically rendered with short legs, prominent nose, applied pellet eyes and broad brow band on a pointed cap or helmet with applied pellets. The rider holds a pair of containers between his body and the horse s neck. AN (Deve Hüyük I; acquired through C.L. Woolley) H: 7.6cm. W: 3.2cm. Moorey 1980, no. 430, fig Horse-and-rider; handmodelled; baked; cream slip over buff core; extensive remains of red paint over broad areas and black line on the horse and rider; horse s legs stylized at front and back as broad wedges only slightly divided at the base to show hooves as points; long tail; applied pellet eyes and ears. Long legged rider well-seated with hands grasping lower mane of horse; pinched nose, applied pellet eyes and pointed beard. AN (Deve Hüyük II; acquired through C.L. Woolley). H: 12.2cm. W: 8.1cm. Moorey 1980, 102, no. 433, fig Rider on double-headed horse with single body; handmodelled; baked; pink core with cream slip; details in black paint: forepart of the horse decorated with bands and chevrons of stippled dots; forelegs modelled as a solid wedge with two points for hoofs; rear legs more realistic; long tail; applied pellet eyes, pointed ears and prominent forelock; long-legged rider set well forward with hands close to the base of the mane; modelling smudged on the lower left side, perhaps originally with an applied clay model gorytos (cf. no. 210). Applied pellet eye, pointed nose, beard and pointed cap or helmet. AN (Deve Hüyük II; acquired through C.L. Woolley) H: 12.7cm. W: 3.7cm. Moorey 1980, 102, no. 432, fig. 17. (c) Kefrik (Kourik) This village lies about ten miles west of Carchemish (Dussaud 1927, map XIII as Kourik ). These terracottas were associated with a cremation tomb group of the seventh century B.C. bought from local peasants Standing female; handmodelled; baked; buff core with cream slip; broken and repaired across the neck; columnar with concave base to allow it to stand; all details in applied clay; prominent fan-shaped hairstyle with applied ornament of strips and pellets; pinched nose and applied double pellet eyes; neither the mouth nor the ears depicted; double necklace with applied pellets; arms akimbo with an applied pair of bracelets on each arm; hands touching across breasts. AN (acquired through C.L. Woolley) H: 13.6cm. W: 6.7cm. Moorey 1980, 148, no. 566, fig

4 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS 363. Standing female; handmodelled; baked; buff core with cream slip; hair, represented by eight clay strips, is pulled back to project horizontally; double brow-band with a central pellet and one at each end, where it is joined to a double-banded necklace with a central blob; pinched nose and double pellet eyes; no mouth or ears represented; arms bent at the elbows, double bracelet on each wrist and four-fingers depicted resting on each breast. AN (acquired through C.L. Woolley) H: 12.5cm. W: 5.1cm. Moorey 1980, 148, no. 567, fig. 24. (d) Provenance Unknown 364. Male rider; handmodelled; baked; pink core with cream slip; conical cap or helmet with applied strips of clay decorated with incised lines running down on either side to protect the ears; nose broken; applied double pellet eyes; double applied neckband reaching up to the nostrils; right arm broken off, left bent at the elbow with lower arm now lost; thighs modelled as if for riding astride a horse; lower legs lost; applied lump between the shoulders on the back, possibly representing a shield. AN (bought in Aleppo by C.L. Woolley) H: 10.7cm. W: 3.9cm Standing female; handmodelled; baked; cream slip on buff core; column-shaped with concave base; fan-shaped hairstyle with ornaments rendered by applied pellets and strips; applied pellet eyes; pinched nose and prominent chin; neither ears nor mouth marked; projecting shoulders; arms bent at the elbows, with applied studded bracelet on each arm; hands, with prominently applied fingers, clasp breasts. AN (acquired by C.L. Woolley or T.E. Lawrence at Gaiourilla) H: 13.5cm. W: 6.2cm Female head; handmodelled; baked; pink core with cream slip; fan-shaped hairstyle with applied blob and strip ornament; pinched nose, applied blob eyes; no mouth or ears depicted; applied band necklace; damaged on leftside. AN (source unknown) H: 5.9cm. W: 5.6cm Female head; handmodelled; baked; pink core with cream slip; fan-shaped hairstyle with an applied border all round and three blobs spaced across the brow; applied blob eyes, pinched nose; no mouth or ears shown; applied double-band necklace with three blobs. AN (acquired at Sultantepe (near Urfa) and given by W.C. Brice) H: 4.8cm. W: 4.5cm Horse; handmodelled; baked; buff core with cream slip; high crescentic mane with applied clay bands at regular intervals; applied pellet eyes; pointed ears; double applied band on upper neck and across the junction of body and forelegs; applied pendant on the chest; broken tail. AN (given by T.E. Lawrence s mother; place of origin unknown) L: 9.7cm. H: 12.5cm. It is possible that this horse originally came from Deve Hüyük I, seventh century B.C. (cf. Moorey 1980, no. 429, fig. 17) Horse-and-rider; handmodelled; baked; buff core, cream slip; repaired; the animal has slightly curved legs and a short tail curved round; the schematically modelled, legless rider is shown riding far forward grasping the animal s neck tightly with his arms; pinched nose and applied pellet eyes; pointed cap or helmet with prominent brow band decorated with three pellets. The horse is snub-nosed with an applied pellet on the end of the head; applied eyes and brow tuft; pointed ears (one damaged) and modelled mane in place before the rider was added; applied bands and disks across the lower neck and chest and bands on the upper forelegs. AN (acquired at Gaiourilla by C.L. Woolley and T.E. Lawrence) H: 13.5cm W: 5.2cm

5 IRON AGE: CATALOGUE THE NORTHERN LEVANT IN THE IRON AGE 370. Horse-and-rider; handmodelled; baked; buff fabric; well preserved overall panels of painted decoration in black line and dots with red infilling; the front and back legs are made in wedges, with two projections to indicate hooves, which give the figurine stability; the horse s mane, ears and long tail are modelled, with details of the eyes painted in black; a saddle-cloth is represented in paint. The rider rises directly from the back of the horse close to the base of the neck; neither his arms nor legs are depicted; pinched nose applied pellet eyes; beard with details in black paint; cap with top folded over sideways. AN (acquired by C.L. Woolley and T.E. Lawrence at Talnash) H: 10.1cm W: 2.7cm. Nos as their source indicates, may be dated by comparison with nos to the seventh century B.C. They illustrate the varied effects that could be achieved with applied clay: the snowman technique. No. 370 is painted and handmodelled in the same manner as the horses from Deve Hüyük II of the Achaemenid Period and may indeed be of that date. (ii) (a) Achaemenid Period (c B.C.) Excavated (1) Al Mina ( the port ), Sudeida As the delta of the river Orontes, which is about two hundred metres to the south of Al Mina, has long since silted up, the archaeological site excavated by Woolley (1938) in , with financial support from the Ashmolean Museum, is no longer on the seashore as it was in antiquity. It was then the site of the port for Tell Tayinat (probably ancient Kullani/Kinalu) in the Amuq Plain, excavated by Haines (1971) in Close to the surface of the tell at al Mina Woolley uncovered the remains of a Medieval settlement (level 1: Crusader Period ). Below that he distinguished nine levels of occupation (variously designated II X or 2 10). The first Iron Age settlement on the site was founded in the early eighth century B.C. From an early stage in its history trade was primarily with Cyprus and Greece. To judge from the types of pottery recovered this was initially with Euboea and the Cyclades (levels 9 8). There was a major change between levels 8 and 7, which may mark the conquest and resettlement of the region by the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III in 738 B.C. Al Mina then became the harbour of a newly established Assyrian province. The Greek pottery in levels 7 to 6 is the same as the latest in level 8, but the relative proportions were changing. There was a shift from Euboeo-Cycladic to East Greek wares, especially Rhodian. This was the time when Cypriotes and Ionians, from somewhere west of Cilicia and Cyprus, first appear in Assyrian documents relating to North Syria. Levels 7, 6 and 5 are represented by a continuous succession of floors and rebuildings through the later eighth and seventh centuries B.C. By early in level 5 Cypriote pottery had disappeared; but terracottas of Cypriote origin continued to arrive as well as Cypriote limestone sculptures. Cypriote small statuary in limestone, metal and terracotta was exported in quantity by sea throughout the Mediterranean World from some time before about 750 B.C. through much of the sixth century (cf. Reyes 1994, ). There was a gap in occupation at al Mina after the destruction of level 5, perhaps during the Neo- Babylonian campaign of the late seventh century into Syria that also destroyed Carchemish. The evidence tended to shew that the buildings of level 5 had been intentionally systematically destroyed, even the foundations being rooted out (Woolley 1938, 150). Al Mina provides some basic guidance to the chronology of the transition from wholly hand-made figurines ( snow-man technique ), like those catalogued here from Carchemish, to the revival of mouldmade plaques in the Achaemenid Period. In level 5, towards the end of the seventh century B.C., the upper part of a mouldmade relief plaque with a nude female in Babylonian style clasping her breasts (Woolley 1938, 168, pl. X: MN 32) may indicate the impact of Neo-Babylonian mouldmade plaques in -231-

6 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS stimulating their production in Syria, west of the Euphrates, in the mature Iron Age. The Ashmolean collection does not include any terracottas dating before the fifth century from Al Mina Horse-and-rider ( Persian Rider ); handmodelled with mouldmade face; baked; buff core with cream slip; traces of red and black paint; discoloured overall by burning. The rider is fused with the front of the horse, whose head alone is modelled by hand with vertical mane, ears and applied pellet eyes; the lower body of the horse is wedge-shaped with a divided base to represent the hooves; the equally stylized rear legs project at the back (now broken). The rider has neither arms nor legs; but the face is mouldmade with delicate features, framing beard and browline of hair; cap with top folded over. AN (M28: Level 2) H: 15cm. W: 4cm. Woolley 1938, 163, pl. X; Elayi 1991, pl. VI.3; Moorey 2000, pl. III; cf. Woolley 1938, 163, pl. X (MN1) also level Squatting nude boy with a dog; mouldmade; baked; shaved back; buff core with cream slip; the head is broken off; the fleshy body has the right leg standing straight, bent at the knee, and the left on the ground bent in towards the body; the right arm, bent at the elbow, originally had something held in the hand near the chin; the left hand, emerging from the cloak over the left shoulder, grasps a small, shaggy haired dog leaping up; low oval base (chipped). AN (MNN 116: Level 2) H: 5.2 cm. W (across base) 5.2cm Upper part of a woman; wheel-made hollow body with mouldmade face; baked; buff to red core with traces of cream slip; lower part broken off below the abdomen; the face is moulded with a slight smile; even without the surface slip the hair and ears suggest a well-used mould; tapering conical torso; crudely modelled left arm is bent round with the hand supporting two bowls, the lower is shallow, the upper deep-sided; the right arm of rolled clay is bent round with the hand placed so as to steady the bowls. This is typical of such offering bearers associated with Phoenician settlements in the Levant and Cyprus and widely distributed through their commercial activity. AN (MN 369: level 4) H: 14cm. W: 8.5cm. Woolley 1938, 19, fig. 6 (centre); cf. pl. XI (MNIII). The two published horsemen of the Persian rider type with moulded faces from Al Mina were both reported from level 2 in a fourth century B.C. context. No. 371 belongs with the eastern type of terracottas characteristic of the Achaemenid Period in Syria. The rider is the most widespread type of male terracotta figurine in this period. The high stylization, with stamped or moulded faces, was current in the fourth century B.C. (cf. Elayi 1991). How much earlier they had appeared there is still not clear; during or soon after the time of Alexander the Great the distinctive Persian headgear was often replaced by the Macedonian flat cap. No. 372 belongs with the western type of terracottas, where Cypriote or Greek manufacture or stylistic borrowing is evident. It is a standard Cypriote type. The white colouring of this terracotta may endorse Elayi s (1988, 113) view that they are direct, cheap imitations of the marble templeboys produced for the luxury market. In Cyprus these children are chiefly attested from sanctuaries related to Aphrodite/Astarte and in general with fertility cults in association with women carrying a child (kouroptrophoi). Where Kourotrophoi are absent, the boys are connected with healing cults. Cypriote terracottas are reported as early as level 8 at Al Mina (Woolley 1938, 170, pl. XI (MN 426)); but become more common from level 5 (Ibid. 169). A number of figures comparable with no. 372 were found in level 4 (Woolley 1938, fig. 6). Without detailed petrographic studies yet to be undertaken, the source of terracottas like it is an open question since some may have been produced on the mainland rather than in Cyprus. Karvonen-Kannas (1995, 71 4) has pointed out that such squatting boys represent a very popular new deity... introduced into Mesopotamia in Hellenistic times. It was a boy deity, whose role and significance require further investigation. As the two animal figurines from Al Mina in the Ashmolean (AN , perhaps a sheep and AN , a bovid head) do not have recorded (MN) site numbers, they are not catalogued here

7 IRON AGE: CATALOGUE THE NORTHERN LEVANT IN THE IRON AGE (b) Provenance unknown 374. Upper part of a woman and child; handmodelled body, mouldmade face; baked; brown fabric with smooth, slightly polished surface; back of head damaged; under a narrow browband the hair falls in three or four distinct lines of tiny blobs to the shoulder, framing the face; well modelled, prominent facial features with oval eyes and small mouth; traces of a necklace; upper body and arms crudely modelled by hand, the arms brought round to hold a now headless child against the left side of her body; broken off across abdomen. AN (Syria; acquired by C.L. Woolley) H: 6.5cm W: 4cm. Riis , 77, n.1 (his classes AIII and BII V). This is a standard image with a long history; but there is a rare variant of it in Achaemenid Syria. There female riders hold a small suckling child in their left arm; the upper part of rider and child are mouldmade with the remainder handmodelled (cf. French 1984, fig. 5:4; Pruss 2000, 54 n.19) Plaque; nude female in low relief; mouldmade; baked; light brown fabric; sides shaved; browband; ringlets of hair down to chin level, from the face with prominent eyebrows, eyes and nose ridges and well modelled lips; beaded necklace; hands, now damaged, support her breasts; oval shaped abdomen with navel marked; legs taper to feet set on a step. AN (Bought in Aleppo by T.E. Lawrence) H: 14.2cm. Riis, , 72, pl. XVI.7 (Group III) dated 7th or 6th century B.C Upper part of a plaque with a (nude (?) woman in low relief; mouldmade; baked; brown fabric, slightly polished back, worn front; shaved edge; wedges of hair framing the face; arms bent at the elbows with hands brought together to grasp the vertical handle of a disk mirror held between her breasts; broken off across the abdomen. AN (Bought in Aleppo by T.E. Lawrence) H: 5cm. W: 2.7cm. This is a new motif on plaques at this time (cf. Abel and Barrois 1928, 311, fig. 14). The mirror alone does not indicate divinity as argued by Winter (1983, 58 64) Plaque with a dressed woman in low relief; mouldmade; baked; pinkish brown fabric; very worn surface; shaved edges; ankle-length dress with tasselled lower edge; hair falling in curls onto her shoulders; detail otherwise lost save for a disk held against her chest, perhaps a tambourine (cf. Beck 1996). AN (as from Arslan Tash, Syria ): H: 7.1cm Horseman; handmodelled with stamped or mouldmade face; baked; brownishbuff core with traces of a cream slip; the horse is represented only by support wedges, with a divided base-line to indicate hooves, from which rises the upper part of a man with cap folded over at the top; mouldmade face with moustache and beard; strong facial features now rubbed; holds a disk in his left hand with his right arm bent and the open hand held against the disk immediately below the chin. AN (Selemieh, northeast of Homs; acquired through C.L. Woolley and T.E. Lawrence) H: 10.8cm W: 4.2cm Upper part of a horseman; handmodelled with mouldmade or stamped face; baked; brown fabric with polished surface; handmodelled body with no features; left arm down side, right broken off; broken across the lower body; Phrygian cap with side flaps framing the face, which is delicately modelled. AN (Aleppo; acquired by C.L. Woolley) H: 12.3cm. W: 4.7cm. The most striking feature of the female terracottas compared to the early production in the region is their very distinctive chocolate brown colour and the smooth consistency of their clay bodies. This may be directly related to the introduction of new types of moulds cut in -233-

8 ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS stone or metal at this time that required a more malleable body clay to produce the finer detail cut into the surface of the mould. Some horsemen were entirely handmade at this time, as traditionally (cf. Elayi 1991, pl. I.1), others have the moulded or stamped face taken to characterize the Persian rider of the Achaemenid Period. Such moulds or stamps might have been circulated among workshops thus producing a few distinctive standardized faces over wide areas. Elayi (1991, 185) distinguished two types in a treasure from Aradus (A and B). She found examples of A reported from Aradus on the coast and inland at a site in northern Lebanon, at Qadish, Homs, Ebla and Neirab; and type B at Aradus, Ras Ibn Hani on the coast, Qadesh, Homs, Ebla, Neirab, &Ain Dara and Tell Halaf inland; a significant degree of overlap. At Tell Mardikh (Ebla), they were from a clearly defined Persian occupation level (cf. Mazzoni 1984; 1990). No. 378 belongs to a distinctive group of riders who hold an enigmatic object either round or square with rounded corners (cf. Elayi 1991, 201ff., pl. VIII.8 9 (Neirab), pl. IX.1 (Neirab), 2 (Tell Halaf), 3 (Tell Nebi Mend (Qadesh)), which is usually identified as a tambour or related musical instrument. However, the position of the rider s right hand appears to indicate that he is grasping a relatively heavy object rather than striking a stretched membrane held upright by his left hand. It has to be assumed that he is controlling his mount with the pressure of his thighs. The object is unlikely to be a shield, which is made to be held easily in one hand. A fragmentary rider, excavated from the Achaemenid period settlement at Ras Shamra (Leukos Limen) (Stucky 1983, pl. 27:16; Elayi 1991, pl. IX: 4a, b), has a broken object on the front of the horse. Among three Persian riders from intrusive deposits attributed to the Hellenistic Period at Umm el-marra, east of Aleppo in Syria, is one with a drum-like disk (Dunham 1997, 237 9, fig. 6). Dunham noted that the mouldmade faces belonged neither to Elayi s group A or B: the lack of a moustache makes the faces appear more youthful, and the way of constructing the eyes and mouth comes from Classical and Hellenistic Greek Art