39. Lions and griffins attack other animals
This long popular oriental motif is well represented in this series. Since it is not specifically of Phoenician significance there is more danger of including here pieces that belong somewhere outside the Phoenician world, but there are also some well defined groups which can be associated by style alone. The Greeks adopted the subject for their archaic scarabs, and some taken as Greek (but not of green jasper) might in fact be of Phoenician or other eastern origin since styles are broadly similar. This is not a subject whose treatment seems to owe anything to Greek example, but some compositions are adopted and reinterpreted by Greek gem-engravers in the Classical period, especially through their currency in the Persian empire. The predators are lions, rarely griffins, which become somewhat more popular in this role in Greek Classical glyptic. The quarry is usually a bull, sometimes a stag or goat. In AGGems 123 I gave a classification of the main attack types on archaic Greek scarabs. The Classical Phoenician are roughly the same but add the common group of two attacking lions. Precedents for the various schemes in the east are legion. The best are fine compositions of crossing bodies in free field, as in the Syrian haematite series of the 8th century (e.g., Insight through Images (Studies Porada, 1986) pl.18.17). This freedom is barely glimpsed in our series, where the animals are regularly tied to their ground line.The schemes are for the most part banal -- attack from the front or behind, heads turned back (rarely frontal) -- but there are some more involved where the animals' bodies overlap and the attacker is beyond the quarry. On these and few others there is a real sense of attack. But sometimes the animals seem barely involved with each other and are simply set in appropriate relevant positions; this is true of the simpler versions which are quite close to Egyptian and other egyptianizing types.
A. Two lions attack a bull
West
39/1 Tharros pl. 62a, London no. 415, pl. 7. BH;deep EXCR;PB. Bull's head turned back. I
39/2 London no. 416, pl. 7, from Tharros. AGGems no. 365, pl. 27. BH; deep EXCR. One lion stands on an omphalos-like support; the other attacks from beyond the bull's rump and we see only its head and paws. In the field the letter vau. I
39/4 Milan, once Busacchi, from Tharros. BAS 4, 97, pl. 2.9. BH;EXCR. As 39/12. Two small florals in upper field (?).
No image available
39/5 Pauvert no. 55, pl. 5, from Agrigento. AGGems no. 366, pl. 27. As 39/2 but with a flower beneath the bull and another (arrow-like) before it.
East
39/6 Vienna no. 16, pl. 4 (IX.1978), from Cyprus (once Ohnefalsch-Richter Coll.), bought in Larnaka. Reyes, no. 128. BH;EXO. As 39/1.
39/7 Larnaka 552 (once Nicosia 1939/X-6/1), from Arsos. RDAC 1987, 90, pl. 32; Reyes, no. 102. BL; ridged back;WL. A lion, head frontal, and a griffin tear the body of a goat on its back. II/III
Other
39/9 The Hague no. 8. BH;deep EXCR. Both lions' heads turned back. Two stars above. III
No image available
39/10 Bollmann Coll. 170. BH. As Tharros pl. 62a.
No image available
39/11 Amsterdam 7898. RSF 16 (1988) pl. 28a (Gubel). BL;EXO. Bull on knees. Star above. III
No image available
39/12 Boston 01.7540. AGGems no. 368, pl. 27. BH; deep EXCR;PB. Lion with head turned back; bull head frontal; other lion attacks from behind, head turned back. See 39/4.
No image available
39/13 Paris, BN, Chandon de Briailles. BH; spine; in gold mount B. As the last, with two flowers attached to top border. I
39/14 London no. 334, pl. 6. AGGems no. 367, p. 155. BH;deep EXCR rising beneath lion's and bull's feet;PT. As the last, with a flower attached to top border. I
39/15 Sternberg, Aukt. 21 (1988) no. 655; Syria 67 (1990) 517, fig. 39. BL;EXCR. One lion with frontal head, the other with head turned back; dots in field.
No image available
B. Lion attacks bull (once panther and griffin) from the far side
The scheme is that of one lion on 39/12; except for Geneva which is unique. ['Panther' = lion with head frontal.]
West
East
39/19 Geneva III, no. 155, from Aegina. Southesk A 29, pl. 2; AGGems no. 369. The panther's body is in front of a bird-headed griffin but turns to bite it in the neck, so that its head is frontal and central. The griffin is skirted. The lion and griffin fight is most unusual anywhere: cf. de Clercq nos. 2868, 2792.
C. Lion or panther attacks bull or boar from front
The lion attacks the rump, and is often shown virtually jumping over the quarry, rarely crossing its body from behind, which is the more elegant composition favoured in Greece.
West
39/21 Cagliari 19807, from Tharros. BH;PT. Panther, its body over the bull. A bud below the bull. III
39/22 Cagliari, 360?, from Tharros. BL. The lion is poised at an angle over the bull, on the vertical axis of the scarab. V
No image available
39/23 Visc. Asquer Coll. from Tharros. Marmora, pl. B 63; Perrot, 658, fig. 475. BH. Similar to 39/21. III
39/24 Spano Coll., from Sardinia. Ebers, pl. G 33; Perrot, V, 658, fig. 476 ?. BH. Panther, its body crossing the bull's.
39/26 Toronto 928.4.1, ROM, from Tharros. BH. Bull.ROM 1929, 13, fig. BH. Boar; as the last (? the same).
No image available
39/27 From Monte Sirai. Monte Sirai II, fig. 4, no. 156bis. BL. Lion, bull.
No image available
East
39/28 London no. 483, pl. 8, from Greece. AGGems no. 391, pl. 28. BH. Panther, bull. I
Other
39/29 London, Falkiner Coll. AGGems no. 418, pl. 30. BH;PB. Panther attacks stag, crossing its neck. Finely hatched bodies anticipating classical treatment.
D. Lion or panther (once a dog) attacks from behind (bull, boar, goat/antelope)
West
39/41 Once D.M. Robinson Coll., from Tharros. Hesperia Suppl. 8, pl. 41.12. BH. Lion, stag.
No image available
39/44 Carthage no. 623. BH. Lion, stag. III
No image available
39/46 Carthage no. 625. BH. Lion, goat. IV
No image available
East
39/47 New York, ANS 246, from Turkey. BH. Lion, bull.London market, from Turkey. ? = NAAC no. 34. BL. Lion, bull.
No image available
39/48 Paris, Bibl.Nat., de Clercq no. 2465, pl. 16, from Amrit. BL. Lion, stag. II
Other
39/49 New York, Rosen 213. BL. Once Guilhou Coll. de Ricci, pl. 2.69. BH; in silver mount. Lion, bull. III
39/50 Péronne, Danicourt Coll. RA 1971, 199, fig. 6 (Boardman); GGFR pl. 387. BH;elaborate beetle. Lion (three-quarter head), goat.
39/54 New York, ANS 272. BH. Lion, bull; centre missing.
No image available
39/55 Geneva I no. 161, pl. 65. BL. Lion, bull.
No image available
39/57 Paris, Drouot 10.10.01, no. 455. BL. Lion, goat, in classical posture.
No image available
E. Lion attacks bull on its back
The scheme is commoner on Greek scarabs; AGGems 123, Scheme D.
West
39/58 Cagliari 9508 (Spano 60), from Tharros. Marmora, pl. B 64; Ebers, pl. G 35. BH. The lion tears the bull's belly. I
Other materials
Type A
39/X1 Jerusalem, Rockefeller IAA I.8910 (lost), from Tell abu Hawam. AJBA 1 (1968) 52, pl. 1.2 (Culican); CSAPI I, no. 19. Cornelian. BH; in silver mount. III
39/X2 Dublin, Univ.Coll. I.X.1978, from Cyprus. Material? RSF 16 (1988) 158 (Gubel).
No image available
Type B
39/X3 London, BM ANE 120366. Light green glass scaraboid. D. Barag, Western Asiatic Glass I (1985) no. 99.
No image available
Type C
39/X5 Monte Sirai 156bis. Saggi Fenici I, pl. 4.3 (Bondi). Green glass. BL.
No image available
Type D
39/X7 Tharros pl. 65b (BM ANE 133457), London no. 418, pl. 7; LRings no. 1004, fig. 126. Cornelian. BH; in gold mount with twisted wire sides, and massive silver hoop A. Lion, stag.
39/X9 Milan (Busacchi), from Tharros. Material? BAS 4, 97, pl. 2.10. BL. Lion, goat?; winged disc above.
No image available
39/X10 Milan (Busacchi), from Tharros. Material? Ibid., pl. 2.11. Lion, goat.
No image available
39/X11 Milan (Busacchi), from Tharros. Material? Ibid., pl. 2.12. Lion, bull?
No image available
