We may contrast with the refined work of the Athienau sarcophagus the far ruder, but more genuinely native, designs of a tomb of the same kind found on the site of Amathus.[731] On this sarcophagus, the edges of which are most richly adorned with patterning, there are, as upon the other, four reliefs, two of them occupying the sides and two the ends.  Those at the ends are curious, but have little artistic merit.  They consist, in each case, of a caryatid figure four times repeated, representations, respectively, of Astarte and of a pygmy god, who, according to some, is Bes, and, according to others, Melkarth or Esmun.[732] The figures of Astarte are rude, as are generally her statues.[733] They have the hair arranged in three rows of crisp curls, the arms bent, and the hands supporting the breasts.  The only ornament worn by them is a double necklace of pearls or round beads.  The representations of the pygmy god have more interest.  They remind us of what Herodotus affirms concerning the Phoenician pataikoi, which were used for the figure-heads of ships,[734] and which he compares to the Egyptian images of Phthah, or Ptah, the god of creation.  They are ugly dwarf figures, with a large misshapen head, a bushy beard, short arms, fat bodies, a short striped tunic, and thick clumsy legs.  Only one of the four figures is at present complete, the sarcophagus having been entered by breaking a hole into it at this end.

The work at the sides is much superior to that at the ends.  The two panels represent, apparently, a single scene.  The scene is a procession, but whether funeral or military it is hard to decide.[735] First come two riders on horseback, wearing conical caps and close-fitting jerkins; they are seated on a species of saddle, which is kept in place by a board girth passing round the horse’s belly, and by straps attached in front.  The two cavaliers are followed by four bigae.  The first contains the principal personages of the composition, who sits back in his car, and shades himself with a parasol, the mark of high rank in the East, while his charioteer sits in front of him and holds the reins.  The second car has three occupants; the third two; and the fourth also two, one of whom leans back and converses with the footmen, who close the procession.  These form a group of three, and seem to be soldiers, since they bear shield and spear; but their costume, a loose robe wrapped round the form, is rather that of civilians.  The horses are lightly caparisoned, with little more than a head-stall and a collar; but they carry on their heads a conspicuous fan-like crest.[736] MM.  Perrot and Chipiez thus sum up their description of this monument:—­“Both in the ornamentation and in the sculpture properly so-called there is a mixture of two traditions and two inspirations, diverse one from the other.  The persons who chiselled the figures in the procession which fills the two principal sides of the sarcophagus were the pupils