Phoenician Sculpture of a Scorpion - PF.1074 - For Sale

Phoenician Sculpture of a Scorpion - PF.1074
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The Phoenicians were one of the most important civilisations of the ancient world, and flourished from around 1500 to 300 BC. Their world was centred on Northern Israel, Lebanon and Syria, while their sphere of conquest and influence extended throughout the Mediterranean and even beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar) and into the Mediterranean-Atlantic. Their power was due primarily to their mastery of seamanship – which they developed to a whole new level during their pre-eminence – and extremely well-organised administration which was strengthened by extensive use of the alphabet. Indeed, it was the Phoenicians who introduced the alphabet to the Greeks, who in turn passed it onto the rest of the Western World. They were essentially Canaanites, to whom they were identical in sociocultural and material terms, the only difference being the massive range over which their cultural remains and heritage can be found. Phoenician society was comparatively stable when compared to the changeable fortunes of other Eastern Mediterranean cultures, primarily due to its broad royal, political and religious foundations. The town of Byblos became a major hub for trade all over the Fertile Crescent, followed by Tyre and Sidon; overseas territories notably included Carthage (founded 814 BC), but they either took over or culturally dominated trading ports from Cyprus to Malta, Spain, Portugal and Sardinia. They traded in purple dye (“Tyrian Purple”), textiles, luxury ceramics, silver, tin (with England) and glass, explored down the west coast of Africa as far as the Gulf of Guinea, and may even have circumnavigated Africa in around 600 BC.Since earliest times, the mysterious, poisonous scorpion has gripped men's imaginations. In Egypt this ancient arachnid was worshipped as a god, and the Greeks placed it among the constellations of the heavens. This powerfully abstract sculpture, perhaps a votive, seems to possess a magic that is older than memory itself. Even in a world where the scorpion is hardly seen, we are attracted by the primal energy of this image. - (PF.1074)

Antiquities
Ancient Near East
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Seller Details :
Barakat Gallery
405 North Rodeo Drive
Beverly Hills
California-90210
USA
Contact Details :
Email : barakat@barakatgallery.com
Phone : 310.859.8408

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