This striking ceramic sculpture is a votive figure from the middle of the first millennium BC, and represents a deity in the Phoenician pantheon. It is slim and elongated, depicting a male standing on a (partially restored) square integral base, his weight mainly supported on his right leg and his left slightly flexed at the knee. He is wearing a tunic (?) under a long robe that is gathered over the left arm and falls to the feet. The right arm is raised so that the hand faces forwards in what is generally considered to be a gesture of benediction. The detailing is good though somewhat worn by its long immersion in the Mediterranean, which has also given it considerable calcareous concretions. The smoothed features add to the powerful austerity that the piece possesses, which has much in common with the Archaic Period Greek statues which the Phoenicians helped to inspire. The back of the piece is almost completely plain, implying that it was always meant to be viewed from the front rather than in the round, which is appropriate for figures destined for shrines.

Antiquities
Ancient Near East