Hittite Art
A REPRESENTATION of a bull in silver from recent excavations in Anatolia, and described as the most important work of art of Hittite origin yet discovered, is to be exhibited at the forthcoming Antique Dealers Fair to be held at Grosvenor House, London, W.I. The figure is seven inches high, and is mounted on bronze and inlaid with gold. It is dated tentatively at the third millennium B.C. As an evidence of high artistic culture, it is without parallel among Hittite antiquities. An obvious comparison with Sumerian bulls from Ur is suggested. To this, reference is made by Prof. Ernst Herzfeld, whose authority on Hittite objects is unquestionable. In an interview with a representative of The Times, which appears in the issue of September 16, he discusses the affinities of the Hittite bull with other finds from Anatolia and elsewhere, mentioning in particular the figurines from mounds in south Russia and the Caucasus, of which the best known are in the Hermitage Museum, and a terra-cotta bull (Bos primigenius) from Nihawand in his own collection, which belongs to the Early Bronze Age of the third millennium B.C. Prof. Herzfeld also directs attention to the principle, important in discussion of the qualities and characteristics of art in the ancient East, and of a relevance here, which will be immediately apparent to archaeologists, that down to Achaemenid times verisimilitude in line is frequently sacrificed to an artistic convention in attitude, which assimilates one species to another. This is apparent in this example in the manner in which the legs of a bull are represented in an attitude essentially capriform. It is thus evident that even at the early date to which this bull is assigned, an art, Hittite in all essentials, already conformed to a generalised eastern convention.
Assyrian Royal Hunts: Antlered and Horned Animals from Distant Lands
Assyrian royal texts disclose the rich variety of wildlife encountered in distant landscapes during military campaigns. The royal hunts of wild animals are illustrated in the visual arts of Assyria, which include species of Cervidae and Bovidae. Singled out are the deer (fallow deer, red deer), wild mountain goat (ibex, Kuban tur), and gazelle. These non-aggressive herbivores, represented in different contexts and media of ancient Near Eastern art and especially Assyria, are studied individually. Neo-Assyrian art provides evidence that species of deer, mountain goat, and gazelle were hunted in the wild; kept in herds for royal sporting events; and subjected to cultic practices. On occasion their images had political meaning as symbols of distant lands.
Eimeria odocoilei n. sp. from the mule deer Odocoileus h. hemionus in Washington.
SYNOPSIS. Eimeria odocoilei n. sp. is described from feces of a mule deer Odocoileus h. hemionus in Washington. Its oocysts are 26 to 28 by 22 to 26 μ. It is the second species of Eimeria described from this host.