Archaeology Magazine - October 1972 - 57

is longer than the left side. The bottom
of the base is not straight but slants upwards toward the back, therefore,making the base higher in the front than in
the back.
Both lions are shown in a crouching
position.Only the contour of the body
and the legs is carved and other elements, such as tail and hair, are not
shown.The front paws of the lions are
stretched forward and in the case of
each lion the paw is divided into four
claws. Much effort was invested in the
carving of the heads, especiallythat of
the left lion. It has round ears, sockets
representingthe eyes,the nose and perhaps nostrils.Its mouth is open and the
tongue hangs out and downward.Fangs
are shown at the sides of the mouth.
Four teeth are carved on one side of the
open mouth, two on the upper and two
on the lowerjaw. Most of theseelements
can also be seenin the head of the right
lion, but the nose is hardly visible and
onlyone fang is portrayed.
Whenlookingfor comparablematerial
we see that all the basesof this kind are
to be found in the Neo-Hittite kingdoms,and thosewhich are datable seem
to belongto the ninth centuryb.c. Dated
examples include the lions' bases B25

and B53 from Carchemish, probably
erected by Katuwa in the first part of
the ninth century, the lions' base from
Zincirli which was probably erected by
Kilamuwa during the third quarter of
that century, and the bulls' base from
Karatepe erected by Azitawadda who,
in our opinion, should be dated to the
ninth century b.c. In addition, other
similarbases not yet dated, but seeming
to belongto the ninth century b.c., have
been found at Carchemish,Zincirli and
Domuztepe. All these bases resemble
ours except for the fact that in all of
them the lions or bulls are shownstanding while in our base the lions are
crouching. However, gods standing or
sitting on crouching lions can be seen
in the Neo-Hittitereliefs.
The stylisticresemblanceof our base
to the Neo-Hittitebases forms the main
evidencefor dating the former.It is very
likely, then, that our base dates to the
ninth century b.c., and not to the sixth
as suggestedby Dikaiosin the museum's
officialguide book. This dating is also
supported by the fact that the lions on
our base are shown open-mouthedwith
their tongueshanging out in the Hittite
fashion. The Neo-Hittite lions on the
mainland are similarly shown during

the ninth oenturyb.c. (or before) while
later, in the eighth century b.c., the
tonguesof the lionsare no longershown
hanging out, probablyas a result of increasingAssyrianinfluence.
Finally,the base has historicalsignificance. Bases of this type were used to
support statues of gods, or kings portrayed as gods, and they were placed by
the Neo-Hittite rulers beside official
monumental edifices.The Cyprus base
would therefore indicate the existence
of a Neo-Hittite community,or more
probably a Neo-Hittite ruling house, in
the area of the Karpas Peninsuladuring the ninth centuryb.c. This peninsula
is situated but a short distancefrom the
Syrian and the Cilician coasts, and it
seems reasonable to conclude that a
Neo-Hittite dynasty established itself
there during that period. It also seems
reasonable to assume the base ordered
by our hypotheticalruler was discarded
in the quarry due to its asymmetry.
Therefore,somewherein the area of the
Karpas are hidden the remains of the
edificeor enclosurewhere the base originally was to have been placed as well
as possiblyother Neo-Hittitemonuments.
David Ussishkin
Tel AvivUniversity

New Discoveries in
"Aeneas Country"
Last year excavationsat Lavinium, a
name which immediately conjures up
thoughts of Aeneas,uncovereda monumental tomb of the seventh century
B.c., which was quickly and romantically dubbed the "Tomb of Aeneas."
This year, work in the same general
area is producing equally interesting
results.
About 10 miles to the north of
Lavinium, some 12 south of Rome,
near the town of Castello di Decima,
tumuli indicating the presence of ancient burials have long been known.
One of the main routes from Rome to
Naples passes through the zone, and
when the widening of the road threatened to cover up whatever was there
with asphalt, the Soprintendente alle
. antichità di Ostia undertook to excavate. To date, some 25 tombs have
been brought to light. They consist of
a simple rectangular trench floored
with big tufa fragments on which the
corpse was laid. The tomb objectsclay and bronze vesselsand some personal effectssuch as bronze fibulae and
amber trinkets- are rich, indicating a
level- of prosperity markedly higher

than, for example, in contemporary
tombs uncovered in the Alban hills.
The most recent finds (end of May, beginning of June) have been the most
- two monumental tombs
impressive
which surely covered the remains of
chieftains. Both are significantlylarger
than the others in size and probably
were covered by tumuli. In both the
tomb material included not only a
richer selectionof clay and bronze vessels but silver clasps, bronze armorlance, shield, sword- and the metal
parts of a war chariot (the wooden
parts have completelyrotted away).
The tombs date from the end of the
eighth b.c. to the last quarter of the
seventh. Nothing at all of later date
has been found, and this has led to the
conjecture that the necropolisbelonged
to the city of Politorium. Politorium
was one of three Latin cities in the
area that, tradition has it, were wiped
out by Ancus Marcius, the fourth King
of Rome. Of the other two, Ficana has
been fairly certainly located midway
between Rome and Ostia, Tellenae
much more tentatively near Ardea.
This leaves only Politorium- but the
identification,based so far solely on a
processof elimination,is very unsure.

Three New Appointments
Joseph Veach Noble became Chairman
of the New York State Historical
Trust, the agency charged with the responsibility for maintaining the New
York State historicsites, in June, 1972.
Director of the Museumof the City of
New York, noted ceramic archeologist,
President of the New York State Association of Museums, Mr. Noble was
also Chairman of the Museum'sCouncil of New York City.
John A. Brinkman began a threeyear appointment as Director of the
University of Chicago's Oriental Institute in July, 1972.A Professorof Mesopotamian History and former Chairman of Near Eastern Languages and
Civilization at the University of Chicago, Dr. Brinkmanis an authority on
the political and social history of Babylonia and Assyria.
On August 1, 1972 Paul N. Perrot
assumedthe positionof AssistantSecretary for Museum Programs at the
Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C. Perrot, considered a leading
scholar of glass, had been associated
with the Corning Museum of Glass
since 1952.
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Archaeology Magazine - October 1972

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