Twin Figures

Two symmetrical figures stand on a rectangular base. Their bodies are elongated cylinders with splayed legs. The outer arms project forward, while the inner arms of each wrap around the other’s shoulders. Both figures have prominent noses, oval pellet eyes, and slightly projecting chins. One figure wears a truncated conical headpiece, while the other figure wears a conical cap that curves backward. While the gender of these figures is indeterminate, it is probable that they both represent male figures. The pointed caps suggest that the figures are deities. Such twin groups in the Levant represent clear antecedents for twin Geometric groups, such as the male and female pair in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1). NOTES: 1. Inv. no. 63.2755; see S. Langdon, ed., From Pasture to Polis: Art in the Age of Homer, exh. cat., Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri-Columbia; University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley; Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Columbia, MO, 1993) 130-33, no. 41, pl. 2. David G. Mitten