High Life

48 品 饰板 这块典雅的象牙浮雕以狮身人为主题，曾是某贵重家具的 装饰部分，于公元前900至公元前700年制作。其来自撒 缦以色堡垒，即亚述帝国位于尼姆鲁德的皇室兵工厂，距 离现今伊拉克摩苏尔30公里。以骨螺紫染料而闻名的腓尼 基人，当年几乎垄断了地中海地区象牙制品、奇珍异宝和 奢侈品的海上贸易。这份瑰宝的年份，与传说中狄多女王 创建迦太基同期。母邦腓尼基于公元前539年被居鲁士大 帝的阿契美尼德帝国征服，而子邦迦太基亦于公元前146 年被小西庇阿所摧毁。 Decorative plaque Dated between 900 and 700 BC from Fort Shalmaneser, the royal arsenal of Assyrian kings in Nimrud, some 30 kilometers south of modern-day Mosul. Depicting a winged sphinx, this elegant ivory relief used to be attached to and adorn a valuable piece of furniture. Perhaps more than theTyrian purple dye, the thalassocratic Phoenicians were renowned for their ivory carving and trading of exotic and luxury goods across the Mediterranean. This artefact is largely contemporaneous with the legendary queen Dido’s founding of Carthage, the daughter state of Phoenicia. Phoenicia was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in 539 BC and Carthage by the Roman Republic under Scipio Aemilianus in 146 BC.