Roads of Arabia

18bis Arabie US p318-363.qxd 23/06/10 22:11 Page 322
ROADS OF ARABIA
132. Head of a Woman (?)
3rd century BC–3rd century AD
Calcite-alabaster
21 x 13 cm
Qaryat al-Faw
Department of Archaeology Museum, King Saud University, Riyadh, 50 F 11
This round head is erect on a long neck, the folds of flesh marked by
incised lines. The details of the face are sketchy: big eyes with deeply
emphasized pupils, a quadrangular nose and curved lips. The top of
the skull is missing because as was very often the case, the hair was
probably inlaid.
The stone most frequently used for sculpture is a calcite-alabaster
appreciated for the delicacy of its grain and its translucent blonde
colour. According to the information provided by the Periplus Maris
Erythrea, a 1st-century AD Greek navigation handbook, this stone
known under the name of mwglm 1 was exported from the port of
Mouza on the Red Sea. M. C.
1. Garbini 1974, p. 296.
133. Head of a Man
3rd century BC–3rd century AD
Calcite-alabaster
23 x 12 cm
Qaryat al-Faw
Department of Archaeology Museum, King Saud University, Riyadh, 1 F 10
Alabaster heads of the dead are very common in South Arabia; it is
assumed they were set in small cubic bases or in niches hollowed in
the funerary stelae bearing the name of the deceased. The jawline
beard, eyes and eyebrows of this masculine face are highlighted with
black paint. The top of the skull is missing because the hair was
probably made of a different material. M. C.
134. Stele representing a man with a dagger
1st–3rd century AD
Calcite-alabaster
57 x 30 cm
Qaryat al-Faw
Department of Archaeology Museum, King Saud University, Riyadh, 70 F 15
The effigy, treated in the round, stands out against a smooth background;
the man has short hair, a thin moustache and a beard. He
wears a long tunic with vertical stripes held by two straps and carries
a short grooved sword at his belt. It can be compared to early AD
stelae from Jawf which display men in warlike attitudes wearing the
same garb. 1 M. C.
1. Arbach and Audouin 2007, no. 62, p. 95 and no. 59, p. 92; Paris 1997, p. 208.
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