[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Cyprian limestone group of Phoenician dancers,
about 6-1/2 in. high. There is a somewhat similar group, also from
Cyprus, in the British Museum. The dress, a hooded cowl, appears to be
of great antiquity.]

From the Phoenicians we have illustrated examples, but no record,
whereas from their neighbours the Hebrews we have ample records in the
Scriptures, but no illustrations. It is, however, most probable that
the dance with them had the traditional character of the nations
around them or who had held them captive, and the Philistine dance
(fig. 6) may have been of the same kind as that around the golden calf
(Apis) of the desert (Exodus xxxii. v. 19).

[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Phoenician patera, from Idalium, showing a
religious ritual dance before a goddess in a temple round a sun
emblem.]

When they passed the Red Sea, Miriam and the maidens danced in chorus
with singing and the beating of the timbrel (tambour). (Exodus xv. v.
1.)

[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Female figure smelling a lotus. From a
painting in the British Museum.]

King David not only danced before the ark (2 Samuel vi. v. 16), but
mentions dancing in the 149th and 150th Psalm. Certain historians also
tell us that they had dancing in their ritual of the seasons. Their
dancing seems to have been associated with joy, as we read of "a time
to mourn and a time to dance"; we find (Eccles. iii. v. 4) they had