142.—P. and C. Ass. 127.
143.—Tanis II. xxxi.
144.—Goodyear. 75.
In Assyria this became a staple design, in which the top was greatly increased at the expense of the lotus sepals below; but still the four sepals, two front and two back, are shown. In the Greek designs, however barbarous they may seem in comparison, owing to their hopeless divergence from any rational type, yet the same elements remain, and the four sepals can be traced below the view of the petals in the flower. Thus the anthemion with its double curves is fully accounted for, the lower and upper sepals being still distinguishable in the two spirals on each side at the base of it. The later changes of this necessarily belong to Greek art, and we cannot here follow them out.
Fig. 145.
A late development of the lotus in Ptolemaic Egypt was with a central spike through the face of petals. As this spike rises from the base, it appears to be the front sepal rising before the petals.
