The history of art in ancient South Arabia is a subject which has been almost consistently excluded from general studies of the art of the Ancient Orient. In view of the lack of a clear understanding of the nature and chronology of the art of this comparatively remote area, this situation cannot be regarded as unexpected or inexplicable, even though the art of the Qatabanians, Sabaeans and others was incontestably a part of the art of the other parts of the ancient Near East. While the number of objects of limited types found in collections is fairly large, almost no objects from controlled excavations or of significant content have been in the possession of scholars until very recent years. It was, in fact, almost exactly one decade ago that Dr. Berta Segall first attacked this problem in connection with her study of new materials discovered by expeditions to Yemen, Beihan, and Dhofar during the preceding three years under the sponsorship of the American Foundation for the Study of Man.' Her studies constitute an excellent start for disentangling the complicated relationships which existed between the art of ancient South Arabia and that of other parts of the Near East, especially Syria.2 The most significant positive statement which can now be made is that the direction of the influence was entirely from north to south, for there has not yet been any clear indication that any styles of art were originated in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula and exported to the centers of civilization in the Fertile Crescent and the eastern Mediterranean region. The subject of this paper provides one more striking example of the course of this influence.