As in northern Syria, ivory art flourished again in the Phoenician artistic centres during the early 1st millennium. Hundreds of specimens came to light during the excavation in Assyrian palaces and official buildings (Nimrud, Khorsabad, Arslan Tash and Assur), where they had ended up as diplomatic gifts, war booty or as tributes paid by the Phoenician cities for the relative economic autonomy they enjoyed within the Assyrian empire. The finest specimen shows a griffin in front of a Sacred Tree, which has now disappeared. There is no doubt that another identical mirror plate completed this symmetrical composition at one time (cat. 503). The hybrid fable, which was one of the guardians of this symbol of universal order, was equipped with a pair of wings decorated in the Egyptian style. Another oriental motif, which was also finished in the same style (note the wig and the almond-shaped eyes), can be seen on the plate showing the head of a woman behind a balcony (cat. 504). This motif alludes to hieros gamos, a sacred marriage in honour of Astarte (-Hor ? "Astarte at the the window"), which was simulated by women who lured male visitors into the temple. The phylakterion or jewel on this lady's wig is also a reminder of this, and in biblical literature, it is the symbol par excellence of the prostitute.