The Libyan stele of Sidi Hadj Hassaine
The Libyan stele of Sidi Hadj Hassaine, presented in the first report by Jean-Pierre Laporte.
Description of the Stele This stele was discovered on December 12, 2009 by Mr. S.B. at a place called Azaghar (the plain), neighboring the zaouia of Sidi Hadj Hassine, group of five villages of Semaoune (Ait Ouaghlis), commune of Chemini (to the west and south). above Sidi Aich).
Approximate dimensions: Height. 1.55m; Width.1.36m;thickness. 0.44m. Large slab of natural sandstone, slightly irregular, unretouched. The main motif represents a rider with his forearms raised. The figure was obtained by lightly pecking the natural surface covered with metallic oxides, revealing the lighter rock. An incompletely deciphered Libyan inscription is engraved in the upper left corner.
Comparative Analysis 
From the first glance, we note the strong similarity with the figured Libyan steles of the best Abizar series, where all the details find a respondent. These steles show the very stylized representation of a character, most often on horseback, holding with his raised right arm a shield and several javelins (typical Libyan weaponry) and showing between the thumb and fingers of the open right hand a ring in which we see a sign of power. The iconographic convention adopted favors the most important details: the head of the character is larger and better treated than the rest of the body; right hand, shield and javelins are drawn with precision; clothing is not indicated; finally, the horse is proportionally smaller than the character. The details considered secondary are, on the contrary, barely sketched, or even not figured (like the clothes). Dating from the last centuries BC, these figurations were not clumsy imitations of Roman stelae (later in any case), but, on the contrary, remarkable productions of the purest Libyan art.
Description of the stele of Sidi Hadj Hassaine.
The head is practically identical to that of the steles of Abizar, Souama, Bou Djemaa, Cheurfa and Tensaouth. The left hand holds a small round shield and three javelins. The raised right hand is open, but we cannot distinguish here the ring (disappeared?) represented between the thumb and the fingers of various Abizar-type stelae. Classically, the horse is quite small. We cannot distinguish on its rump the small character seen on the Abizar stele (but the area is barely distinguishable here). As on the Abizar stele, a long lock of hair extended forward above the head. The horse's tail is streaked as on the steles of Abizar, Bou Djemaa and Cheurfa. A quadruped that cannot be identified is represented in front of the horse's front legs. An incompletely deciphered Libyan inscription is engraved in the upper left corner.
Importance of Discovery 
Completing a series of well-known documents from the wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou, the most emblematic of which is the stele of Abizar (a large village located in Tizi Ouzou) (RIL 851, Laporte, 1992), the stele of Sidi Hadj Hassaine gives a new extent, towards the East, to this coherent iconographic ensemble which until now was believed to be limited to the Kabylie of Sebaou, and which had already been extended towards the West by the report of a stele of the same type in the surroundings of Bordj Menaïel, then by a still unpublished stele, of a slightly different type, discovered south of Djurdjura in Saharidj (near Mchedillah, wilaya of Bouira). This ensemble, characteristic of a regional culture that is both very particular and very homogeneous throughout Libya, now extends from the course of the Isser to that of the Soummam, also encompassing the southern foothills of Djurdjura.
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