In the sepulchral inscription IG ii2. 10453 we are offered Άγλώκρ[ιτος] Τορωνα[ος]. The name Aglokritos, however, cannot stand, for there is room only for a name with a maximum of nine letters. The two extant transcriptions by George Finlay appear to offer two additional letters (AT/IA) at the end of each line, letters which were read by no-one else, Koumanoudes included. It is suggested in this article that Finlay failed to maintain his customary accuracy in making his sketches, and that we should place no faith in the supposed letters AT/IA at the right-hand edge of the stone. We believe that the only nine-lettered male candidate—the female name Aglokrate being less likely than the expected, but ten-lettered Aglokrateia—is Aglokreon.

This paper presents the collections history and typological characteristics of a small collection of Laconian lead figurines from the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia currently held in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The collection, which first belonged to Ramsay Traquair, serves as a case study for the applicability of the traditional lead figurine typology to decontextualised artefacts, demonstrating its limitations for assigning precise and accurate dates based on style without the benefit of stratigraphic and contextual evidence. The paper further attests to the value of comprehensively analysing small museum and gallery collections in order to gain more individualised understandings of the figurines within the large Laconian corpus than could be afforded upon excavation. Thus, this study helps to elucidate some of the limitations to the means by which we interpret Laconian material culture as well as to nuance our understanding of Laconian lead figurines by demonstrating the varied capability of the typology and published comparanda in dating and stylistic description.

In a brief note, the excavations are described and the pottery studies by D. M. Bailey and G. D. R. Sanders are introduced.

Whereas the 1954 tombs belonged to the House of Shields, of the two uncovered in 1955 one was within the House of Sphinxes and the other lay immediately to the west of it.

This burial does not need any lengthy description. It was found at the east end of an otherwise unfruitful trial trench dug immediately to the west of the modern road which runs along the western side of the House of Sphinxes. It consisted of the skeleton (in very poor condition) of a small child, placed on the rock. Two bronze pins lay together over the chest, and a cup was found on the rock beside the body. There was no longer any indication as to how the skeleton and the associated objects were originally protected.

This article continues my observations on the temple of Poseidon published in BSA xlv (1950) 78 ff. I begin with what I have recently noticed of the architectural detailing and decoration of this temple. Zschietzschmann (AA 1929, 223 f.) noticed a painted pattern of a very unexpected design on the inner taenia of the architrave. It is a well-kept rule in Greek architecture that the decoration of a moulding should echo its profile. So a taenia of rectangular section, assuming that it needed decoration at all, should have had some sort of Greek fret (for which see below). At Sunium, however, it has the Oriental Coil, an ornament which, in any case, is oftener seen on Ionic buildings than on Doric. In Doric, indeed, it is known to have established itself in only one position, on a certain type of flat clay cornice-revetment, probably invented in Corinth, found in a primitive form, and not quite, perhaps, in its canonical position, on the temple of Artemis at Corcyra, and thereafter stereotyped on the monotonous, sub-Corinthian clay cornice-revetments churned out in Sicily during the century down to 480 B.C. At Sunium one can only suppose that the Oriental Coil brought the Doric architrave of the side ptera into greater harmony with the Ionic of the east pteron.

The iconography and composition of the Arcesilas Cup are widely acknowledged to have been modelled on weighing scenes found in Egyptian funerary art. However, less attention has been given to how the Arcesilas Painter came to experiment with a composition found in Egyptian funerary art, and why he would want to do so. This paper revises previous studies of the Arcesilas Cup's subject and its similarities to Egyptian illustrations of the weighing of the heart spell. Next, it explores how exchange and consumption in the sixth-century Mediterranean can be used to make sense of the cup's unique subject. Finally, it proposes contexts for the transmission of designs between Egyptian and Laconian artists.

The Byzantine coinage in the twelfth century was of three kinds. There were gold nomismata, with a purchasing power which must have been a good deal greater than that of a present-day five-pound note, and also nomismata of ‘pale gold’—gold alloyed with silver—of lower value; at the other extreme there were bronze coins, smaller than a modern farthing, which were the coinage of the market-place; intermediate, but still of low value, there were coins about the size of a halfpenny, normally made of copper lightly washed with silver. The silvered bronze and the gold were not flat, as are most coins, but saucer-shaped. The reason for their unusual form is not known. Numismatists describe them as scyphate, and refer to the middle denomination in the later Byzantine system of coinage as Scyphate Bronze, to distinguish it from the petty bronze coinage. Scyphate Bronze was first struck under Alexius I (1081–1118). Substantive issues were made by John II (1118–43), and such coinage became extremely plentiful under Manuel I (1143–80) and his successors Isaac II (1185–95) and Alexius III (1195–1203). After the capture of Constantinople in the course of the Fourth Crusade, the successor-states to the Byzantine Empire at Nicaea, Salonica, and in Epirus continued to issue scyphate bronze coinage, although in much smaller quantities, until after the middle of the thirteenth century.

In an oracular tablet from Dodona dating to the mid-fourth century bc, a slave named Kittos inquires whether his master, Dionysios, will set him free. A roughly contemporary entry in the Athenian phialai inscriptions records Dionysios isotelēs manumitting Kittos the metalworker. This paper suggests that the individuals in both documents may be identical. Along the way, it also takes a position on a number of questions surrounding the phialai inscriptions. These inscriptions are not really inventories, I propose, nor can they be explained in terms of lawsuits unrelated to manumission. (The presence of families and children in the inscriptions is especially important in demonstrating this point.) Instead, they represent acts of manumission effectuated through dikē apostasiou prosecutions, an Athenian practice which, I believe, dates back to the 350s. It was not until the 330s, under the financial administration of Lycurgus, that the city imposed mandatory phialai dedications upon all manumissions in court, with the phialē serving as a manumission fee paid to the treasurers of Athena.

The tithe was the most important source of revenue for the Venetian government in the Morea. The initial practice of farming out the collection of the tax each year to private individuals was later partially replaced by a system reminiscent of Ottoman practice, whereby the village communities became responsible for their own tithe. This policy encouraged the villages to negotiate directly with the provincial authorities, but met with limited success. The article concludes that the system failed in terms of both its primary aim of recovering sufficient revenue for the regional government and the secondary aim of conciliating the Greek population.

There are several explanations current about the origin of the triglyph. First, that the frieze of triglyph and metope started from a decorative feature of Mycenaean art and survived—invisibly to us–until eventually Doric architecture emerged. Secondly, that triglyphs are the fossilised remains of barred wooden windows, which early Greeks needed but their successors did not. Thirdly, that triglyphs are the flattened vestiges of an upper row of columns, abandoned by the timid masons of the seventh century. Fourthly, that the triglyph represents the end or a facing of the end of a wooden beam, this though in all ascertainable early instances the beams run from the course above the triglyph. Fifthly, and liable to the same objection, that the metopes were originally the ends of beams and the triglyphs bars between them. To each of these explanations—and probably to any other that has been or can be devised—there are serious objections. But since the treatment and the prominence of the orthodox triglyph give it an appearance of being an important structural member and particularly one of wood, the most popular explanation is the fourth, which derives the triglyph from the wooden beam. If this is accepted, the argument may reasonably be pushed further.

In the spring of 1896, a small excavation conducted by Mr. Cecil Smith, then Director of the British School, resulted in the discovery of the site of the Kynosarges gymnasium on the left bank of the Ilissus below Callirrhoe.

The excavation also brought to light a considerable number of ‘Dipylon’ tombs. It is unfortunate that, according to the law as it then stood, the larger part of the vases found in these tombs passed into the hands of the owner of the site and are now beyond reach, but a certain number are preserved in the Museum of the British School, and these, to judge from a photograph of some of the lost vases, I believe to be good representatives of the whole group. I have to thank Mr. Cecil Smith for permission to publish them.

There are in all forty-four vases, many unfortunately very fragmentary. Besides these there are three pieces which show traces of later oriental influence. The numbers are those of the Museum Catalogue.

The year 1906 was marked by the inception of what seems likely to be the most extensive and productive piece of work yet undertaken by the British School at Athens. We take this opportunity of expressing our thanks to the Hellenic Government and the Ephor-General of Antiquities for the liberality with which permission to undertake the excavation of this important site was accorded to us, and for the constant support given to us in all the stages of the work. Among the officials of the Department of Antiquities we are particularly indebted to Dr. Soteriades, the Ephor appointed to reside at Sparta during the excavations, and among local officials, to the Demarch, the Treasurer and the Chief Engineer, thanks to whose co-operation many difficulties and obstacles were overcome, and to Mr. G. D. Kapsales, the efficient Curator of the Museum.

To some additional notes on this series I have appended the accounts of Chios given in the three unpublished Isolarii, as samples of their style and scope. Chios is chosen as being the native island of Lupaz-zolo, the most important of the three authors.

From the 3rd till the 26th of May a series of trial excavations was made along the river bank, north of the precinct of Artemis Orthia. These resulted in the discovery of the Greek wall of the city and of traces of an, at present, nameless Heroön close to it. The following description begins from the south. (General Plan, Pl. VII.)

The part of the wall found south-east of the Artemisium is, as far as it has at present been uncovered, of a normal type (Plate VII.). It is three metres thick, built of hewn limestone blocks laid in courses with irregular jointing. Not more than two courses are preserved, and they rest on a foundation of small stones and rough blocks. Most remarkable is the deep drain running out through the wall, which here comes obliquely from the cliff to the south, between the Roman building and the river. Where the Eurotas has eaten into the bank and destroyed part of the Roman arena, the wall also has been carried away. On the cliff (General Plan, O 16) a few trial pits produced one tile-stamp (of type 17, see p. 348), and revealed a long block of hewn rock, but the line of the fortification has still to be found here.

About 100 metres south-east of the new bridge over the Eurotas a line of large blocks can be seen in the right bank of the river running out into its bed. These are the remains of the city-wall, which originally must have made a sharp bend to the south-west, as it reappears in the field of the Heroön. But this angle, and the land which it enclosed, have been carried away by a change in the course of the river. Close to the northern arm of the angle, and abutting on the present river-bank, lies the large structure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. Its eastern front has long been visible, but seems to have escaped the observation of travellers. Excavation revealed at a depth of 0·70 m. below the present surface, a great platform 23·60 m. long by 6·60 m. wide and 1·90 m. high. There are four foundation courses, averaging 0·34 m. in height, of a softish crumbly stone, and a sillcourse 0·55 m. high, projecting 0·10 m. beyond the foundations. This sillcourse consists of squared and dressed blocks, which extend all round the building with a uniform breadth of 0·90 m., and vary from 1·60 m. to 2·50 m. in length. Their surface is carefully smoothed, leaving an edge on the outside, raised 0·003 m. and 0·07 to 0·08 m. wide. This careful finish, combined with the regularity of the foundation-courses, and the absence of all trace of bonding-mortar, suggests Hellenic workmanship.

I Propose here to discuss briefly the topography of the triangular district which is bounded on the west by the range of Taygetus, on the east by the sea from the mouth of the Eurotas to the Bay of Skutari, and on the north by an imaginary line drawn from the mouth of the Eurotas due west to Taygetus.

The Greek temples on the summit of the citadel at Mycenae were discovered and partially cleared by Ch. Tsountas in 1886, but the major excavation was undertaken in 1939 under the direction of A. J. B. Wace. The results of this season have never been fully studied. This article is based upon a new examination of the material evidence and the documents in the Mycenae archives of the British School at Athens. Previously unpublished architectural drawings, photographs, plans, and sections make it possible to assess the nature of the Archaic and Hellenistic temples at Mycenae. The evidence points to the establishment of the cult in the Geometric period, along with the construction of the northern terraces, followed by a significant reorganization of the temenos and the construction of the first stone temple in the early Archaic period. Preliminary analysis of the preserved architectural elements indicates a strong connection between the Archaic temple at Mycenae and the early temples at Corinth and Isthmia. The well-known stone reliefs from Mycenae, dated c. 630 BC, should also belong to this early structure. In the third century BC, when Mycenae had been resettled as an Argive kome, the temple was rebuilt, incorporating Archaic material in its foundations.

In this article we describe the evaluation of two prehistoric sites situated within the coastal zone of south-western Albania, originally investigated by the Italian prehistorian Luigi Cardini in 1939. The first is a cave site in the town of Himara; the second a rock-shelter at Kanalit in the Acroceraunian Mountains to the north. Investigations at both locations revealed stratified evidence of prehistoric activity dating from the mid-Holocene. At Kanalit, an extensive lithic assemblage provided evidence for the exploitation of the adjoining coastal lowlands during the Mesolithic, while at Himara, a largely unbroken sequence of deposits records often intensive human activity at the cave from the Early Bronze Age. Radiocarbon dates have provided a significant independent chronological marker for Early/Middle Bronze Age horizons. The ceramic evidence indicates a predominance of local influences, the site not becoming part of wider trading networks until the late Iron Age, c. seventh to sixth centuries BC.

Σε αυτό το άρθρο πραγματευόμαστε τη σημασία δύο προϊστορικών θέσεων, οι οποίες βρίσκονται στην παράκτια ζώνη της ΝΔ Αλβανίας. Οι θέσεις αυτές είχαν αρχικά ερευνητεί από τον Ιταλό προϊστορικό αρχαιολόγο Luigi Cardini το 1939. Η πρώτη θέση αφορά ένα σπήλαιο στην πόλη της Χειμάρρας και η δεύτερη μία βραχοσκεπή, στη θέση Kanalit, στα Ακροκεραύνια όρη προς βορρά. Έρευνες στις δύο θέσενς αποκάλυψαν στρωματογραφημένες ενδείξεις προϊστορικής δραστηριότητας, που χρονολογούνται από το μέσο Ολόκαινο. Στη θέση Kanalit ένα ευρύ σύνολο λίθινων αντικειμένων παρέχει στοιχεία για την εκμετάλλευση των γειτονικών παράκτιων πεδινών περιοχών κατά τη Μεσολιτική περίοδο. Στο σπήλαιο της Χειμάρρας μία σειρά από αδιάσπαστες, στο μεγαλύτερο μέρος τους, αποθέσεις μαρτυρεί συχνά έντονη ανθρώπινη δραστηριότητα από την Πρώιμη Εποχή του Χαλκού. Οι ραδιοχρονολογήσεις παρέχουν ένα σημαντικό ανεξάρτητο χρονολογικό δείκτη για τους ορίζοντες της Πρώιμης/Μέσης Εποχής του Χαλκού. Η κεραμική φανερώνει την επικράτηση τοπικών επιρροών, με τη θέση αυτή να μην λαμβάνεν μέρος στα ευρύτερα εμπορικά δίκτυα πριν από την όψιμη Εποχή του Σιδήρου, περίπου τον 70 – 60 αιώνα π.Χ.

This paper discusses four Hellenistic inscriptions in the Sparta and Larissa Museums recording decrees for foreign courts. New proveniences, from Krannon and Peparethos, are suggested for two of the decrees. A full restoration, based on a parallel document, is provided for the Peparethian decree. New readings and restorations are also offered for the two other decrees. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the significance of these texts for the history of the late Hellenistic period.