The coin of Sicyon, of the obverse of which a drawing by Mr. F. Anderson (made over a photograph) is given here, has been twice published both times by Professor Percy Gardner.

The inscription on the obverse, which lends special interest to this piece, is unique among adscititious inscriptions upon Greek coins, not only in its elaborate character, but in the manner of its execution. Such inscriptions are in other cases graffiti, scratched with a point; this is pricked into the metal with a pointed instrument.

There is no denying that Theophrastus ranks among the most prolific Peripatetic philosophers. Diogenes Laertius lists 225 items in his bibliography, some of them perhaps twice—first as an independent treatise, then as part of a larger work. As time went on, this vast oeuvre suffered the usual vicissitudes: the overwhelming majority of it has been partly or entirely lost. In sharp contrast to the Frankish West, where, despite great losses, more texts were in circulation under Theophrastus' name than was justified, in the ever shrinking Byzantine world we find comparatively few references to him. But this surely does not mean that the small number of references are unreliable.

Like his predecessor Herodotus, Ctesias has a great deal to report of marvellous springs, lakes and other bodies of water. Indeed, in one of the most noteworthy tales in his book on India, he describes a remarkable well which produces not water but gold. The story has never been discussed in full. A recent scholar, in fact, in one of the few allusions to it, reproduces the account, but only in part, namely the lines which concern the gold. The original narrative, however, includes much more, for it deals, in addition, with the iron found at the bottom of the well and with its remarkable properties, as well as with the two swords of this metal which Ctesias allegedly received, one from the queen-mother, the other from the king.

In view of the great interest which has been expressed in the Theatre at Megalopolis, now in course of excavation by members of the British School at Athens, and of its real importance in connection with the question of the Greek Stage, it has been determined to publish, provisionally, a plan and section of it, without waiting for the completion of the work. The excavation will, it is hoped, be finished in the spring: and a full account of our results, with the necessary plans and illustrations, will be published in a future number of this Journal. For the present, therefore, a very few words of explanation must suffice.

The following is an explanation of the woodcuts, made from Mr. Loring's drawings:—

The epistates of the prytaneis is last attested in 403/2 and the epistates of the proedroi is first recorded in 379/8. So much for the direct epigraphic evidence. Though Rhodes believed that the proedroi might not have been in existence as late as the 390s, MacDowell and Hansen proposed that they were instituted soon after 403/2. But a little noted passage of Apollodorus suggests a low date for the introduction of proedroi.

Scenes from the history of Pandora are rare in works of Greek art. There have at present been published, so far as I am aware, only five representations of her, in two reliefs and three vases. These all represent her birth or her coming into being. All the vases are in the British Museum. To these I have to add a fourth vase (Pl. I.), recently presented to the Ashmolean Museum by Mr. Edmund Oldfield, and bringing before us a fresh scene from the interesting history of the strange being made by the gods for the delusion and betrayal of men.

The tale of Pandora, as it appears in Hesiod, is so well known that I need only glance at its main features. When Prometheus had stolen for men fire from the gods, Zeus, determining to punish him, caused Hephaestus to make of earth a beauteous woman, whom, the goddesses adorned with ornaments, but in whom Hermes implanted a deceitful heart and a treacherous tongue.

The discovery of a new “Hittite” inscription was one of the more solid results of a short and too hurried journey in Asia Minor which I made with Mr. J. W. Crowfoot during July and August of last year, and its publication may not be inopportune at a moment when fresh interest has been aroused in this species of script by the discoveries of Mr. Arthur Evans in Crete.

After a rather abortive attempt to re-explore the obscure and rugged borderland between Lycaonia and Pamphylia, the net result of which was the discovery of just enough to make the topography of this dark corner even less intelligible than before, we turned towards Cappadocia, where we had hopes of finding at least some pre-Hellenic monuments. Years ago Professor Ramsay and Mr. Hogarth had heard a report of what was presumably a Hittite inscription near Nev-sheher (Soandos), a town two days' journey west of Caesareia Mazaca: important things were said to have turned up near the latter city since M. Chantre's visit: and we learnt also of the existence of hieroglyphic stones at Arapison (Zoropassos) on the Halys.

An Athenian inscription, engraved with letters suggestive of the first sixty years of the first century B.C. and published by D. J. Geagan, Hesperia xl (1971) 101-8 with photograph, contains a decree proposed to the demos by Demeas son of Demeas to strengthen a revision of the city's constitution. On its publication it struck me that the revision was democratic and that Geagan's date 84/3 B.C., reached via the uncertainties of the secretary cycle, could not stand. Since repercussions from what was occurring at Rome to Sulla's arrangements might well have been felt in Athens, a different date,equally compatible with the assumed secretary cycle, 70/69 B.C., came to mind, but in the meanwhile the assumed secretary cycle itself has disappeared.