The report of last Season's work must necessarily be of a somewhat summary character. The fuller description and elaborate plans and sections required for the due illustration of the results of the complete excavation of the Grand Staircase will find a more fitting place in the forthcoming general work on the Palace. On the other hand as it was only possible to lay bare a section of the large building on the hill to the West of the Palace, it has seemed undesirable at present to publish anything beyond a very brief account of the portion as yet explored, except so far as relates to the Shrine of the Fetish Idols. I have only to add that throughout the recent explorations I had, as before, the valued cooperation of my assistant Dr. Mackenzie.

The following inscriptions, along with a number of others which have been already published, were copied by Mr. A. J. B. Wace in the course of a visit paid to Ishekli, the site of the ancient Eumeneia, in the spring of 1903. Mr. Wace kindly handed his manuscript over to me with leave to publish any inscriptions which were still unknown. My delay in doing so is due to the fact that I had hopes of getting a copy of the closing lines of No. 2, either on a visit which I intended myself to pay to Eumeneia or through the kindness of some friend travelling in Asia Minor. This hope has not hitherto been fulfilled, and I should not feel myself justified in waiting any longer.

My object in the following short study is to investigate the subject of honorary statues in Greek times.

Since Stenersen's treatise, written in 1877, I know of no published work dealing specially with this subject, which is interesting from the light it throws on Greek life and political action, and since that date excavation and the discovery of inscriptions have added considerably to the material available. His work is a valuable source for the literary evidence on the question, but his subject is portrait-statues, and he confines himself to those from Athens.

Dr. Covel was chaplain to the Embassy at Constantinople from 1669 to 1677. Of his copious and interesting Journals, a portion, relating chiefly to his voyage and to political affairs at Constantinople, has been edited, with a portrait and biographical notice, by J. T. Bent, and published by the Hakluyt Society in 1893. The Journals were, in part at least, intended for publication, for Grelot refers to an expected work of Covel's on the walls of Constantinople; the notes on Galata are more detailed than those of most contemporary writers, and, though they are in Covel's handwriting, are possibly borrowed; it is not his habit to write in Latin, and the reference to the tomb of the Comte d'Artois as still in possession of the monks, perhaps points to a slightly earlier original.

The following inscriptions are all in the National Museum at Athens The writer wishes heartily to thank Professor Adolf Wilhelm, then Secretary of the Austrian Archaeological Institute at Athens, for calling his attention to the stones, and Dr. Leonardos, Ephor of the Epigraphical Department, for leave to publish them and for much help besides. The inscriptions are given from the writer's own copies and impressions made in May and June 1905.

In March 1905 I went to Skyros for a week, primarily to see and photograph the Carnival masquerade described in B.S.A. vi. p. 125, by Mr. Lawson. I was there for the last of the three Sundays of Carnival, and the following Monday, when, to the scandal of the Hegoumenos of St. George of Skyros, it being the first day of Lent, the festival is at its height. Although the village sounds with the clatter of the bells of these strange figures all through Carnival, on this last Sunday the masqueraders, of whom Mr. Lawson has given an account, appear in the greatest numbers. A full set consists of three young men, disguised, one as an Old Man (γέρος) one as a Maid (κορέλλα) and one as a Frank (Φράγκος). The Frank's attire differs, but his distinctive features are a sheep-bell tied on at the waist behind, and a conch-shell to blow. He either has a cloth tied over his face, or wears a modern pasteboard mask. The κορέλλα is a boy dressed as a girl, generally with a modern mask, in the festal attire of a Skyrian bride.

The village of Angelona lies amongst the hills surrounding the plain of Molai, midway between the latter and Monemvasia. About half an hour east of the village is a small plateau known as Kollýri; this plateau is bounded on its south-eastern side by a revma, tributary to the greater ravine which runs down to the sea south of the ruins of Epidaurus Limera. At the head of the revma is a perpetual spring of good water, and in its neighbourhood are many traces of former human occupation; roof tiles of slightly concave section with a rough red-to-black glaze, and sherds of black-glazed and coarse red pottery are common. A few hundred yards above (west of) the spring an anta capital of poros (Fig. 1) lies on the surface; the block measures 0·82 m. in length, 0·80 in breadth and 0·23 in thickness, and is remarkable because the profile is continuous on the long side but only extends for 0·33 m. on the other. On one end there are traces of an attempt to work the profile, and on the top a series of rough toolings (dowel holes?) parallel to the breadth.

Some experimental excavations were carried out at Geraki (the ancient Geronthrae) between May 26 and June 6 of 1905.

Geraki lies in the upland plain which includes practically the whole of east central Laconia extending from the left bank of the Eurotas to the foothills of Parnon: it is on the south and south-western slopes of one of these foothills—the ancient acropolis of Geronthrae, which we shall discuss later in detail—that the modern village is built.

The sculptures here described and discussed have all been found at Geraki during the last few years, and owe their preservation to the energy of M. G. Papanikolaou the Demarch of Geronthrae, to whom is due the fact that they still are to be seen in the town where they were found. It is to be hoped that before long the Greek Ministry of Education will allow the formation of a small local museum to contain these and the many inscriptions and other monuments at present in Geraki.

The following inscriptions were found during the excavations of the School at Geráki in May and June 1905, or are hitherto unpublished inscriptions from the churches in the same town.

Mr. M. N. Tod has most kindly read the proofs and made very many valuable suggestions.

In connection with the inscription from Geraki (No. 11) published above, and the parallel inscription from Mantinea, it seems worth while to discuss two obscure points. (1) The history ot Demetrius the Fair, the father of Antigonus Doson. (2) The worship of the earlier Diadochi.

Trial excavations were conducted last spring near the village of Koutiphari in Laconia, with the object of testing the theory which located the town of Thalamae and the dream-oracle of Ino-Pasiphae in its vicinity. Koutiphari is situated on the high plateau of West Maina, which overlooks the gulf of Kalamata, at a distance of about thirty-five miles from Kalamata itself and about ten from the small port of Oetylus (mod. Vitylo). The topographical reasons which led Mr. Forster to suppose that the oracle and sacred spring of Ino were to be found near Koutiphari are discussed by him in B.S.A. x. p. 161. The inscription which he publishes on p. 174 of the same volume, with its dedication by the citizens of Thalamae, gave further probability to the view, and it may be stated at once that sufficient evidence was brought to light by excavation and exploration of the surrounding countrv to confirm his opinion.

In the ruined monastery of Panagia Kavallaris, four miles south-west of Koutiphari. On a white marble stele supporting the altar in the church. Over 78 c. long by 23 c. broad and 13 c. wide. Letters 1·50 c. to 2·0 c. The stele is partly buried in the earth, so its total length is unknown, as it was impossible to dig in the church.

The monastery stands on the steep slope of Hagios Nikos above a hollow in the mountains, where there are vineyards, just below it is a copious spring. The road to Gytheion crosses the opposite slope. I found no other traces of Hellenic occupation, but the spot would be eminently suitable for a sanctuary site.

᾿Ανατείνε δὲ ὑπὲρ τὰς κώμας ὄρος ᾿Πάρνων,καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπαὐτοῦ πρὸς ᾿Αγείους ὄροι καὶ Τεγεάτας εἰσίν ἐστήκασι δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀροις῾Ερμαῖ λίθου, καὶ τοῦ χωρίου τὸ ὄνομά ἐστιν ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν —Paus. II. 38. 7.

An excavation of the three mounds of stones and earth at the spot called στοὺς Φονεμένους between Hagios Petros and Arachova, undertaken by me last July, showed that these mounds were formed in ancient times, and made it highly probable, if not certain, that they are the ῾Ερμαῖ mentioned by Pausanias as marking the boundaries between Laconian territory and that of Argos and Tegea. The most important find is a slab of common schist, mutilated on the left hand side, and bearing in large characters the inscription (Fig. 1). Although I have not been able to find a name ending with precisely these letters, it is certainly a man's name in the nominative, and the slab must be explained as a tombstone. There were also found a small piece of an archaic gorgoneion of terracotta, a small vase without its neck resembling the spherical Corinthian aryballoi, and some insignificant fragments of small vases, covered with glaze-paint, and of roof-tiles.

Since remains, especially of an artistic nature, that can be definitely assigned to the Frankish period, are rare in Greece, the following monuments are of some interest.

The warrior relief (Fig. 1) is walled up in the house of Ioannes Sikiotes in the hamlet of Parori, at the foot of Taygetus about half an hour south of Mistra. It is of local bluish marble, and measures 85 × 53 m.; the height of the relief is 02 m. It shews a warrior en face, though his legs are represented in profile to the right; the hair does not seem to be indicated, nor is there any trace of a helmet; the eyes are roughly oval in shape and the pupils are indicated by dots; the ears are big, the nose is snub, and the mouth is rendered by a line that curves downwards at the corners; the neck is long, the body has no indication of detail except the nipples, the chest is narrow and the hips are rather wide; the legs and feet are very small.

The National Museum of Athens has recently acquired a votive relief of a remarkable and perhaps unique character. It was found in Athens in January, 1904, during the excavation of a cellar in the house of E. Bosnopoulos, situated to the south of the Military Hospital and not far from the Asclepieion, whence it is likely that it was brought. In accordance with the Greek law of antiquities it was deposited in the Museum and has now been set up in the Hall of Votive Reliefs.

Three years ago I published (B.S.A. viii. 192, Pl. IV.2) a fragmentary relief from Cyzicus representing two lions back to back, standing over two bulls, the whole forming a symmetrical ‘heraldic’ composition. While attempting to connect the group with the worship of Cybele Adrasteia, I overlooked at the time an article of Mr. Crowfoot's having a considerable bearing on the subject, and perhaps contributing to the solution of a question still untouched, viz. the application of the obviously decorative sculpture.

While searching the seacoast district north-east of Tanagra for traces of the Temple of Apollo at Delium, I came across what may prove to be an important inscription. On a low hill two or three miles North East of Tanagra and about as far West South West of Dilisi, the orthodox site for Delium, stands the small chapel of Hagios Demetrios. A dedication on the west side, by the doorway, states that it was built in 1903 by Georgios Papametrou of Liatani, a village close to the ancient Tanagra. This, however, was only the rebuilding of an ancient Byzantine chapel that had fallen into decay; and the engraved blocks that can now be seen built into the walls were found at the time in the ruins on the spot.

In the Gallery of Busts in the Vatican there is a head (Cat. No. 293p, Heibig, Führer durch Rom, i. p. 144, No. 242) described as the head of a Satyr. It is of rosso antico, and was found in a street in Genzano near a spot where a Roman villa had stood. This head (No. 1 on Plate IV.) has a replica, also of rosso antico, in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek at Copenhagen (No. 2 on the same Plate), for a description of which I am indebted to Herr Jacobsen. The height of the Roman head is 0·45 m., distance between the ears 0·21 m., between the eyes 0·05 m., breadth of eyes 0·05 m., breadth of mouth 0·07 m. It is worked only in front, the back being chiselled roughly away, so that it has the appearance of a mask. Nothing is left of the neck. The ends of the hair are broken off, especially in the case of the side-locks, and the edges of the beard are smoothed by weathering. Restored:—nose and portions of lower lip. The eyes are hollow, and were filled with inserted material.

Professor Doerpfeld in the Athenische Mittheilungen, xxx. pp. 257–97, has put forward a theory regarding the relation of the later to the earlier palaces at Knossos and at Phaestos, which requires serious consideration, not only in view of Doerpfeld's high authority in such matters, but also in the light of the results of excavation, as these have been accumulating from season to season at different sites in Crete.

It will clear the ground considerably if, as a common starting-point of argument, it is agreed at the very beginning that the question at issue is primarily one of stratification, and that all understanding of sequence in development is ultimately conditioned by our apprehension of the character of the sequence in the stratification, in so far as that has been brought to light by actual excavation.