In the Museum at Chalcis there are more than a dozen black-figured vases decorated with palmettes, lotus flowers, leaves, and other plant motives. I drew attention to some of these in BSA xli. 27 f., associating with them similar vases in Athens, Berlin, Bonn, Reading, and Thebes, and suggesting that they were probably made in Euboea. It is possible now to go farther and take a more extended view of what was undoubtedly a vigorous local industry in either Chalcis or Eretria or both in the fourth century B.C.

For convenience the material is here divided into groups according to the shapes of the palmettes and lotuses and the character of the patterns. The order may not be strictly chronological and the vases grouped together do not necessarily come from the same workshop, but certain lines of development can be traced and the groups link together to form a coherent whole.

The relationship of the metopes to the architecture of the peristasis of the Hephaisteion and the Parthenon is examined in order to ascertain the extent of planning which took place before the erection of a Classical Greek temple. All relevant published measurements are taken into consideration and critically compared. On the basis of the discrepancies of the corresponding architectural and sculptural members, it is argued that the working-out of the details of the plan was not the result of large-scale drawings, but was affected after the commencement of construction. While the Hephaisteion is built largely in accordance with the conventions of a Classical Doric temple, the Parthenon, due to its unique plan, provides indications of experimentation inferred from the extensive inconsistencies at its eastern end.

The Role of Cyprus as intermediary between the cities of the Near East and the Aegean world can be studied in many different ways. This article is devoted to Cypriot metal signet rings of Iron Age (pre-Roman) date and the part they play in the story of east and west. It comprises a full publication of the metal rings in Nicosia museum, which I was invited to undertake by Drs. V. Karageorghis and K. Nikolaou, but it includes consideration of other finds from Cyprus now in other collections, and a few other probably Cypriot pieces. For the latter, less-detailed descriptions and references are given.

Since the continuity of culture between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in Cyprus is more easily demonstrated than it can be in most other areas of the eastern Mediterranean, it is necessary to begin with a brief account of the all-metal signet rings in use in the island at the end of the Bronze Age, and token illustration is given here to supplement published photographs. The main influence in the shapes of these rings is Egyptian and not Aegean, since the long oval bezels of the rings run with the hoop and not across it, and the rings are all intended for wearing on the fingers, as some have been found in tombs, which is not true of most Aegean signet rings. Three different styles of decoration may be observed. The first is thoroughly Egyptianizing and some pieces are of high quality. The hoops of the rings are stirrup-shaped but occasionally have rounded shoulders, and the bezels are long ovals like cartouches. In these respects they follow Egyptian forms very closely, and it is possible that some are in fact of Egyptian origin. The shape and style of any made in Cyprus may, of course, not have been derived directly from Egypt, but via the Palestine—Syria coast.

No records or vase-paintings of an early date give any idea of the appearance of the primitive theatre cavea, and few of the remains in Attica can be traced back even as far as the Persian Wars. The earliest form of the Theatre of Dionysus at Athens may belong to the first half of the sixth century B.C., but none of the cavea there is of very early date; and it is questionable whether the theatre at Thorikos is as old as the sixth century. There is mention of a theatre at Eleusis, but none has been brought to light. It has therefore been suggested that the wide flight of steps above the Telesterion represented an auditorium.

One object of the excavations of 1907 was to attempt to determine the course of the city wall, so as to fix the limits within which the buildings mentioned by Pausanias were probably situated. In addition to the part traced by excavation in 1906 along the river bank (General Plan, O 15, 14, P 13, (Pl. I.)) I had observed in other places remains of Greek masonry and other indications which possibly belonged to the city wall. These were accordingly examined by excavation, and with the results thus obtained and the assistance of the stamped tiles which were found in great numbers at one or two points, it has been possible to determine approximately the line of the city wall, and consequently the extent of ancient Sparta.

‘The vases of the classical period are but the reflection of classical beauty; the vases of the archaic period are archaic beauty itself.’ So Beazley; an indisputable and valuable truth, but a truth that needs some explanation. In spite of all the detailed work that has been done in the last fifty years and more on the development of Greek vase-painting and its relation to other arts, its nature still remains something of a problem. The issue is confused, of course, by the fact that vase-paintings are almost our only original Greek drawings—almost the only key-hole through which we can peep at archaic and classical painting—and this gives them an importance independent of their intrinsic worth.

This article reappraises the iconography and function of an architectural model or pyxis from Aetos on Ithaka, represented by four sherds originally published by Martin Robertson in BSA 43 (1948), 101–2 as part of the group Aetos 600. Particular comparison is made with the iconography of an imported Ithakan kantharos from tomb 949 in the San Montano cemetery at Pithekoussai. This tomb context, dated to the third quarter of the eighth century, provides a rare fixed point in the chronology of Ithakan painting. In both cases, the mixture of Italian and Near Eastern iconographical traits suggests closer connections with contemporary Italy than the Greek mainland. Further iconographical and functional comparison is made with a figured architectural model from the Monte di Vico acropolis at Pithekoussai.

Brief reports on the work done by the British School at Palaikastro in April and May 1902 have appeared in the Journal of Hellenic Studies (1902, p. 384) and in Man (1902, No. 119). In the present paper I propose to describe the discoveries made in the cemeteries and in the houses, reserving for a future occasion the discussion of certain problems on which fuller light may be thrown by the excavations of 1903, to be made with larger resources and over an extended area, thanks to a liberal grant from the Cretan Fund and to the unfailing goodwill of Prince George's Government. The past campaign was of a preliminary nature and cost less than £150, including the somewhat serious item of transport, but excluding that of drawings and photographs.

Studies of Christianisation in mainland Greece have indicated different processes, planned and unplanned, of religious change. Memory and tradition were drawn on to help situate the earliest churches within existing social and religious structures without creating significant tension. Using the methodology developed for the study of the Peloponnese, the aim of this work is to examine three topographically and politically distinct regions (Crete, Cyprus and Lycia) to assess the extent to which various network connections provided a conduit for religious change throughout the Late Antique period.

An investigation of the very scattered literature of the Greek islands, designed primarily to supplement Mr. Dawkins's researches on the dialects, has led me to unexpectedly interesting results touching the Albanian settlements, which may be worthy of independent publication.

Besides printed sources I have consulted the Grand Insulaire of André Thevet (Paris, Bibl. Nat. MSS. Fr. 15, 453 (1586)) and the Isolarii of Antonio di Milo (B.M. (a) Julius, E. II (1587), (b) Add. MSS. 10,365 (1591)), and Francesco Lupazolo of Chios (B.M. Lansd. 792 (1638)).

It is only recently that the ritual object κέρνος or κέρχνος described by Athenaeus has been discovered, recognized, and explained by the labours of Philios, Kourouniotes, and Rubensohn. It was a clay vessel, to which were attached a number of small cups containing various grains and liquids, offered as first fruits of the harvest, especially in the Eleusinian worship, to the divinity. It was carried in procession on the head of the priestess (κερνοφορεῖν, κερνοφορία) to the accompaniment of ritual dancing (κερνοφόρον ὄρχημα) Besides the grains, the liquids and the unwashed wool, in the central bowl of the kernos was placed the παλάθιον upon which was set a lighted lamp or candle.

There is thus no doubt about the form and use of the kernos of the Greek period. But its existence and use have been traced also to the prehistoric period by Mr. Bosanquet, who has described similar Pre-Mycenaean vessels found many years ago in Melos, and now preserved in various European museums. He has also described and explained as a kernos another vessel consisting of three small vases, found in a tomb at στὸν Κάπρο near Phylakopi in Melos, and belonging to the so-called Cycladic (Early Minoan) period, and also in the excavations of the British School at Phylakopi prehistoric kernoi were found. Further, Mr. Dawkins considers that forty-four conical cups, which he found broken off some such complex vessels, together with idols and other ritual objects, in a Minoan house at Palaikastro in Crete, belonged to kernoi.

During my travels in Epirus information reached me of a site near the village of Koumsádhes, now Ammótopos, which I visited on 5 July 1931. The village lies on that route from Arta to Ioánnina which was in vogue during Turkish times and probably during antiquity; for it is both shorter and cooler in summer than the modern road which follows the Loúros valley. Leaving Arta I walked in some three and a half hours to Koumsádhes, and thence one hour westwards to the site, which occupies a limestone spur on the western side of the valley and commands the entry into the pass leading northwards over the shoulder of Mt. Xerovoúni.

Four inscriptions of Hellenistic to Early Roman date were found in rescue excavations undertaken during the construction of public housing at the location Bedevi, east of Leophoros Knossou in the suburbs of modern Aghios Ioannis (Heraklion). These four inscriptions constitute an intriguing group as they provide evidence of a rural installation where a vessel with an inscribed lid was stored, a sepulchral site and private worship of Artemis, as well as a point between ancient Heraklion and Knossos where a Roman road crossed the Chrysopigis stream. In antiquity this area was part of the greater Knossos area, albeit closer to Heraklion than to Knossos. These four inscriptions provide new evidence for the nature of this area and for the northern road connections of Roman Knossos, particularly the road that linked Knossos with its harbour at Heraklion.

One of the most interesting phenomena in the history of ceramic art is the absorption of the market of the world by Attic ware. The sixth-century tombs of Italy, Sicily and elsewhere show a gradual decrease in importations from Corinth, Chalcis, Cyrene and Ionia, and by the time of the beginning of the fifth century the Attic black- and red-figured ware has acquired a complete monopoly. The area over which these Attic vases were distributed comprises almost the whole of the world as known at that time—Greece Proper, the Aegean Islands, the Cyrenaica, Egypt, Asia Minor, the Crimea and above all Italy and Sicily. The question suggests itself how far this large and varied export was influenced by the special demand in various localities; how far, in fact, each locality had its own definite needs for special vase forms, which the ceramic trade of Athens was to supply.

It was my good fortune in the early summer of 1903 to spend three weeks in the island of Karpathos, travelling with the aid of a grant from Emmanuel College. My object was to see as much as possible of the antiquities of the island, and to make observations on the mode of life and customs of the modern inhabitants. For this study of modern Greek life Karpathos, owing to its retired position, offers a peculiarly favourable field. Theodore Bent considered it for this purpose almost unique. The island is still served only by a fortnightly steamer from Rhodes, and therefore much of interest is preserved there, that has passed away in more accessible parts of the Greek world. The study of the dialect also formed part of my plan.

During the campaign of 1920 we sank a few trial pits within the acropolis walls to test the stratification and to try to find, if possible, earlier remains, after it had become clear to us that the buildings immediately round the Grave Circle were not earlier in date than Late Helladic III. Two such pits were made on the slope about fifty metres south-east of the top of the Ramp. Near by we noticed what was at first taken to be a rectangular pit enclosed by a rough stone wall measuring 1·00 by 1·00 m. and ·45 m. thick. The interior of this was cleared out, and then we found the walling was merely the coping (about 2·22 m. high at the point where it is best preserved) to a circular well-shaft about 1·15 m. in diameter, driven down through the hard limestone rock.

As we excavated the well-shaft nothing worth noting, except some miscellaneous potsherds and the remains of a crushed leaden vessel, came to light till a depth of about six metres below the highest point of the coping, when some fragments of a funnel-shaped rhyton in Lapis Lacedaemonius (A, below) were found. From this down to a depth of 7·75 m. the other objects here described were recovered.

We present a review of the post Bronze Age material excavated by Coldstream and Huxley at Kastri on Kythera, as part of the ongoing Kythera Island Project. In particular we refer to material not published in Coldstream and Huxley 1972. Greek material is largely confined to one deposit and dates to the period c.500 to 380 bc. From the Roman period material is more plentiful; the two relevant strata are third and late sixth to seventh centuries, with some earlier Julio-Claudian pieces. While later Medieval pottery also is largely from one deposit, the entirety of it is presented, and a mis en scène with respect to Kytheran modern history is offered.

Minoanisation – the process by which Cretan ways of doing things spread throughout the Aegean – is a major focus of study in the Middle and Late Bronze Age Cycladic islands, but debate about the primary causes of the phenomenon has been concerned chiefly with its Late Bronze Age phases. In this article, the author considers the earliest phase of Minoanisation at Ayia Irini on Kea, Period V. The ceramic assemblage is considered holistically, including local and imported as well as Minoanising and non-Minoanising pottery. The Keian assemblage is compared with recently published discussions of Phase C at Akrotiri on Thera and City II-iii at Phylakopi on Melos. New, non-Minoanising features of the Keian assemblage in Period V, particularly in the form of new shapes and increased importation of Melian and/or Theran pottery, suggest that Melian and/or Theran communities engaged in new production and exchange strategies at this time. It is likely that these new intra-Cycladic relationships played an important role in changing local tastes and practices at Ayia Irini, spurring the adoption of new Minoanising as well as non-Minoanising forms of material culture and practice.

The objects described in this section were found on a small prehistoric site at Tchukurkend on the eastern side of the Beishehir lake between Eflatoun Bounar and Kirili Kassaba. The village of Tchukurkend lies some two hours from the Hittite monument at Eflatoun Bounar and fifty minutes to the S.E. of the small town of Kirili Kassaba. On the previous day, coming from Eflatoun Bounar, I had ridden for the greater part of the way across the lower ground by the shores of the lake and had thus missed the village, but a jeweller in Kirili to whom I showed a small celt, with an enquiry if any were to be obtained in the neighbourhood, informed me that they were often found by the peasants at Tchukurkend. There in the hands of the villagers I found the two human figurines (Fig. 1A, B), the two animals (Fig. 2c, d), and the small fragment (Fig. 2b). They were all found with certain others which had been destroyed, on a low hill immediately above the village. Here was clearly a small prehistoric site in antiquity, now much denuded, on which I found a large quantity of obsidian, principally of the Melian variety, and a few fragments of the red-faced pottery common on other early sites in the district.

The significance behind the imagery of the padded dancer, or komast, traditionally has been connected to early drama, Dionysos, or ritual practices. Most Archaic Corinthian vases that include these figures portray them dancing, and a percentage of those dancers also illustrate a deformity of the foot. This article attempts to contextualise the clubfooted padded dancer within its political, cultural and geographic boundaries by offering an explanation for the end of production of these figures in Corinth. The lame padded dancer may have been a localised symbol offering political commentary on historical traditions of lameness within the tyrannical family of Corinth. Its production and discontinuation may be connected to the rise and fall of this family.