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Excavations at Sparta, 1927: § 2.—The Theatre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2013

Extract

My arrangement follows, as far as possible, that of the reports in Vols. xxvi and xxvii.

A laborious but remunerative piece of work which occupied two gangs of specially picked men for three weeks consisted in making a further cutting into the deep deposit which overlies the edge of the Orchestra and the front seats, north-westwards from the limit of the previous excavation in the east of the cavea. This involved the removal of some Byzantine house-walls, at a level of about two metres above the Orchestra, into which portions large and small of theatre-seats had been built; the other marble blocks found here were unimportant. As the work progressed we again found that the deposit for a depth of ca. 1·80 m. above the original Orchestra-level consisted of the silt-like material washed down from the slopes above, in which there were practically no small objects found. Deep down in it were a few architectural marbles, including two large fragments of Doric columns of poorish workmanship, suggesting the Imperial era (lower diameter ·60 m.). There was no sculpture except a broken herm, also of poor and late style, with a socket for the insertion of the head, and cuttings at the sides indicating use as a balustrade-post.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1927

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References

page 4 note 1 This inscription will, I hope, be published in the next volume of the Annual. It is of additional interest in view of the recent identification of Optatianus's name in a mutilated inscription found in Rome, which gives a list of distinguished officials of the period (Notiz. d. Scavi, 1917, p. 22Google Scholar). For a fuller discussion of this list see Groag, E., Wiener Studien, xlv. (19261927), pp. 102–9Google Scholar; I am indebted to Mr. A. D. Nock for a summary of this article, which I have not seen.

page 4 note 2 B.S.A. xxvi. pp. 200 ff.Google Scholar, 2 (a–e).

page 4 note 3 B.S.A. xxvii. p. 220Google Scholar, E 33.

page 4 note 4 I.G. v. 1, 59, 65, 79Google Scholar; the last only has been refound.

page 7 note 1 The lowest brick-course consisted of large bricks similar to those used for the floor of the basin; the others varied in size and thickness, most being ·05 m. thick, the rest ·045 or ·035 m.

page 7 note 2 B.S.A. xiii. pp. 191 ffGoogle Scholar. The stamped bricks found in or adjacent to the basin were most carefully worked over and sorted by Miss G. Parkin, who joined the excavators for a few days in 1927. I hope to make use of her data in a subsequent publication.

page 8 note 1 That found in 1906 is inscribed, cf. B.S.A. xii. p. 459, No. 10Google Scholar.

page 8 note 2 I.G. v. 1, 547Google Scholar.

page 9 note 1 The last letter in l.1 might be either Ξ or Σ, giving us a choice, between e.g. [γερουσί]ας̣ or [ταμί]ας̣ and e.g. [νομοφύλ]αξ̣ or [παλαιστροφύλ]αξ̣. If the title were as short as ταμίας the father's name would have been unusually long. I suggest Κρατήἱπ̣[πίδας] as the space seems rather too large for the more likely Κρατήἱπ̣[πος] or Κρατηιḳ[λῆς].

page 9 note 2 Cf. below, p. 18.

page 11 note 1 As will be seen below (p. 33), the lion's head may have served as one of the supply-spouts.

page 13 note 1 It appears in Plate II standing against the west wall of the basin.

page 13 note 2 Cf. Dar.-Sagl., s.v. Nymphaeum, which deals mostly with those of Italy and N. Africa. Among well-preserved examples in Asia Minor, that at Side is worth mention (Lanckoronski, , Städte Pamphyliens und Pisidiens, i., pp. 140 ff.Google Scholar).

page 13 note 3 Olympia, ii. pp. 134 ff.Google Scholar, and Tafelband, ii. Pls. LXXXIII–LXXXVI.

page 13 note 4 Annuario della R. Scuola Arch. di Atène, i. (1914), pp. 119 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 14 note 1 Volusian 1, Gallienus 3, Aurelian 2, Severina 1, Claudius Gothicus 2, Tacitus 1, Tetricus (?) 1, Maximian 2, Diocletian 1.

page 15 note 1 Cf. B.S.A. xxvii. p. 178Google Scholar.

page 16 note 1 It shews, though not very clearly, above the angle of the marble revetment in B.S.A. xxvi. p. 148, Fig. 12Google Scholar.

page 16 note 2 Op. cit. xxvi. p. 144.

page 17 note 1 I hope to discuss these, and publish Mr. De Jong's drawings, in the next volume.