A miscalculation in the analysis of population statistics for the island of Melos made by Wagstaff, Augustson, and Gamble in their work An Island Polity is discussed. A new calculation is made of the areas under agriculture required to support the given population of Melos at a sequence of dates ranging from A.D. 1470 to A.D. 1848. It is argued that the ancient population of Melos could have been supported by a smaller area of arable land than that previously suggested, and that in arriving at this figure the relative fertility of the island should also be taken into account.

Antissa, now Ovriokastro, 16 km. south-west of Methymna, is, of all ancient sites in the island of Lesbos, the loveliest and the most isolated. On the land side it is cut off by the lower slopes of the massif which culminates in Mt. Ordymnos; on the sea side it is unsheltered and provided with the shallowest anchorage. Nowadays, a small caïque can only call during the hours when the wind drops: long ago, before the change of coast level, deeper water may have provided easier approach.

Koldewey has proved the identification of Ovriokastro with Antissa beyond dispute, and must be referred to for general discussion and for comments on the Genoese and Turkish fortifications. For our own purposes, the site, which is extensive, may be divided into four parts : (1) The Castro. This is a round, hilly promontory, almost separated from the mainland by the mediaeval moat, and built over with Genoese and Turkish walls.

This paper presents the results of a large-scale petrological study of Early Iron Age (twelfth-seventh centuries bc) coarse wares from north-central Crete. 210 samples were taken for analysis from six locations at Knossos, representing distinct funerary, domestic, and ritual contexts. The pottery selected represents coarse to semi-fine fabrics and a variety of vessel types and sizes. The bulk (188) of the samples can be divided into seven fabric groups, with 22 loners or pairs. Four of the seven fabric groups exhibit a mineralogy that is consistent with local geology. The functional ceramic range is clearly reflected in the methods of clay preparation: coarse wares, cooking pot wares and fine wares have distinct clay paste technology. Three of the fabric groups, however, appear to be non-local, twelve samples coming from elsewhere in Crete, and twenty-three from elsewhere in the Aegean. Fabric groups 4 and 7 seem to represent a rather specialized local taste for exotic (possibly Cycladic) wares, used primarily for cooking. Overall the picture is one of considerable continuity in patterns of production and consumption from the Bronze Age. The introduction of the red micaceous wares (especially fabric 4) however coincides with a number of other signs of greater external contact in Knossos during the latter part of the ninth century BC. These innovations appear to be related, even if debate continues as to their significance.

To άρθρο Παρουσιάςει τα αποτελέσματα μιας μεγάλης κλίμακας πετρολογικής μελέτης της χονσροεισούς κεραμεικής της Πρώιμης Eποχής του Σισήρου (12ος- 7ος αι. π.X.) από την βόρεια κεντρική Kρήτη. 210 σείγματα πάρθηκαν για ανάλυση από έξι θέσεις στην Kνωσό, οι οποίες αντιπροσωπεύουν σιακριτά ταφικά, οικιακά και τελετουργικά σύνολα. H επιλεγμένη κεραμεική αντιπροσωπεύει χονσροεισή και μεσαίας ποιότητας αγγεία ποικίλων σχημάτων και σιαστάσεων. O κύριος όγκος (188) των σειγμάτων μπορεί να σιαιρεθεί σε επτά ομάσες σύστασης πηλού, με 22 σείγματα να αποτελούν μονασικές περιπτώςεις ή ςεύγη. Tέσσερις από τις επτά ομάσες εμφανίςουν ορυκτολογία ςύμφωνη με την τοπική γεωλογία. H ποικιλία της χρηστικής κεραμεικής αντανακλάται καθαρά στις μεθόσους προετοιμαςίας του πηλού: χονσροεισή αγγεία, μαγειρικά αγγεία και λεπτότεχνα αγγεία σείχνουν σιακριτή τεχνολογία πρόςμειξης πηλού. Tρεις από τις ομάσες ςύστασης πηλού παρ' όλα αυτά φαίνεται να μην είναι εγχώριες – σώσεκα σείγματα προέρχονται από άλλες περιοχές της Kρήτης, και 23 από άλλες περιοχές του Aιγαίου. Oι ομάσες 4 και 7 φαίνεται να αντιπροςωπεύουν μια ισιαίτερα εξεισικευμενη τοπική προτίμηση για εξωτικά (ενσεχομένως Kυκλασικά) αγγεία, τα οποία χρησιμοποιούνταν κυρίως για μαγειρική. Γενικά έχουμε μια εικόνα σημαντικής συνοχής και συνέχειας στις μαρφές παραγωγής και κατανάλωσης από την Eποχή του Xαλκού στην Eποχή του Σισήρου. H εμφάνιση και εισαγωγή αγγείων κοκκινωπού πηλού με μαρμαρυγία (εισικά η ομάσα 4) (συμπίπτει με έναν αριθμό άλλων στοιχείων που σείχνουν εκτενέστερες εξωτερικές επαφές της Kνωσού κατά τα τελευταία χρόνια του 9ου αιώνα π.X. Aυτές οικαινοτομίες φαίνεται να συσχετίςονται, αν και η συςήτηση αναφορικά με τη σημασία τους συνεχίςεται.

A second season of new excavations was undertaken at Palaikastro in 1987 in the area of Building 1, partially revealed last year, and in the adjacent fields to the south. Two new structures were denned, Buildings 3 and 4, and most of the plan of Building 1 traced. Features suggesting that Building 1 was public and played a role in the religious life of the town in LM I are the high quality of its construction, a possible grandstand with stone horns of consecration, a large well-built drain at the entrance, its unique orientation, and the discovery of the torso and arms of a male chryselephantine statuette fallen from an upper storey into an open area near the building. The other buildings are not yet well-defined. Building 3 was constructed in LM I and re-occupied in LM III, but no inner partition walls have been found. An area with pier-and-door partitions and mudbrick walls was built against the southwest wall of the building and destroyed in LM IB. Building 4 seems to belong to the LM III period, although we have not yet investigated below the floors of the re-occupation period. Destruction deposits of the LM IIIA2/B period suggest an earthquake.

Amongst the somewhat meagre array of inscriptions illustrating Athenian relations with Persia in the middle of the fourth century there is one substantial document which merits particular attention. This is the decree which records details of Athenian relations with a certain Orontes who is generally identified with the well-known Persian satrap of that name. This decree, published as IG ii2. 207, consists of four fragments. Three of these are extant and are housed in the Epigraphical Museum at Athens (fragments (b)+(c)+(d) = EM 7035, 7035 (α), 7036), the other piece has long been lost (fragment (a)).

Excavations a decade ago in the centre of the city of Durrës (ancient Dyrrachium) in Albania revealed an extensive complex of concentric structures of the Late Roman and Early Byzantine eras. Initially identified as a market complex (macellum) of a type known in numerous Roman cities, it also became apparent that the circular paved area 40 m diameter within a colonnade at the centre represented a space intended for more formal activities and was most likely a Forum comparable with the Curved Forum at Constantinople. A central focus of the area was a rotunda c.5.75 m diameter that may have supported monumental statuary or possible a column. In 2001 a record was made of the architectural remains and in 2004 and 2005 two unfinished trenches adjacent to the Rotunda were enlarged and completed. The dating evidence recovered from beneath the level of the Forum paving indicated a construction date around the end of the sixth century, making it likely that it was one of the embellishments conferred on his native city by the emperor Anastasius (491-518).

Οι προ δεκαετίας ανασκαφές στο κέντρο της πόλης του Δυρραχίου στην Αλβανία αποκάλυψε ένα εκτεταμένο συγκρότημα κυκλικών κατασκευών των Ύστερων πωμαϊκών και των ∏ρώιμων Βυζαντινών χρόνων. Μολονότι εξ' αρχής το συγκρότημα χαρακτηρίστηκε ως αγορά (macellimi), ο τύπος της οποίας συναντάται σε πολλές Ρωμαϊκές πόλεις, έγινε επίσης φανερό, ότι ο πλαισιωμένος με περιστύλιο κυκλικός πλακόστρωτος χώρος διαμέτρου 40 μ αντιπροσώπευε στο κέντρο του ένα χώρο, ο οποίος προοριζόταν περισσότερο για επίσημες δραστηριότητες, ταυτιζόμενος κατά πάσα πιθανότητα με αγορά (Forum), εάν συγκριθεί με την Κυρτή Αγορά της Κωνσταντινούπολης. Το επίκεντρο του χώρου ήταν μία ροτόντα με διάμειρο 5·75 μ κατά προσέγγιση, η οποία ίσως να στήριζε ένα μνημειακό σύμπλεγμα αγαλμάτων ή πιθανώς έναν κίονα. Το έτος 2001 δημιουργήθηκε ένα αρχείο για τα αρχιτεκτονικά κατάλοιπα και κατά τα έτη 2004 και 2005 δύο μη ολοκληρωμένες ανασκαφικές τομές, παρακείμενες της ροτόντας, επεκτάθηκαν και ανεσκάφησαν πλήρως. Τα δεδομένα χρονολόγησης, που συλλέχθηκαν κάτω από το επίπεδο του πλακόστρωτου της αγοράς τοποθετούν την οικοδόμησή της περί τα τέλη του 60υ αι. μ.Χ., συνηγορώντας προς την άποψη, ότι πιθανώς πρόκειται για ένα από τα αφιερώματα, που πρόσφερε στη γενέτειρά του, ο Αυτοκράτωρ Αναστάσιος (491–518 μ.Χ.).

The ancient approach to the Lion Gate (Fig. 1) probably began at the north-west angle of the circuit wall, and thence gradually ascended to the gate itself. Thus all possible assailants would have to pass through the fire from the west side of the north-west angle, even before they reached the court-like area directly before the gate. Here they would be faced with a triple fire, from the gate, from the great rectangular bastion (1) which flanks the gate on the west, and from the wall immediately to the east of the gate. Exactly the same defensive plan is provided for the so-called Postern Gate in the northern circuit wall not far from the original north-eastern angle. Some have suggested that the terrace wall (2), which is called a kyklopische Stützmauer by Steffen, and juts below the north-west corner of the rectangular bastion, is part of the ancient roadway, which mounted here in zigzags, and then turned abruptly to the right to enter the gate.

The following paper was for the most part written early in 1939 and embodies the results of studies in Greece during the preceding year. Professor A. J. B. Wace, who suggested the subject to me, and to whom I am continuously indebted for encouragement and criticism, has elsewhere pointed out (notably, in collaboration with Professor Carl Biegen, in an article in Klio, 1939, 131 ff.) the need for a systematic and regional study of L.H. III pottery. The term covers wares produced over a period of at least three centuries (as long as from the reign of Charles I to the present day), and distributed over the Eastern Mediterranean from Sicily to Palestine. Within this wide range the existence of considerable variety has long been recognised, but not to any extent the nature of the variations, produced in part by the passage of time, in part by locally differing materials and traditions. This paper is an examination of what L.H. III pottery has come to light in one geographically well-defined region, Attica, and an attempt to discern the influences at work in its production, and its relation to similar pottery elsewhere.

Finds of the Mediterranean Cone Shell (Conus mediterraneus Hwass in Bruguière 1792 = ventricosus Gmelin) from Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece are listed, and their use discussed.

A not unprofitable search among the manuscripts of the British Museum for travellers' accounts of Cyzicus and its neighbourhood, has persuaded me that an annotated list of those manuscripts which deal with Levantine geography may be a useful contribution to the bibliography of travel. It is needless to say that this paper has no palaeographical pretensions; such points as the dates of handwriting have been for the most part supplied me by Mr. J. A. Herbert, to whom I am also indebted for much other assistance.

The MSS. I have examined fall generally into one of three rough classes:—

(1) Isolarii and accounts of individual Aegean islands.

(2) Voyages and travels to Constantinople.

(3) Travels in Asia Minor.

The excavations at Antissa took place between May 29 and July 3. The most important area was that of the apsidal buildings, AC, but further exploration was carried out in the tombs south and south-east of the Acropolis, and tests were made on the promontory and the coast east of the promontory.

The working party consisted of myself, Miss Six and Mr. J. K. Brock for the duration of the dig, together with Mr. R. Cook for the last fortnight. Mr. Brock was in charge of the excavation of AC, and many of his notes and conclusions are incorporated in this report. Mr. Paraskevaïdes, Ephor of Antiquities, was present for four of the five weeks, and gave us invaluable help in archaeological and business matters. We would like to take this opportunity of expressing our gratitude to Professor Oikonomos for the many facilities provided for us at the National Museum.

The following notes are an attempt to classify on the basis of shape some of the Attic red-figured choes of the later part of the fifth century B.C. and a few sundries of the early part of the fourth. The connection of these vases with the festival of the Anthesteria has given them a prominent place in the study of religion and of children's pastimes. Their scenes have been considered by several scholars, the foremost of whom are Frickenhaus, Deubner, van Hoorn, S. karouzou, and Metzger. Metzger, though taking a less extreme position than Rumpf who challenged the validity of much of the earlier work, has given a refreshingly sane view of several aspects of the iconography. Mrs. karouzou has confined herself in her published work to particular pieces and particular aspects of the festival.

At the turn of the nineteenth century there arose an interest in the origin and development of the Minoan larnax. After many years of research it is understandable that we find the views published at that time inadequately furnished with arguments. The scholars of the past investigated only some selected questions, because their studies were prompted by the finding of a single tomb containing larnakes, as when in 1890 the larnakes at Pentamodi and Vasilika Anogeia were discovered, and P. Orsi published a study on the origin of the chest-larnax. Nevertheless in the early stage of these studies no one could imagine that the coffin chest was a shape of short duration and one which was introduced into burial rites rather late. This is of some importance for the study of the origin of the chest-larnax.

There is the very interesting problem of the theoretical background of the views expressed at that time, which we shall here pass briefly in review. The opinions published at the time were influenced by a general theory of culture which was rather vaguely accepted by scholars. The three main ideas were as follows (1) the theory of diffusion, (2) the belief in the evolutionary development of society, and (3) a supposition that there existed an interconnection of shape, plan, and to some degree of furnishing between grave and house.

To the account of this well and of the objects found in it the following additions should be made.

A. There is one fragment of a funnel-shaped rhyton in stone from Mycenae in the National Museum at Athens. It is fluted and well-polished, and was found by Tsountas in his excavations on the acropolis (Athens Nat. Mus., No. 2669, height ·07, width ·065, thickness ·02 m.). A fragment of another was found in the Palace in 1923, see below, p. 183.

The publication of further ceramic material from the terrace fills surrounding the temple of Aphaia on Aegina brings into question the present date assigned to the reconstruction by the excavation team. The cumulative effect of black-figured, red-figured, and black-glossed pottery, as well as lamps and amphorae from the terrace fills, seems to indicate that the temple may be later than the Persian wars. Much of the late material finds parallels from contexts in the Athenian Agora which are usually thought, on the conventional chronology, to date from the time of the Persian wars. If the revised views of these contexts are taken into account, then the temple of Aphaia may have to be dated lower still.

Basic to a study of the Knossos sealings are questions of provenance and identification. Seal-impressed nodules were excavated from various parts of the Main Palace and its dependencies, both as isolated finds and as hoards. What sealings were found in which places? And how many can be identified with actual examples in Herakleion and Oxford? Those are the two questions to be considered in this article.

The documents available for this research vary in reliability. Among published accounts, reports in BSA have the virtue of being written in the same year as the excavation, though even they are subject to occasional errors arising out of misread notes. SM i compiled a few years later contains a more mature assessment of the material but is mainly limited to the Hieroglyphic Deposit. More detailed information is to be found in PM i–iv; but because of the time that elapsed between the important excavation seasons at the beginning of the century and the publication of this work, the advantage of Evans's greater experience of Minoan archaeology is outweighed by a greater tendency for mistakes to enter unnoticed.

One of the specialist contributions often appended to an archaeological report is the analysis of human skeletal material. Such an analysis is rarely of sufficient interest to be included in the main report, largely because the excavator has not set pertinent and soluble problems for the analyst. The time of specialists has been wasted measuring morphological minutiae in a vain attempt to track down quasi-tribal entities in which archaeologists no longer believe. The assessment of the age and sex of a skeleton, however, follows a firm methodology, is far less time-consuming, and yields relevant information.

Although one of the smaller and less well-known cities in Thessaly Halos in Achaia Phthiotis has played an important part in history. Tradition attributes its origin to Athamas, and its position guarding the coast route between Othrys and the sea into the Spercheios valley, brought it on several critical occasions into prominence. In 480 B.C. together with the rest of Thessaly it submitted to Xerxes without a struggle, but in 346 B.C. it withstood a long siege by Philip and Parmenio. Some mediaeval and Turkish fortifications on the ancient Greek acropolis show that its strategic importance continued down to the last century. The walls which surrounded the city in the plain and the citadel on the hill to the west can still be traced, but of the city itself nothing is now visible. The acropolis is the last peak of the projecting spur of Othrys, which running down towards the bay of Halmyros shuts off the plain of Sourpe from that of Halmyros. This is now a bare limestone hill covered with scrub, and whatever may exist in the plain is hidden beneath the cultivated fields.

One of the goals of the Vrokastro Survey Project, based in west-central Mirabello, eastern Crete, was to identify a site within the boundaries of the survey study area worthy of further investigation, including excavation. The settlement selected, based on its complexity and long lifespan, was Priniatikos Pyrgos, a harbour community and ‘gateway’ of the Vrokastro region. As a preliminary to excavation, the Istron Geoarchaeological Project was initiated in order to document the nature, condition, and resources of this site and its coastal environment. This multidisciplinary program was implemented through fieldwork, laboratory analyses, and geophysical prospection. Results include new data concerning the industrial aspects of Priniatikos Pyrgos, the changing topographical situation of the site and coastal zone, the overall size of this diachronic harbor settlement, and the regional resources involved in ceramic and metallurgical production.

Thirty Roman mosaics are now known from the Knossos Valley. The Villa Dionysos, with eight mosaics thus far uncovered, forms the largest coherent group. Recent work undertaken at the nearby bath house has revealed a small group of three mosaics. For the most part the remainder are isolated examples, commonly found during rescue excavation and often not well preserved. The mosaics range in date from the late first to the late third century AD and they display a variety of styles from black and white to polychrome and themes from simple geometric to complex figured designs. This paper presents a catalogue of the mosaics followed by a synthetic analysis, providing cultural evidence for the hitherto not well-understood Roman period of Knossos and adding to the corpus of mosaics in Greece.

Despite the limitations of such a study, imposed by the nature of the recovery of the material culture, it is possible, through an understanding of mosaic distribution, context and type, to make suggestions regarding the function of different areas within the city. An analysis of chronology and evidence for workshop production provides data for economic and cultural fluctuations and, importantly, a study of the mosaics helps to place Knossos within the broader context of the Roman Empire.