This paper is a brief account of the classical topography of east-central Laconia. It includes all the country on the left bank of the Eurotas between Leonidi and Zarax with the exception of the small piece directly opposite Sparta and round Chrysapha. The whole of this district is not well watered and irrigation is not possible, for the fertile, undulating plain below Geraki is well above the level of the river; the olive tree, however, flourishes here, and in the neighbourhood of Gouves there are some splendid old trees. In the alluvial plain at the mouth of the Eurotas corn grows well but is often severely damaged by winter floods.

The excavations described in the following article were undertaken partly in the early autumn of 1907, partly in the spring of 1908. Graves 1 to 22 were discovered in the autumn, the remainder in the spring. Autumn and spring finds will be treated together, as representing one season's work. Further excavation was undertaken on the site in the spring of 1909.

The chief importance of the Rhitsóna graves does not lie in the value of the individual vases, interesting as some of them are, but rather in the simple fact that for the first time in the history of Boeotian grave digging every vase from each grave opened has been preserved, and the full contents of each grave kept carefully separate.

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.

IG xii. 1. 695; T. Cam. 1. In the British Museum, from Kamiros. Early third century B.C.

Guarducci, Mem. dei Lincei vi. 8 (1938/9) 124, no. xxix bis; T. Cam. 2. Kamiros.

These lists present an organization at three levels:

(a) The smallest units are patrai, with names ending either -δαι or -ειοι, rather more of the latter than the former; the only exception is II 14 Ἀμφινεῖς.

(b) These are grouped under headings, Χυτριείων πάτραι (I 28, II 19), Βουκολείων πάτραι (III 18), &c. The general term for the bodies named Χυτρίειοι, &c., is not given.

(c) The heading Ἀλθαιμενίδος at I 19, II 11, embraces several of these second-level groups. At two removes above the patrai, Ἀλθαιμενίς must be a large body, something like a tribe, and the termination -ίς is common in tribe-names.

Among the puzzling features of the list is the repetition of certain names, either consecutively in the same group or from one group to another, thus:

⊖ωιάδαι: I 23–26 under Ἀμφινήων πάτραι.

Βουκολίδαι: I 30–32 under Χυτριείων.

Κρητινάδαι: I 29 under Χυτριείων; II 24, 26 under Χυτριείων; III 19 under Βουκολείων; T. Cam. 2. 2 in a different sequence with no heading preserved.

The citadel of Mycenae owes much of its impressiveness to the fact that it lies at the foot of and between the twin heights of Hagios Elias to the north and Zara to the south. These two bare peaks of limestone rise very steeply, and seem to stand like two sentinels specially posted by nature to add to the dignity of Mycenae. Their mountain wildness is in strong contrast to the smiling fertility of the Argive plain, which stretches away to the south-west. Zara is some 659 m. high, and has no remains of antiquity on its summit. Hagios Elias is higher, some 807 m., and has been known, since the days of Schliemann, to be crowned by the ruins of ancient fortifications.

We made an expedition to the summit on the evening of June 18th, 1922, camped for the night there, and spent the next day in planning the walls and making trial excavations within them. The view from the summit is magnificent (Fig. 96). To the south the whole of the Argive plain lies at one's feet; Argos itself, Lerna, Tiryns, Mideia, Nauplia and Asine are all visible.

At the first appearance of the Ottomans, towards the close of the thirteenth century, Christian and Turk had already been living for two centuries side by side in the interior of Asia Minor under the rule of the Seljouk Sultans of Roum. The political history of this period is still emerging from obscurity: the social and religious history has hardly been touched. The Byzantine historians, concerned only incidentally with provinces already in partibus, give us no more than hints, and we have none of those personal and intimate records which are apt to tell us much more of social conditions than the most elaborate chronicle.

The golden age of the Sultanate of Roum is undoubtedly the reign of Ala-ed-din I. (1219–1236), whose capital, Konia, still in its decay bears witness by monument and inscription to the culture and artistic achievement of his time. Ala-ed-din was a highly-educated man and an enlightened ruler. He was familiar with Christianity, having spent eleven years in exile at Constantinople. One of his predecessors, Kaikhosru I. (1192–6, 1204–10) who likewise spent an exile in Christendom, nearly became a Christian and married a Christian wife.

The excavations of 1921 in Macedonia recorded in Vol. XXIV. of the Annual (p. 1 ff.) were completed in 1922. The site known as Chauchitsa was completely examined and the cemetery on the two rocky mounds was sufficiently excavated to make it possible to establish the main features of the burial methods and equipment. The high mound at the back of the cemetery on the edge of the plateau was also excavated and found to be an undisturbed stratified site. The strata revealed were of the fourth century B.C., of the Early Iron Age, and below that of the Bronze Age. The objects found in the Bronze Age strata and the nature of these strata have been fully dealt with elsewhere: the purpose of this report is to describe the cemetery, the Iron Age deposit which overlay the Bronze Age settlement, the Historic strata which overlay the Iron Age settlement, and, finally, to shew the connection between the Iron Age settlement and the cemetery at the foot of the plateau.

The East Mound (Figs. 1 and 2).—Fourteen graves in all were opened in the first season and have been duly recorded. In the second season a further twenty-two graves were opened, and all alike shewed the same general character as the first fourteen.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Heinrich Schliemann (1822–90) was, it is well known, an energetic correspondent, a compulsive note-taker and an inveterate hoarder. For the archaeologist, as for the biographer, he left behind a rich mine with many seams. There is, however, no clear account of the history, location, and extent of Schliemann's literary remains. This paper is intended to go some way towards filling that gap. It has the additional aim of drawing attention to some notable lacunae in the Schliemann archive at the Gennadius Library in Athens in case the missing material should ever come to light.

Among the antiquities in the collection of the British School, there are a few examples of East Greek pottery, including Wild Goat Style, Chian, Fikellura, and Clazomenian as well as a Rosette Bowl and a Bird Bowl. Following a summany of the British School's excavations and role at Naukratis, the site where much of this East Greek pottery was discovered, the objects from the collection are presented in both summary and catalogue form. An appendix is dedicated to an Attic polychrome phiale mesomphalos, which, although not East Greek, shares many technical and stylistic features with some East Greek wares, and was originally identified as Vroulian. It is briefly considered in relation to East Greek and Archaic pottery.

Μεταξύ των αρχαιοτήτων της συλλογής της Βρετανικής Σχολής, υπάρχουν ορισμένα παραδείγματα ανατολίζουσας ελληνικής κεραμικής, στα οποία περιλαμβάνοντοα δείγματα του ρυθμού των Αιγάγρων, της Χίου, των Φικελλούρων, των Κλαζομενών, καθώς επίσης και δύο ανοικτά αγγεία με διακόσμηση ρόδακα και πτηνών αντίστοιχα. Μετά από μία σύνοψη των ανασκαφών και του ρόλου της Βρετανικής Σχολής στη Ναύκρατι, τη θέση όπου ανακαλύφθηκε μεγάλο μέρος αυτής της ανατολίζουσας ελληνικής κεραμικής, τα ευρήματα της συλλογής παρουσιάζονται σε σύνοψη και σε κατάλογο. Ένα παράρτημα είναι αφιερωμένο σε μία αττική πολύχρωμη μεσόμφαλη φιάλη, η οποία αν και δεν ανήκει στον ανατολίζοντα ρυθμό, μοιράζεται αρκετά τεχνικά και στυλιστικά χαρακτηριστικά με ορισμένα ανατολίζοντα ελληνικά αγγεία. Η φιάλη αυτή είχε αρχικά ταυτιστεί ως αγγείο τύπου Βρουλιάς. Εν συντομία θεωρείτοα ότι έλκει στοιχεία από την ανατολίζουσα ελληνική και αρχαϊκή κεραμική.

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.

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.

Since 1902 archaeological investigations at Palaikastro in eastern Crete have sought evidence for two architectural structures: a palace located amongst the substantial remains of Minoan settlement and the temple and sanctuary of Zeus Diktaios referred to by Strabo. In 2001 a geophysical survey was conducted in the Roussolakkos valley to the south-east of the excavated Minoan remains. Previous studies had recorded this as an archaeological ‘nil’ zone owing to the complete absence of cultural surface debris. Seven geophysical zones, covering a total of 20,960 m2, were surveyed using a combination of electrical resistance and magnetometry methods. Anomalies attributed to anthropogenic activity were found in six of these zones. They probably reflect substantial Minoan architecture based on the shape of some anomalies, a comparison with geophysical results from a previously excavated area (Block X) and the occurrence of no pottery later than Minoan on the ground. On this basis the geophysical survey has approximately doubled the known area, of the Minoan settlement. The anomalies may belong to a large urban block though their scale and orientation are also comparable to plans of palatial structures from other sites. Anomalies that could reflect architecture were found in Zone 7, situated in the area of earlier finds of Iron Age votives and Archaic architectural fragments and may therefore be related to the Diktaion.

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.

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.

In recent years a number of vases with floral decoration have come to light, and we can now carry a little further the study of the Euboean floral black-figure style of vase-painting started in BSA lv. 211 f. Unfortunately few have any known provenience and it is often hazardous to attempt to distinguish between the work of Euboean and Boeotian workshops. Some of the Euboean attributions here made are tentative, and even when they can be regarded as certain the question of the distribution of the vases within Euboea still remains largely unsolved.

An early example of a vase with decoration that consists entirely of floral elements is a pelike in Athens, Plate 69a, with provenience given in the inventory as ‘Chalcis?’. It has bands of myrtle, ivy, and a kind of laurel with spatulate leaves covering the neck and the upper part of the body, and can be regarded as a precursor of the floral style. It is to be distinguished from it chiefly by the absence of the palmette, which is the chief ingredient of the floral style proper. The stemless ivy leaves accompanied by spots recall the sixth-century skyphos of Chalcidian make, Rhitsona 31. 41 (BSA lviii. 18, pl. 2. 3), and the little stemmed kothon, Athens E1520 (Ibid. pl. 2. 8).

Last May, having to wait for a steamer at Syra, I seized the opportunity and rode out to the prehistoric necropolis on the north-east coast of the island. The distance from the agora of Hermoupolis is only three miles on the map, but nearly an hour and a half by the mule path, which starts from the picturesque upper town and runs along a range of desolate hills, passing on the left a cave which local antiquaries call the cave of Pherekydes.