It has often been a matter of regret that a Greek vase of much importance as to subject and unique in being the work of a particular painter named Python was inaccessible except by a visit to Castle Howard in Yorkshire. That, I am glad to say, is no longer necessary. The vase has become the property of the British Museum. But there remains a difficulty of another kind. The vase had been published in 1837 by the French section of the Institute in Rome, but so rare has that publication become that very few English students have ever seen it. We propose now to remedy that matter by a re-publication of the vase (Plates VI. and VII.).

The characters in the principal scene are Alkmene, Amphitryon, Antenor, Zeus, Eos, and two Hyades. Except these latter, each figure has its name attached to it. But, though the names are plain enough, the interpretation of the scene has been a subject of controversy. Originally the scene was described as the ‘Apotheosis of Alkmene,’ against which there was at least this objection that in the legend Alkmene had survived Amphitryon, and could not therefore in her apotheosis be assisted by him, as that explanation of the vase would imply. In 1872 the question was re-opened by Engelmann in connexion with another vase, now also in the British Museum, on which the same subject occurs in an abbreviated form. Engelmann argued that the meaning must be this: Amphitryon has come back from the wars, and, being enraged at the reception given him by his wife, has determined to take vengeance on her, whereupon she has fled for refuge to an altar followed by him and his friend Antenor. Instead of dragging her from the altar they proceed to sacrifice her on it, building up a pyre of wood in front and fetching torches to light it.

Hearing of extensive and unidentified ruins on the banks of the river Jeihan (the ancient Pyramus) at a spot now called Bodroum to the east of the Cilician plain, just as the river enters the plain from the gorges of the Anti-Taurus, we determined to visit the site. The result of our explorations, made in the early months of this year, are as follows.

Our route took us past the rock of Anazarba and Kars Bazaar, at which places we decided to spend a few days, and though the spots have both been previously described we were able to add a few points to the information concerning them, both epigraphical and topographical.

Anazarba.—Caesarea penes Anazarbum, as Ptolemy calls it, was second only in importance to Tarsus of the cities of Cilicia during the days of imperial Rome, and was the metropolis of the eastern portion of the great plain. The town was built at the foot of a long rocky mountain, rising like an island out of the plain for the extent of three miles and attaining an altitude of 2,000 feet. The walls as they at present stand are of Armenian and Saracenic construction, enclosing a parallelogram, one side of which is protected by the mountain; but they contain many portions of Roman work, notably the great southern gate formed by a triumphal arch erected in the time of Justinian, when that emperor restored the town after it had been ruined by an earthquake.

Kars-Bazaar is about four hours from Boudroum; in its situation it agrees with Flaviopolis, standing on a branch of the river Pyramus, at the foot of the mountains. Unfortunately none of the inscriptions reveal the name of the site.

‘A very handsome tessellated pavement in a cottage, with an elaborate pattern, in the centre of which is the following legend.’ Copied by Mr. Bent.

Probably from the floor of an early church. Dedicated by the guild of fullers. It is interesting to see these trade-guilds, so common under the Empire in Asia Minor, passing unchanged into the Christian Church. For συνέργιον = συνεργασία, see C. I. G. 4346 and Addenda, p. 1163 (from Side).

The collection of antiquities which forms the subject of this paper was presented in the year 1863—4 to the Museum of the Leeds Philosophical Society by the Rev. John Gott, D.D., then Vicar of Leeds and now Dean of Worcester. He tells me that it came into his hands in the following way. Mr. Benjamin Gott, elder brother of the Dean's father, made a tour in Greece about the year 1815, in the company of an intimate friend, Mr. Rawson. They visited Smyrna, and returned through the islands to Athens, purchasing, in the course of their travels, a number of ancient marbles. Mr. Benjamin Gott died of fever at the Piraeus, and was buried at Athens in the Theseium. Many years afterwards, when an English cemetery was opened at Athens, his body, with two others, was removed from the temple to this more fitting resting-place.

Upon Mr. B. Gott's death, the marbles passed into the possession of his fellow-traveller Mr. Rawson, in whose house at Halifax they remained for years. Here six of the inscriptions were copied and sent to Böckh for insertion in the Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum which he was then preparing.

Seven years ago nothing was known in Egypt which could be attributed to a Greek origin before the Alexandrine times; the early notices on the monuments, which seemed to refer to the peoples of the Mediterranean, stood alone, and their relation to what was known on Greek soil appeared vague and unreal. But now the main light on the chronology of the civilizations of the Aegean comes from Egypt; and it is Egyptian sources that must be thanked by classical scholars for revealing the real standing of the antiquities of Greece. Without the foreign colonies on the Nile, they would still be groping in speechless remains, which might cover either a century or a thousand years, for aught that could be determined in Greek excavations. Egypt has done for the pre-historic ages the same great office of conservator which she has performed for the historic period. To Egypt we are indebted for the manuscripts, the paintings, and the textiles of the Greek and Roman times; from Egypt have just come the fragments of Plato and Euripides which show the original text, and the letters and private papers which tell of the daily life of the Greeks dwelling there.

The sculptured drum of the later Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, excavated by Mr. Wood, and now in the British Museum, is a familiar piece of sculpture. Its interpretation however is still doubtful.

The best known view is that of Robert, who connects the sculpture with the story of Alcestis, though not exactly with the story as told by Euripides. According to Robert's view Alcestis stands in Hades, about to depart. Hades and Persephone have given their sanction, Hermes Psychopompos escorts her, Death beckons to her to go, and Heracles stands on the left of the group, as a spectator. Robert's interpretation is attractive and poetical, but there are considerable difficulties, some of which are pressed against him by Benndorf in presenting his own view. The story does not correspond with the literary versions; the representation of Death as a beardless youth seems improbable, though not without parallel on the vases; the action of Persephone, holding up a necklace, which can hardly be neglected, is left unexplained.

In the bas-relief room of the Naples Museum is a well-known relief of Hellenic workmanship from Herculaneum, the importance of which has often been pointed out in connection with the art-type of three female figures, variously taken to represent the Charites, the Nymphs, the three goddesses or the daughters of Kekrops, according to the company in which they are found. Inside a plain shrine represented by two antae supporting an architrave, above which are seven knobs indicating the anthemia of the roof-ridges, are seven female figures hand in hand, six of them of the same size and the last smaller. The first three, two of whom are looking to the left, wear over a long chiton a himation wrapped over the left shoulder in the usual manner, and remind one somewhat of the Pyrrichist base in the Acropolis Museum; the second trio are simply clad in Doric girdled chiton, two of these also looking to the left: the seventh is a small similarly clad female figure seen full face. It is noticeable that the central figure is absolutely full face and that those at the two ends have their faces slightly turned towards the centre, a device for securing the symmetry of the group. The connection of this work with the archaic coloured relief, lately discovered on the Acropolis and published by M. Lechat in the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique for 1889, in which Hermes piping precedes the three Graces who follow hand in hand to the left, their faces seen full, and lead after them a small similarly dressed figure, has been pointed out most recently by Miss Harrison in her Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens; but the interesting names inscribed below the Naples relief (C. I. G. iv. 6854e) seem to have been disregarded. Either they are a forgery, in which case the fact should certainly be established; or, if genuine, they seem to confirm the identification of the Acropolis group with the Charites and to supply an interesting clue to this mysterious small figure. Under the first trio are the names given to the Graces in later times, ΕΥΦΡΟΣΥΝΗ ΑΓΛΑΙΗ ⊙ΑΛΙΗ. The next three bear the apparent fancy names of ΙΣΜΗΝΗ ΚΥΚΑΙΣ ΕΡΑΝΝΩ.

The Vatican MS. numbered Regina 181, written in 1364 and containing the medical works of Actuarius, has at various parts of it several more or less continuous pieces of tachygraphy that, considering the late date of the MS. and the character of the tachygraphical system itself, are very remarkable. I was made aware of the existence of these specimens of tachygraphy from Signor Enrico Stevenson's recent catalogue of the Queen of Sweden and Pio II. collection (Rome 1888), and on a recent visit to Rome I had photographs taken of two of the principal passages where tachygraphy is employed: these are reproduced here.

The MS. itself is a paper book, measuring 8½ inches by 5, written according to the subscription in 1364: for a fuller description and a list of the contents I may refer to Signor Stevenson. The tachygraphical matter in the book falls into three divisions: first, certain passages in the text, where, departing from his ordinary usage, the scribe suddenly as it were drops into shorthand; secondly, a formal table of tachygraphical and other signs, with their interpretations at the end of the book; and lastly, two notes of considerable length, and of somewhat uncertain meaning, which are written on either side of an empty page between the table of contents and the text.

In view of the great interest which has been expressed in the Theatre at Megalopolis, now in course of excavation by members of the British School at Athens, and of its real importance in connection with the question of the Greek Stage, it has been determined to publish, provisionally, a plan and section of it, without waiting for the completion of the work. The excavation will, it is hoped, be finished in the spring: and a full account of our results, with the necessary plans and illustrations, will be published in a future number of this Journal. For the present, therefore, a very few words of explanation must suffice.

The following is an explanation of the woodcuts, made from Mr. Loring's drawings:—

The inscription which follows came to light during the excavation undertaken this year, at Megalopolis, by the British School at Athens. It stood outside the house of a peasant, Βασίλєιος Πєτράκης, whose father had found it, many years previously, in a field upon the ancient site. The existence of the stone was reported first to the Ephor, Mr. Castroménos, who represented the Greek Government at our excavation. Mr. Castroménos courteously announced it to me, and both of us copied it. At that time we had no idea that it formed part of the ‘Edict of Diocletian’; this was first suggested to me by Mr. Gardner, Director of the School, on my return to Cambridge. Mr. Castroménos' copy is to appear, as I understand, in the ‘Δєλτίον.’ The text and edition which follow are from my own copy and squeeze.

The Edict of Diocletian and his colleagues, commonly spoken of either by Mommsen's title ‘De Pretiis Rerum Venalium’ or more briefly as the ‘Edict of Diocletian,’ is known to us already from a large number of fragments, Greek and Latin, found all (with one exception) in different parts of Greece or Asia Minor, and amounting together to many hundred lines. It is still however far from being complete.

The accompanying cut represents the painting upon a hydria in the British Museum (No. E 818). The design, in red figures, covers the body of the vase, which apparently dates from early in the fourth century B.C., and stands 32 mètres high; the glaze is of that semi-iridescent character which marks the Attic vases of this time, and the red figures are smeared with ruddle and show the original sketch marks very plainly. It was found in excavations in Rhodes in 1880, outside a tomb at the site named in Mr. Biliotti's Diary Cazviri; unfortunately the circumstances of the find do not assist us in determining more accurately the date; but it may be taken as of certainly Athenian fabric, and probably of the date above stated.