It has been pointed out by Minns, Rostovtzeff, and other scholars that social life in the Greek cities on the northern shore of the Black Sea was very highly developed and therefore the opportunity was given for adorning sanctuaries and public buildings with sculptured monuments. A signature of Praxiteles found in Olbia proves that even the most eminent Greek masters worked for the Far East of the ancient world. It is true, very few fragments are preserved, but among them are specimens of very high quality, worth more attention than has hitherto been paid to them. I cannot agree therefore with Minns, who thinks that ‘the few marble statues are of very little value’ and ‘would scarcely claim attention elsewhere.’ The fragments are indeed in a very bad state of preservation, but this fact must not influence the judgment upon their artistic value. It is a pity also that the remains of ancient sculpture found in South Russia are not sufficiently published. The fragments scattered in different local museums must be collected and studied anew, as there probably are works of very great importance to be discovered. Further investigations, I am sure, will offer many surprises and will compel us to change entirely our view upon ancient sculpture in the Black Sea colonies. Such a surprise was the grave-relief of the early fifth century from Olbia, published by Pharmakovski; another was the colossal statue from Kertch discovered in the depot of the Hermitage, a masterpiece of high rank closely akin to the Maussollos.

In his paper ‘The “Sophocles” Statue; a Reply,’ Theod. Reinach discusses the small Sophocles bust in the Sala delle Muse of the Vatican, with the fragmentary inscription of the name. In consequence of a communication from his pupil, M. Durry, he declares incorrect the statements in the third edition of Helbig's Führer. As I am responsible for these statements, I wish to say here very briefly that Durry's and Reinach's assertions do not correspond to fact. The upper part of the φ is preserved; but even if it were not, it would be impossible to fill up the given space with fewer or more than precisely three letters. Therefore the conjectures put forward by Reinach of Δι]οκλῆς or Ἐμπεδ]οκλῆς or even of the otherwise possible Ἀριστ]οκλῆς are at once ruled out.

This and other questions raised by Reinach I shall go into fully in a paper which is to appear in the coming number of the Atti of the Accademia Pontificia Romana di Archeologia.

Our knowledge of the early military organisation of Thessaly rests mainly on two passages of Aristotle's ‘Constitution of the Thessalians’ which are closely connected. I give the numbers (Fragments 497 and 498) according to V. Rose, Aristotelis Fragmenta, 1886; but I have purged the text of emendations.

Few ancient monuments that have come to light of recent years have aroused so lively an interest amongst scholars or so widespread a curiosity in the general public as the subterranean building of basilican plan discovered in 1917 as if by chance near the Porta Maggiore in Rome. Its situation at a depth of 50 feet below the present level of the soil, the curious mode of its construction, the secrecy of its approach, the mystical character of its decoration led to the theory, put forward almost from the first, that this was probably the secret meeting-place of some religious pagan fraternity. Especially significant in this connexion are the symbolic and eschatological subjects of the stuccoes: the figures of Eros holding torches or playing with a butterfly, the scenes of rape and of liberation, the Victories carrying wreaths belong to the now well-known cycle of subjects that symbolise the aspiration of the soul towards the divine, her liberation from earthly ties and her final flight towards the celestial spheres. In the same way, the long series of reliefs representing sacred enclosures which completely surround the lower part of the walls; the scenes of preparation and of ritual discipline; those of initiation to the mysteries; the indications of a purgatorial Katharsis; the grand apocalyptic scene of the apse; the figures interpreted as Orantes or personified prayers; even the candelabra and other sacred furniture, recall rites by means of which the ancient devotees of the basilica might be initiated while still in this life to the bliss of the next. The subjects considered individually offer nothing either strange or unique, but what strikes our imagination and must certainly have struck that of any one who entered the basilica in antiquity, is to find so large a number of these subjects (their number is, I believe, about 117) so linked together as to cover the whole building with a perfectly logical and homogeneous decoration.