Piety toward the past is seldom more unselfishly displayed than when scholars copy inscriptions totally devoid of meaning. Such were to Chishull, Borrell and Schonborn these fragments which, thanks to modern discovery, can now in the main be understood.

Reviewing the recent archaeological discoveries in the areas where the ancient Greek colonies of Italy flourished, I shall divide them, so as to facilitate the finding of the places on the modern map, according to the present Italian regions. These correspond more or less to the old Roman divisions, excepting Lucania, the western part of which (Paestum, Velia) now belongs to Campania.

Sicily

Sicily suffered a great loss last year in the death of Paolo Orsi, to whom we owe the revelation of Siculan civilisation and an incalculable number of discoveries in the Greek centres of the island and of Magna Graecia. After his death lack of funds interrupted the work he had so happily initiated of liberating the temple of Apollo in Ortygia. Of this old Sicilian temple (seventh century B.C.) there was brought to light during 1933–34, by the demolition of the sixteenth-century Spanish barracks, the southern wall of the cella, still 6 and 7 m. high, and built with orthostates.

An impetus has of late been given to the study of Hellenistic and Sigillata wares in the Near East, principally by the excavations in the Athenian Agora and at Antioch. Until recently, few excavators troubled to publish their material of this period, and it has consequently remained largely an unknown quantity to Western scholars. A very cursory inspection, however, is sufficient to show the importance and interest of a proper study of the subject for students both of the Hellenistic East and of Sigillata wares in the West. One or two of the chief results of a preliminary survey of the material collected from a number of excavations and museums (Athens, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Pergamon, Samaria, Tarsus, etc.) are briefly summarised below.

Of the recent acquisitions to the Classical Collection of the Otago Museum (Dunedin, New Zealand) the most noteworthy is a particularly fine Attic white ground lekythos of about the middle of the fifth century (Plate XIV). It stands 38 cm. high and is in an excellent state of preservation, having been most carefully repaired with a minimum of repainting, which has affected only the breast of the woman, the right hand of the warrior, and some details of the small figure on top of the stele.

The design represents a stele scene of the sort so popular with lekythos artists of this period. To the left stands a woman wearing a sleeved chiton, so thin that it clearly allows her bowed legs to be seen through it; with her left hand she points downward to the base of the stele, which is adorned with a fillet and a wreath. On the other side stands a hoplite with his shield and spear;

To the discussion conducted during 1931, in the pages of The American Journal of Archaeology, regarding the authenticity of this work Prof. W. B. Dinsmoor made an important contribution, in which he pointed out marked technical differences between the style of the pedestal in front of which the statue was found and that of pedestals of the second century A.D., to which some would assign the work. In his opinion the pedestal dates from the second century B.C., a period hardly possible as the date of the statue itself; the inference being that during that century the statue had been transferred from its original position to the place in the Heraeum where it was found. I suggest that the occasion of the transfer was the receipt, in 146 B.C., at Olympia of intelligence of Mummius' proceedings at Corinth. He in fact treated Olympia well, dedicating gilded shields on the temple of Zeus and images of Zeus from the spoils of Achaea, in addition to other gifts. But the authorities may reasonably not have anticipated such treatment from him, and have decided that removal to the Heraeum, the oldest temple at Olympia, offered the best chance of preserving the statue.

On the site of Hierapolis ad Lycum a massive wall said to have been discovered in 1933 preserves among other ancient fragments part of an inscribed pedestal probably dating from the latter half of the second century A.D. To the kindness of a correspondent I owe the photograph (Fig. 1) of this marble block. The dimensions are lacking, but if, as seems probable, the letters are about 0.03 m. high, the inscribed surface measures about o.66 by 0.40. The present transcription gives, I believe, the first ancient text found at Hierapolis since the publication in 1898 of Judeich's corpus.