In a recent number of the Journal I had occasion to indicate some of the difficulties surrounding the identification of the royal portraits that occur on silver coins accompanied by the simple inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙοχοΥ The object of the article in question was to advocate a change of tactics in dealing with the problem,—to urge the desirability of concentrating attention on well-defined groups which should be subjected to a close and comprehensive scrutiny. As an illustration of the line of treatment proposed, there was selected for detailed examination the set of coins composed of tetradrachms on which the diadem worn by the king is furnished with wings. While certain of the inferences tentatively suggested on the strength of this examination have not been universally accepted, the more positive and important of the conclusions reached remain uncontroverted.

The cultivation of instrumental music remained in a backward state among the Greeks in the fifth and fourth centuries, B.C. This was certainly not due to any want of taste for music as a whole, for no race ever valued it higher than did the Greeks. The reasons seem to have been, first, the bondage of the instrument to the voice, second, the unsettled state of the musical scale, and thirdly, the dislike of the Greeks for over-elaboration in music.

These three points are well illustrated in the Republic of Plato. In opening the discussion on the admissibility of certain modes, Socrates is made to say that a musical composition is made up of three things, the ‘words,’ the ‘harmony,’ and the ‘rhythm,’ and that the musical ‘words’ are in themselves in no way different from the words of common speech.

Few peoples of the ancient world have given rise to so much controversy as the Pelasgians; and of few, after some centuries of discussion, is so little clearly established. Like the Phoenicians, the Celts, and of recent years the Teutons, they have been a peg upon which to hang all sorts of speculation; and whenever an inconvenient circumstance has deranged the symmetry of a theory, it has been safe to ‘call it Pelasgian and pass on.’

One main reason for this ill-repute, into which the Pelasgian name has fallen, has been the very uncritical fashion in which the ancient statements about the Pelasgians have commonly been mishandled.

Fragment of white marble, entire at the upper and right edge only, measuring 5¼ in. × 4 in. Found among the ruins of Troy on Apr. 20, 1907, by Mr. F. G. Harman from the ‘Argonaut’: now the property of J. Alison Glover, Esq., M.D.

The date is late, not earlier than the first century B.C., as is indicated by the absence of the iota adscriptum, (1. 4), and the coarse style of the lettering. The form ἑατῶν in 1. 5 is characteristic of the first century B.C. Δίφιλος Ξανθίππου is not otherwise known to me. The πανήγυρις or festival assembly of the Panathenaea at Troy celebrated by the nine cities of the Ilian union is mentioned in numerous inscriptions. It is impossible to define further the outline of the original document, as so much is lost.

There are few places in Greece which possess the combined charms of natural beauty and of historic association to the same extent as Monemvasia, The great rock which rises out of the sea near the ancient Epidauros Limera is not only one of the most picturesque sites of the Peloponnese, but has a splendid record of heroic independence, which entitles it to a high place in the list of the world's fortresses (Figs. 1, 2). Monemvasia's importance is, however, wholly mediaeval; and its history has hitherto never been written; for the painstaking brochure of the patriotic Monemvasiote deputy and ex-Minister K. Papamichalópoulos, was composed before modern research rendered it possible to draw upon the original authorities at Venice and elsewhere. In the present paper I have endeavoured to state briefly what, in the present state of Greek mediaeval studies, is known about this interesting city during the Frankish period.

There is probably no subject in Greek archaeology which has afforded material for so much discussion as the identification and arrangement of the sculptures of the Parthenon, and at first sight it may seem presumptuous at this time of day to bring forward new views. But, on the other hand, it must be remembered that discussion cannot be wholly fruitless, even if it does no more than bring us closer into touch with the work of Pheidias; and even this well-worn path is not a mere wandering up and down, but sometimes leads us farther. If it is vouchsafed to us by taking thought only to add one small fragment to the Frieze, the labour is not in vain. And so I have the less hesitation in returning once more to the question of the central groups of the two Pediments of the Parthenon.

Discussion on these two subjects has entered (as I shall hope to shew) on a new phase since the discovery was recently made that we must remove one of the figures commonly assigned to the East Pediment and place it in the West. It is now, I believe, generally admitted that the supposed Nike of the East Pediment does not belong to that Pediment at all, but is the figure shewn in Carrey's drawing as in the West Pediment, next behind the Poseidon.

The javelin used in Greek sports is called variously ἄκων, ἀκόντιον, μεσάγκυλον, σίγυνος, ἀποτομάς. The latter term, defined by Hesychius as σχίζαν καὶ ἀκόντιον πεντάθλου, appears to denote merely a lath or stick, and apparently describes the javelin as represented on the vases. It is merely a straight pole, in length nearly equal to the height of a man, though occasionally longer, and about the thickness of a finger. It is one of the commonest objects in palaestra scenes, whether in use, or carried in the hand, or planted in the ground singly or in pairs apparently to mark the line from which the athlete is to jump or throw the diskos. These rods were formerly described as jumping poles; but of the pole jump there is no evidence, and the fact that they are precisely similar to javelins which are actually being thrown, and that they often have the throwing-strap or amentum attached, proves that they are nothing more than javelins. At the same time there is no reason why they should not have served as measuring-rods or κανόνες for measuring the jump, a use which is perhaps represented on the British Museum kelebe B. 361, published in vol. xxiv, of this journal, p. 180.

Thucydides (iv. 36) describes the last phase of the long contest which led to the surrender of the 292 surviving Spartans on Sphacteria.

They had gradually retired to the summit of the hill at the north end of the island,—an altitude of something under 500 feet, and were making their last stand in the neighbourhood of the παλαιὸν ἔπυμα mentioned by Thucydides, which had once defended this summit, and of which small fragments are yet to be seen. These fragments are still there, for since prehistoric times this practically waterless island has probably never had inhabitants except a few nomad goatherds.

The ground,—working round west, north, east, south,—is as follows, and, the photographs reproduced will help to make it clear (Fig. 1, and Plan) To the S.W. is the long slope up which the Spartans had been slowly retiring from their camp on the low level in the centre of the island. To the west the hill falls, not very steeply, to a saddle; and from this and all sides except (as they thought) the east, the Spartans were exposed to attack; then comes a shoulder before the ground slopes away westward to the open sea.

The archaeological activities of the twelvemonth from July 1906 to June 1907, with which this paper deals, have been very numerous. Not only are there many smaller discoveries of interest to be recorded, but also the more important excavations, the French at Delos, the German at Pergamon, to which may now be added those of the British School at Sparta, have made considerable progress. Especially important is the scheme for excavating the Agora and the northern slopes of the Acropolis at Athens, now at last begun after many difficulties by the Greek Archaeological Society.

The work is under the direct supervision of the General Ephor of Antiquities, Dr. Kavvadhias, with a committee consisting of the Crown Prince as chairman, the president of the University, the mayor of Athens and the directors of the foreign Schools of Archaeology. A beginning has been made by the demolition of some houses near the Theseum. The scheme embraces the clearing of the whole of the northern slopes of the Acropolis, the Agora, and in general, the region between the Tower of the Winds and the Theseum. This area is entirely covered with houses, and this has given rise to serious difficulties. These are now in a fair way to be overcome, and great results are to be expected in the course of the next few years.

Since the article on this subject (pp. 229 ff. above) was passed for press I have obtained some additional information in Venice which it seems desirable to put on record.

Of the two coats of arms illustrated on p. 240, that on the left belongs to Sebastiano Renier. The other is of Antonio Garzoni, who was elected podestà of Monemvasia in 1526, and again in 1538, when he was the last podestà before the Turkish conquest. The identification of this latter coat I owe to the assistance of Mr. H. F. Brown.

Hopf's statement, reproduced by me on p. 235, that Monemvasia was Venetian in 1419, is, I find, riot justified by the evidence. I have had some difficulty in tracing the documents cited by Hopf, as the pagination of the Vienna copy of the Misti used by him differs from that in the copy at Venice. The three documents merely shew that Venetian wine-merchants were engaged in the wine-trade at Monemvasia.