A very large proportion of the statues that fill our museums are liable to be dismissed somewhat curtly in descriptions as belonging to the ‘School of Praxiteles.’ It would be interesting to know exactly what percentage of the total number of ancient statues which have come down to us is formed by the Aphrodites, Satyrs, Erotes, and others usually classed under this head, but it must certainly be a very large proportion.

Considering the very large number of statues which we treat in this way, it is startling to discover that our literary evidence contains no record at all of any such school ever having been in existence. We know of followers and pupils of Pheidias, of Polycleitus, and of Lysippus, but we hear of no followers or pupils of Praxiteles or of Scopas, in spite of the undoubted and obvious influence of their style upon the sculpture that now fills our museums. It is true that we know of two sons of Praxiteles, Cephisodotus and Timarchus, but the list of their works, though containing a Leto, an Aphrodite, and two statues of Artemis, includes a greater number of statues which we should be inclined to call un-Praxitelean in character.

In the spring of 1914 a party of students belonging to the School went up to Euboia, and at one of the villages where they stayed an old man recited the little Greek poem. Roger Heath, on the spur of the moment, made the translation, at once musical and literal, which was taken down by another member of the party. The Greek words were written out by a Greek lady.—[Ed.]

Early in 1915 during a short journey in Macedonia I took the opportunity of exploring the site and neighbourhood of Olynthus (Fig. 1), because it is hoped that the British School at Athens will before long be able to begin excavations there. I spent two days in the territory of Olynthus examining sites at Hagios Mamas, Myriophyton and Molivopyrgos as well as the ruins at Pizla, Magazudia and Palaioportes, all near Polygyros, which are those of mediaeval or modern villages. Although somewhat impeded by a heavy fall of snow I had the satisfaction of seeing for myself the comparative warmth of the climate of Olynthus even in winter. All about the reputed site of Olynthus the snow soon melted, whereas to the west beyond the village of Portaria towards the Kara Burun promontory, the snow remained for several days. The biting north-west Vardar wind which freezes the western end of Chalkidike in winter is kept off from Olynthus by the range of hills behind Polygyros, some of which are over three thousand feet high. Along the coast from Hagios Mamas to Molivopyrgos the territory of Olynthus is warm, faces south and is fertile, producing oil, corn, wine and silk. The low ground towards the coast is covered with olive groves, while the hills to the north are clothed with oak woods which were undoubtedly finer in antiquity than they are to-day. In most of the houses in Polygyros the doors and floors are of oak instead of the usual pine. These circumstances, coupled with the good anchorage at Molivopyrgos (the ancient Mekyberna), make it easy to understand the wealth and commercial importance of Olynthus. In addition to its other advantages, from Polygyros there runs the best road northwards into the upper country. Iron is said to be found in the hills and to-day mines of chrome and magnesite are worked along the coast.

The preparation of the commentary on Strabo's account of Asia Minor undertaken by the Hellenic Society is seriously delayed by the war—not only from the general preoccupation with more immediate emergencies, but by the fact that several of the most important collaborators are actively employed on Government service in the Near East. Under the circumstances it may be pardoned if I publish some of my own material at once, in the hope that I may receive criticism and advice in some of the more difficult problems. I begin with one or two points in which further consideration has led me to modify views already made public. For the location of the sites mentioned I must refer the reader to the map of the Troad, Pl XXI., in B.S.A., xvii. All the places named are marked in Philippson's Karte des N. W. Kleinasien.

The following notes do not pretend to be an exhaustive study of the Seljouk monuments of Konia, which have already been fully described by Huart, Sarre, and Saladin, to whose works constant reference is made in these pages. Only three out of the five important Seljouk buildings at Konia are here dealt with, and only such points in connection with these are taken up as have been passed over or inadequately handled by the authors referred to. The Sirtcheli and the Kara Tai Medressehs are not included in this study, as in their case there appeared to be nothing fresh to add to former discussion.

The veneration of stones seems to have been world-wide at an early stage in religious development, and has left traces everywhere in the magical and ‘folklore’ practices of civilized peoples. Over the Semitic area stone worship, as such, survived later and more generally than among peoples more prone to anthropomorphism; and Islam, so far from being able to displace it, tacitly sanctioned it by allowing the reverence paid already by pagan Arabs to the Black Stone of the Kaaba to be perpetuated on the rather far-fetched hypothesis that the angel Gabriel had brought it to, Mecca.

Christianity, somewhat in the same way, has permitted or encouraged the paying of reverence to stones associated by tradition with saintly personages, the Stone of Unction at Jerusalem being a typical example. In both the great religions of the Near East the arbitrary association of certain stones with sacred persons and events has been allowed to replace or mask the more primitive idea of worshipping stones as fetishes with independent power.

In the following paper an attempt has been made to bring together scattered notices from printed sources regarding the geographical distribution of the Bektashi sect, as indicated by the position of existing or formerly existing convents of the order. I have further included such information on this subject as I have been able to obtain from my own journeys and enquiries (1913–15) among the Bektashi: nearly all this information is gathered from Bektashi sources, and much from more than one such source. I hope to have made a fairly complete record of Bektashi establishments in Albania, now the most important sphere of their activities, and a substantial basis for further enquiry in the other countries where the sect is to be found, with the exception of Asia Minor, for which my sources are at present inadequate.

From the evidence at our disposal the Bektashi establishments in Asia Minor would seem to be grouped most thickly in the ‘Kyzylbash’ or Shia Mahommedan districts, especially in (1) the vilayets of Angora and Sivas, and (2) in the south-west corner (Lycia) of that of Konia, where the Shia tribes are known from their occupation as Tachtadji (‘wood-cutters’). For the third great stronghold of Anatolian Shias, the Kurdish vilayets of Kharput and Erzeroum, no information as to Bektashi tekkes is available.

A Uniform method of transcription, immediately applicable to all Byzantine melodies, is the great desideratum of musical theorists in order that this music may become available for general study and performance. At present there is a tolerable agreement about the interval-signs, which indicated the progression of the melody, both in the Round system, beginning in the late twelfth century, and also in its offshoot, the Cucuzelian system, whose use lasted until the reforms of Chrysanthus, about 1821. The Linear systems prevailing in the eleventh and twelfth centuries are obscure, but our knowledge of the Round system, gained since 1870, is no mean achievement and bodes well for further progress.

While the melodic signs are intelligible, the utmost disagreement prevails about rhythm and tonality. Every student tries to please himself, and the result to the ordinary reader is entire perplexity. The rhythm of Byzantine hymnody forms the subject of the present article. The matter is made more difficult by the lack of any positive check on the ultimate result. If in working out the interval-signs we make a false step, the outcome will be an impossible cadence. But the rhythmical indications are too vague for mathematical certainty to be attainable. Nevertheless I am venturing to put forward what seems to me a fair and reasonable method of transcription both for the Round and for the Cucuzelian systems. The problem of tonality is beyond the scope of this paper. I hope to return to it at some later date, and meanwhile have followed the most generally accepted views.

When discussing in Troy: A Study in Homeric Geography the tribute of two maidens sent annually as temple-slaves to Athena at her temple in Ilion, I was able only to mention the existence of an inscription referring to the subject (pp. 131, 396). The inscription was then unpublished; I had been unable to obtain by correspondence any particulars other than an assurance that it contained no new material of importance.

The inscription, discovered so long ago as 1896, and copied by Wilhelm in 1897, has at length appeared in the Jahreshefte des Oest. Arch. Institutes, xiv, dated 1911, but issued only in 1913. I have to thank Dr. Wilhelm for sending me a copy of his very full account and discussion (Die Lokrische Mädcheninschrift, pp. 163–256). I recur to the subject now because it seems to me that, contrary to my information, the inscription does throw a great deal of new light; and because, if I am not mistaken, the real significance of it has been entirely missed both by Dr. Wilhelm and by M. A. Reinach—unhappily lost to science in the battle of the Marne two years ago—who discussed it in the Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, lxix, 1 (Jan. 1914), pp. 12–54.

In the spring of 1915 I had the opportunity of examining the long Greek inscription at Petworth House, Sussex, first published in 1883 by U. Köhler (Ath. Mitt. viii. pp. 57 f.), from a squeeze and copy supplied by the late Dr. A. S. Murray (Fig. 1), and republished with corrections in I.G. ii. 5, 477 d. The right side of the inscription is so much worn (Pl. XIV.) that though the letters can be traced in a good light on the stone or on a photograph, they leave no impression on a squeeze; I was therefore able to make some important additions to the published text.

They may be summed up as follows:—

(1) The lines are incomplete on the right side.

(2) The stone contains lists of names from six tribes, not four, but a portion of the lines belonging to the third and the sixth tribe has been cut off.

(3) The second tribe is Akamantis and the list under that heading is now complete; the third is Hippothontis.

(4) A few words and letters have been added to the fragmentary Decree at the top of the stone (ll. 1–6).

(5) Köhler's restorations of the text of the second Decree (ll. 7–26) are almost all correct.

These inscriptions were copied by Captain G. A. Auden, R.A.M.C., near the Salt Lake, Suvla Bay, in 1915, and the transcripts handed over by him to Commander D. G. Hogarth, R.N.V.R., with the notes which are printed between inverted commas. Captain Auden writes ‘They (the inscriptions) have a good deal of persqnal interest to me, for the wells, by which they were placed, came in for a good deal of daily shelling, and it was only safe to linger over them in the early morning or after sunset.’

No. 1. ‘On a sarcophagus used as a trough near the Salt Lake. The inscription is a good deal weathered.’ The inscription is engraved on a panel flanked on either side by a rough volute or vine-tendril.

No. 2. ‘On a marble slab unearthed near the well at the foot of Lala Baba, on the edge of the Salt Lake. The slab was broken at the bottom. There were mortice holes at each end behind filled with lead, and the slab had a deep square-cut groove running the whole length behind. The inscription is very sharply cut without sign of weathering.’ Owing to the fracture only the tops of a few letters are visible in l. 4.

Of the six following inscriptions the first is new, the other five are already known. These five are here republished because they all have some features in common with the first and appear to be worthy of fresh study.

I.: Small stele of grey marble belonging to Athanasios Dürekoglu; photographed and copied by me at Kula in June 1914. Height 66 cm.; width at top 32 cm., at bottom 42 cm.; thickness 6 cm. A clean break runs across the middle. Above the following text, which is perfectly preserved, is a sunken panel, on which are represented a pair of eyes and below these a pair of pigeons in low relief. (Plate XV, 1.)

This is one of those propitiatory monuments, found almost exclusively in Maeonia and S.W. Phrygia, which were dedicated by penitents at various sanctuaries to commemorate specific sins and the penalties inflicted by the gods.