The Role of Cyprus as intermediary between the cities of the Near East and the Aegean world can be studied in many different ways. This article is devoted to Cypriot metal signet rings of Iron Age (pre-Roman) date and the part they play in the story of east and west. It comprises a full publication of the metal rings in Nicosia museum, which I was invited to undertake by Drs. V. Karageorghis and K. Nikolaou, but it includes consideration of other finds from Cyprus now in other collections, and a few other probably Cypriot pieces. For the latter, less-detailed descriptions and references are given.

Since the continuity of culture between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in Cyprus is more easily demonstrated than it can be in most other areas of the eastern Mediterranean, it is necessary to begin with a brief account of the all-metal signet rings in use in the island at the end of the Bronze Age, and token illustration is given here to supplement published photographs. The main influence in the shapes of these rings is Egyptian and not Aegean, since the long oval bezels of the rings run with the hoop and not across it, and the rings are all intended for wearing on the fingers, as some have been found in tombs, which is not true of most Aegean signet rings. Three different styles of decoration may be observed. The first is thoroughly Egyptianizing and some pieces are of high quality. The hoops of the rings are stirrup-shaped but occasionally have rounded shoulders, and the bezels are long ovals like cartouches. In these respects they follow Egyptian forms very closely, and it is possible that some are in fact of Egyptian origin. The shape and style of any made in Cyprus may, of course, not have been derived directly from Egypt, but via the Palestine—Syria coast.

During my travels in Epirus information reached me of a site near the village of Koumsádhes, now Ammótopos, which I visited on 5 July 1931. The village lies on that route from Arta to Ioánnina which was in vogue during Turkish times and probably during antiquity; for it is both shorter and cooler in summer than the modern road which follows the Loúros valley. Leaving Arta I walked in some three and a half hours to Koumsádhes, and thence one hour westwards to the site, which occupies a limestone spur on the western side of the valley and commands the entry into the pass leading northwards over the shoulder of Mt. Xerovoúni.

One object of the excavations of 1907 was to attempt to determine the course of the city wall, so as to fix the limits within which the buildings mentioned by Pausanias were probably situated. In addition to the part traced by excavation in 1906 along the river bank (General Plan, O 15, 14, P 13, (Pl. I.)) I had observed in other places remains of Greek masonry and other indications which possibly belonged to the city wall. These were accordingly examined by excavation, and with the results thus obtained and the assistance of the stamped tiles which were found in great numbers at one or two points, it has been possible to determine approximately the line of the city wall, and consequently the extent of ancient Sparta.

It is well known that in pre-Greek time a large part of Asia Minor was portioned out in theocracies, i.e. priest-kings representing the god, at great sanctuaries ruled over a considerable district whose population were servants and subjects of the central hieron. Such were Pessinus, Comana Pontica, Comana of Cappadocia, Venasa, Tyana, Antioch of Pisidia, the hieron of Sabazios in the Milyadic country, etc. It would appear to be a necessary characteristic of such a theocracy that there should be only one centre, one hieron, one sanctuary. In the case of Antioch, however, this seems not to have been the case. Strabo, p. 577, indeed describes the hieron at Antioch as if it were a single centre ruling a wide tract of country peopled by a large population; but in p. 557 he says that there were two sanctuaries in the Antiochian country, ‘the hieron of the Askaian (Men), which is beside Antioch-towards-Pisidia, and the hieron (of Men) in the region of the Antiochians.’ The meaning of ‘the region of the Antiochians’ as a geographical term I hope shortly to discuss in the Journal of Roman Studies, and will only say here that it applies to the entire Phrygian region of the Galatic province, of which Antioch was the metropolis. But why has Antioch apparently two hiera? Why has this ancient theocracy two seats of the god?

IG xii. 1. 695; T. Cam. 1. In the British Museum, from Kamiros. Early third century B.C.

Guarducci, Mem. dei Lincei vi. 8 (1938/9) 124, no. xxix bis; T. Cam. 2. Kamiros.

These lists present an organization at three levels:

(a) The smallest units are patrai, with names ending either -δαι or -ειοι, rather more of the latter than the former; the only exception is II 14 Ἀμφινεῖς.

(b) These are grouped under headings, Χυτριείων πάτραι (I 28, II 19), Βουκολείων πάτραι (III 18), &c. The general term for the bodies named Χυτρίειοι, &c., is not given.

(c) The heading Ἀλθαιμενίδος at I 19, II 11, embraces several of these second-level groups. At two removes above the patrai, Ἀλθαιμενίς must be a large body, something like a tribe, and the termination -ίς is common in tribe-names.

Among the puzzling features of the list is the repetition of certain names, either consecutively in the same group or from one group to another, thus:

⊖ωιάδαι: I 23–26 under Ἀμφινήων πάτραι.

Βουκολίδαι: I 30–32 under Χυτριείων.

Κρητινάδαι: I 29 under Χυτριείων; II 24, 26 under Χυτριείων; III 19 under Βουκολείων; T. Cam. 2. 2 in a different sequence with no heading preserved.

‘The vases of the classical period are but the reflection of classical beauty; the vases of the archaic period are archaic beauty itself.’ So Beazley; an indisputable and valuable truth, but a truth that needs some explanation. In spite of all the detailed work that has been done in the last fifty years and more on the development of Greek vase-painting and its relation to other arts, its nature still remains something of a problem. The issue is confused, of course, by the fact that vase-paintings are almost our only original Greek drawings—almost the only key-hole through which we can peep at archaic and classical painting—and this gives them an importance independent of their intrinsic worth.

The excavations of 1921 in Macedonia recorded in Vol. XXIV. of the Annual (p. 1 ff.) were completed in 1922. The site known as Chauchitsa was completely examined and the cemetery on the two rocky mounds was sufficiently excavated to make it possible to establish the main features of the burial methods and equipment. The high mound at the back of the cemetery on the edge of the plateau was also excavated and found to be an undisturbed stratified site. The strata revealed were of the fourth century B.C., of the Early Iron Age, and below that of the Bronze Age. The objects found in the Bronze Age strata and the nature of these strata have been fully dealt with elsewhere: the purpose of this report is to describe the cemetery, the Iron Age deposit which overlay the Bronze Age settlement, the Historic strata which overlay the Iron Age settlement, and, finally, to shew the connection between the Iron Age settlement and the cemetery at the foot of the plateau.

The East Mound (Figs. 1 and 2).—Fourteen graves in all were opened in the first season and have been duly recorded. In the second season a further twenty-two graves were opened, and all alike shewed the same general character as the first fourteen.

Terracotta figurine (Figs. 47 and 48). Ht. 0·09 m. L. preserved 0·08 m. Broken in four pieces and much damaged. Fine orange clay, the surface smoothed or burnished. Decoration in red lustrous paint, much worn.

The figurine seems to represent an armed man riding astride upon an animal. The animal and its rider were moulded separately and were put together while the clay was still soft before firing. The rider's legs are not represent ed. He is wearing a conical helmet, and in his right hand he is clasping what appears to be the hilt of a sword or dagger slung in front of him: but the object might be intended for a bow or quiver. The left hand of the rider and the top of his sword are missing: so is the head of the animal and three of its legs, and there are chips from the remaining leg and from the tail. The animal, from its size in relation to the man and on grounds of general probabilities, may be assumed to be a horse.

The horse has a stripe down its back and vertical zebra-like stripes along the sides which continue down the legs and round the neck. The rider's helmet is painted solid, and his eyes are represented by dots. There is a single broad stripe down his back; but any decoration which there may have been in front, on his chest and on the sword, has left no trace.

The citadel of Mycenae owes much of its impressiveness to the fact that it lies at the foot of and between the twin heights of Hagios Elias to the north and Zara to the south. These two bare peaks of limestone rise very steeply, and seem to stand like two sentinels specially posted by nature to add to the dignity of Mycenae. Their mountain wildness is in strong contrast to the smiling fertility of the Argive plain, which stretches away to the south-west. Zara is some 659 m. high, and has no remains of antiquity on its summit. Hagios Elias is higher, some 807 m., and has been known, since the days of Schliemann, to be crowned by the ruins of ancient fortifications.

We made an expedition to the summit on the evening of June 18th, 1922, camped for the night there, and spent the next day in planning the walls and making trial excavations within them. The view from the summit is magnificent (Fig. 96). To the south the whole of the Argive plain lies at one's feet; Argos itself, Lerna, Tiryns, Mideia, Nauplia and Asine are all visible.

No records or vase-paintings of an early date give any idea of the appearance of the primitive theatre cavea, and few of the remains in Attica can be traced back even as far as the Persian Wars. The earliest form of the Theatre of Dionysus at Athens may belong to the first half of the sixth century B.C., but none of the cavea there is of very early date; and it is questionable whether the theatre at Thorikos is as old as the sixth century. There is mention of a theatre at Eleusis, but none has been brought to light. It has therefore been suggested that the wide flight of steps above the Telesterion represented an auditorium.

Heinrich Schliemann (1822–90) was, it is well known, an energetic correspondent, a compulsive note-taker and an inveterate hoarder. For the archaeologist, as for the biographer, he left behind a rich mine with many seams. There is, however, no clear account of the history, location, and extent of Schliemann's literary remains. This paper is intended to go some way towards filling that gap. It has the additional aim of drawing attention to some notable lacunae in the Schliemann archive at the Gennadius Library in Athens in case the missing material should ever come to light.

At the first appearance of the Ottomans, towards the close of the thirteenth century, Christian and Turk had already been living for two centuries side by side in the interior of Asia Minor under the rule of the Seljouk Sultans of Roum. The political history of this period is still emerging from obscurity: the social and religious history has hardly been touched. The Byzantine historians, concerned only incidentally with provinces already in partibus, give us no more than hints, and we have none of those personal and intimate records which are apt to tell us much more of social conditions than the most elaborate chronicle.

The golden age of the Sultanate of Roum is undoubtedly the reign of Ala-ed-din I. (1219–1236), whose capital, Konia, still in its decay bears witness by monument and inscription to the culture and artistic achievement of his time. Ala-ed-din was a highly-educated man and an enlightened ruler. He was familiar with Christianity, having spent eleven years in exile at Constantinople. One of his predecessors, Kaikhosru I. (1192–6, 1204–10) who likewise spent an exile in Christendom, nearly became a Christian and married a Christian wife.

The relationship of the metopes to the architecture of the peristasis of the Hephaisteion and the Parthenon is examined in order to ascertain the extent of planning which took place before the erection of a Classical Greek temple. All relevant published measurements are taken into consideration and critically compared. On the basis of the discrepancies of the corresponding architectural and sculptural members, it is argued that the working-out of the details of the plan was not the result of large-scale drawings, but was affected after the commencement of construction. While the Hephaisteion is built largely in accordance with the conventions of a Classical Doric temple, the Parthenon, due to its unique plan, provides indications of experimentation inferred from the extensive inconsistencies at its eastern end.

Minoanisation – the process by which Cretan ways of doing things spread throughout the Aegean – is a major focus of study in the Middle and Late Bronze Age Cycladic islands, but debate about the primary causes of the phenomenon has been concerned chiefly with its Late Bronze Age phases. In this article, the author considers the earliest phase of Minoanisation at Ayia Irini on Kea, Period V. The ceramic assemblage is considered holistically, including local and imported as well as Minoanising and non-Minoanising pottery. The Keian assemblage is compared with recently published discussions of Phase C at Akrotiri on Thera and City II-iii at Phylakopi on Melos. New, non-Minoanising features of the Keian assemblage in Period V, particularly in the form of new shapes and increased importation of Melian and/or Theran pottery, suggest that Melian and/or Theran communities engaged in new production and exchange strategies at this time. It is likely that these new intra-Cycladic relationships played an important role in changing local tastes and practices at Ayia Irini, spurring the adoption of new Minoanising as well as non-Minoanising forms of material culture and practice.

During the campaign of 1920 we sank a few trial pits within the acropolis walls to test the stratification and to try to find, if possible, earlier remains, after it had become clear to us that the buildings immediately round the Grave Circle were not earlier in date than Late Helladic III. Two such pits were made on the slope about fifty metres south-east of the top of the Ramp. Near by we noticed what was at first taken to be a rectangular pit enclosed by a rough stone wall measuring 1·00 by 1·00 m. and ·45 m. thick. The interior of this was cleared out, and then we found the walling was merely the coping (about 2·22 m. high at the point where it is best preserved) to a circular well-shaft about 1·15 m. in diameter, driven down through the hard limestone rock.

As we excavated the well-shaft nothing worth noting, except some miscellaneous potsherds and the remains of a crushed leaden vessel, came to light till a depth of about six metres below the highest point of the coping, when some fragments of a funnel-shaped rhyton in Lapis Lacedaemonius (A, below) were found. From this down to a depth of 7·75 m. the other objects here described were recovered.

This paper is a brief account of the classical topography of east-central Laconia. It includes all the country on the left bank of the Eurotas between Leonidi and Zarax with the exception of the small piece directly opposite Sparta and round Chrysapha. The whole of this district is not well watered and irrigation is not possible, for the fertile, undulating plain below Geraki is well above the level of the river; the olive tree, however, flourishes here, and in the neighbourhood of Gouves there are some splendid old trees. In the alluvial plain at the mouth of the Eurotas corn grows well but is often severely damaged by winter floods.

The excavations described in the following article were undertaken partly in the early autumn of 1907, partly in the spring of 1908. Graves 1 to 22 were discovered in the autumn, the remainder in the spring. Autumn and spring finds will be treated together, as representing one season's work. Further excavation was undertaken on the site in the spring of 1909.

The chief importance of the Rhitsóna graves does not lie in the value of the individual vases, interesting as some of them are, but rather in the simple fact that for the first time in the history of Boeotian grave digging every vase from each grave opened has been preserved, and the full contents of each grave kept carefully separate.

We present the results of a diachronic survey of the Katsaronio plain in the Karystia, southern Euboea, Greece. The project was organised under the aegis of the Norwegian Institute at Athens with a permit from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture under the official name of the Norwegian Archaeological Survey in the Karystia. Five years of fieldwork (2012–16) covered an area of 20km2 in a large agricultural plain located about 5km north-west of the town of Karystos. The survey identified 99 new findspots with a range of dates spanning from the Final Neolithic to Early Modern times. Here we present the collected prehistoric through Roman data, which represent the bulk of the acquired evidence. One of the notable features of the assemblage is the vast quantity of lithics that were recovered, numbering over 9000 and consisting mainly of obsidian. Certain periods were absent from the evidence, such as post-Early Bronze Age prehistoric and Geometric, while others were represented with varying intensity. We offer an initial interpretation of the patterns observable in the evidence in an attempt to reconstruct the past use and habitation of this part of Euboea.

We present a review of the post Bronze Age material excavated by Coldstream and Huxley at Kastri on Kythera, as part of the ongoing Kythera Island Project. In particular we refer to material not published in Coldstream and Huxley 1972. Greek material is largely confined to one deposit and dates to the period c.500 to 380 bc. From the Roman period material is more plentiful; the two relevant strata are third and late sixth to seventh centuries, with some earlier Julio-Claudian pieces. While later Medieval pottery also is largely from one deposit, the entirety of it is presented, and a mis en scène with respect to Kytheran modern history is offered.

Last May, having to wait for a steamer at Syra, I seized the opportunity and rode out to the prehistoric necropolis on the north-east coast of the island. The distance from the agora of Hermoupolis is only three miles on the map, but nearly an hour and a half by the mule path, which starts from the picturesque upper town and runs along a range of desolate hills, passing on the left a cave which local antiquaries call the cave of Pherekydes.