ARCHEOLOGY. (GREECE.) 



1 Ruined Bath. A bath has been opened at Os- 

 tia, under the direction of Prof. Lanciani, which 

 seems to have been struck by some disaster 

 perhaps an earthquake while in full use, and to 

 have been completely buried. The statues found 

 there are broken as if by a fall on them of the 

 masonry from above, and have been split ver- 

 tically, while the fragments have been scattered 

 to some distance from their bases. 



Sitalse, or Lot-Vases. Excavations at various 

 places in Upper Italy have brought to light a 

 number of vessels of the class called situlse (or 

 vases for the purpose of the lot), bearing pecul- 

 iar decorations. One found at the Villa Ben- 

 venuti, near Este, is 12J inches high, and is 

 composed of two plates of bronze riveted to- 

 gether. It widens from the base in a curved 

 shape to near the top, and terminates in a re- 

 stricted neck and overhanging lip. Elaborate 

 decorations are worked in three zones, toward 

 the upper part of the vessel. A specimen 

 from the tombs at the Certosa Bologna, is 

 decorated in four zones, the lowest of which 

 is composed of animals natural and winged, and 

 the others are occupied respectively with 

 military, religious, and pastoral subjects. An- 

 other situla at Bologna has three zones. Bronze 

 specimens of allied character with these have 

 been found at Oastelvetro, Modena, and in 

 Tyrol, but the more important specimens are 

 from Cisalpine Gaul, or the immediately adja- 

 cent territory. The date of these works is un- 

 certain, but Italian archaeologists assign them to 

 the latter half of the iifth century before Christ. 



Greece. The Hellenic Society. The Hellenic 

 Society (London) has been active in connection 

 with schemes of exploration, among which were 

 the organization of the excavations undertaken 

 in Cyprus, to be carried out by the director 

 and students of the British School at Athens, 

 and assistance to explorations in Asia Minor, 

 which were conducted by Prof. Ramsay and 

 Mr. Theodore Bent. Accounts of the work in 

 which it had a part were given in the "Jour- 

 nal of Hellenic Discoveries." Special mention 

 was made, in the report of the discoveries on 

 the Acropolis at Athens, of the excavation by 

 the German Institute ot a temple of the Kabei- 

 roi near Tliebes; and of the excavations of the 

 American School at Dionusos, to the northeast 

 of Pentelicus, which had been identitied as 

 the center of worship of the deme of Icaria. 

 Foundations of two shrines, of Apollo and of 

 Dionysus, had been found, and some sculptured 

 remains of high importance. 



Discoveries in the Acropolis at Athens. Among 

 the objects disclosed by the excavations on the 

 Acropolis is a head, one of the most ancient 

 sculptures ever found upon that site, carved in 

 Poros stone, and retaining a rich and brilliant 

 coloring. The hair and beard are painted blue 

 and the face red ; and the pupils of the eyes 

 are delineated with the chisel as well as paint- 

 ed in. The head appears to be that of a triton, 

 the rest of the body of which, in the form of a 

 serpent ending in. the tail of a fish, was found 



near the same place. At a later date were 

 found a leaden vessel, quite shapeless through 

 oxidation, and a portion of the torso of a stat- 

 ne of Hercules in Poros stone, half life-size. 



Mr. Carl D. Buck, of the American School at 

 Athens, has described in the " American Jour- 

 nal of Archaeology " certain inscriptions, found 

 on the Acropolis in December, 1887, of the 

 fourth century before Christ, which record the 

 dedication of vessels apparently by freedmen 

 who had been acquitted of the charge of vio- 

 lating the conditions of their emancipation. 



Excavations at Sicyon. The excavations car- 

 ried on by the American School of Classical 

 Studies on the site of ancient Sicyon in Decem- 

 ber, 1887, and January, 1888, were made most- 

 ly in the theatre. The orchestra was laid bare, 

 and work was done in other parts of the build- 

 ing. Two drains were found. The sculptures 

 include a marble hand grasping what might be 

 the hilt of a sword, being a fragment of a stat- 

 ue of which no other part has been discovered; 

 and a marble head and the torso to which it 

 belongs, separated, appertaining to a statue rep- 

 resenting a Dionysus "of youthful and girlish 

 aspect" which was thought to belong to the 

 Alexandrian epoch. This statue is the first 

 considerable example of Sicyonian sculpture 

 found on the old site. The main portion of 

 the orchestra, like the theatre at Epidaurns, 

 has no flooring other than hard earth. About 

 thirty copper coins were found, part of them 

 Sicyonian, and the remainder Roman. An in- 

 scription found in a village near the site con- 

 sists of seven names, one of which contains the 

 old Sicyonian form of 2 (x). Its date may 

 possibly be as early as 450 B. c. 



Icaria. In the course of the investigations be- 

 gun by the A merican School at Icaria, the Pyth- 

 ian or Temple of Apollo was discovered, with a 

 relief representing Apollo with long curls seat- 

 ed on the omphalos, holding a mass of twigs in 

 one hand, and a patera in the other. Behind 

 him stands a woman, while in front is an altar 

 with an adorant. Another relief represents 

 Apollo playing on the lyre. A large platform 

 of marble, a marble-seat, some bases, and two 

 walls, one of which makes a curve as if it 

 might inclose the dancing-ground of a theatre, 

 were also found. 



Discoveries at Cephissns and Dionysos. In their 

 excavations at Cephissus, the American School 

 discovered the head of a colossal male statue, 

 a lasso rilievo representing a warrior, a torso 

 of a statue without a head, and many inscrip- 

 tions. 



Investigations at the spot known as Dionyso^ 

 have brought to light fragments of draped stat- 

 ues of an archaic epoch supposed to belong to 

 Dionysus ; the torso of an undraped statue : 

 the bearded head of a man, also attributed t(. 

 Dionysus and referred to the sixth century, be- 

 fore Christ; and a headless stela, like the stela 

 of Aristion which is to be seen in Athens. 

 Many of these objects were found in the walls 

 of a half-ruined chapel standing on the spot 



