22 



ARCHAEOLOGY. 



practiced under it, the Government of Greece has 

 enacted a new law, which differs from the old 

 one chiefly in that all objects of antiquity are 

 declared to be exclusively the property of the 

 state. Compensation is, however, provided for 

 the owner of the land on which the object is 

 found equivalent to one half of its value as de- 

 termined by a committee of three persons, in 

 which both parties are represented. Notice of 

 all finds must be given to the ephor general 

 within five days, under penalty of forfeiture of 

 the compensation and a liability to fine and im- 

 prisonment. The new law further provides for 

 a process of condemnation of property on which 

 excavations are authorized by the state, and, in 

 a second statute, for the organization of a graded 

 archaeological service under the direction of the 

 Minister of Education. 



The Agora of Corinth. Excavations at Cor- 

 inth were begun in 1896, under the auspices of 

 the American school at Athens, by Mr. Rufus B. 

 Richardson, and resulted in the discovery of the 

 theater. They were then suspended, on account 

 of the war between Greece and Turkey, but were 

 resumed in 1898, when the famous fountain of 

 Pirene was found, with the architecture of its 

 two-story fagade almost intact, except for the 

 loss of its marble front. Other results of the 

 excavations of 1898 were the recovery of the 

 synagogue in which St. Paul preached, and of 

 a broad marble staircase leading from a broad 

 pavement at the foot up the valley lengthwise, 

 30 steps of which were laid bare. The work was 

 resumed in 1899, when at the top of this staircase 

 were found the foundations of the propylsea men- 

 tioned by Pausanias, through which the street to 

 the harbor of Lechseon led from the agora, oc- 

 cupying a position of the magnificence of which 

 the mention- by Pausanias gives no idea. Other 

 results of the explorations of 1899 were the iden- 

 tification of the Temple of Apollo and the dis- 

 covery of the fountain of Glauke. By the aid of 

 these discoveries and of the descriptions given by 

 Pausanias the identification of other points in 

 the city will become comparatively easy. 



Antiquities of Melos and Crete. The an- 

 nual report of the (British) Hellenic Society, 

 June 29, mentioned important excavations in the 

 island of Melos, with some research at Naucratis, 

 as having constituted the principal work of the 

 society for the year. Prof. Jebb, chairman of the 

 meeting, spoke of the explorations that had been 

 made, now for the third season, on the site of a 

 prehistoric city near the village of Phylakopi, 

 in the northwest of Melos, representing the earli- 

 est capital of the island, and said that the pre- 

 historic deposit found there belonged to the in- 

 terval between the earliest culture traceable on 

 Greek soil and the later Mycenaean age. The 

 earliest pottery found there was primitive un- 

 painted ware, hand made and hand polished, such 

 as was found in the earliest cyst tombs of the 

 Cyclades. Next in age to this came a series of 

 vase fragments with painted geometric designs; 

 and to this again succeeded in chronological 

 order a series of fragments known as " Therean " 

 that is, belonging to the class found in the 

 island of Thera (Santorin). The work of these 

 three periods was, of course, all pre-Mycenaean. 

 A circumstance of peculiar interest in connec- 

 tion with these excavations was the discovery 

 that the ancient town at Phylakopi must have 

 been a prehistoric center for the manufacture 

 and export of implements made of obsidian a 

 mineral which occurred in this island, and seem- 

 ingly nowhere else in the Levant, in a peculiar 

 highly vitreous state. An appeal was made for 



the support of excavations in Crete, where, by an 

 understanding with the High Commissioner of 

 the powers, certain sites of historical importance 

 and representative character had been reserved 

 for British exploration. One of these was Cnosos, 

 the city of Minos and Dedalus, the center of the 

 ancient sea power and the earliest home of Cretan 

 art, where a promising mound was awaiting 

 examination. Another site was Praesos, a seat 

 of Cretan life at a very remote period, where 

 an archaic inscription had been discovered in a 

 dialect the key to which had yet to be found. 

 A third site was Lyttos, where fragments of 

 ancient laws had been unearthed in the acropo- 

 lis; and another was the cave of Psychro, on 

 Mount Dikte, the legendary birthplace of Zeus. 

 The great interest of prehistoric Crete consisted 

 in its character as the first ^Egean station of the 

 earliest civilization which passed westward from 

 Egypt. Among the results of recent research to 

 which Crete bore witness was the existence of a 

 system of sign writing older than the use of the 

 Phoenician alphabet, and pointing to an inter- 

 course with Egypt which might date from 3,000 

 or possibly 4,000 years B. c. 



Archaeological Interest in Crete. As soon 

 as tranquillity was restored to Crete and a Eu- 

 ropean government was organized for the island 

 the people began to show interest in its archae- 

 ology by founding local museums, and an active 

 society was formed at Heracleum for the con- 

 servation of Cretan treasures of antiquity. The 

 Government published a decree June 21 (July 

 3, new style), signed by Prince George, for the 

 protection of all remains of the past from the 

 earliest times to the Venetian conquest, as well 

 as of later works of historical or artistic value. 

 The law provides compensation over and above 

 the archaeological value of the discovery to pri- 

 vate owners, but not to communities, monas- 

 teries, and scientific bodies. It requires that the 

 discovery of immovable antiquities be at once 

 reported to the authorities, and that the finder 

 leave his discovery untouched for two months 

 after the day of giving notice, while the authori- 

 ties may decide upon its disposition. Every dis- 

 turbance, damage, or alteration of ancient monu- 

 ments without special permission is forbidden, as 

 also is the carrying of stones or other material 

 from ancient ruins. Every find of movable an- 

 tiquities upon his own property must be reported 

 by the discoverer within five days, and he is 

 given one third of its value in each case, while 

 the finder of such articles on another man's 

 ground shares the remuneration with the owner 

 thereof. The right of eminent domain may be 

 exercised when "necessary, and the Government 

 will pay indemnities for damages to property. 

 The results of excavations belong to the Govern- 

 ment, and will be placed in public museums, of 

 which two have been established. The trade in 

 antiquities is permitted only within the island, 

 and is confined to objects that are unsuitable for 

 the museums, those discovered before the pub-, 

 lication of the law, and those that ha*ve been 

 brought from abroad, after they have been duly 

 reported and catalogued. 



Temple of JEsculapius at Paros. The ex- 

 cavators of the German archaeological school at 

 Athens working in the island of Paros have un- 

 covered the celebrated Temple of ^Esculapius 

 which is described by several Greek authors. It 

 had been pillaged, and no objects of art were 

 found in it. Not far from the temple a fountain 

 was discovered, which dates from the fifth or 

 sixth century B.C., and near this the vestiges of 

 very ancient walls. 



