GREEK INSCRIPTIONS. 459 



I. 



TON A0ENEON A0AON EMI 



These words are written in very ancient characters reversed, on a 

 vase* found by Mr. Burgon, in Attica. Mr. Blomfield supposes that 

 ASrjveuv is written for aShjvuv, and he refers to Homer, Herodotus, and 

 Aristophanes, where this word is found. We may add two passages, 

 one from Thales (Epist. ad Pherecy.); another from Xenophon, (see 

 Greg, de D. ed. Schaefer. 381.) Tiie inscription may therefore imply, 

 as he has rendered it, " I am the prize given by Athens." 



Mr. Knight refers the words to a prize given at the Athenaea ; 

 A6^vatx, as we learn from Corsini, F. A. ii. Diss. 13. was a name ap- 

 plied to a festival once called nccvS7iij.ov. ■ .' - 1 • - 



The use of E for AI is found in other Greek inscriptions ; two in- 

 stances may be observed in Chandler, Ins. xvi. p. 6. and Ins. xlviii. 

 part 1. In the Diar. Ital. of Montfaucon, XAIFAI occurs four times 

 for XAIPE. XEPE for XAIPE was copied by Villoison ; KE for KAI may 

 be seen in Dr. Hunt's Journal, p. 105. An inscription found on the 

 confines of Attica, of the date of the second century before Christ, 

 and of which a copy was given to the Editor by M. Fauvel, has the 

 words KE APrrPOYN KE ETEPA ASHMA. 



In consequence of the similar sound given to AI and E by the By- 

 zantine and Neoteric Greeks, the mistakes in manuscripts are nume- 

 rous ; but it is evident from what has been said that the substitution 

 of one of these letters for the others is of an older date than is gene- 

 rally supposed. Notat Schol. Theocriti ad Id. i. v. 12. pro yxia, anti- 

 quos dixisse ylcc, unde 'ye:^>Xopoc, o-.iuyiuu, accjt^ys'Ji. Lucian Ed. Reiz. 

 vol. iii. p. 20. The time when the confusion of these letters became 

 more general is noted by Vossius : — "ATiberii etCaligulas temporibus 

 tarn apud Romanos quam apud Graecos, mos obtinuit, ut dipthongus 

 AI velut E simplex pronuntiaretur." Voss. in Catull. 291. 



See Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. part 1. 



3n 2 



