xii PREFACE TO THIRD SECTION 
upon which the labyrinthine maze is figured, but 
in the dryest Etruscan taste. Instead of an Oivl 
above her head, appears a Harpy: there is, 
however, an Owl over the figure of the charioteer. 
Minerva is represented in the act of combating : 
and before the figure of the Goddess — that is to 
say, upon the left hand of the spectator — the 
following inscription appears, written vertically, 
instead of horizontally, and from right to lefc : 
signifying either 
I -AM -A- PRIZE- GIVEN • BY-ATHENS 
or, supposing A0ENEON to mean the festival, 
I - AM -THE -PRIZE • OF- THE • ATHEN.^A 
The oldest form of writing was that from 
right to left, as it here appears : the Greeks de- 
rived it from the Phoenicians. Next they wrote 
(^ov(rr^o(prXov\ and afterwards wholly from left to 
right. This vase, as it is evident, was a prize 
obtained at ^^/!Ae«*, because it bears the "arms 
and crest'' of the city, in the images of Minerva 
and the OivL Probably it was gained at the 
festival, when competitors came from all parts 
of Greece, and the victors received v^^iai filled 
with oil, which were vessels made o^ terra- cot ta, 
