This article argues that, by concentrating on a reading of the depictions of deities on the Athenian document reliefs as symbolic representations of states rather than as divinities, previous scholarly approaches to them have failed to explore the role they ascribe to the gods in collective decision-making and the exercise of public authority. This article resituates the interpretation of these monuments in the context of other monuments depicting the gods and recent approaches to them, and the other ways in which public inscriptions, both at Athens and elsewhere, make reference to divine actors, through their erection in sacred spaces and the use of the theoi heading. It then examines the range of possible readings of the relationship between divine agency and political decision-making which these monuments privilege and argues that they reflect a conventional understanding that, in general, Athenian decision-making was underpinned by the gods.

The development in the Classical period of washeries where the crude ores were processed for smelting marked a big step forward in Athenian silver production, since they made it possible to exploit the hitherto unusable poorest argentiferous deposits. The discovery and excavation of the washeries and ergasteria have illuminated the technological advance from the pre-Classical two-phase to the Classical three-phase system. The earliest washeries were located perforce close to natural water sources, but when these became inadequate for the growing needs of the industry, ergasteria were built which, in addition to a washery, had a cistern to collect recyclable rainwater, and could thus be located close to the ore sources. Small communities in which the personnel lived and died grew up around them.

Working from an inscription discovered in Athens nearly 20 years ago, suggestions have been recently made by Robertson, Shear, and Dontas for the proper placement of the Archaic agora and for the Aglaurion, Prytaneion, Theseion, and Anakeion. Based upon these recent suggestions, we may now propose a location for the Archaic Altars of the Dread Goddesses (Semnai Theai) and for the route that Kylon's followers took down from the Akropolis before they were murdered in the aftermath of their conspiracy c. 632 BC.

From the 1997 excavations at a Lavrion silver-mine ore washery, Agrileza Compound B, datable to the fourth century BC, came a fragmentary black gloss ram head rhyton of the so-called von Mercklin Class. The rhyton from Agrileza is at present the only known example of this group with a well-defined archaeological context, and is therefore taken as the basis for a review of the regional and chronological attributions of von Mercklin rhyta in several European museums. A discussion of the relationship of these rhyta to the much more common and better known Attic red-figure animal-head vases sketches the background against which the rare occurrence of pouring vessels with animal foreparts in the repertoire of mainland Greek potters has to be seen.

Excavations carried out by The Helike Project in the Helike plain on the south-western coast of the Gulf of Corinth, north-west Peloponnese, since 2000, have brought to light the well-preserved remains of a coastal Early Helladic (EH) II–III settlement. The site developed as a densely organised settlement during the EH II period and underwent a major architectural transformation at the beginning of the following EH III. In addition to a reorganisation of the settlement on a rectangular town grid, the outstanding feature among the buildings discovered is that of a monumental Corridor House. The newly organised building plan of the settlement was most probably associated with the rise of a new socio-economic structure at the time, including advanced technological specialisation, and possibly the establishment of administrative control within the town supporting communal interests, together with a new emphasis on the status of the private individual.

Considering EH Helike in its broader geographical context, the site's prosperity marks an exception to the widespread decline attested in the mainland settlements of the time, and links it rather with centres across the Aegean Sea and further east. In addition to similarities at the level of settlement organisation, such overseas links and contacts are conspicuously evidenced at Helike through the presence of an array of exotic, prestigious items and commodities including an outstanding depas cup of Trojan/Anatolian type, ornaments of precious metal from the east or the north and Melian obsidian tools, and by the adoption of ‘international’ fashions of life such as the ‘serve and drink’ culture and ‘potter's marks’. In this paper, we present the range of material evidence from the EH III town of Helike illustrating its various spheres of foreign contact, and discuss possible insights into the social and economic conditions that generated the town's floruit and cosmopolitanism in EH III.

Research conducted and published over the last 35 years has brought to light much new information concerning the so-called ‘SOS’ amphora, produced primarily in Attica and Euboea in the Archaic period. However, little focused work has been undertaken in the study of these vessels since Johnston and Jones' seminal work in 1978. This paper therefore provides a critical update on the production and distribution of SOS amphorae using the current data available. Included in this update is a discussion of recent research on Early Iron Age amphorae that may help situate the SOS amphora within a broader ceramic milieu. A new distribution of SOS amphorae also necessitates a reappraisal of some previously held ideas concerning their chronological patterns and the specific actors involved in their shipment. Taking into consideration the multiple spatial and temporal varieties of SOS amphorae, it can be shown that these vessels were relatively evenly deposited across the Mediterranean, from Iberia to the Levant, very early in the Archaic period. In combination with other factors, this widespread distribution may support the hypothesis that non-Greek seafarers were involved with transporting Athenian and Euboean SOS amphorae. Ultimately, it is hoped that a fresh look at this ceramic shape, however brief, might contribute to existing scholarly debates on cultural interactions and mobility within the Mediterranean basin during the Archaic period.

The present study explores the possible interpretation of the terracotta cylindrical models found in Late Minoan to Early Iron Age contexts (generally known as “(circular) hut models”) as reduced-scale models of tholos tombs. Theoretical issues concerning the relationship of an ‘architectural model’ with the archaeological context in which it is found are examined in order to support the above-mentioned suggestion. Archaeological data concerning the morphology, chronology, distribution, use and significance of the Late Minoan and Early Iron Age tholos tombs are explored in order to contribute to the discussion. The possible connection between the presence of the LM III tomb models in domestic contexts and the absence of contemporary intramural burials allows us to expand on the possible significance of these artefacts for our knowledge of LM mortuary practices and beliefs, especially those concerning the possible practice of ‘ancestor worship’. The presence of terracotta figurines of the ‘Minoan Goddess with Upraised Arms’ type attached in the interior of two examples (from SM Knossos and PG B Archanes) is considered as a late development within the tradition of these models and linked with the practice of placing MGUA figures in Early Iron Age tholos tombs (Rhotasi, Kourtes).

A fragmentary inscription found at Thebes casts new light on the abortive invasion of Athens in 506 by Kleomenes, the Boiotians, and the Chalkidians. On the one hand, it provides valuable confirmation, soon after the event, of the general drift of Herodotos' account of events; on the other, even in its incomplete state, it adds one important detail lacking in Herodotos. And, of course, it tells the story from the Boiotian point of view.

The excavation took place in the winter of the year 2001–2 in the property of Evanghelia Madhis at Thebes following her application for the construction of a new house. The plot is situated in the suburb of Pyri, in the north-west periphery of Thebes, about 800 m from the city centre of Thebes, and just beyond the Athens–Thessaloniki railway line (FIG. 1). In it was unearthed a well-built tomb-like cist, made of three rows of large conglomerate stone blocks in regular masonry; similar blocks form its pavement. No traces of covering stones or other relevant materials have so far been discovered. However, since the contents of the cist—including objects such as the bronze inscribed sheets found at the bottom—were probably thrown there when it was abandoned, it may never have been properly covered: no trace of a superstructure or roofing system is preserved on the upper surface of the walls of the cist.

This paper presents the results from the pilot analytical study of the Aegean Late–Final Neolithic/Anatolian Middle–Late Chalcolithic (c. 5500–3200/3000 BC) pottery from the Kastro-Tigani settlement, located in south-east Samos (east Aegean). In addition to Crete, the region of the insular eastern Aegean has produced the earliest evidence for Neolithic habitation. The archaeological traces at Kastro-Tigani are so far the earliest known on Samos, being partly contemporary with the recently discovered Middle–Late Chalcolithic layers at the Heraion, lying in close proximity to the former site, and at the Agriomernos cave (Megalo Seitani) in the north-west part of the island. The re-evaluation of the ceramic assemblage from Kastro-Tigani has led to the laboratory analysis of 34 samples, using a combination of thin-section petrography and Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy, in order to determine provenance and establish reference groups for the earliest local production on Samos. This first compositional characterisation of the pottery contributes new data in a relatively under-studied region and provides grounds for comparison with analytical results from the Heraion, with the aim to investigate possible relations between the sites. Hence, the identification of different strategies in pottery production, reflected in the overall distinct fabric and chemical groups, further indicates the practice of several production units and the exploitation of various raw material sources at the Pythagoreion/Chora plain. Isolated examples of possible imported ceramic vessels, as well as exotica (e.g. obsidian, acrolithic and Kilia figurines, ring-shaped features, marble vessels, kratiriskoi) are highlighted as markers of macro-scale interaction in the context of Aegean early maritime connectivity.

This article investigates the final episodes of a long-lasting potting tradition that developed on Aegina during the Bronze Age. From c. 1400 bc, cooking pottery constituted the only class of that tradition that was still manufactured and exported in quantity. Detailed study of several settlement contexts from sites scattered along the Euboean and up to the Pagasetic Gulf dating to c. 1200 bc shows that pottery imported from Aegina became increasingly less available, whereas similar cooking pots produced in various non-Aeginetan fabrics appear at the same time. Macroscopic analysis of traces related to manufacture of such pots reveals that it followed the typical chaîne opératoire of the Aeginetan tradition, strongly suggesting that their appearance reflects technological transfer and, thus, could not be explained without taking mobility of potters into account. Following a comprehensive presentation of available evidence, we argue that potters trained in the context of the Aeginetan potting tradition produced cooking pottery in several locations along the Euboean Gulf and up to the modern city of Volos. By considering the socio-economic and political context of their activity, as well as the development of Aegina and its pottery production during the later stages of the Late Bronze Age, we are able to shed more light on potters’ motivations to move, as well as on the population and the time scale of this mobility phenomenon. It appears that it had two stages, characterised by itinerant activity followed by permanent relocation, and that it was relatively short-lived, as by c. 1150 bc Aeginetan-tradition potters become invisible in the archaeological record.

The aim of this paper is to explore the physical connectivity of Attica by examining the realities of travel for Athenians wishing to engage with wider civic, social, economic and cultic institutions. This will be achieved by focussing upon the practicalities of short-, medium- and long-distance travel with the aim of differentiating aspects, modes and reasons for travel. This investigation will be realised through a series of computational scenarios created on the basis of a combination of ancient and nineteenth-century accounts of journeys through Attica along with the archaeological evidence of the Athenian road system. The results of this study shed light upon the constraints on, and opportunities for, participation in wider practices and the experience of travel for the individual traveller. Recent studies have shown there were many spaces in Attica that provided opportunities for Athenians to come together, to interact with each other and participate in civic, ritual and social institutions. The ultimate conclusions of this study will help to illustrate the fundamental connectivity and active engagement of the traveller with the Athenian landscape.

The provenance of vessels of the Marine Style of LMIB from Crete and LHIIA from the Mainland remains an important unsolved problem. This article describes an attempt to discriminate between selected Mainland and Cretan specimens by multivariate analysis of the compositions of their fabrics determined by optical emission spectroscopy with the aim of determining whether the Mainland Marine Style pieces were indeed made on the Mainland, perhaps locally at their find spots, or were imported from Crete or the islands. Accordingly Marine Style sherds have been sampled from seven Mainland, two island, and two Cretan sites, together with a large number of definitively local sherds from each site to serve as a control over the characteristics of the local clays. A distribution map, Fig. 1, and a corpus, as complete as possible, defining and describing the motifs and shapes used in the Marine Style from the Mainland, Crete, and the islands as a whole is included below in order to provide an overview of the available information.

Three poorly preserved Hellenistic towers from NW Andros investigated during the course of a survey are discussed. The two small round towers of Tsouka and Ayia Marina, characterized by their humble masonry, are related to agricultural activities with a very restricted defensive role. The tower of Ayia Marina had probably also served as a road station. The third tower of Choreza is square, a public work in advanced military architecture which appears to be part of the defensive system of Andros. Reference is made to masonry types encountered on the island in relation to the architecture of the three towers. Recently the ruins of a fourth square tower were located at Tokeli near the N coast, obviously related with the trafficked naval channel between Andros and Euboea.

If the Unexplored Mansion must rest content with a name rendered obsolete by subsequent archaeological activity it is perhaps fitting that the Little Palace Well, which was sunk through its ruins, should glory in a similarly inappropriate title. The well was brought to light by one of nature's not infrequent excesses at Knossos. In winter and spring the area is subjected to occasional heavy downpours which erode the ground surface and reveal traces of ancient occupation. In the early weeks of 1938 subsidence caused by such winter storms exposed the top of the well, which lay just behind the façade of the Unexplored Mansion at a point where the west scarp of Evans's Little Palace excavations towered high above the level of the Minoan ruins. R. W. Hutchinson, who was then Curator at Knossos, conducted a small rescue operation and the results were briefly described in the JHS for that year. The outbreak of the Second World War prevented anything more than preliminary work on the pottery before archaeological activity at Knossos was brought to a halt. The whole and restored pots were transported to Herakleion Museum for safe keeping, and the fragments remained at Knossos and were eventually housed in the new Stratigraphic Museum.

When the British School decided to bring to an end its excavations at Sparta in the year 1910, after five campaigns, it was fully aware that the possibilities of the site were by no means exhausted. Its varied activities before the war, at Phylakopi and in Crete, and after the war at Mycenae, have formed the subjects of full reports in various volumes of the Annual from XVII (1910–11) onwards, but when Mr. Wace's tenure of the Directorship came to an end, the decision of the Committee to resume work on a site of the Classical period led to the renewal of work at Sparta forming their first choice. The fact that the new Director had taken an active part in three of the five original campaigns was an additional reason for returning there, and it was accordingly resolved to resume operations in 1924, with the Theatre as the first objective; and in hopes, moreover, of carrying out a fuller exploration of the Acropolis, and also of gaining fresh information as to the topography of ancient Sparta by extensively testing portions of the ancient city previously unexamined. The principal results of the work of the two seasons, 1924 and 1925, form the subject of the present report.

Scholars since Lethaby have tended to see the hand of one architect in three famous buildings, the Hephaisteion at Athens, the Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion and the Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnous. All three belong to a very widespread type, the hexastyle temple with pronaos, cella and opisthodomos. But their similarity beyond this is held to necessitate a common authorship. It has proved impossible up to now to collect and review their points of resemblance; which is perhaps one reason for the long dispute on their dating and sequence. I hope to contribute towards this much needed collation, and I believe that, as things are, it would prove useful to compare the main lines and dimensions of all three buildings.

The area over which the Tsakonian dialect is spoken lies on the east coast of the Peloponnese between the Parnon range and the sea. Its northern boundary is roughly the torrent which, rising on Parnon above Kastánitsa, flows into the sea near Ayios Andréas, its southern the torrent which, also rising on Parnon, passes through Lenídhi to the sea. A mountain range stretches along the coast from end to end of the district, reaching its highest point (1114 metres) in Mt. Sevetíla above the village of Korakovúni. Between Tyrós and Pramateftí, the seaward slopes of this range are gentle and well covered with soil. Behind these coast hills there stretches a long highland plain, known as the Palaiókhora, which, in the north, is fairly well covered with soil, but gradually rises towards the south into a region of stony grazing land, and terminates abruptly in the heights above Lenídhi. The high hill of Oríonda rises out of the Palaiókhora to the west and forms a natural centre-point of the whole district. Behind it stretching up to the bare rock of Parnon, is rough hilly country, cut here and there by ravines and offering but rare patches of cultivable land.

The recent publication of the Attic black-figured pottery from the sanctuary of Aphaia on Aegina has brought into question the widely accepted date for the construction of the late archaic temple and its sculpture. Much of the pottery comes from the terrace system around the temple which preceded the building's construction. 47.7% of the black-figured pottery is later than the commonly assumed date of c. 510 for the destruction and rebuilding of the temple. Using the latest pottery and the widely accepted Studniczka-Langlotz chronology a terminus post quem is provided during the time of the Persian Wars. The range of pottery also shows that the terrace fills around the temple fall into the same chronological horizon as deposits at Athens which have been linked to the Persian destruction and may, in fact, be even later. The historical context for the rebuilding seems to be in the affluent years after the Persian Wars when the cities of Greece were able to benefit from booty won on the field of battle.

Continuing the lines laid down in 1906, the campaign of 1907 was confined entirely to the site of Sparta itself. Our thanks must again be expressed to the Hellenic Government and the Ephor-General of Antiquities for their continuous support. This year we have especially to mention the enlargement of the Sparta Museum. The number of our finds had made this necessary, as the two rooms and entrance-hall of the old Museum were quite full when our work began. Two rooms have now been added to the right and left of the old building, doubling its original capacity. These rooms we have found most useful for purposes of study, and for arranging and repairing the finds, and we are especially grateful for the speed with which this improvement has been carried out.

In January 1959, when a trench was being dug in order to lay a water pipe in connection with the building of an orphanage (Κέντρον βρεφῶν “Ἤ Μητέρα”) on the south edge of Ayios Ioannis between Knossos and Herakleion a sinking of the ground suggested the presence of a collapsed tomb chamber. As the site lay within the Knossos area, Dr. St. Alexiou, Ephor of Antiquities for Crete, kindly invited the School to make trials there during the course of their excavations at Knossos in the summer of 1959.

The tomb which these trials revealed proved to be Minoan, and assignable to the L.M. II period, to judge from the remains of a couple of clay vases, a stemmed goblet (A.1) and an alabastron (A.2), which had evidently belonged with the original burial or burials. The deep-cut dromos, narrow with distinctly inward leaning sides, was of a type which it is often suggested may be of Mycenaean origin. But this is disputable, and the tomb at Ayios Ioannis appears to be as early as, if not earlier than, any of the tombs with this type of dromos on the Greek mainland. At Mycenae itself tombs with dromoi like this are not attested before L.H. III. On the other hand both at Mycenae and at Knossos there are tombs with shorter dromoi whose sides lean inwards, and some of these tombs may be earlier in date. Tomb 529 at Mycenae, with a short dromos whose sides lean markedly inwards, is assignable to L.H. I–II.