The purpose of this paper is to document and discuss some less well known pieces of Etruscan jewellery decorated in the granulated style of the Orientalising period, with special reference to a curious motif occurring on jewels from Praeneste and elsewhere. Although the origin of the motif remains obscure it is almost certainly foreign and is very likely of Phoenician origin. Study of it appears to indicate the impact on Etruscan art of a very highly specialised iconography of which a single Oriental specimen survives.

The motif is found in its simplest—and probably most degenerate—form on pendants embossed with female daemon heads, ending below in a rounded striated boss which resembles a fan-palmette or scallop shell attached below the woman's face. Praeneste jewellery is particularly rich in these. The necklace 1449 of Marshall's Catalogue (Marshall, 1911) has nine stumpy pendants in this form, each consisting of two embossed plaques soldered back to back. The curling side-locks of the fat-faced women are clearly seen. This necklace comes from Praeneste as does necklace 1453 of Marshall's Catalogue (at present mounted with a glass face bead of Phoenician type) where the details of the ‘palmette’ have been picked out in fine granules. Hathoric curled locks are clearly shown on either side of the head, and a ribbed collar separates the head from the shell-like ornament below.

The subject of the arms and organisation of the Roman army in and before the mid-second century B.C. is one of almost inextricable confusion. The amount of weight to be put on the various contradictory pieces of literary evidence is still to a great extent uncertain: which of them are antiquarian reconstructions rather than genuine tradition, and if they are reconstructions, how intelligent are they and on what sort of evidence are they based? Archaeology does not give us all the help we might expect; too often its dates are imprecise, too often also we remain unclear whether a representation relates to the natives of the place where it was found, or whether it is meant to be realistic or idealising, which tends to mean archaising or hellinising. Literature and archaeology agree to make us believe that at some time in the archaic period the phalanx style of hoplite warfare was introduced to Rome, possibly from Etruria; some time between the early fourth and the mid-third century the manipular army developed out of it, tactically more flexible, armed with pila as throwing weapons and with swords, and bearing long shields, scuta or θνρϵοί (as opposed to the hoplites who had of course carried thrusting spears and circular clipei or ἀσπίδϵς). Probably general agreement has not been reached on much more than that. Any exact history of developments is probably quite unattainable; there may have been far more changes than scholars have been accustomed to reckon with, and several different weapons may sometimes have been in use simultaneously. Names may have changed in meaning over the years. The present paper is only designed to take up again several of the literary sources, and to attempt to reach some sort of conclusion as to their nature and reliability—chiefly on internal grounds, though with archaeological aid where this is possible.

In 83 b.c. L. Cornelius Sulla invaded Italy to face his political enemies in civil war. From Brundisium he moved quickly into Campania, defeated C. Norbanus near Capua, won over the army of the other consul, L. Scipio, near Teanum Sidicinum, and advanced some way northwards—possibly to Aquinum in the middle Liris basin. There followed a lengthy pause in operations, and a very hard winter.

Next year, Sulla beat the illegally youthful consul C. Marius somewhere in the upper valley of the Trerus (the Sacco of today), and pursued him and his routed forces into Praeneste, which he proceeded to besiege. It was vital not to leave this immensely strong site, which dominates eastern Latium and with it one of the through passages from Rome to Campania, in enemy hands. Marius' considerable forces had to be neutralised, lest they endanger Sulla's rear as he pressed on north of Rome against Carbo in Etruria, lest they effect a junction with Carbo, or lest they provide a focal point (and a base) for Italic peoples not prepared to accept Sulla, and likely to offer Marius ready recruits, if he were left unhindered. Besides, the town itself was anti-Sullan—and prepared beforehand for such a siege, it seems.

Pirro Ligorio wrote a description of what he believed to be the statio of the cohors vigilum on the Caelian hill which has never been satisfactorily explained. De Rossi supposed that the description was either of the castra peregrina or else a mixture of truth and falsehood. Baillie Reynolds wished to associate the description with some slightly similar remains to the south-east of Santo Stefano Rotondo. Colini recorded it, but offered no specific interpretation.

The text of the description survives in the original Italian in Cod. Taur. V f. 127–128, and in a Latin version by Holstein in Cod. Vat. Lat. 9141 f. 143. The Latin version differs in some respects from the Italian, and we give both texts here:

Castro Celimontano de' soldati Vigili fu in Roma nel monte Celio di là degli acquedotti dell'acqua Claudia, fra l'hospitale del Salvatore in Laterano et il monasterio di S. Steffano, ai confini delli castri peregrini, nel cui luogo hoggidí vi sono le vigne di M. Lippo et di Uberto Strozzi gentiluomini Mantovani, i quali per piantare esse vigne hanno spianato le rovine di esso Castro, alloggiamento dei soldati che la città di notte guardavano, dove havemo veduti alcuni vestiggi della pianta de'fondamenti ch'erano sotto delle rovine scassandosi il luogo. Et si sono veduti i luoghi che haveva di quattro torrioni quadrati, uno per angolo del Castro et per quattro lati fra esse torri erano quattro stanze larghe XX piedi e longhe XLVI et a destra cinque stanze di XV piedi larghe et longhe XX et a sinistra altre cinque stanze simili et cosí per tutti quattro i lati erano l'altre a destra et a sinistra delle altre grandi simili di quarantasei piedi, et le torri fiancheggiavano essi lati delle sale et camere.

The following five inscriptions, three of which were noted in Rome in the eighteenth century, while the other two are unpublished, have found their way to the Royal Institution of South Wales at Swansea.

1. Plate X, a. White marble plaque, sub-rectangular in form, but with top right corner broken away (33·5 × 29·0 × 3·25). Top and bottom edges smooth; sides very roughly cut; back flat and smooth over much of surface, but chipped away to nearly half thickness at top, and a smooth ledge cut along bottom. Dowel holes drilled at two points in step created by latter (shallower hole at one side looks modern, deeper hole at middle looks ancient) and at centre of left edge. Some scratches at back, especially along top ledge and at bottom right corner, also look modern.

Letters: 1. 1, 2.7; 1. 2, 2.3; 11. 3–5, 2.0; 11. 6–7, 1.7; 1. 8, 2.2. Ligature of Ӕ at end of 1.3. Stops generally triangles of various sizes, pointing down and a little to the right, but sometimes comma-like; in all the usual places, as well as at end of lines 2, 4, 6, 7.

Among the episodes of Dionysiac myth, one which acquires exceptional popularity under the Roman Empire is the scene of Dionysus riding in triumph in his chariot, accompanied by his exultant band of followers. The theme was not new: already on a pebble-mosaic from Olynthus Dionysus appears driving his leopard-drawn chariot, accompanied by a flying Eros and Pan; and very similar scenes appear on fourth-century Attic vases. In the Hellenistic period, the story of Dionysus' victorious campaign against the Indians was regarded as a prototype for the victories of Alexander, and the scene of his procession was re-interpreted as his triumphant return from India. Under the Empire, the ever-growing popularity of the Dionysiac religion favoured particularly the representation of the god in triumph, as an image of his victorious powers over his enemies and of the joy which he bestowed on his followers; the scene was, moreover, especially well suited to representation in Roman terms, since the iconography and the religious significance of the triumphal procession were so firmly established in the Roman tradition.

The Via Herculia is known as such solely through inscriptions. Their distribution, near Ariano Irpino, Monteleone di Puglia, Zungoli, Vallesaccarda, Melfi, Lavello, Venosa, Castel Lagopesole, Sala Consilina, and Marsico Nuovo, indicates that the road followed a route from somewhere near Ariano Irpino at least as far as Grumentum, by way of Venosa and Potenza. Their contents show that it was made a via publica by the time of Diocletian and Maximian Herculius (hence, probably, the name Via Herculia), was repaired and restored by Maxentius in 311 (which might argue for an original construction fairly early in the reigns of Diocletian and Maximian), and continued to be maintained by Constantine, Flavius Victor, Jovian, and Theodosius and Arcadius. It is clear that it was an important road in the Late Empire as a centrally located north-south highway through the rugged terrain of south Italy.

Some uncertainty exists, however, about its precise location. Several different routes have been posited by various authorities, who have in most cases tried to utilise the evidence of the ancient sources so as to make the highway follow one or another passage through the mountains.

The bibliography that follows is the work of the Committee for the Study of Marble and Similar Stones in Antiquity.

This committee was established in 1965 to serve as a centre for reference and for the exchange of information between all those persons and institutions who are concerned with the identification and study of the fine building stones and other decorative stones used in classical antiquity. It is sponsored by the International Association for Classical Archaeology, which in 1970/71 and again in 1971/72 has made a generous contribution towards its expenses. The committee's reference collection of quarry samples (see PBSR, xxxiv (1966), 79) is installed at the British School and growing satisfactorily, and several other projects are nearing completion. These include a survey of the Christian sarcophagi in the recently installed Museo Pio Cristiano, the former Lateran collections, now published in Repertorium der Christlich-Antiken Sarkophage ed. F. W. Deichmann, vol. i (1967), and another of the classical statuary currently on display in the Museum at Ostia.

Very little work has so far been published on the Templars and Hospitallers in the area north of Rome, so that this study of the two preceptories of San Savino and Castell'Araldo makes a contribution to the history of both Orders. Archaeological investigations of Hospitaller and Templar preceptories or commanderies have been made in a number of countries. In this present case there was no excavation, but the combination of a careful survey on the ground with a detailed though far from exhaustive study of the written sources has made it possible to evaluate the significance of these preceptories as economic and social units, while the identification and investigation of two previously unnoticed and markedly dissimilar abandoned communities is of some value for the general history of the region.

The existing works on the neighbourhood contain almost no information about the two castles, neither of which has so far attracted scholarly attention. The chronicles and archives of Viterbo and Orvieto are more helpful, though only very limited research on unpublished materials from these two towns was attempted. Scarcely anything relevant to the medieval period seems to have been preserved at Marta, where the Archivio Comunale is in disorder, though the consiglio records contain a wealth of post-1500 documents which could be used to study the agrarian history of the area.

Marino Sanudo in the introduction to his description of Venice and its constitution told Doge Agostino Barbarigo what every patriot already knew: ‘in verità, principe sublime, tal e tanto è il nome de la città de Venetia, che, dirò cussì, per tutto il mondo n’ è fatto grande estimatione; quelli che non l'hanno veduta, bramano di vederla et intender come si governi; quelli l'hanno veduta, non finiscono di lodarla’. This article continues the interest, but is less concerned with praise. It is based on a series of incidents in the history of one branch of the Capello family in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, showing how the age qualifications built into the constitution of which Sanudo was so proud could be abused, how family interest could be stronger than observance of the law. In Italian medieval history this point has been made before; but historians of the Venetian constitution have been concerned with the roles of councils and magistracies, or with the ideas of Venetian and foreign political theorists. They have been less concerned with the actual conduct of Venetian nobles. The present study of the political behaviour of the Capello family has for its point of departure a document of 28 June 1428 from the Antico Archivio del Comune of the Archivio di Stato at Verona. The archives of Verona, like those of other terraferma cities once subject to Venetian rule, contain much administrative material, not preserved in Venice, which can be used to illustrate the workings of Venetian magistracies and the political conduct and family interests of Venetian nobles.

Monte d'Irsi is located approximately 6·5 km. east-southeast of the town of Irsina and 4 km. due west of the village of Santa Maria d'Irsi in the region of Basilicata. The archaeological site sits on the crown of an irregularly shaped plateau at around 480 m. above sea level; the land drops away steeply in all directions and the hill-sides are heavily eroded by stream beds which feed into the two major rivers in the area, the Bradano and the Basentello (Figs. 1 and 2 and Pl. XXVII, a). M. d'Irsi lies about 7·5 km. north-west of the confluence of the two, and since it is the highest point for 6 or 7 km. round about, forms an imposing feature of the landscape. No doubt it is this fact, connected with the proximity of M. d'Irsi to the very important Bradano valley (3 km. distant) that made the M. d'Irsi plateau a prime candidate for settlement even in prehistoric times and presumably in times of stress.