The present population of Melos is collected into six or seven villages in the north-western district, all within a mile or so of the citadel of Kastro. But the whole island is dotted with small churches, some in the existing villages, some on the sites of villages which have disappeared, and others in isolated positions, used only once or twice a year as places of pilgrimage. These churches are interesting in many ways, both as showing the almost Oriental conservatism with which the Greek Church clings to its ancient methods of church-building, and because, although simple in the extreme, they yet possess certain marked differences of structure from the better-known churches of Attica and the mainland, to which, in point of design, they are often superior.

An unusual figurative larnax of LM III date was found in the dromos of an Iron Age chamber tomb in the KMF cemetery north of Knossos. The decoration includes retorted spirals, tricurved arch, parallel chevrons, wavy lines, and ‘tree’. The figures have closest analogies on the Ayia Triadha sarcophagus. There is a modelled animal's head on the top ridge of the lid.

Reasonable doubts exist with regard to the conclusions that have been drawn from the ostraca found in the Athenian Agora as well as those from the fill of the Rectangular Rock-cut shaft on the Agora Hill. These doubts extend to the dating of the buildings along the west side of the Agora. A re-examination of the published accounts leads to the conclusion that Buildings C and D, the Temple of Apollo and the shrine of Zeus were built before 480 and were destroyed by the Persians, who were also responsible for digging the Rectangular Rock-cut Shaft. Building F was erected soon after 479. By 450, the Heliaia, the Tholos, the Old Bouleuterion, a Public Records Office and the Royal Stoa were constructed. The public buildings in question all seem to have been built as a consequence of the political reforms brought about by Ephialtes in the late 460s. They are probably the few extant physical remains of the early days of Periclean democracy.

Shells from the excavation of the West Court House at Knossos are analysed and compared with those from other Neolithic and Early Minoan sites.

The following is an account of some expeditions made from Knossos by members of the British School. It is hoped in time to make a complete register of all ancient sites on the island (more than six hundred are already known). How much is still to be done is shewn by the fact that over thirty-five new sites were found during the course of the journeys here described.

The names of the sites here given must be taken with reserve. Pronunciation varies so much from one district to another that accuracy is exceedingly difficult. Moreover, the Turkish names are hard to reproduce, since the Turkish č is written and pronounced ts by the educated, and written ki, while pronounced as English ch by the peasants. The n is liable to be dropped in Crete: thus Alexadros for Alexandros.

The position and general form of the Stoa by the Harbour at Perachora have long been known. It was discovered and excavated in 1932, the third and fullest year of Payne's excavations at Perachora. Brief notices of its discovery are to be found in the preliminary reports for that year, in BSA xxxii (1931–2) 260–1, and JHS lii (1932) 242, and in AJA xxxvii (1933) 155, AA xlvii (1932) 563, RÉG xlix (1936) 151, and in ILN 8/7/33; of these the last is perhaps the fullest. In Perachora i a single paragraph is devoted to the stoa on pp. 14–15, but rather more information can be gathered from the plan of the Hera Akraia temple, the triglyph altar, and the stoa on plate 138. This shows the position, plan, and state of preservation of the building when it was excavated. Since the publication of Perachora i in 1940 no further work has been done on the stoa, but there is a brief treatment of it in R. Martin, Recherches sur l'agora grecque, 461, 465 n. 4, 486, and in tables iv and v, and a discussion and drawing of the Ionic semi-column capital in G. Roux, L' Architecture dans l'Argolide aux IVe et IIIe siècles avant J.-C., 346 and plate 91.1.

Our operations in this island, which lasted in all from March 20th until the end of May, were mainly tentative in character; it contains evidently a large number of ancient sites, but unfortunately, in most of them, a great deal of unsystematic and unrecorded digging has been for a long time carried on. It seemed, therefore, desirable to ascertain, first, whether it would be necessary to continue for more than one season; and, secondly, what sites would best repay investigation.

This article is the fourth in a series designed to chart the diffusion of Hellenistic motifs, not only from province to province but also across craft boundaries. We are seldom able to measure these processes with any degree of chronological precision, but when we can the evidence indicates the astonishing speed with which even the most complex decorative innovations could become common property over wide areas. The Medusa Rondanini and a closely related body of derivative material provide one of the few easily documented cases for such rapid diffusion. Though we cannot expect to understand completely the mechanics of the process, the isolation and examination of its visible proofs provide some valuable controls for a much wider group of objects.

So little is known concerning the site of the famous Hierapolis of Syria, that even a hurried visit is worthy of record. I passed through the place twice in the spring of 1908, in the company of Mr. Richard Norton, stopping on each occasion a night and part of two days. It was inadvisable, in view of the main purpose of my journey, to delay long enough to make a plan, or do anything else likely to excite the ready suspicion of the local authorities and the Circassian colonists. We contented ourselves, therefore, with making a general survey and photographing, with copying all inscriptions which the promise of a reward could induce the Circassians to show us, and with buying small antiquities.

Red-figure pottery of Laconian manufacture was found in the excavations of the British School at Sparta in 1906–10 (Artemis Orthia, Acropolis) and 1924–8 (Acropolis), in particular the Roman theatre. This is entirely fragmentary, and is here published with full catalogue. Stratigraphical information is slight. Most fragments are from the Acropolis, particularly the area between the south wall of the shrine of Athena Chalkioikos and the retaining wall from the cavea of the Roman theatre. The most common shape is the large one-handled mug, which had a brief vogue in the last quarter of the fifth and first quarter of the fourth century. Other open shapes are craters, cups, plates. Closed shapes are far fewer, and exact forms not easy to determine: possibly pelikai and hydriai. There is a general stylistic connection with Attic red-figure of the last fifteen years of the fifth century and the first decade of the fourth.

The South Stoa at the Argive Heraion is the best-preserved Peloponnesian stoa of the fifth century B.C., and one of the earliest anywhere with substantial remains of a stone entablature; it shows definite evidence of features which are rarely found elsewhere. The publication of it by Tilton at the beginning of this century certainly does not do justice either to the interest of its design or to the quality of its workmanship, and a complete republication of the existing remains would be well worth while. The present paper does not attempt to fulfil this need, however; it is directed instead to two interrelated features of the stoa which, it appears, were not fully understood by Tilton, the roof structure and the outer colonnade, and to a brief consideration of their significance.

In his admirable paper ‘Ravennatum Palatium Sacrum’ (Det Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Archaeologisk-kunsthistoriske Meddelelser 3, 2. Copenhagen, 1941) Dr. Einar Dyggve has revealed to us the type of the emperors' reception halls—la basilica ipetrale per ceremonie—in the late Roman empire. Analysing in a masterly way the famous mosaic of S. Apollinare Nuovo showing the Palatium of Theoderic, the missorium of Theodosius, the literary evidence for the Magnaura of Constantine, and architectural material, such as the palace of Diocletian in Spalato, from the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries A.D., he defines a highly monumental tripartite architectural complex consisting of a tribunalium, also to be styled atrium or basilica discoperta, with a triumphal arch at its upper end, then a triclinium behind the atrium, and finally a most holy innermost absidal room, a choir.

The inscriptions here published, which were found in the Anglo-Turkish excavations at Old Smyrna between 1948 and 1953, are mostly fragments from the short, trivial writings of daily life. There are also one or two dedications, and a few inscriptions painted by potters on their wares. No inscriptions on stone were found, but this is not surprising, for the parts uncovered were chiefly private houses and stretches of the city's great wall. One important temple of a goddess, perhaps Artemis, was located and cleared, but it had unfortunately been much eroded. No other public building was reached, nor an agora: so the present epigraphic harvest should more properly be called gleanings, some of it merely owners' or merchants' marks—single letters or signs—on domestic pottery.

Survey and excavation between 1988 and 1991 have revealed new evidence for the form, date, and history of the Roman stoa at Sparta. Nearly 200 m long, it was double-fronted and colonnaded, finished in marble, with two storeys on the S side and perhaps a single portico to the N, set either side of a central row of brick-faced concrete compartments that helped consolidate the acropolis plateau. Its order may have been archaizing Doric; it may have represented a reconstructed version of the Persian stoa. At the W end it buttressed the Round Building and its square podium. Evidence of the stratigraphy and architecture suggests it was built c. AD 130 and that the colonnades collapsed in the late 4th cent., after which it was partly incorporated into the late Roman wall circuit. The nearly central, cross-vaulted nymphaeum (bays XI–XII) was reused in the Middle Byzantine period for religious purposes, when a church was built nearby; possibly this was the church and monastery founded by St Nikon Metanoeites c.975. Occupation continued until c.1350. Interpretation of the topography of Sparta in the light of the new evidence from the stoa suggests that the still elusive agora may have been on the upper plateau N of the stoa, rather than beneath the stadium to the S.

This contribution focuses on a study of the pottery assemblage deposited in the space occupied by the House of the Fallen Blocks and the House of the Sacrificed Oxen at the south-eastern corner of the Palace of Knossos. This deposit was crucial for Arthur Evans’ definition of the ‘Great Earthquake’ destruction at Knossos, because, together with fallen blocks, it was considered to be the consequence of a massive destruction. From the outset, the deposit associated with this event has played a de facto role in the definition of the New Palace era, and, in this respect, it is very important with regards to the history of the Palace of Knossos. There is no sign of stratification above the floor levels of the houses, with the material of the deposit usually interpreted as a post-destruction fill. The abundance of ceramic material and the broad representation of forms prompted Evans to call this deposit a storehouse of Middle Minoan (MM) III domestic pottery. Here, the nature of the deposit will be examined, taking into consideration information from the excavation notebooks and a detailed study of the retained pottery. The main conclusion is that the material is not MM IIIB as ascribed by Evans, but can be dated to an earlier part of the period, i.e. MM IIIA. This is significant because it might contribute to a critical reassessment of the destruction horizon generally attributed to MM IIIB. The large quantities of pottery from these houses also provide a fuller picture of what types and styles were prevalent in MM IIIA, given that there are not many published deposits of this date from the palace or town of Knossos.

A third season of excavations at Palaikastro was concentrated on the central area of the new site where four main structures have been identified; Buildings 1, 3, 4 and 5. This report highlights the more interesting finds, including the head of the ivory statuette, the torso and arms of which were found last year, and the first evidence for the LM II reoccupation of east Crete in the form of a Palace Style sherd and part of a central Cretan Ephyraean goblet.

The following notes were made partly in the course of a voyage taken in a small sailing boat in the late summer of 1922, from Corinth across the gulf, and along the Boeotian coast, during which all the south Boeotian harbours, as well as Voulis in Phokis, were visited, and partly in the course of subsequent visits from the land side. It is hoped that the notes may supplement, if they cannot improve upon, Mr. Gomme's excellent description of this part of Boeotia, and at the same time throw some light on trading relations between the two sides of the gulf in pre-Hellenic times.

Of the three possible harbours from which Thebes could be reached from the south, the nearest to Thebes is Kreusis, or, as it is now called, Livadóstro. The difficulties of the journey from there to Plataea are vividly described by Mr. Gomme (op. cit., p. 204), but there is reason to think that communication between Livadóstro and Thebes has always passed through Parapoúngia or its ancient representative Eutresis, rather than through Plataea. At the present day there are two paths to Parapoúngia, which serve the east and west sides respectively of the Livadóstro plain.

The excavations at Tell el-Dabca/Avaris have produced exciting finds for the past 30 years, but none more riveting than the so-called ‘Minoan’ frescoes of the past half-decade. The publication of these fragmentary wall paintings has been commendably fast, but has also involved dramatic changes in the hypotheses put forth by the excavators. The present article attempts to summarize the situation by charting the discoveries announced between 1992 and 1996, and relating these to the changes in opinion of the excavators over that same period of time. Given the bombshell dropped most recently by Bietak, namely that the wall paintings may not be associated with the Hyksos period at all, but rather with the early 18th Dynasty Egyptian reoccupation of the site, it is here suggested that the spate of literature published by secondary authors (i.e. those not immediately involved in the excavation and interpretation of the site) be brought to a temporary halt, until Bietak and his team have completed their exploration of the relevant areas of Tell el-Dabca and have published all of the pertinent data, to both their satisfaction and ours.

Remains discovered in excavations at Naxos in 1981–3, underlying structures belonging to the settlement which has been recognized as the mansio mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary, have now been firmly identified as the dockyard of the Greek city, the first Greek colony in Sicily and a Chalcidian foundation; an ally of Athens in the fifth century, it was therefore destroyed by Dionysios I of Syracuse in 403 BC. One rock-cut shipshed has been excavated for its surviving length (the lower end is lost under modern buildings); there is pottery evidence for the construction of its north wall in the mid-fifth century BC.

As with the installation of the democracy after the return of the Chalcidian exiles from Leontinoi, the work may have been inspired and encouraged by Athens. Installations of an earlier phase are also starting to appear. A selection of pottery evidence and of the remains of roof components (tiles and antefixes) is published.

The side walls of at least four shipsheds have been found just inside the city wall, and these respect the orientation of the fifth-century urban plan. The clear width of the shipshed excavated (5.45 m) confirms the evidence of other recent excavations: the previously held view that trireme shipsheds had a clear width of 5.75–6 m will have to be revised. The back 5–6 m of the shipshed do not seem to have been part of the slipway proper; possible explanations are suggested.

A Permit was granted for the School to carry out a trial excavation at Haliartos in Boeotia with the object of establishing the plan of the ancient walls of the city and testing the future possibilities of the site.

Digging was begun on March 30th on the west wall of the Acropolis—Mr. Woodward being present to direct operations for the first two days. Five men were employed at first, but after the opening week the number was raised to six.

For about a fortnight the workmen were employed in determining the lines of the walls of the Acropolis. It was found impossible in the limited time available for the excavation to include the outer town walls in the investigation. For the second fortnight the men were chiefly engaged in excavating a sanctuary and adjacent buildings which were discovered within the Acropolis. Work was continued until April 28th.