As was stated in the Annual Report for the Session 1927–28, the excavations at Sparta in 1928 were on quite a small scale, lasting only three weeks, and were restricted to the following pieces of work :—at the Theatre we cleared up some fallen material, undertook some necessary conservation and tested a few points for the purpose of the plan; and at the Orthia Sanctuary we tidied up some fallen rubble-masonry, during which process we uncovered a small portion of the early votive deposit underlying the foundations of the Roman amphitheatre to the south of the limits reached in the excavations of 1906–10. Apart from the discovery of another columnar statue-base of a βωμονίκης, which I have since published elsewhere, the finds from the site need not be further discussed.

This article contains the remainder of the inscriptions found at the Theatre and on the Acropolis in 1924–27, with the exception of those which may be classed as definitely architectural, as being inscribed on blocks of architrave or cornice. These, together with the stamped tiles and bricks, are being reserved for a subsequent publication.

The texts included in Part I comprise (1) the remainder of those belonging to the series engraved on the East Parodos-wall, to which is appended a revised and amplified analysis of this series, (2) the further lists of Ephors and Nomophylakes found in 1927, in clearing the Orchestra-drain west-wards, (3) other lists of magistrates and records of single tenures of office, (4) statue-bases of officials and athletes, (5) miscellaneous documents, including dedications, fragmentary decrees and a list of Spartan names dating from the fourth century B.C.

The number of decrees recovered from Ancient Sparta is regrettably small, and of them by no means all contain resolutions of the Spartan state. One complete text, and apparently six incomplete texts in the Laconian Corpus (I.G. v. 1, 12, 13, 14, 23, 28, 29 and 30), and three, and perhaps four, of the fragments published in the Annual from the recent excavations (B.S.A. xxvi. pp. 231 ff., Nos. 22, 23, 24 and 28) represent copies of resolutions passed by other states and erected at Sparta, in recognition of her citizens who had won honour and privileges at their hands. It is to this class of inscription that the four texts here published all belong, and they have the further importance that substantial portions of each can be read, or, in the case of No. 87, restored.

The first (No. 84) is a decree of Arcadian Orchomenos, conferring proxeny on a Spartan; the second is a decree of Eretria in favour of Spartan dikasts; the third is probably a decree of Tralles, but is too incomplete to furnish either the full record of the services rendered by the recipient or the honours bestowed on him; and the last is in honour of Spartan dikasts, passed by the city of Demetrias in Thessaly.

The terracottas described below are limited to the moulded archaic and the hand-made of all periods; the later moulded ones are fragmentary and have no special local significance. Several of the heads are not, strictly speaking, terracottas, having been attached to vases, but they are included here as they are so much a part of the subject.

The clay, as it varies a good deal, has been described in some detail, for though most of it is local, the varieties may throw some light on the problems of the different styles. Where the quality of the clay is not specially noticed, it is the hard, pink-buff kind that is most common at Sparta.

The oenochoe published in B.S.A. xxviii., 1926–7, Plate VII, has a value beyond its own particular interest in that it serves to link together a series of vases which have hitherto been considered independently of each other, and have in common this peculiarity, that they are very difficult to date. The oenochoe has been assigned to the early years of Laconian III (B.S.A. xxviii. p. 68), but it has certain features which suggest that it may belong to a later period. The careful and elaborate work, the complete covering of slip and the use of purple paint in the bands of tongue and pomegranate pattern: these points all suggest an early date, but they are at the same time features which might persist later. The vase has the rather squat shape which is typical of the fourth period, and therefore is not likely to be found before the end of the third. The pomegranate pattern on the neck is resolved into its separate members; this foreshadows the latest development of the pattern, which in the third period usually has the form of a continuous band linked by the stems. The later examples, however, are simpler and have a straight cross-bar; here the pattern is more decorative with its curved lines and spots.

In view of the proposed excavations it may be useful to consider some early finds from the island.

Charles Philippe de Bosset, Swiss by birth but a Colonel in the British army, was the governor of Cephallenia 1810–13 and became the first collector of Mycenaean pottery. There is a large case in the Musée d'Histoire at Neuchâtel containing his finds, each object labelled with its provenience. Cephallenia provided the bulk of the spoil, among it the late Mycenaean vases from this collection that have already been published.

Fig. 1, No. 1 and Fig. 2 shew a short bronze sword (length 15·8 in.), now in the Musée d'Histoire, which I publish by kind permission of the Director, M. de Pury, who gives me the following extract from the old catalogue of the Museum :—“ Il a été découvert dans une des tombes taillées dans le roc avec dalles pour couvertures que le Col. de Bosset a fait ouvrir à Ithaque au pied du Château d'Aito.” There is a note that a similar weapon was sold in England.

The excavations described in the following report took place in the spring of 1928. Two weeks were spent at each site. The party consisted of the Assistant-Director, Mr. J. D. S. Pendlebury, Mr. C. A. Ralegh Radford, and Miss S. Benton, students of the School. Mrs. Heurtley again very kindly undertook the duties of caterer and cook. At Molyvópyrgo we lived in tents on the sea-shore; at Hágios Mámas we took the upper floor of a house in the village of Myrióphyto, where we had as neighbours the American expedition under Dr. D. M. Robinson, which was excavating Olynthus. Mr. and Mrs. J. D. S. Pendlebury, Mr. R. W. Hutchinson and Mr. O. Davies gave invaluable assistance in the work of marking, studying and drawing the sherds in Salonika during the first three weeks of October. Generous grants towards the excavations were received from the British Association, from the Trustees of the Craven Fund, Cambridge, from the Classical Society, Cambridge, and from friends, to all of whom we wish to express our profound gratitude.

This little pot—two and a half inches high, something less across—is said to have been found in Athens (Pls. III, IV, and Figs. 1-2). It is an oil-pot of the shape now known as a round aryballos. Whether an Athenian would have called our vase an aryballos is doubtful: he would have called it a lekythos or lekythion, for an Attic vase of the same shape and period, found in an Athenian grave, bears the legend A sōpodōrou hē lēkythos, ‘the lekythos belongs to Asopodoros.“ But lekythos is a wide term, covering not only that slender vase (in its numerous varieties) to which we usually confine the word; but also the squat, stable version of the same; and the so-called protocorinthian aryballos of the seventh century; and perhaps, at a pinch, even the alabastron.

If we look at the aryballos represented in the field of our vase (Pl. III), we ask ourselves what the tags are which we see hanging on the shoulder. This question involves another, how the aryballos was carried. I shall try to answer both questions.

The old, Corinthian type of aryballos was suspended by its big, solid handle, through which a cord or string was passed.

The Attic type, on the other hand, was carried by a cord tied round the neck of the vase. That is the rule, even when there are handles. Such handles are narrow and consequently fragile; and there was no reason to reject a perfectly satisfactory method of suspension because of a change in detail.

I. The simplest way is as follows. Make a loop in a cord, knotting the cord at a (Fig. 1, 1). See that the loose ends are of the same length. Then pass the ends round the neck of the vase, and make another knot on the other side at b (Fig. 1, 2). Two ends thus hang down from the neck, on the side opposite to the loop by which the vase is carried. Seen in profile : Fig. 1, 3. As soon as you carry the vase, it naturally tips up (Fig. 1, 4) (just as the Corinthian type did which was carried by the handle).

The vases to be discussed in this paper come from two separate excavations at Knossos: the greater number from two tombs excavated by Sir Arthur Evans in 1907, the rest from one of several tombs which I excavated three years ago. The three tombs in question lie a little less than a mile to the north of the Palace, at the foot of the western slope of the hill known as Zafer Papoura (cf. Fig. 1); they are cut into a low bank, immediately to the right of the footpath as one goes from Makry Teichos to Isopata, and are marked in Fig. 1 by a black bar. A glance at the map will shew that this group of tombs is in the same straight line as the group which was excavated by Hogarth in 1899. Hogarth's tombs are at the foot of a rather higher bank which is obviously part of the same formation. There is, however, a break between the two banks, and as the greater part of it is covered by a vineyard it is impossible to tell precisely how closely the two groups of tombs are connected. But even if there is an empty space between them, it is certain the history of the two groups of tombs is the same.