Archaeology in Greece, 1895–6. I. General

Abstract

The past year has not been productive of any momentous discovery, excepting only the bronze statue at Delphi, which will be described more fully in its own place; but a great amount of useful work has been done in various directions, and, indeed, the great variety of what has been achieved may be regarded as the characteristic feature of the year.In Athens, the excavations in the neighbourhood of the Pnyx and the Areopagus have reached their third season. In the later months of 1894 the entire shrine which Dörpfeld identifies as that of Dionysos was laid bare, with its temple, altar, and wine-press. The archaic structure seems to have been in existence down to late Greek times, when its site was covered by a building which is identified by an inscription as the assembly house of the Iobacchi. From the different methods of construction which can be traced in the walls, it would seem that this building must have stood for a long period; the base of the altar, belonging to the earlier stage, is fairly well preserved; it consisted of a table supported on four slender columns, replaced later by four larger supports; at one side on the step are sinkings for two stelæ; Dörpfeld points out that according to Demosthenes (?) (Neaera, 76) the oath which the Gerairai had to swear at the sacred marriage of the Basilinna in the Anthesteria was inscribed on a stelè set up an expression which suits the proposed identification.