(C. R. Arch. Congr. Athens, 1905), attempting to reconcile the evidence commonly adduced as proving a general revolution in Greek funerary ritual, whereby inhumation was superseded by cremation. He contends that incineration (Verbrennung), in which the body is calcined, and only ashes and fragments of bones remain, must be distinguished from a process which he calls mere "burning" (Brennung), which has the effect of toasting or parching the body, but does not displace or damage the bones. He claims that the observed behaviour of corpses, which "sit up" during this toasting, accounts for the well-known "contracted posture" of many early interments-e.g. in the Minoan and Cycladic cist graves; also that chemical analysis detects the results of toasting, even when the bones seem unaltered to the eye. He argues, therefore, (1) that except in cases (such as Il. vii. 333) where bodies were completely cremated to facilitate transport home from a distant land, Homeric usage does not imply cremation, and that Kalev and Tapxúeɩ (Il. vii. 85) describe "toasting" merely; (2) that the chemical state of certain Mycenaean skeletons, as well as the occasional presence of cinders or ashes in Mycenaean tombs, shows that Mycenaean "burial" involved this same "toasting" process; whereupon the contradiction between Homeric and Mycenaean ritual disappears. In classical times, he adds, the ritual was similar: the body was first toasted, then buried. For instance, when Socrates describes his friend (Phaedo, 115) ὁρῶν μου τὸ σῶμα ἢ καιόμενον ἢ κατορυττόμενον, he is referring to successive stages of the same ceremony. In reply, Dr. Montelius quotes cases of complete cremation in undoubtedly early tombs, and also cases in which the bones have certainly not been exposed to fire. Dr. Evans adds that regular incineration appears as a definitely new custom in graves of the post-Mycenaean Age in Crete; that the occurrence of braziers in the tombs of Zafer Papoura is enough to explain the occasional finds of cinders, which do not of themselves prove any sort of corpseburning; and that cremation is widely used as a spell

against vampirism, even among people who ordinarily inhume their dead. Dr. Dörpfeld has not yet published the chemical evidence on which he relies, and may have some difficulty in explaining, as due to cremation, the posture, not merely of the bodies, but of associated articles, in many wellauthenticated instances. Were the dead toasted in their clothes, or were they dressed up again after they had assumed the contracted posture?

JOHN L. MYRES.

V

SCULPTURE AND OTHER ARTS

1. Sculpture. The event of the year, so far as concerns classical art, is not any new discovery, but the publication of a work which has revolutionised our notion of a familiar set of sculptures. This is Professor Furtwängler's Aegina, das Heiligtum der Aphaia. The fact that the well-known temple on Aegina was dedicated, as inscriptions show, to the goddess Aphaia, and not, as had been commonly supposed, to Athena, is in itself of some artistic importance; for the prominence of Athena in both pediments was probably not without influence on its modern attribution, and we find that, in this case at least, such influence appears to have been deceptive. It is, however, above all as to the composition of the pediment that current notions have to be given up.

When the sculptures were first found in 1811, the architect Cockerell made many sketches for their restoration, and the one that was finally adopted and made the basis for Thorvaldsen's restoration of the pedimental figures was by no means the happiest. Yet the arrangement of these figures, as set up in Munich, has been repeated in all cast collections and books, and has even been regarded as typical of early pedimental composition. It will be remembered that in this arrangement we see Athena in the centre, with a fallen warrior at her feet and a row of combatants on each side, standing and kneeling spearmen and archers, all facing towards the centre of the group. Professor Furtwängler, by examining other examples of combat scenes,

both in sculptural groups and on vases, has shown that there is no analogy in contemporary Greek art for so frigid and conventional a composition; he has also, by a careful study of the older finds and also of the new fragments found in his excavations of 1901, made a new reconstruction of the pediments which is far more in accordance with artistic probability. In both pediments the figure of Athena remains in the centre, but set slightly more forward than in the old grouping. But on each side of her, in both pediments, are groups of three figures each, much as at Olympia; and the action of each group is self-contained, not directed across the centre of the whole. In the western pediment we now see on each side a group of two standing warriors fighting with spears over a fallen combatant; beyond these come bowmen, facing towards the corners, where on each side is a kneeling spearman turned towards the wounded figure in the extreme angle, and transfixing him with his spear. These wounded figures are placed with their heads away from the middle, as if they had fallen backwards and their opponents were still pressing on them. It will be seen at once how this new arrangement gains in coherence and intelligibility; and it also has the advantage that almost all its elements are such as are customary in early Greek scenes of combat. The arrangement of the eastern pediment, as now reconstituted, is, like its execution, bolder and fresher than that of the western, though not dissimilar in general character. The group on each side of the central figure consists of a spearman attacking another, who is falling backwards into the arms of a third figure, who advances to catch him; and the kneeling bowman behind faces towards the centre, as if he too wished to defend the falling warrior. The figures in the corners lie apart, with their heads away from the angles.

It is evident that there is a good deal in such a conjectural restoration as this that cannot be certain; some figures are restored from but scanty fragments. But there is no doubt that it is right in the main features of the composition;

and the old conventional arrangement of the figures all facing toward the centre must disappear from our books, together with all the inferences as to the character of early pedimental compositions that have been drawn from it. Here, as elsewhere, the tendency of new discoveries is to show us that Greek sculpture had far more of life and variety, less of monotony and convention, than is commonly supposed. There have also been found some remains of other figures, similar to those in the pediments, but not forming part of them: it is conjectured by Professor Furtwängler that they may have belonged to another group designed in the competition for the pediments, and thought worthy of preservation. The suggestion is an interesting one; and we may perhaps recognise the groups rejected in competitions, but thought worth preserving, in other cases also.

Among recent discoveries of early sculpture, the most interesting are some statues accidentally found at Tigani, the port of the ancient town of Samos.1 These represent fully draped figures, one seated and one standing; and in style they are very similar to the well-known seated figures from Branchidae, on the opposite coast, which are now in the British Museum and the Louvre. Only the standing one has its head left; both show the heavy and massive proportions characteristic of early Ionic art. The seated figure has a peculiar interest from its inscription, which identifies it as Aeaces, the father of the tyrant Polycrates.

The discoveries of the Danish archaeologists, Dr. Kinch and Dr. Blinkenberg, at Lindus in Rhodes have incidentally settled a much-disputed question bearing on the relations of literature and art, the date of the Laocoön. It has been found that Athenodorus and Hagesander, two of the authors of this group, are mentioned on several dated inscriptions at Lindus, where they were among the most distinguished citizens, and were priests of Athena Lindia in 22 B.C. and 21 B.C. respectively. This was an office usually held by old 1 Mittheil. d. deutsch. Inst. Athen. 1906 (Wiegand and L. Curtius).