III

GREEK HISTORY

I. Sources. (1) Literary.-A slight addition to our texts has appeared in a hundred lines of papyrus containing annalistic entries for the year 296-5 B.C., mostly in connexion with Athens.1 The editor, A. S. Hunt, tentatively ascribes the new chronicle to Phlegon of Tralles; but G. De Sanctis, who supplies some variant readings and interpretations, contends that its scale was Hellenistic rather than Hadrianic, and suggests that it forms part of Eratosthenes Ολυμπιονίκαι. 2

A notable edition of two leading pamphlets by Isocrates, the De Pace and the Philip, has been prepared by M. L. W. Laistner, who brings out their practical importance with quiet but effective emphasis.3 A new edition of the Oxyrhynchus historian by E. Kalinka provides a somewhat fuller text (especially in ch. 6), and a selection of parallel passages from other authors. 4 The edition of Aristotle's Constitution of Athens by Blass and Thalheim has been brought to date by H. Oppermann. 5 J. G. Milne's Catalogue of the Literary Papyri in the British Museum contains fifteen historical fragments, but only two of these, a snippet from Aristotle's Nouiμà Bapßapixà, and another from Ephorus Κρητῶν Πολιτεία, make any

1 Oxyrhynchus Papyri, vol. xvii. (1927), No. 2082.

2 Riv. Fil., 1928, p. 53-77.

3 Cornell Studies in Classical Philology, vol. xxii.; Longmans, 1927.

▲ Berlin and Leipzig: Teubner; 1927; 3m. 60.

5 Berlin and Leipzig: Teubner; 1928.

• British Museum Trustees; 1927; Nos. 102-116.

connected sense. F. Jacoby's Fragmente der griechischen Historiker has been enlarged by a commentary on the authors collected in last year's instalment (Y.W., 1926-7, p. 21). 1

Discussion on historical authors has been copious. F. Focke combats Jacoby's theory (in Paul. Wiss., s.v. Herodotus) that Herodotus was pr marily a geographer and owed his inspiration to Hecataeus: his intention all along was to write Пlepouά, and his Persian travels subserved this preconceived purpose. In his Archaeologie des Thukydides3 E. Täubler contends against Dionysius of Halicarnassus that bk. I., ch. 1-23 of Thucydides were an ineluctable consequence of the historian's mental development; he finds the compelling motive, not in the influence of tragedy (like Mr. Cornford), but in that of the sophists. The claims of Cratippus to be the Oxyrhynchus historian, which Prof. Kalinka (in the above-named edition) on the whole accepts as valid, have been strengthened by W. K. Prentice, who defends him effectively against the charge of being an Alexandrine forger. Curiously enough Prof. Prentice concludes by identifying the historian with Theopompus, a now almost discarded hypothesis. The Anabasis of Xenophon has been placed in a somewhat new light by J. Morr, who explains it as propaganda in the style of Isocrates, with the object of showing up the essential weakness of Persia. 5 C. Wunderer's Polybios is a pleasant appreciation of Polybius' versatile talent. It hardly discusses the question of his credibility and takes little account of the occasional shifts in Polybius' point

Iom.

1 Vol. ii. BD; 2nd instalment; Berlin: Weidmann; p. 341-542 ;

2 Herodot als Historiker; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer; 1927; pp. 59; 4m. 3 Berlin and Leipzig: Teubner; 1927; pp. 139; 6m. paper, 8m. bound.

4 C.P., 1927, p. 399–408.

5 Wiener Studien, 1926-7, p. 186–201.

Leipzig: Dieterich; 1927; pp. 79.

of view. Count Uxkull Gyllenband's Plutarch und die griechische Biographie is a painstaking if not wholly conclusive attempt to disentangle the Hellenistic intermediaries of some fifth-century Lives.1 R. Laqueur's study of the documents in the Books of Maccabees tends to show that these, though requiring to be handled with care, were not wholesale forgeries."

3

(2) Epigraphic.-The chief new texts of historical interest are an epigram commemorating a Samian captain's prowess at the Eurymedon, and part of a land-law of a West Locrian town. The latter document throws light on Locrian family law and constitutions, and is a worthy pendant to the famous pair, Hicks and Hill Nos. 25 and 44. A new fragment of the constitutional text from Epidaurus further illustrates the relations between the affederate Greeks and the kings," and definitely confirms the prevalent theory that these latter were Antigonus I. and his son Demetrius. 5 The minor epigraphic novelties of recent date are reviewed in an exhaustive and conveniently arranged summary by M. W. Tod.

The Editio Minor of Inscriptiones Graecae has progressed as far as Vols. II. and III., part 2, fasc. 1.' This instalment, which has been prepared by J. Kirchner, contains the documents of the fourth-century executive boards at Athens, including the famous "naval inventories." The notable revision of the texts of the Athenian tribute-lists by A. B. West and B. D. Meritt has been extended by a

1 Stuttgart: Kohlhammer; 1927; pp. 120.

2 Hist. Zeit., No. 136 (1927), p. 229-252.

G. Klaffenbach and Hiller v. Gärtringen, A.M., 1926, p. 26–8, 153-4.

• Commentaries by its original editor, N. G. Pappadakis, in 'Apx. 'Ep., 1924, p. 119-141, and by Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, in Berl. Sitz., 1927, p. 7-17.

5 U. Wilcken, Berl. Sitz., 1927, p. 277-301.

'J.H.S., 1927, p. 182–217.

? Berlin Reimer; 1927; 100m.

comprehensive re-issue of the "first stele " (454/3-440/39 B.C.),1 and a separate edition of the list for 421 /0 B.C. The date of the " Callias decree " has been further discussed by W. Kolbe, who confidently ascribes it to 435 B.C.3 Prof. Kolbe's arguments converge upon those of G. H. Stevenson (J.H.S., 1924, p. 1-9), whose work is apparently unknown to him. R. Laqueur's Epigraphische Untersuchungen zu den griechischen Volksbeschlüssen contains some minute studies of the formulation of certain wellknown acts, from which the genesis of the acts themselves is reconstructed. The new constitution from Cyrene (see Y.W., 1926–7, p. 22) has received a valuable commentary at the hands of Th. Reinach, who assigns it to 321 B.C.5

II. General Histories.-The second volume in the third edition of Ed. Meyer's Geschichte des Altertums has now begun to appear. The first instalment (1600-1150 B.C.) deals mainly with Egypt, but also touches the corresponding portions of Greek pre-history." While emphasising the originality of Minoan culture, Prof. Meyer takes a sober view of the political importance of Cnossus. He lays stress on the power of Mycenae and enlarges on the genesis of Iliad and Odyssey; but he writes cautiously about Achaean enterprises on Asiatic soil.

Two supplementary volumes of the Cambridge Ancient History have appeared. These consist entirely of plates, and are intended to illustrate Vols. I.-IV. and Vols. V.-VI. of the text respectively. A large proportion of the illustrative material is Greek. Each object is accompanied with a short description.

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1 Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. 37 (1926), p. 55-98.

2 'Apx. 'Ep., 1924, P. 41-9.

3 Berl. Sitz., 1927, p. 319-331.

4 Berlin and Leipzig: Teubner; 1927; p. 211.

5 Rev. Arch., 1927, p. 1–32.

6 Berlin and Stuttgart: Cotta; 1928; pp. 620; 8 pls.; 28m. bound.

'Prepared by C. T. Seltman. Vol. ii.; 1928; pp. 120; 9s.

Vol. i.; 1927; PP. 394; 25s.

H. W. Household's Hellas is a good specimen of recent attempts to bring home the meaning of Greek civilisation to younger students by means of vivacious comment on leading episodes of Greek History. The two parts hitherto published carry the record down to Aegospotami and Plato. 1

III. Special Periods. (1) Prehistoric.-In the second volume of Sir Arthur Evans' Palace of Minos, sections 39 and 42, which trace the overseas connexions of the middle Minoan period, will be found of special interest from the historian's point of view.

The first two volumes of V. Bérard's Phéniciens et l'Odyssée in its revised form have now appeared. 3 In these the author restates and amplifies his theory that the Phoenicians were the earliest explorers of the Mediterranean. He disposes of the rival claims of the Cretans by suggesting that these came under the control of the Pharaohs who exercised their suzerainty by means of Phoenician viceroys. On the other hand, H. R. Hall reaffirms that the "Keftiu," the principal sea-folk of Egyptian monuments, hailed from Crete. 4

The Ionian migration has been further discussed by F. Bilabel, who follows recent tendencies in dating it back to the fourteenth century, but propounds a heresy in ascribing the earliest geometric pottery to the Ionians. 5

(2) To 500 B.C.-The tradition concerning the early Greek code-makers has been re-examined by F. E. Adcock, who draws a salutary distinction between our veracious

1 Dent; 1927; pp. 202 +184; 3s. 6d. each.

• Clarendon Press; 1927; I vol. in two parts; pp. 832, 28 pls., 67 figs.; £7 7s.

3 Paris: Colin; 1927; pp. 446 and 450; 7s. 6d. each.

4 Essays in Aegean Archaeology presented to Sir Arthur Evans, P. 31-41.

5 Geschichte Vorderasiens und Ägyptens vom 16ten bis zum 1oten Jahrhundert v. Chr., p. 380-408 (Heidelberg: Winter; 1927).