were severally so many records of their faith and worship. Like the hieroglyphics of Egypt, they were the signs of a language perhaps known only to the priests; but it was circumscribed by the most rigid canons; and, while the matchless beauty of the workmanship demanded admiration, the sanctity of the symbolical representation excited reverence.

With regard to the great antiquity of those pictured vases, as a proof that the author does not err in referring some of them to the most remote periods of the Grecian history, he has only to mention the style of writing which they sometimes exhibit. In this view of the subject, a vase discovered by Mr. Burgon, and now in his possession, is doubly valuable; because the inscription it has preserved', while it manifests the great antiquity of the vase itself, also makes known, in the most satisfactory manner, the uses to which these vessels were appropriated, before they were placed within the sepulchres. It

(1) For the description of this remarkable Vase, and the inscription found upon it, the author is entirely indebted to Thomas Burgon, Esq. of Smyrna; who not only supplied him with a fac-simile of the inscription, but also brought to Cambridge his own valuable designs, faithfully copied from the original vase, which is at present in Turkey.

represents on one side a charioteer, seated in his car, drawn by two horses in full speed; he is urging them with a goad which he bears in his right hand, and guiding them with a long wand; this he holds in his left hand, and to the extremity of it two balls are fastened. Upon the other side is seen the image of Minerva, represented by a picture so uncommonly antient, that nothing like it has ever appeared. The painting consists of three colours; a dingy red, black, and white. The figure of Minerva is delineated in the black colour; but her attire is red, and her face, hands, and feet, are white. Instead of a helmet, she wears upon her head the red fez, now in use among the Modern Greeks; from the top of which a crest rises, like that of a helmet. Instead of the Gorgon upon her shield, a Dolphin is represented; thereby denoting her antient relationship to Venus and Astarte. Her hair falls straight down her back; and it is collected into a queue, pointed at the end': this part of the design is traced in a wavy zig-zag outline, which is purely Etruscan. The same may be said of her zone, and the border of her red petticoat,

(2) It is said, that there is only one other example known where the Charioteer is represented in a sitting posture."

(3) Exactly like the manner in which the Chinese wear their hair. VOL. VII.

b

upon which the labyrinthine maze is figured, but
in the dryest Etruscan taste. Instead of an Owl
above her head, appears a Harpy: there is,
however, an Owl over the figure of the charioteer.
Minerva is represented in the act of combating:
and before the figure of the Goddess-that is to
say, upon the left hand of the spectator-the
following inscription appears, written vertically,
instead of horizontally, and from right to left:

IMJNOVOAMOGNJOAMOT

signifying either

I AM A PRIZE GIVEN BY ATHENS

or, supposing AOENEON to mean the festival,
I AM THE PRIZE OF THE ATHENEA

The oldest form of writing was that from right to left, as it here appears: the Greeks derived it from the Phoenicians. Next they wrote βουστροφηδόν; and afterwards wholly from left to right. This vase, as it is evident, was a prize obtained at Athens, because it bears the " arms and crest" of the city, in the images of Minerva and the Owl. Probably it was gained at the festival, when competitors came from all parts of Greece, and the victors received vogías filled with oil, which were vessels made of terra-cotta,

and painted, as it appears from the following curious passage of Pindar, thus rendered by the author's learned friend the Rev. Charles James Blomfield, when corresponding with him upon the subject of this truly archaic inscription:

“The songs have twice proclaimed him victor "in the festivals of the ATHENIANS; and the pro"duce of the olive, contained in burned earth, has come to ARGOS in the variegated circumference "of vases"."

It is not unlikely that the word AOENEON alludes to this great festival; called Athenæa before the title of rà 'Alaia was changed to τὰ Παναθήναια. This is said to have happened after the time of Theseus or Ericthonius"; although the term τὰ ̓Αθηναία occurs in the modern Scholiast on Aristophanes. According to Mr. Blomfield, the word in question is the old genitive, from 'Alva. Yet it must be

(1) Vid. Nem. X. 67.

(2) Where see the Scholiast.

(3) Ister in Harpocrat, v. Havabývaïa, et Pausanias viii. 2. See Meursius Panath, p. 2. et Schol. Platon. p. 59.

(4) Hom. Od. y. 278. Aristoph. Nub. 400. (See Porson's Coll. of the MS. Harl. p. 14.) Zouvier äxgov 'Alavis. Euphorio ap. Hermog. MS. Caio Gonv. 'Abgraíws, i. e. 'Abnyban, Note by Mr. Blomfield.

. . p. 248. árgía düpor 'Abnvär. which is the true reading.

observed, that the use of AOAON with the genitive of a city is very unusual; and another learned Hellenist, R. P. Knight, Esq. believes that it never was thus used, nor with any other 'Aywvoters. Mr. Knight adheres to the opinion that AOENEON means the festival; but he does not carry back the antiquity of the vase much beyond the sixtieth Olympiad, five hundred and thirty-six years before the Christian æra: allowing, however, for the age of this remark-` able vase, a period equal to two thousand three hundred and fifty-one years.

It remains now to add a few words respecting the other subjects treated of in this and the preceding Sections of PART THE SECOND. A casual reader, who has not considered the importance of attending to every object likely to serve as a land-mark in fixing the topography and geography of GREECE, may perhaps think that too much attention has sometimes been bestowed upon the existence of a fountain; or of a bridge over an insignificant stream; or of a tumulus; or of the capital or shaft of a Doric or of an Ionic column; or any other apparently trivial relic connected withi the antient history of the country;-not being