This article presents three single-word inscriptions carved on blocks of the large retaining wall that supported the Classical temple of Hera at the Argive Heraion. Two of the inscriptions record the name Kleomachos, while the third presumably records the first three letters of a name beginning Epi… The inscriptions, which include local Argive letter forms characteristic of the mid-fifth century, appear on ordinary wall blocks in places where they could not have been read when the terrace was completed. From the evidence of similar inscriptions at Delphi, it is argued that the inscriptions at the Argive Heraion should be identified as the marks of local contractors responsible for supplying building material to the site at a time when the sanctuary was entering a major phase of expansion.

The climactic moment of Lucian's Necyomantia occurs when the ludic Cynic preacher, Menippus, finds Tiresias in Hades and poses to him the question which provoked his Homeric quest: what is the best way of life (ποῖόν τινα ήγεῖται τòν ἂριοτον βίον, 21)? The first part of the Theban's response is clear. He praises the life of ‘the ordinary guy’ (ό τῶν ὶδιωτῶ ἂριστος βίος . . .21) and urges the Cynic to ignore the philosophers with their metaphysical speculations and instead to pursue one end alone (τοῦτο μόνον έξ ἄριστος θηράσῃ, 21.3–4). It is this end, the kernel of Tiresias' wisdom, which has not been successfully construed by commentators.

Among the sepulchral epigrams comprising Book 7 of the Palatine Anthology, these two by Meleager occur in a sequence (189–216) having to do with animals, mainly birds or insects, that appears to derive from Meleager's Garland. The prose translation above will reveal that the interpretation to be proposed differs considerably from previous readings of either poem, specifically in that it runs counter to the following common beliefs or assumptions. 1. That the poems, while having many features in common, are to be read as two discrete works with no integral connection between them. 2. That the two epigrams, being non-sepulchral, are included in this part of the Anthology, perhaps erroneously and only by reason of their affinities with those insect poems that are sepulchral. 3. That the narrator of each epigram is a human being; the poet himself or some persona such as a ‘love-sick swain’. 4. That the addressee of each epigram is a pet, probably kept in a cage as such insects sometimes were, and so the vegetable mentioned in v. 7 of 195 is to be presented, along with the dew drops, by the human master. 5. That the phrase στóμασι σχιʒομένας in the final verse of 195 is difficult or impossible. (All attempts towards an explanation or emendation of the text are premised on points 2 and 3 above.) 6. That the word άντῳδόν in v. 5 of 196 indicates a response to a musical performance by Pan.

§ 33. Disputes between Venetians and Lombards.—In 1303 a subject of dissension arose between the Republic and the Lombard barons. It was probably about this time that Beatrice da Verona, who shared the Third of her father Giberto with her mother Maria, contracted a second marriage with John de Noyers, Lord of Maisy. Thus John became on his marriage lord of one Sixth, and as the Sixth of his mother-in-law Maria would revert on her death to Beatrice, he was prospectively lord of one Third. Moreover he was practically master for the present of the Sixth in the north of the island which had belonged to Beatrice's first husband Grapozzo, and was administered by her as guardian of her son Pietro. Hence John de Noyers was in a position to make his influence felt in Euboia; and being a man of energy he asserted himself. He assumed an independent attitude towards Venice.

A demand was made by the Lombard podestà in 1303 on a Venetian citizen named Meo, who resided in Lombard territory, to pay taxes. For twenty years he had been a resident in the island and never been called on to pay them before. The requisition is very plausibly ascribed by Hopf to the suggestion of John de Noyers.

The present bibliography, relating to the years 1950 and 1951, follows the same lines as those of former years. Books and articles which I know only at second hand are marked by an asterisk. My cordial thanks are due to those scholars who have lightened my burden by sending me copies of their works.

Death has inflicted severe losses on epigraphical studies. Adolf Wilhelm, who for more than half a century stood in the foremost rank of Greek epigraphists and maintained his tireless activity, despite increasing infirmity, until nearing his eighty-seventh year, died in Vienna on August 10, 1950. Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus tam cari capitis? J. J. E. Hondius, founder and editor of SEG and Secretary of the Epigraphical Congress which met at Amsterdam in 1938, died suddenly at the Hague on November 5, 1950, in his fifty-fourth year; in him ‘epigraphy has lost one of its most devoted and tireless servants, and all scholars in his field will mourn his passing’. Among others who have recently died are G. M. Bersanetti, E. Capps, E. Hermann, M. Launey, G. P. Oikonomos, A. Olivieri, A. Passerini, A. Stein, and N. Vulič. Further tributes have been paid to the work of P. Jouguet, A. Rehm, and P. Roussel.

In the course of discussing Kleisthenes' reforms, the author of the Athenaion Politeia makes the following statement:

And he made those who were currently living in each of the demes demesmen of one another, so that they would not examine the new citizens by calling out their patronymic, rather they would announce them by demes; and from this practice, the Athenians call themselves after their demes.