A Greek Votive Iynx-Wheel in Boston

A FOUR-SPOKED terracotta iynx-wheel (fig. 1), finely preserved, of Attic geometric style from the close of the eighth century B.C.,' found at Phaleron, was acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts in 1928.2 So far as I know, the object is unique.3 It scarcely can fail to charm and intrigue the layman, although it is of peculiar interest to the archaeologist and student of Greek literature, religion and magic. The wheel shows a pale, slightly pinkish, tan clay-biscuit, covered with a thin transparent slip. It is decorated above and below with linear patterns in semi-lustrous dark brown pigment, executed with careless facility, from the common ceramic repertory of the later geometric period.4 Seated in a ring on the upper surface of the rim are eleven plastic iynges, ('uyyES), 5 with small heads, tall elongated necks, and swelling vocal cords which indicate that the birds are giving their call.6 Two birds are almost wholly restored and minor portions of others are also modern.7 A twelfth bird, or perhaps a knob, formerly occupied the damaged blank space at the centre,8 but the injury leaves the lost object uncertain. All the birds are marked with rows of dots and with stripes which follow horizontally the wings and back and are vertical on the neck. An even more pronounced departure from their natural mottled and barred plumage 9 is evident in six of the iynges. Four together in front and two birds directly opposite are more elegantly ornamented than their fellows, each with a broad band across its body consisting of cross-hatched diamonds or pendent triangles. Checkerboard and lattice designs alternate on the spokes. Silhouetted on the thickness of the rim is an irregular, running zigzag. On the under side of the wheel (fig. 3) two closely grouped series of ten and twelve pendent leaves are separated by checkerboard intervals which divide the rim into four sectors. Checkerboard covers one of