A history of the Athenian constitution to the end of the fifth century B.C.

That the dating of this kantharos to the end of the second century B.C. finds support in the inscriptions on its base may be strongly disputed. Leaving aside the arbitrary ascription of the M. TITINI of the vase to the republican officer of that name (see above), we may observe that the Greek inscription— a series of letters, the forms of which are claimed, without argument, to be of the second century B.C.—is expanded into a hexameter, ingeniously indeed, but with a result that strains credulity. To do this at all, the initial A must be discarded and explained as a maker's mark; but, although there is a gap between it and the following Y or T, a similar gap separates the final C from its preceding K. Both letters, therefore, should belong to the main body of the inscription, or neither does. Not all the letters are certainly what the editors wish them to be: those that they identify as Y, T, and r are very dubious. Why should supralineate Y appear first upright and then on its side, first without a tail and then with one? Not least, omicron must equal omega. All this Procrustean activity is in the interest of a restoration too hypothetical to win the confidence of even the most casual reader. Other restorations may be made with less (or more) plausibility: one may make of it a mark of ownership, a Christian dedication, or a curse, according to inclination. But in fact the letter-forms cannot even be claimed to belong to the second century with any assurance. Note the variable use of apices, the rounded letters, the monograms, the abbreviations, the shapes of Z and n. Of these features many may, indeed, be found in writing of the Hellenistic period, especially in the cursive script. But together in unison, as here, they suggest an attribution to the early imperial period, which coincides remarkably well with the artistic indications. To insist on dating them earlier is to press for the less natural interpretation in the face of the more natural one. A. G. WOODHEAD.