Excavations of the American School at Athens.

The excavations now in progress in Attica are under the supervision of Mr. Buck of Yale. It will be remembered that last year a theatre, with its orchestra and stage, was excavated at Sicyon. The work at present is going on near the ruins of a Byzantine church. In the apseof the church a choragic monument was found, upon whose architraive were the names of those patrons of the chorus who erected it in commemoration of a triumph in a literary competition. Outside the church a marble seat or throne was unearthed, while near it there were traces of votin slabs and statues to the number of fifteen. The most important of these is a life-size statue of a male, supposed to be the statue of the Sanctuary, at which so many offerings were made. Another theory is that it is the statue of the Dionysius, which stood in the Temple of Icaria. The prevalence of slabs containing the inscription "Dionysius" would tend to show that the latter theory is correct.

At some distance from the main excavations were brought to light a female head, the torso of a draped statue of a woman, and a tombstone very beautifully inscribed. The good workmanship exhibited by this gravestone, the admirable style of the bas-reliefs, the ancient manner of spelling exemplified in the inscription, makes it probable that these works belong to the period between the fourth century before and the second century after Christ. The three bas-reliefs mentioned above are interesting to the archaeologists. The first of these contains three figures, two standing and one sitting. They represent the scene of parting so familiar and appropriate to Athenian tombs. The second of the reliefs represents a bearded and middle aged man, with his staff resting on his left arm. The third represents a lady, extremely beautiful, whose right arm is lying gracefully upon her lap. Like the sitting figure on an inferior funeral bas-relief now in the Central Museum of Athens, she is represented in the act of raising delicately from her breast the frail fabric in which she is enveloped.

Such is the result of a few of the more important excavations. The work progresses daily and the result is highly complimentary to the energy and activity of the directors of the school.