AT.E1KPATIII ATL1OEIAOT KIKTNETE EXOPII1111 AKAAIANTII 11.1.1.112N ENIKA 0ES2N IITAEI ATIIA-1111: AOlINAlOF EALIAIKE ETAINETOEHPXE Front this we may conclude, that on some solemn festival which was celebrated with games and plays, Eysicrates of Kikyna, a demos or borough-town of the tribe of A kamantis, did on behalf of his tribe, but at his own expense, exhibit a musical or theatrical entertainment ; in Which the boys of the tribe of Akamantis obtained the victory ; that in memory of their victory, this monument was erected ; and the name of the person at whose expense the entertainment was exhi bited, of the tribe that gained the prize, of the musician who accompanied the performers, and of the composer of the piece, are all recorded on it; to these the name of the annual archon is likewise added, in whose year of magistracy all this was transaeted. From which last circumstance it ap pears, that this building was erected above 330 years before tire Christian tent; in the time of Demosthenes, Apelles, Lysippus, and Alexander tire Great.
Round the frieze is represented the story of Bacchns and the Ty rihenian pirates. The figure of Bacchus himself, the fauns and satyrs who attend him on the manifestation of his divinity, the chastisement of the pirates, their terror, and their transformation into dolphins, are expressed in this basso-relievo with the greatest spirit and elegance. The cornice, which is otherwise very simple, is crowned with a sort of Vitiuvian scroll, instead of a cyinatium. It is re markable, that no cornice of au an•icnt building, actually existing. and decorated in this manner, has hitherto been published ; yet temples, crowned with this ornament, are frequently represented on medals; and there is an example much resembling it, among those ancient liaintings xvhich adorn a celebrated manuscript of Virgil, preserved in the 'Vatican library. This cornice is composed of several pieces
of marble, bound together by the cupola, which is of one entire piece.
The outside of the cupola is wrought With much delicacy ; it imitates a thatch, or covering, of laurel leaves; edged is ith a Vitruvian scroll, and enriched with other ornaments. in certain cavities on its upper surface, sonny ornament, now lost, probably a tripod, was originally placed.
It was the form of' the upper surface of the flower, and principally, indeed, the disposition ''1 four remarkable cavi ties in it, which first led to this disco\ (Ty. Three of them are cut tin the three principal projections of the upper surface; their disposition is that of the angles of an equilateral trian gle; in these the feet of the tripod w ere probably fixed. In the tintrth cavity, xvhieh is much the largest, and is in the centre of this upper surface, a baluster was in all likelihood inserted ; its use was to support the tripod.
It is well known that the games and plays which the an cient Grecians exhibited at the celebration of their greater festivals, were chiefly athletic exercises, and theatrie or mu sical performances; and that these made a very considerable, essential, and splendid part of the solemnity. In order, therefore, to engage a greater number of competitors, and to excite their emulation more effectually, prizes were al lotted to the victors ; and those prizes were generally exhi bited to public view during the time in which these games were celebrated.