DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7897#0024
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stratus is generally dated a few years later (28), in the first year of the fifty
fifth Olympiad; but this objection has little weight, if we consider that Pisi-
stratus (29) possessed great influence in the government of the state, before
he usurped ostensibly the tyranny.
There might be reasons to place perhaps a few years later the date of the
archonship of Hippoclides (3o); but as a discussion of this sort is foreign to
the object, which is solely to determine approximatively the age of the vase,
we shall adopt the epoch of the origin of the Panathenoea, assigned by Eusebius.
It follows then, that the vase on which the old name of Athensea is related,
must be anterior by some few years at least to the third year of the fifty third
Olympiad, 562 years before the Christian aera. In fact, the rude style of design,
the archaic form of the letters and dialect of the inscription, and the indica-
tion of various early customs, correspond perfectly with such a remote origin.
The inscription previously referred to, sheAvs that the vase was a prize given
at the Athenaea, or minor and more ancient Panathenaea. Numerous ancient
testimonies relate (3i), that a vase filled with oil was the prize (aOXov) given
(28) Corsini, Fasti, Attici, torn, hi, page 91.
T29) Meursius, de Archon. Athen. lib. i, cap.
14 ; et in Pisistrato, cap. o.
(3o) The Hippoclides, under whose archon-
ship the Panathenaea were established, is the
same who was one of the suitors of Agariste,
daughter of Clislhenes, tyrant of Sicyon, and
rejected on account of his having danced in
an indecorous manner. Ilerodot. lib. vi, cap.
T26.-i3o. Athenseus, lib. xv, cap. 20.
Chronologists place this occurrence in the
third year of the fifty-second Olympiad, but
as Hippoclides was then very young, it is not
probable that he should have been elected
chief archon only four years afterwards, as he
would not have had the age required. It
is necessary therefore to suppose the journey
of Hippoclides to Sicyon some years sooner,
or his archonship later : in which case it
would coincide with the tyranny of Pisistratus.
Some refer the commencement of the usur-
pation of Pisistratus to the fiftieth Olympiad.
A singular instance of the uncertainty and
obscurity of the Athenian annals, is given by
Thucydides (lib. i, cap. 20, and lib vi, cap. 54)
who says, it was the common opinion of his
time, that Hipparchus, who was killed by Har-
modius and Aristogiton, was at the head of the
state; whereas in fact, it was Hippias, who as
eldest of the brothers, succeeded to the tyranny
of Pisistratus. Yet Thucydides wrote little more
than a century after the event, and at a time
when many persons still living, must have
received a true relation from their fathers, who
had been witnesses of it.
What should we think of the history of
our country, if it were matter of contestation
at the present day, whether Edward VI or
Mary succeeded to the crown on the death of
Henry VIII?
(3{) Suidas. Harpocration. Schol. in Pindar.
Nem. Od. x. Plutarch, in Solone.
On the silver coins of Athens, the amphora
on which the owl is placed, is a symbol of
Minerva, and alludes to those given at the Pa-
nathenaea ; and to the invention of oil ascribed
■1
\
4:
( 6
stratus is generally dated a few years later (28), in the first year of the fifty
fifth Olympiad; but this objection has little weight, if we consider that Pisi-
stratus (29) possessed great influence in the government of the state, before
he usurped ostensibly the tyranny.
There might be reasons to place perhaps a few years later the date of the
archonship of Hippoclides (3o); but as a discussion of this sort is foreign to
the object, which is solely to determine approximatively the age of the vase,
we shall adopt the epoch of the origin of the Panathenoea, assigned by Eusebius.
It follows then, that the vase on which the old name of Athensea is related,
must be anterior by some few years at least to the third year of the fifty third
Olympiad, 562 years before the Christian aera. In fact, the rude style of design,
the archaic form of the letters and dialect of the inscription, and the indica-
tion of various early customs, correspond perfectly with such a remote origin.
The inscription previously referred to, sheAvs that the vase was a prize given
at the Athenaea, or minor and more ancient Panathenaea. Numerous ancient
testimonies relate (3i), that a vase filled with oil was the prize (aOXov) given
(28) Corsini, Fasti, Attici, torn, hi, page 91.
T29) Meursius, de Archon. Athen. lib. i, cap.
14 ; et in Pisistrato, cap. o.
(3o) The Hippoclides, under whose archon-
ship the Panathenaea were established, is the
same who was one of the suitors of Agariste,
daughter of Clislhenes, tyrant of Sicyon, and
rejected on account of his having danced in
an indecorous manner. Ilerodot. lib. vi, cap.
T26.-i3o. Athenseus, lib. xv, cap. 20.
Chronologists place this occurrence in the
third year of the fifty-second Olympiad, but
as Hippoclides was then very young, it is not
probable that he should have been elected
chief archon only four years afterwards, as he
would not have had the age required. It
is necessary therefore to suppose the journey
of Hippoclides to Sicyon some years sooner,
or his archonship later : in which case it
would coincide with the tyranny of Pisistratus.
Some refer the commencement of the usur-
pation of Pisistratus to the fiftieth Olympiad.
A singular instance of the uncertainty and
obscurity of the Athenian annals, is given by
Thucydides (lib. i, cap. 20, and lib vi, cap. 54)
who says, it was the common opinion of his
time, that Hipparchus, who was killed by Har-
modius and Aristogiton, was at the head of the
state; whereas in fact, it was Hippias, who as
eldest of the brothers, succeeded to the tyranny
of Pisistratus. Yet Thucydides wrote little more
than a century after the event, and at a time
when many persons still living, must have
received a true relation from their fathers, who
had been witnesses of it.
What should we think of the history of
our country, if it were matter of contestation
at the present day, whether Edward VI or
Mary succeeded to the crown on the death of
Henry VIII?
(3{) Suidas. Harpocration. Schol. in Pindar.
Nem. Od. x. Plutarch, in Solone.
On the silver coins of Athens, the amphora
on which the owl is placed, is a symbol of
Minerva, and alludes to those given at the Pa-
nathenaea ; and to the invention of oil ascribed