of painstaking study led to the
more rational principles of modern archaeologists.

[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Jug from Cyprus of Oriental style, 10 in.
high.]

_Sites and Discoveries_.--The sites on which Greek vases have been
found cover the whole area of the Mediterranean and beyond, from the
Crimea to Spain, and from Marseilles to Egypt. By far the great
majority, at all events of the finer specimens, have been extracted
from the tombs of Vulci and other sites in Etruria; those of the later
period or decadence have been found in large numbers on various sites
in southern Italy, such as Capua, Curnae and Nola in Campania, Anzi in
Lucania, and Ruvo in Apulia. In the western Mediterranean, Sicily has
also been a fruitful field for this pottery, early varieties being
found at Syracuse, later ones at Gela, Girgenti and elsewhere. Painted
vases have also come to light in Sardinia and in North Africa,
especially in the Cyrenaica, where the finds mostly belong to the 4th
century B.C. In Greece proper the most prolific site has been Athens,
where the finds extend from the Dipylon vases of the 8th century B.C.
down to the decadent productions of the 4th century; one group, that
of the white funeral _lekythoi_, is almost peculiar to Athens. Next to
this city, Corinth has been most productive, especially in pottery of
the archaic period and of local manufacture. Large quantities of
pottery of all periods have been yielded by Thebes, Tanagra and other
sites in Boeotia, and remains of the "Mycenaean" period at Mycenae,
Argos and elsewhere. But on the whole painted pottery is rare in other
parts of the mainland. Among the western islands of the archipelago,
Aegina and Euboea have proved fruitful in vases of all periods; Thera,
Melos and others of the Cyclades are remarkable for pottery of the
prehistoric period with rudely painted designs; and above all Crete is
now famous for the wondrous series of painted and ornamented pottery
of pre-Mycenacan date, which can be traced back even to the Neolithic
period, and the discovery of which has entirely revolutionized the
preconceived theories on the appearance of painted pottery in Greece.
This has been found in the recent excavations at Cnossus, Palaeokastro
and elsewhere. In Asia Minor there have been some important finds on
the mainland, but only along the coast; some of the islands, more
especially Samos and Rhodes, ha