4 NOVEMBER 1911, Page 45

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.]

Annual of the British School at Athens, 1909-1910. (Macmillan and Co. 25s. net.)—Though there is nothing of the first interest in this volume, yet there are matters well worth noting. A. further instalment of discoveries in Sparta and elsewhere in Laconia is given. Then we have some fragments of building accounts from Athens throwing a light on the history of Phidias. One refers to the pediment work at the Parthenon. It records a payment to the " sculptors." The plural is significant as indicat- ing that Phidias was in disgrace. We know that he was accused in 438 of dishonest dealing in respect of the ivory of the great chryselephantine statue of Athena, and that he was found guilty of the offence some time after 434 B.c. We may infer, then, that though he had planned the design the actual sculptures had been executed by pupils. There is an interesting paper on " Some Dorian Descendants," Mr. Charles H. Hawes telling the results of his inquiries at Sphakia in Crete, in lllyria, and at Tsakonia in the Morea.