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The small circular Corinthian edifice, called among the common people the Lantern of Diogenes, [68] and erected, as we know from the inscription [69] on the architrave, to commemorate a choragic victory won by Lysikrates, son of Lysitheides, with a boy-chorus of the tribe Akamantis, in the archonship of Euainetos (B.C. 335/4), has long been one of the most familiar of the lesser remains of ancient Athens. The monument was originally crowned by the tripod which was the prize of the successful chorus, and it doubtless was one of many buildings of similar character along the famous "Street of Tripods." [70] It is the aim of this paper to show, that the earliest publications of the sculptured reliefs on this monument have given a faulty representation of them, owing to the transposition of two sets of figures; that this mistake has been repeated in most subsequent publications down to our day; that inferences deduced therefrom have in so far been vitiated; and that new instructive facts concerning Greek composition in sculpture can be derived from a corrected rendering of the original.

Footnote 67:[ (return) ] It is a pleasure to acknowledge my obligations to the Director of the School, Dr. Waldstein, who has kindly assisted me in the preparation of this paper by personal suggestions.

Footnote 68:[ (return) ] This does not exclude the tolerably well-attested fact, that the name "Lantern of Diogenes" formerly belonged to another similar building near by, which had disappeared by 1676.

Footnote 69:[ (return) ] C. 1. G. 221.

Footnote 70:[ (return) ] Cf. PAUS., I, 20, 1.

Although we are not now concerned either with the subsequent fortunes of the monument arid the story of its preservation, or with its architectural features and the various attempts which have been made to restore the original design, it may be convenient to recall briefly a few of the more important facts pertaining to these questions. The Monument of Lysikrates first became an object of antiquarian interest in 1669, when it was purchased by the Capuchin monks, whose mission had succeeded that of the Jesuits in 1658, and it was partially enclosed in their hospitium. [71] The first attempt to explain its purpose and meaning was made by a Prussian soldier, Johann Georg Transfeldt, who, after escaping from slavery in the latter part of 1674, fled to Athens, where he lived for more than a year. [72] Transfeldt deciphered the inscription, but was unable to decide whether the building was a "templum Demosthenis" or a "Gymnasium a Lysicrate * * * exstructum propter juventutem Atheniensem ex tribu Acamantia." [73] Much more important for the interpretation of the monument was the visit of Dr. Jacob Spon of Lyons, who arrived at Athens early in the year 1676. Spon also read the inscription, [74] and, from a comparison with other similar inscriptions, determined the true purpose of edifices of this class. [75] Finally the first volume of Stuart and Revett's Antiquities of Athens, which appeared in 1762, confirmed, corrected and extended Spon's results. Careful and exhaustive drawings accompanied the description of the monument.

Footnote 71:[ (return) ] SPON, Voyage, II, p. 244; LABORDE, Athènes, I, p. 75 and note 2.

Footnote 72:[ (return) ] MICHAELIS, Mitth. Athen., I, p. 103.