Historical studies

34
this year and have been recognised for a considerable
part of it This argument is quite unsound, in view
of the principle just stated.
64. The Tables. It seems desirable to publish
these tables, in spite of the imperfect nature of the
conclusions, as the material will be of service to any
one who can secure more hoards and work them out
in a similar manner, especially if thereby the rate of
wastage in the first century can be determined and
the gap between the second and third centuries be
bridged. 1 have entered all the years from the beginning
of the reign of Claudius, whether there arc any
coins belonging to them or not, for convenience of
reference, placing a mark O in front of any year of
which no tetradrachms arc known to exist. I have
omitted the earlier years, the 7th, iith, 14th, and
i8th to 23rd inclusive, of Tiberius, when tetradrachms
were struck, to save space, as no specimens of any of
these years occurred in any of these hoards :
THE ROMAN COINAGE OF ALEXANDRIA
indeed,
so far as I have observed, and my observation is
confirmed by the much wider experience of Signor
Dattari, tetradrachms of Tiberius are never found
associated in hoards with those of later reigns. The
dates are given by regnal years and years A.D.,
wliich are not coincident : the regnal years of
Roman emperors were reckoned in Kgypt on the
local kalendar, the year of which began on August
29th ;
and any fraction of a year from the accession of
an emperor to the following August 28th was counted
as his first regnal year.
To complete the record, it should be noted that
some of the hoards comprised a few coins which are
not given in the table, as follows :
Hoard ii. 2 Ptolemaic ; i bronze of Antoninus
Pius ; 75 tetradrachms of Nero of doubtful dates {^i.e.
coins so misstruck that the date, or an essential part
of it, is off the flan).
Hoard X. 2 Ptolemaic bronze ; 37 illegible tetra-
drachms.
Hoard xi. 5 Ptolemaic bronze; 31 illegible
tcdradrachms.
Hoard xii. 78 illegible tetradrachms.
Hoard xiii. 2 Ptolemaic silver ; i bronze of
Claudius ; 62
—
illegible tetradrachms ; 20 of doubtful
dates.
Hoard xiv. 4 illegible tetradrachms.
Hoard xv. 2 Ptolemaic bronze ;
drachms.
THE POTTERY KILNS AT MEMPHIS.
65. About twenty-five years ago, while examining
the mounds of Memphis, I noticed the site of the
kilns for glazed pottery by Kom Helul, at the south
end of the ruins (see map Memphis /, pi. i). I men-
tioned them to a friend ; and that unhappily resulted
in the site being plundered by another person who
had no interest in the technical questions to be studied,
and who merely looted for specimens, which have not
yet been published. So soon as Memphis was in my
hands I began excavation there, Mr. Wainwright
directing the men ; we cleared out a kiln containing
wasters, and published the results in Memphis I,
pp. 14, 15 ;
pis. xlix, 1. This year Mr. Bushe-Fox was
wishing to work on the Roman period, and so we
cleared over the whole site of the kilns. Naturally
very few good specimens were found, owing to the
previous looting. We secured a great variety of
fabrics, which were probably all made about the same
period, and serve to shew the contemporary types.
By W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
4
illegible tetra-
No coins were found ; but the 3C curves of the lamps
(pi. xiv) begin in the Julian period, so that we cannot
put the site before late Ptolemaic times, and it pro-
bably continued in use over the beginning of the
Roman age. If we date it to the 1st cent. B.C., that
probably covers the period of manufacture here.
The kilns all lie square one with another ; six of
them are within a space of 60 to 70 feet, but, as no
roadways were found, it is hardly of use to give the
plan here, in addition to the dimensions. The forms
are all square, with vertical sides.
Kiln