Note 429 — Chapter XIII · MYTH IN THE HOMERIC POEMS.

By this of course I do not mean that the inscriptions give an absolutely faithful reproduction of the local pronunciation, any more than do those of the Aetolians. From the fourth century onwards 'phonetic spelling' appears to have been superseded in most parts of Greece. No earlier inscriptions, representing the Achaean dialect in its purity, have been found as yet. From Thetonion however, near Cierion in Thessaliotis, about twenty miles north of the border, we have an inscription of the fifth century (C. I. G., XII ii 257) in a curious mixed dialect, which combines north-western Greek and Thessalian (Aeolic) characteristics in the proportion of about 7:3 (or 4). The evidence of this inscription seems to me to dispose definitely of the hypothesis that the introduction of north-western Greek into this region was due to the influence of the Aetolian League. Even the dialect of Pharsalos is not quite pure Thessalian.