Pollux, vi. 103; x. 115.
Footnote 379:
_Loc. cit. supr._
Footnote 380:
_Bull. dell’ Inst._ 1868, p. 59.
Footnote 381:
Probably an imitation of the projections on bronze lamps, to which
chains for suspension were attached. See on this type _Amer. Journ.
of Arch._ 1903, p. 338 ff.
Footnote 382:
Newton, _Travels and Discoveries_, ii. p. 184=_Discoveries_, ii. pt.
2, p. 395.
Footnote 383:
Barker and Ainsworth, _Lares and Penates_, p. 201.
Footnote 384:
See _C.I.L._ iii. Suppl. No. 7310.
Footnote 385:
_Div. Inst._ ii. 11.
Footnote 386:
Juvenal, xi. 116; Propertius, v. 1, 5; Ovid, _Fast._ i. 202.
Footnote 387:
_H.N._ xxxiv. 34.
Footnote 388:
_H.N._ xxxv. 151.
Footnote 389:
_Leg. pro Christ._ 17, 293, _ed._ Migne; see Blümner, _Technologie_,
ii. p. 129, note 2.
Footnote 390:
_H.N._ xxxv. 153.
Footnote 391:
_Ibid._ 156.
Footnote 392:
_Apotheosis_, 458. See generally Blümner, ii. p. 140 ff.
Footnote 393:
Pollux, x. 189; Hesych., _s.v._; _Ber. d. sächs. Gesellsch._ 1854, p.
42; Blümner, ii. pp. 42, 117; and cf. p. 153 below.
Footnote 394:
Tertull. _Apol._ 12; _ad Nat._ i. 12.
Footnote 395:
_Anim. Gener._ ii. 6; _Hist. Anim._ iii. 5.
Footnote 396:
Plut. _De profect. in virt._ 17, p. 86 A; _Quaest. conviv._ ii. 3, 2,
p. 636 C.
Footnote 397:
_De permut._ 2.
Footnote 398:
_Fab._ 137 (Teubner).
Footnote 399:
_Phil._ i. 9, § 47.
Footnote 400:
_Anth. P._ vi. 280.
Footnote 401:
_Phaedr._ 230 B.
Footnote 402:
Brongniart, _Traité_, i. p. 305.
Footnote 403:
_Op. et Di._ 60: ἐκλευσε ... γαῖαν ὕδει φύρειν.
Footnote 404:
_Anth. P._ xvi. 191.
Footnote 405:
_Statuettes de Terre Cuite_, p. 251.
Footnote 406:
_Cat. of Terracottas_, E 1 ff.
Footnote 407:
See also for some interesting moulds from Girgenti, _Röm. Mitth._
xii. (1897), p. 253 ff. Similar specimens have been found at Kertch
and Smyrna.
Footnote 408:
See also on the subject C. C. Edgar, _Greek Moulds_ (_Cat. du Musée
du Caire_, viii. 1903), pls. 23–8, 33, p. xiv ff. These moulds are
nearly all made of plaster; but the account there given of the
technical processes would hold good of terracotta moulds.
Footnote 409:
_Op. cit._ p. 254.
Footnote 410:
_Poplic._ 13: see Chapter XVIII.
Footnote 411:
_Lexiph._ 22.
Footnote 412:
vii. 163.
Footnote 413:
_Cat._ B 458–59, D 392.
Footnote 414:
See Blümner, _Technologie_, iv. p. 464 ff.
Footnote 415:
Hirt, _Gesch. d. bild. Kunst_, p. 165.
Footnote 416:
Pliny (_H.N._ xxxvi. 189) mentions one Agrippa who painted in
encaustic on terracotta: see Chapter XIX. for possible examples of
this process.
Footnote 417:
Schöne, _Gr. Reliefs_, p. 62.
Footnote 418:
_Sitzungber. d. k. bayer. Akad. Phil. Cl._ 1883, p. 299 ff.
Footnote 419:
See for those from Athens _J.H.S._ xvii. p. 306 ff.
Footnote 420:
iv. 55.
Footnote 421:
_De Mundo_, 6, 398.
Footnote 422:
See on the subject Hermann, _Lehrbuch d. gr. Altert._ iv. (1882), p.
295; Blümner, _Technol._ ii. p. 123; Baumeister, _Denkm._ ii. p. 778.
Footnote 423:
A _Corpus_ of all the known types of terracotta statuettes has
recently been published by the German Archaeological Institute,
edited by Dr. F. Winter (_Typen der figürlichen Terrakotten_, 2 vols.
1903).
Footnote 424:
Cf. the types on painted vases, Vol. II. Chapter XII. (Eleusinian
deities).
Footnote 425:
Paus. viii. 15, 3.
Footnote 426:
B.M. B 258, 410.
Footnote 427:
B.M. B 256, 286, 335.
Footnote 428:
B.M. B 359: cf. p. 344.
Footnote 429:
_J.H.S._ vii. p. 9 ff.
Footnote 430:
_J.H.S._ vi. pl. 61.
Footnote 431:
Cesnola, _Cyprus_, p. 102; _B.M. Excavations in Cyprus_, p. 35, fig.
63.
Footnote 432:
_B.M. Excavations_, p. 22, pl. 3.
Footnote 433:
See Pottier, _Louvre Cat._ i. p. 150; Dumont-Pottier, i. p. 193;
Perrot, _Hist. de l’Art_, iii. pl. 5.
Footnote 434:
Roberts, _Gk. Epigraphy_, i. p. 192.
Footnote 435:
Cf. _J.H.S._ iv. p. 11. Heuzey, however, thinks that the Phoenicians
imitated the Greek painted examples of this time (such as A 1117 ff.
in B.M.). Cf. _Gaz. Arch._ 1880, p. 159.
Footnote 436:
Good examples are given in Perrot, _Hist. de l’Art_, iii. p. 676;
_Gaz. Arch._ 1880, pl. 28 (in Louvre, from Corinth); _Ath. Mitth._
1879, pl. 19: cf. also Berlin 1288–91, and many examples in B.M.
(First Vase Room). On one from Kos was found the name of Apries
(599–569 B.C.). See also _Naukratis I_. pl. 2, figs. 6–18.
Footnote 437:
Perrot, _Hist. de l’Art._ iii. pl. 6.
Footnote 438:
_B.M. Excavations_, p. 69, fig. 99.
Footnote 439:
Furtwaengler, _Coll. Sabouroff_, i. pl. 70, fig. 3 (with text); Rayet
and Collignon, p. 374.
Footnote 440:
See _Journ. des Savans_, March 1862, p. 163; _Rev. Arch._ vii.
(1863), p. 259 (name of Ptolemy wrongly read as Kleopatra); _Arch.
Zeit._ 1869, p. 35; Rayet and Collignon, p. 372.
Footnote 441:
_Gazette des Beaux-Arts_, Nov. 1876, p. 385 ff.
Footnote 442:
Von Rohden, _Terracotten von Pompeii_, p. 29.
Footnote 443:
Hettner in _Festschr. für J. Overbeck_, p. 169.
Footnote 444:
_Archaeologia_, xxxii. p. 452 (Ewell); British Museum, Romano-British
Room, Case H.
Footnote 445:
Mazard, _De la connaissance par les anciens des glaçures
plombifères_; cf. Blümner, _Technol._ ii. p. 89.
Footnote 446:
On the subject generally see Dumont-Pottier, i. chap. xiii.; Rayet
and Collignon, p. 365 ff.; Daremberg and Saglio, _s.v._ Figlinum, p.
1131; and for the Graeco-Roman enamelled wares, _Bonner Jahrbücher_,
xcvi. p. 117, and Mazard, _op. cit._, where a full description and
list of examples is given.
CHAPTER IV
_USES AND SHAPES OF GREEK VASES_
Mention of painted vases in literature—Civil and domestic use of
pottery—Measures of capacity—Use in daily life—Decorative
use—Religious and votive uses—Use in funeral ceremonies—Shapes
and their names—Ancient and modern classifications—Vases for
storage—Pithos—Wine-amphora—Amphora—Stamnos—Hydria—Vases for
mixing—Krater—Deinos or Lebes—Cooking-vessels—Vases for pouring
wine—Oinochoe and variants—Ladles—Drinking-cups—Names recorded by
Athenaeus—Kotyle—Skyphos—Kantharos—Kylix—Phiale—Rhyton—
Dishes—Oil-vases—Lekythos—Alabastron—Pyxis—Askos—Moulded vases.
Those who are acquainted with the enormous number of painted vases now
gathered together in our Museums, showing the important part they must
have played in the daily life of the Greeks and the high estimation in
which they were clearly held, as evidenced by the great care bestowed
on their decoration and the pride exhibited by artists in their signed
productions, may feel some surprise that so few allusions to them can
be traced in classical literature. Such passages as can be interpreted
as referring to them may actually be counted on the fingers of one
hand, and even these are but passing allusions; while any full
descriptions of vases, such as that in Theocritus' first Idyll or some
of those in Athenaeus’ Book XI., almost invariably refer to metal vases
with chased designs. Nor can we trace any reference to known potters or
artists in literature or documents, save in a few inscriptions recently
found at Athens, which are, of course, of secondary importance for
literary history.
More general allusions to pottery and its use in daily life are common
enough, and it would hardly be profitable to quote all such passages in
detail; many indeed, such as the early allusion to the potter’s wheel
in the _Iliad_ (see p. 207), have found a place elsewhere in this work.
The passage of Homer at all events supplies proof, if such were needed,
that the use of the wheel was known in early times in Greece.
Of undoubted references to painted vases there are but two, though both
of them are particularly interesting, as they refer to well-known
special classes of Attic vases. The earlier of the two is in Pindar’s
tenth Nemean Ode,[447] in which he celebrates the victory of Thiaios of
Argos, who had twice been successful in the Panathenaic games at
Athens. He says:
γαία δὲ καυθείσα πυρὶ καρπος ἐλαίας
ἔμολεν Ἤρας τὸν ευάνορα λαόν, ἐν ἀγγέων ἔρκεσι παμποικίλοις.[448]
These prize-vases are also mentioned by Simonides of Keos:
καὶ Παναθηναίοις στεφάνους λάβε πέντ’ ἐπ’ ἀέθλοις
ἑξῆς ἀμφιφορεῖς ἐλαίου.[449]
The other passage, from the _Ecclesiazusae_ of Aristophanes (l. 996),
is equally well known. One speaker, in somewhat contemptuous terms,
alludes to “the fellow who paints the lekythi for the dead”:
ὃς τοῖς νεκροῖσι ζωγραφεῖ τοὺς ληκύθους.[450]
These lekythi may with certainty be identified with the white Athenian
variety decorated with appropriate subjects and made specially for
funerals (see Chapter XI.). The best examples of this class belong to
the very period at which the _Ecclesiazusae_ was written (392 B.C.),
but most of them show signs of being hastily executed or made to be
sold at a low price. It is probably for this reason that the speaker
implies his contempt for the painter, although at the same time it
seems likely that vase-painters, like all craftsmen, were looked down
upon by the Athenians of that day, in spite of the real beauty and
artistic merit of their productions.
One or two doubtful allusions must next be considered. The lyric poet
Alcaeus, who flourished 610–580 B.C., seems to allude to painted vases,
but the reading is very doubtful. The passage is read by Bergk as
follows (_Poet. Lyr. Graec._ iii. p. 165, frag. 41):
κἀδ δ' ἄειρε κυλίχναις μεγάλαις, αἴτ’ ὄτι, Οἶκι, λαῖς·
... ἔγχεε κίρναις ἔνα καὶ δύο
πλέαις κὰκ κεφάλας, ἁ δ’ ἀτέρα τῶν ἀτέρων κύλιξ
ὠθήτω.[451]
Ahrens[452] read αἶψα ποϊκίλαι for αἴτ’ ὄτι, Οἶκι, λαῖς, and other
versions have been suggested. Bergk’s reading is very uncouth, and it
certainly seems as if ποϊκίλαις was intended, whatever the preceding
word. If it is allowed to stand, it obviously implies _painted_ vases,
as in the παμποικίλοις of Pindar.
In the speech of Demosthenes _De Falsa Legatione_ (p. 415) occurs a
passage which is generally taken as having reference to painted vases:
καὶ σύ, Φιλόχαρες, σὲ μὲν τὰς ἀλαβαστοθήκας γράφοντα καὶ τὰ τύμπανα,
“And you, Philochares, who paint the alabastos-stands and the
pediments.” The word ἀλαβαστοθήκη is commonly supposed to describe a
stand with holders for pots of perfume (also called κέρνος, see below,
p. 195), although most painted examples of this vase found in Greece
are of very early date. The τύμπανα are more easy of explanation, being
the triangular pediments of temples, which, like the metopes of the
so-called Theseion at Athens and those at Thermon (p. 92), were no
doubt often adorned with paintings in place of sculpture.
Other passages, if they do not actually refer to painted or even to
fictile vases, are at least of value as giving information as to the
current names for those in every-day use, or as to various purposes for
which they were used. Reference will be made to many of these in the
course of the chapter.
Suetonius in his Life of Caesar (§ 81) describes how the colonists who
were sent out under the _Lex Julia_ to build new houses were destroying
ancient tombs for the purpose when they came upon remains of ancient
pottery (_aliquantum vasculorum operis antiqui_), the discovery of
which caused them to redouble their efforts in the work of destruction.
Similarly Strabo[453] tells us that when Julius Caesar sent colonists
to rebuild Corinth they came upon tombs containing large quantities of
ὀστράκινα τορεύματα, which they nicknamed “Necrocorinthia.” The meaning
of this expression is somewhat doubtful, but the word τορεύματα seems
to imply chased or relief work, and it is probable that these were not
painted vases, but Hellenistic ware with reliefs, like the so-called
Megarian bowls.[454] The latter can be identified, by means of their
subjects, with the _scyphi Homerici_ of which Nero was so fond;
Suetonius tells us that they were so named _a caelatura carminum
Homeri_, from the subjects from Homer’s poems carved in relief upon
them.[455] The _scyphi_ were doubtless of metal, the use of which was
confined to the wealthy and luxurious, while the so-called Megarian
bowls and similar ware were copied from them in the cheaper material
for the use of the humbler classes.
We see, then, that classical literature throws but little light on the
uses made of painted vases as such by the Greeks. But we are by no
means ill supplied with information as to the uses of pottery in
general, about which evidence may be obtained both from the vases
themselves and from innumerable passages in ancient writers or the
commentaries of the scholiasts and lexicographers. This question is
more or less bound up with that of the different shapes and names of
vases, of which some 150 have been handed down by Athenaeus, Pollux,
and other writers, and these will be considered in detail subsequently.
For the present it may suffice to say a few words on what is known of
the use of pottery in general and of painted vases in particular.
As most of the vases hitherto known have been discovered in tombs, it
would at first sight appear that they were exclusively destined for
sepulchral purposes; but this seems to have been in many cases only a
subsequent use of them, and they doubtless also found a place among the
wants of daily life. That this is true of the plain unglazed or
unpainted pottery goes indeed without saying; in regard to the painted
vases the question is, in view of the scanty literary evidence, more
difficult to decide.
[Illustration:
FIG. 14. HEMIKOTYLION (VASE USED AS MEASURE).
BRITISH MUSEUM.
]
As the civil and domestic use of pottery is the most important, it is
necessary to consider it first. For ordinary purposes earthenware
largely took the place of bronze and the precious metals, just as it
does at the present day. One instance of this we have already quoted in
speaking of the “Homeric bowls,” and others might be cited, in
particular its use for measures, for which metal would naturally be
employed as a general rule. This usage is established by the occasional
discovery of vases inscribed with the names of measures and the like.
The British Museum possesses a small one-handled cup of black glazed
ware (F 595 = Fig. 14) found in the island of Cerigo (Kythera), on
which is incised in fifth-century lettering the word [ΗΕΜΙΚΟΤΥΛΙΟΝ],
ἡμικοτύλιον, or “half-kotyle.” The word κοτύλη is interesting as
denoting not only a shape of a drinking-cup (see below, p. 184), but a
Greek measure, equivalent to about half a pint. Again, in 1867, a
cylindrical vase of red ware was found at Athens inscribed [ΔΗΜΟΣΙΟΝ],
δημόσιον, or “public (measure).”[456] It was stamped with the figure of
an owl and an olive-branch, the official seal of Athens, and has been
supposed to represent the χοῖνιξ or quart, its capacity having been
estimated at 0·96 litres, or 1¾ pints, while the χοῖνιξ is generally
reckoned as equivalent to 1 litre.[457]
Many of the names in common use for shapes of vases are also found
applied to measures of capacity either for liquid or dry stuffs; and it
is possible that herein lies the explanation of the somewhat puzzling
_graffiti_ inscriptions found under the feet of Attic vases (see
Chapter XVII.), where the words used seem to have no relation to the
vase itself. Thus in liquid measure the amphora (ἀμφορεύς) or κάδος,
also known as μετρητής, was equivalent to about 7½ gallons, and was
divided into 12 χόες, the χοῦς into 12 κοτύλαι, which, as we have seen,
answer to our ½-pints. The ὀξύβαφο was one-fourth of a κοτύλη, the
κύαθος one-sixth.[458] All these words were in common use to express
various forms of vases, as will be seen later on. Further, the word
κεράμιον, which, like the Latin _testa_, is used generally for pottery,
has a more restricted sense of a cask or vessel used for transporting
wine, and is even used as a term of measure, presumably equivalent to
the amphora.[459]
Earthenware was also used generally for the purpose of storing liquids
or various kinds of food, for the preparation of food and liquids, and
for the uses of the table or toilet. The painted ware, however, was not
employed for the commoner purposes, nor to contain large quantities of
liquids, for which it would have been far too expensive. But we know
that it was largely used at banquets and drinking-bouts, and on other
occasions, from the evidence of the vases themselves. Thus, in the
well-known vase with the Harpies robbing the blind Phineus of his food
(p. 357), a kotyle painted with black figures is seen in the king’s
hands; and in a scene representing the reception of Paris by
Helen,[460] the former is offered wine drawn from a large four-handled
vase on which figures are painted.[461] Vases with subjects represented
on them are also seen placed on columns forming the background of
scenes, as if forming part of the furniture of a hall or chamber. But
as a general rule the vases represented in banquet scenes and elsewhere
are left plain or only decorated with patterns.
To the use of vases in connection with athletic games we have already
alluded in discussing Pindar’s mention of the Panathenaic amphorae; it
is, of course, likely that other forms of vases were also given as
prizes or presented to young men on special occasions, such as entering
the ranks of the ἔφηβοι or being married, but we have no evidence of
such customs.
[Illustration: FIG. 15. CHILD PLAYING WITH JUG (BRITISH MUSEUM).]
Vases were also used as toys, as is proved by the discovery of many
little vases, chiefly jugs, in the tombs of children at Athens, on
which are depicted children playing at various games.[462] They are too
small to have served any other purpose, and as similarly shaped jugs
appear among the toys used by the children in these scenes, it is
reasonable to suppose that they were playthings. No doubt some of the
more unusual shapes were made with the same end, such as vases in the
shape of animals or fruit, or the aski (p. 200), which contained little
balls and were used as rattles.
We have already hinted at the purely decorative use of vases as
domestic ornaments, in which capacity they were often placed on
columns; there is, however, no hint of this in ancient authors. But
that it was customary in Greece and Italy, at all events in the later
period (_i.e._ after the Persian Wars), seems to be indicated by the
practice which obtains with the larger vases of executing only one side
with care, while the other exhibits an unimportant and badly painted
design (generally three boys or men wrapped in mantles). It is natural
to suppose that the carelessly executed side was not supposed to be
seen, owing to the fact that the vase was intended to be placed against
a wall. Some of the large round dishes of Apulian fabric seem to have
been intended for hanging up against a wall, on the same principle.[463]
The question which next arises is that of the extent to which vases
were used for religious and votive purposes. Here, however, with one
exception noted below, we derive little aid from a study of the painted
vases themselves, in spite of the frequency of mythological subjects.
But inasmuch as many instances are known of offerings of metal vases in
the temples of the gods, it can hardly be doubted that painted vases
served the same purpose for those who could only afford the humbler
material. It was at one time supposed that the large vases painted for
a front view only, of which we have just spoken, were destined for this
purpose; but as they are mostly found in tombs, this can hardly be the
case.
Of late years, however, much light has been thrown upon this question
by means of scientific excavations. On many temple-sites which have
been systematically explored, such as the Acropolis of Athens or
Naukratis in the Egyptian Delta, enormous numbers of fragments of
painted vases have been found which are clearly the remains of votive
offerings. It was a well-known Greek custom to clear out the temples
from time to time and form rubbish-heaps of the disused vases and
statuettes, sometimes by digging pits for them; and thus these broken
fragments, rejected from their apparent uselessness, have from these
very circumstances been preserved to the present day to cast a flood of
light on many points of archaeology. At Naukratis many of the fragments
bear incised inscriptions in the form of dedications to Apollo (Fig.
16.) or Aphrodite, according to the site on which they were found. At
Penteskouphia near Corinth a large series of early painted tablets,
with representations of Poseidon and inscribed dedications, were found
in 1879 (p. 316), and illustrate the practice of making offerings in
this form, mentioned by Aeschylos.[464] Tablets painted with figures
and hung on trees or walls are not infrequently depicted on red-figured
vases, the subject generally implying their votive character.[465] Fig.
17. represents a youth carrying a tablet of this kind.
[Illustration: FIG. 16. RIM OF VASE FROM NAUKRATIS WITH DEDICATION TO
APOLLO (BRIT. MUS.).]
[Illustration:
From Benndorf, _Gr. u. Sic. Vasenb._
FIG. 17. YOUTH WITH VOTIVE TABLET.
]
There is no doubt that vases (though not, perhaps, painted ones) must
have played a considerable part in the religious ceremonies of the
Greeks. In the Athenian festival of the Anthesteria, the second day was
devoted to the holding of ἀγῶνες χύτρινοι, or “pot-contests,” vessels
full of corn being dedicated to Hermes Chthonios.[466] At the festival
of the Gardens of Adonis flower-pots of earthenware containing flowers
were cast into the sea, as a type of the premature death of
Adonis.[467] These flower-pots were also placed on the tops of houses,
and in this same festival, which was chiefly celebrated by hetairae,
little terracotta figures (κοράλλια) were introduced.[468] The use of
flower-pots placed in windows to form artificial gardens is mentioned
by Martial and Pliny[469]; and they were also employed to protect
tender plants, as hinted by Theophrastos,[470] who speaks of the
necessity of propagating southernwood by slips in pots.
It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to speak of the constant use of the
jug and bowl (_phiale_) in sacrifices and libation scenes, as seen on
innumerable vases of the R.F. and later periods (see pp. 178, 191).
Fig. 18 shows the use of vases on the occasion of a sacrifice to
Dionysos. There is also a type of vase which, according to a recent
writer,[471] was used for burning incense. It is a form which hitherto
had been conventionally named the κώθων, on account of its recurved lip
(see below, p. 187); but it is pointed out that it had three feet (the
form being clearly derived from the tripod), and therefore stood, and
was not carried about; also that it varies much in size, and is found
at an early date, and chiefly in women’s graves.[472] There is also
evidence that it was meant to stand fire or hold coals. From these
details the conclusion is deduced that it represents the earlier form
of incense-burner (down to about 500 B.C.), those of later date being
of a different form, as often seen on R.F. vases.[473]
[Illustration:
From _Furtwaengler and Reichhold_.
FIG. 18. VASES USED IN SACRIFICE (FROM VASE AT NAPLES).
]
The most important use, however, for which vases were employed, and
that to which their preservation is mainly due, was for purposes
connected with funeral ceremonies. These were of a varied nature,
including the use of vases at the burial, the placing of them on the
tomb to hold offerings, and the depositing of them in the tomb, either
to hold the ashes of the dead or as “tomb-furniture,” in accordance
with the religious beliefs of the Greeks on the life after death. The
principal methods in which they have been found deposited in the tombs
have already been described in Chapter II.
Vases were employed in the burial rites in various ways, as we learn
from the subjects depicted upon them. In the celebrated vase
representing the death and funeral of Archemoros,[474] two persons are
seen carrying tables laden with vases to the tomb, while an oinochoë is
placed under the bier on which the corpse is laid. It is also probable
that they were often burnt on the funeral pile with the corpse, and if
this is the case it may account for the discoloured condition of many
fine vases in which the red glaze has turned to an ashen grey under the
action of fire.[475] In any case vases were often broken before being
placed in the tomb, the idea being that they must participate in the
death of the person to whom they were consecrated. There is a special
class of B.F. amphorae found at Athens, which are commonly known as
“prothesis-amphorae,” the subjects relating exclusively to the πρόθεσις
or laying-out, and other funeral rites. They were, therefore, probably
placed round the bier during this ceremony.
Vases were also used for holding milk, oil, unguents, and other liquids
which were poured upon the corpse, or for the lustral water placed at
the entrance of the tomb. It was the regular practice of the Athenians
to place vases on the outside of the tombs, the commonest forms being
that of the lekythos, or a larger vase known as the λουτροφόρος,
mentioned by Demosthenes.[476] These were, however, generally of stone,
and are sometimes sculptured in relief, or bear inscriptions like the
Attic stelae[477] and modern tombstones.
The custom of placing lekythi on tombs is also alluded to once or twice
by Aristophanes in the _Ecclesiazusae_—_e.g._ line 538:
οὐδ’ ἐπιθεῖσα λήκυθον,
and again, line 1032:
καὶ ταινίωσαι καὶ παράθου τὰς ληκύθους.[478]
[Illustration: FIG. 19. FUNERAL LEKYTHOS, WITH VASES INSIDE TOMB (BRIT.
MUS.).]
The manner of employing vases as adjuncts to the tomb is nowhere better
illustrated than on the Athenian white lekythi, which are almost all
painted with funeral subjects, and, from the hasty way in which many
are executed, show that they were often made to order at short notice
(see above, p. 132). In particular, one example in the British Museum
(D 56 = Fig. 19) shows the interior of a conical tomb or tumulus,
within which vases of various shapes are seen. In other examples they
are ranged along the steps of a stele, or are represented as being
brought to the tomb in baskets by mourning women.[479] The larger vases
of Southern Italy, which similarly show by their subjects that they
were only made for funeral purposes, bear a close relation to the white
lekythi, and also to the Attic funeral stelae with reliefs. The
treatment of the subject varies in the different fabrics, but two main
types prevail. In the one, of Lucanian origin, the tomb takes the form
of a stele or column, round which vases are ranged on steps[480]; in
the other, on the large Apulian kraters and amphorae, the tomb is in
the shape of a ἡρῷον or small temple, within which is seen the figure
of the deceased, while on either side approach women bearing offerings
(Fig. 106); but vases do not play an important part in these latter
scenes.
[Illustration: FIG. 20. VASES PLACED ON TOMB (LUCANIAN HYDRIA IN BRIT.
MUS.).]
Thirdly, we have to deal with the use of painted vases in the tomb
itself. As regards their use as cinerary urns, to contain the ashes of
the dead, it appears to have been somewhat restricted.
In the Mycenaean period we know that inhumation, not cremation, was the
practice, contrary to that of the heroic or Homeric age, in which an
entirely different state of things is represented. But when we do read
in Homer or the tragic poets, of the methods of dealing with the ashes
of the dead, there is no mention of any but metal urns. Thus the ashes
of Patroklos were collected in a χρυσέη φιάλη[481] (the word is
probably used loosely), while those of Achilles were stored in a golden
amphora.[482] Again, Sophokles, in the fictitious account of Orestes’
death given in his _Electra_, uses the expression (l. 758)[483]:
ἐν βραχεῖ
χαλκῷ μέγιστον σῶμα δειλαίας σποδοῦ,
showing that metal vases were generally employed for this purpose.
No instances occurred among the early tombs in the Dipylon cemetery at
Athens or elsewhere in Greece before the sixth century, nor was the
practice usually favoured by the Etruscans, who employed painted vases
in their tombs exclusively as furniture. In Mycenaean times in Crete
coffers (λάρνακες) of terracotta, painted like the vases, were used as
_ossuaria_[484]; and similarly in Etruria at all periods the remains of
the deceased were placed in rectangular chests or sarcophagi of
terracotta or stone. But in the earliest tombs of Etruria and Central
Italy urns and hut-shaped receptacles for the ashes were invariably
employed (see Chapter XVIII.).
It is, however, probable that in course of time there was a partial
adoption of the practice in Greece. As early as the middle of the sixth
century there is an instance in the well-known Burgon Panathenaic
amphora, now in the British Museum,[485] found by Mr. Burgon in 1813;
it contained remains of burnt bones and several small plain vases. This
would seem to indicate that the Panathenaic amphorae in particular were
considered appropriate for this purpose, namely, that the cherished
prize won by the living should be used for the most sacred purpose in
connection with the dead.
Among the red-figured vases of the fifth century which have been found
to contain ashes, may be mentioned the famous Vivenzio vase at
Naples,[486] which was found carefully deposited within another vase at
Nola, and a vase of the shape known as λέβης, now in the British
Museum, found near the Peiraeus.[487] There is also a covered vase in
the British Museum,[488] which was employed for a similar purpose. It
is not, strictly speaking, a painted vase, being covered with a white
slip and coloured like the terracottas, while the heads of monsters
project from its sides; the shape is that known as λεκάνη (“tureen”),
and it dates from the fourth century. It contained human bones, among
which were found a small terracotta figure of a Siren and other
objects; the jaw-bone, which was preserved, had still fixed in it the
_obolos_, or small silver coin which was placed there as Charon’s fare
for ferrying the soul over the Styx. Of later date is a vase found at
Alexandria, in the catacombs, similarly decorated, and also filled with
bones; it was presented to the British Museum in 1830 by Sir E.
Codrington.
The class of large terracotta vases found in tombs at Canosa, Cumae,
Capua and Calvi (Cales), of which fine specimens may be seen in the
Terracotta Room of the British Museum (see above, p. 119), seems to
have been made for sepulchral purposes, as in many cases they are not
adapted for practical use. On the other hand, they may have been
ornaments for houses. They are decorated with figures in high relief,
or attached to different parts of the vase, and many of them,
especially those in the form of female heads, are strictly speaking not
vases at all, having no proper bottom.
The majority of painted vases found in the tombs must be regarded
purely as tomb-furniture, placed there with the idea that the deceased
would require in his future life all that had been associated with his
former existence. Sometimes they were placed round the corpse, with
food or liquids in them for the use of the “ghost,” and instances are
known of eggs and other objects having been preserved in this
manner.[489] Toy-vases are found buried with children in tombs at
Athens and elsewhere, and toilet-boxes or unguent-vases in women’s
graves. Nevertheless, it is probably not wide of the mark to say that
in the sixth and fifth centuries the custom had lost much of its
original meaning; the habit of placing painted vases in tombs survived,
but the original idea of the practice had become obscured, and the
religious significance was restricted to certain classes of vases, the
prothesis-amphorae, white lekythi, and others, which were not used
during life but only made specially for this purpose.
Great value seems to have been set upon the painted vases by their
possessors. When broken, they were repaired by the pieces being
skilfully fitted and drilled, with a rivet of lead or bronze neatly
attached to the sides. Several mended vases exist in the European
collections.[490] Occasionally they were repaired by inserting pieces
of other vases. Thus a vase with two handles, found at Vulci, of the
shape called στάμνος, is repaired with a part of a kylix representing
quite a different subject, and thus presents a discordant effect.[491]
A R.F. vase in the Louvre has actually been mended with part of a B.F.
vase.[492] A B.F. kylix in the British Museum (B 398) has a piece
inserted with the name of Priapos; similarly the two handles of the
R.F. kylix E 4, with the signature of Thypheithides, do not belong to
the vase; but these may both be modern restorations. The large casks of
coarse and unglazed ware (πίθοι) were also repaired with leaden cramps.
“The casks of the ill-clad Cynic,” says the Roman satirist, “do not
burn; should you break one of them, another house will be made by
to-morrow, or the same will continue to serve when repaired with
lead.”[493] Aristophanes puts into the mouth of his old litigant turned
_roué_ a popular story of Sybaris which alludes to the use of bronze
rivets. A woman of that city broke an earthen pot, which was
represented as screaming out, and calling for witnesses to prove how
badly it had been treated. “By Persephone!” exclaims the dame, “were
you to leave off bawling for witnesses, and make haste to buy a copper
clamp (ἐπίδεσμον) to rivet yourself with, you would show more
sense.”[494]
* * * * *
After noting the chief uses of Greek vases it is necessary to give some
account of the different shapes, and to identify the recorded names as
far as possible with the various kinds actually found.
The subject is, however, one of great difficulty, and it is impossible
to attain to scientific accuracy, owing to the differences of time
between the authors by whom they are mentioned, the difficulty of
explaining types by verbal descriptions, and the ambiguity often caused
by the ancient practice of describing a vase of one shape by the name
of another.
A study of any collection of Greek vases will make it apparent that
there is a great variety in the forms of the different periods. This is
especially marked in the earliest ages of Greece, in which the variety
is almost endless, and the adoption and development of certain
recognised forms practically unknown. It must therefore be evident that
the statements of ancient writers must always be used with caution, and
that a shape described by an early writer must not be taken as
representing the same in a later period, even if the same word be used,
or _vice versa_. For instance, the δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον of Homer, which
finds a curious parallel in the gold cup with the doves discovered by
Schliemann at Mycenae, is, whatever view we may take of the Homeric
civilisation, only an example of a passing fashion. Or again, many of
the drinking-cups described by Athenaeus in his eleventh book are
doubtless only instances of new experiments in pottery or metal-work
characteristic of the Hellenistic age, with its tendency to strive
after novelties. Many of his names are little more than nicknames for
familiar shapes, which enjoyed a temporary popularity.
Some information may be derived from the vases themselves by means of
inscriptions, specimens of which are given in Chapter XVII. Thus on the
François vase the three-handled pitcher used by Polyxena is inscribed
[ΥΔΡΙΑ], or “water-pot,” and enables us to apply the name hydria with
certainty to a three-handled vase, of which many black- and red-figured
specimens exist.[495] Then we have the _lekythos_ of Tataie, and the
_kylikes_ of Philto and Kephisophon,[496] which testify by inscriptions
to the name by which they were known. The names incised in _graffito_
on the feet of vases[497] are a more doubtful source of evidence,
inasmuch as they may refer either to mixed batches of vases or to the
names of measures of capacity.
Examples of cursory mention of names in the ancient writers, such as
Aristophanes, are innumerable, but seldom explicit, and the scholia on
these writers are hardly more useful, inasmuch as the grammarians
probably knew little more about obsolete shapes than we do ourselves,
and their commentaries have little critical weight. The _loci classici_
on the subject are the book of Athenaeus already referred to,[498] in
which he gives a list of over one hundred names, with more or less full
explanation and commentary, most of the forms being apparently
varieties of drinking-cups, and the _Onomasticon_ of Pollux.[499]
Notices of vases are also to be found in the lexicographers, such as
Hesychius and Suidas, and the _Etymologicum Magnum_.
In the early days of modern archaeology the first to propose an
identification of the shapes of vases was Panofka,[500] whose fanciful
and uncritical lucubrations were shortly afterwards combated by
Letronne[501] and Gerhard,[502] the latter of whom introduced a more
scientific method of criticism and classification, though his results
cannot be considered as final. Other writers were Müller,[503]
Thiersch,[504] Ussing,[505] Krause,[506] and Jahn,[507] of whom Ussing
followed practically on Gerhard’s lines but with more success; Krause,
though exhaustive, is on the whole uncritical; and Jahn has treated the
subject with his wonted conciseness and sobriety. Of late years little
attention has been paid to it, principally, no doubt, for the reason
that so many conventional names have been generally accepted for the
ordinary shapes by archaeologists, who have recognised the fact that it
will never be possible to treat the subject with scientific
accuracy.[508]
The classification of the shapes of vases has usually been undertaken
on the lines of distinguishing their main uses, such as (1) those in
which food or liquids were preserved; (2) those in which liquids were
mixed or cooked; (3) those by means of which liquids were poured out or
food distributed; (4) drinking-cups; (5) other vases for the use of the
table or toilet. Thus we have the pithos and amphora for storing wine,
the krater for mixing it, the psykter for cooling it, the kyathos for
ladling it out, and the oinochoë or prochoos for pouring it out; the
hydria was used for fetching water from the well. Of smaller vases, the
names for drinking-cups are innumerable, but the phiale, for instance,
was employed chiefly for pouring libations; while dishes and plates are
represented by the lekane, tryblion, pinax, and so on. The pyxis was
used by women at their toilet, and the lekythos, alabastron, and askos
for holding oil and unguents. There is an interesting passage in
Athenaeus (iv. 142 D)[509] which gives a list of the vases required for
use at a banquet: “And on the tripod was placed a bronze wine-cooler
(ψυκτήρ) and a κάδος (bucket) and a silver σκαφίον holding two kotylae
(one pint), and a ladle (κύαθος); and the wine-jug (ἐπίχυσις) was of
bronze, but nobody was offered drink unless he asked for it; and one
ladleful was given out before the meal.”
* * * * *
For the purposes of this work it is hoped that the usual method of
classification indicated above will be found sufficient, supplemented
by the descriptions of Athenaeus and other writers, where any details
can be obtained; but it is obvious that a really critical treatment of
the subject should be chronological, with endeavours to trace the first
appearance and development of each type. In the present state of our
knowledge, however, it would seem impossible to do so with success.
We begin our description of the vases of the Greeks with an account of
the large vases of rough manufacture calculated to hold great
quantities of wine, water, or food. The chief vase of this class is the
=Pithos= or cask (Lat. _dolium_), a vase of gigantic size, found both
in Italy and Greece.[510] They are shaped like enormous barrels, with
bulging bodies and wide mouths, and answer to the modern hogshead or
pipe. When full, the casks were closed with a circular stone, or with a
cover of clay. They were used to hold honey, wine, and figs, and were
usually kept half-buried in the earth.[511] They were sufficiently
capacious to hold a man, and the famous “tub” of Diogenes was of this
form. On a lamp in the British Museum and other monuments[512] he is
represented appearing from one, presumably on the occasion of his
interview with Alexander. In the vase-paintings Eurystheus takes refuge
in a pithos from Herakles when he brings the Erymanthian boar,[513] and
the same shape of vase is represented as holding the wine of the
Centaurs and the water drawn by the Danaids.[514] The “box” of Pandora
was in reality a large jar of this kind, as we learn from Hesiod.[515]
It required great skill to make these vases, whence a Greek proverb
characterised an ambitious but inexperienced man as “one who began with
a cask” (ἐν πίθῳ τὴν κεραμείαν μανθάνειν).[516] They were not made on
the wheel but by a peculiar process, which is described as plastering
the clay round a framework of wood, called κάνναβος[517]; it appears to
have been made of vertical boards ranged in a circle, like a tub.
[Illustration: FIG. 21. PITHOS FROM KNOSSOS.]
The British Museum possesses two or three πίθοι of exceptional size,
ornamented with bands of geometrical patterns in relief, which were
obtained from Mr. (now Sir A.) Biliotti’s excavations at Ialysos in
Rhodes, and belong to the Mycenaean period. In 1900 Mr. Arthur Evans,
among the remains of the Minoan palace at Knossos in Crete, came upon a
courtyard round which stood a number of similar πίθοι, with decorations
of a Mycenaean character (see Fig. 21).[518] These may be considered to
belong to the middle of the second millennium B.C., and it is therefore
evident that the πίθος may claim an antiquity second to none among
forms of Greek vases.
Among examples of later date may be mentioned the large series recently
found in Thera by German explorers, some plain, others with painted
geometrical decoration; they are partly of native make, partly
importations from Crete, and date from the seventh century B.C.[519]
Dr. Dörpfeld found examples of πίθοι in the remains of the earlier
cities at Hissarlik, from the second to the seventh layers. These were
used for keeping all sorts of liquids and solids, and also apparently
formed part of the cooking apparatus.[520] Others were found in the
excavations of Mr. J. Brunton on the site of Dardanus in the Troad;
they were of pale red clay, with a stone cover. In excavating between
Balaclava and Sevastopol Colonel Munroe discovered no less than
sixteen, about 4 ft. 4 in. in height, within a circular building,
apparently a storehouse; they were also of pale red ware. One had
incised upon its lip [ΔΔΠΠ ΠΙΙΙ], apparently indicating its price.
Similar πίθοι have been found in Athens, some having fractures joined
by leaden rivets. Large πίθοι with archaic reliefs have been found in
Crete, Rhodes, Sicily, and Etruria (at Cervetri); they are imitated
from metal vases, with designs of Oriental character.[521]
Perhaps of all the ancient vases the best known is the =Amphora=
(ἀμφορεύς or ἀμφιφορεύς), which was used for a variety of domestic and
commercial purposes. So numerous are the vases of this form, found all
over the Greek world, that they merit a lengthy description. They were
principally used for wine, but also for corn, honey, oil, and other
substances,[522] and to the use of the word as a measure of capacity we
have already alluded. It should be borne in mind that the conventional
use of the word _amphora_ in speaking of the painted Greek vases
implies a quite different form from the plain wine-amphorae, which were
neither painted nor varnished; the type of vase is the same, but the
painted examples are smaller and stouter, with a proper foot. For the
present we confine our description to the unadorned amphora of commerce.
Besides the two handles from which the word derives its name,[523] the
wine-amphora (Fig. 22.) is distinguished by its long egg-shaped body,
narrow cylindrical neck, and pointed base; this form is often known as
_diota_ (the Latin equivalent). The base is sometimes supplied with a
ring to stand on, but is more usually pointed, in order to be easily
fixed in the earth in cellars. The mouth was sealed by means of a
conical cover terminating in a boss.
[Illustration: FIG. 22. GREEK WINE-JARS (BRITISH MUSEUM).]
Remains of these amphorae have been discovered not only in Greece
itself, but also wherever the Greek commerce and settlements extended,
as in Alexandria, Kertch (Panticapaeum), Corfu, Rhodes, Sicily, and
Asia Minor. They appear to have been used at a very early period, plain
specimens of red ware being found not only in the early Greek tombs,
like that of Menekrates in Corfu (p. 54), but even in tombs of the
Bronze Age period, as in Cyprus. The typical long shape, however, did
not come into fashion until about 300 B.C., when the island of Rhodes
was a great trading centre, carrying on an active commerce all over the
Mediterranean. Amphorae of this form are represented on the coins of
Chios and Thasos with reference to their trade in wine, and on the
Athenian silver tetradrachms which belong to the period subsequent to
about 220 B.C.; they are shown on the reverse, lying horizontally, with
an owl above. In this case the reference may be either to the large
Attic trade in oil or to the use of the amphora for voting at the
election of magistrates (see p. 167).
The most interesting feature of the wine-amphorae is the device or
impression stamped on the handles either in a circular medallion or an
oblong depression. This was done by means of a stone or bronze stamp,
while the clay was still moist. They are found in all parts of the
ancient world, but the greater number can be traced to a few places of
origin, of which the most important are: Rhodes, Knidos, Thasos, Paros,
and Olbia in Southern Russia. As regards the stamps, the usage differs
at each centre; but apart from them the handles can be distinguished by
their shapes and material, as will be seen in the subsequent
description.
The Rhodian amphorae, of which large numbers have been found at
Alexandria as well as in the island itself, were of a very pure and
tenacious clay, with a fracture as sharp as that of delf. The colour is
pale, deepening to a salmon hue. The numerous separate handles which
have also been found have all belonged to the same form of amphora,
with long square-shouldered handles, as on the Athenian and Chian
coins. An entire vase, but without a stamp,[524] which was brought from
Rhodes, was 40 in. in height, and the height of the handles alone was
10 in., the upper part attached to the top of the mouth being 3 in.
long. This is a typical instance for the shape. The seal when found is
impressed on the upper part of the handle, the size of the label being
generally about 1½ in. or 1¾ in. long, by ⅝ in. wide, except when they
are oval or circular. At Alexandria eight distinct varieties of handles
were found, broken from amphorae of different countries, but only one
inscribed; the base also assumed various forms.
In the Rhodian amphorae two stamps are in use, a principal and an
accessory one (Fig. 23._a_).[525] The former has a device of the head
of Helios, the Sun-God, or the emblematic rose, both of which types
occur on the coins; it is accompanied by an inscription, in the form
ἐπὶ τοῦ δεῖνος, sometimes explicitly described as ἱερέως, _i.e._ in the
year of the eponymous priest of the Sun. This is followed by the name
of a Rhodian month. The accessory stamp contains the name of a person,
usually in the genitive. The months belong to the Doric calendar, and
are as follows: Thesmophorios, Theudaisios, Pedageitnyos, Diosthyos,
Badromios, Sminthios, Artamitios, Agrianios, Hyakinthios, Panamos,
Dalios, Karneios, and the second Panamos, an intercalary month.[526]
The object of the stamps is involved in obscurity, but they were
probably intended to certify that the amphora (which was also a
measure) held the proper quantity. It is clear that they could not have
been intended to attest the age of the wine, as the vessel might be
used for any sort, and the stamps bear the name of every month in the
year.
[Illustration:
From _Dumont_.
FIG. 23. AMPHORA-STAMPS FROM RHODES.
]
Other handles of Rhodian amphorae, stamped with an oblong cartouche or
label, may be divided into two classes: (1) Those inscribed with the
name of a magistrate and an emblem. The latter resembled the “adjuncts”
found on the coins of some Greek cities, but it is uncertain whether
they were selected on any fixed principle, or merely adopted from
caprice. They may perhaps allude to the deity whom the magistrate
particularly honoured as the patron god of his tribe or village. The
same symbol was, however, often used by many individuals, and on the
whole the number known is not large. (2) Those bearing the name of a
magistrate, accompanied by that of a month of the Doric calendar, but
without any emblem (Fig. 23._b_).
Many handles of amphorae from Knidos have been found on different
sites. Their clay is coarser than the Rhodian, its colour darker and
duller, and the amphorae differ also somewhat in form, nor are they of
so early a date, being mostly as late as the Roman Empire. The stamps
on the Cnidian amphorae, like those of Rhodes, are inscribed with the
name of the eponymous magistrate, and also with that of the wine-grower
or exporter of the produce, which is always marked as Cnidian. The
stamps show a great variety in the matter of emblems. Remains of
Cnidian amphorae have been found in Sicily, at Athens, Alexandria, and
Olbia. The palaeography of the inscriptions covers a period of two
centuries, from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, or even later.
Numerous examples have been found of handles of amphorae, in which the
celebrated wine of Thasos was exported to places such as Thasos and
Olbia. The stamps are nearly square, with a device in the middle, the
inscription [ΘΑΣΙΩΝ], and the name of an official. The names are
usually in the nominative, but in one instance at least the genitive is
used. The symbols include an amphora, kneeling archer, cornucopia,
dolphin, etc. (Fig. 24).[527] The known stamps of Paros are few in
number; they are simply inscribed [ΠΑΡΙΩΝ], which in one instance is
written retrograde.[528]
Handles inscribed with the name of an aedile (ἀστυνόμος) and of another
person, probably a magistrate, have been found on various sites in the
Crimea and Southern Russia, principally at Olbia. At Panticapaeum
(Kertch) two amphorae were found with stamps across the neck, thus:
EUARCHO EPI KALLIA
ARISTON EOPAMONOS
the upper name being that of the magistrate.[529] These vases appear to
have been made on the spot.
[Illustration:
From _Dumont_.
FIG. 24. AMPHORA-STAMPS FROM THASOS.
]
Stoddart also mentions amphora-handles as having come from
Corinth,[530] with names which can be traced to the time of the Roman
dominion. Falkner found at Pompeii an amphora with a Greek inscription
of three lines painted in red and black, with the name of Menodotos and
the letters KOR. OPT., which _may_ mean “the best Corcyraean
brand.”[531] A bibliography of the subject is appended below.[532]
Among painted vases the amphora holds a high place, especially in the
black-figure period, during which it was most prominent. It is
distinguished from the plain type, as already pointed out, by the
proportions of the body, as well as by the graceful curve of the
handles and the flat circular foot. The variations in its form at
different places and periods are so marked that they have led to the
adoption of qualifying adjectives for each kind. Although these names
cannot now be accepted in a strict sense, they are sometimes useful as
conventional expressions. We proceed to describe these in detail.
(1) The origin of the Greek amphora is clearly to be sought in the
pithos of primitive times, as may be seen in the vases of the Melian
and Proto-Attic classes, and in the early vases with reliefs from
Boeotia, Crete, Thera, and elsewhere. It is not found in the Mycenaean
style, the large vases of which come under the heading of the krater
(see below); and its appearance in Greece dates from the developed
stage of the Geometrical period. The earliest specimens among the
painted vases are virtually small pithoi, characterised by a long
cylindrical neck, and large elaborate handles obviously imitating metal
(see p. 495). Of this type are several of the Boeotian Geometrical and
Proto-Attic vases discussed in Chapter VII.,[533] and the Boeotian
vases with reliefs.[534] Among the Proto-Attic vases found at Vourva a
development occurs, in which the neck is greatly elongated, and the
body becomes exceedingly slim, while the handles are simplified into
plain flat bands united to the neck by bars of clay (see Fig. 89, p.
299). This form is found still further developed in the
prothesis-amphorae of the B.F. period[535]; but these are comparatively
rare, and the more normal evolution of the amphora with cylindrical
neck is to be traced in the varieties (2) and (6) described below.
[Illustration: FIG. 25. “TYRRHENIAN” AMPHORA.]
(2) The early amphorae preceding the ordinary B.F. Athenian types were
divided by Gerhard into two classes, “Egyptian” and “Tyrrhenian.”[536]
He describes the former as a vase with tolerably pronounced curve of
body, entirely covered with horizontal bands of figures; the latter as
of similar form, but with decoration confined to a panel on either
side. As regards shape, therefore, the two are actually one, and may be
regarded as such for our present purpose; but it is curious to note
that the particular class called “Egyptian” by Gerhard has since his
time been generally known as “Tyrrhenian,” while his “Tyrrhenian” class
has now received, from the peculiar mannerisms of the paintings, the
name of “affected” vases.[537] At all events the word is convenient to
adhere to for the description of this particular shape (Fig. 25), with
its long, egg-shaped body, the vertical section of which is almost an
ellipse, a shape common to all early B.F. fabrics—Athenian, Rhodian,
Ionic, and Corinthian—but best illustrated by the “Corintho-Attic”
class described by Thiersch.[538] It is seldom found in purely Attic
examples, and disappears after the middle of the sixth century.
[Illustration: FIG. 26. PANATHENAIC AMPHORA.]
(3) Gerhard’s next class is that of the Panathenaic amphorae, which
have a long body shaped something like a top, and tapering sharply
downwards; the mouth, handles, and neck are small, as is also the foot
(Fig. 26). It is so called as being the characteristic form of the
earlier (sixth-century) Panathenaic prize-vases, but is also
occasionally found in the ordinary fabrics. This type, together with
the two following examples, not mentioned explicitly by Gerhard or the
other early writers, form the class of “black-bodied” amphorae, as they
may conveniently be termed, in order to distinguish those with
panel-decoration from those in which the body is entirely covered with
red glaze (see below).
(4) The second variety of “black-bodied” amphora (Fig. 27.) is closely
akin to the Panathenaic, but the body is better proportioned. It is
characterised by the wide mouth in the form of a thick ring, the
cylindrical handles, and the concave curve of the shoulder. From the
style of the paintings it is probable that this variety must be placed
early in the black-figure period.
[Illustration: FIG. 27. PANEL-AMPHORA.]
(5) This type, on the other hand, is later in the period, being
developed out of the last, from which it is marked off only by the form
of the handles, which are broad and flanged, and often decorated with
patterns. These vases are mostly of large size, and are transitional,
some R.F. varieties being known. The paintings on them are in the style
of Exekias, Andokides, and Euthymides (see for an example Plates XXXI.,
XXXII.).
(6) The shape of the “red-bodied” amphora (Fig. 28) is peculiar to the
black-figure period.[539] Its characteristic features are the straight,
cylindrical neck, with its chain of lotos-and-honeysuckle, the width of
the shoulder, and the ribbed handles, formed from moulds in two or
three parallel pieces. Artistically it is far superior to the
black-bodied, and includes some of the finest specimens of B.F.
painting (as in the vases of Exekias), while the decorative element
reaches the perfection of beauty and symmetry.
[Illustration: FIG. 28. RED-BODIED AMPHORA.]
(7) The red-bodied amphora seems to have been the prototype of what is
the most characteristic form of the red-figure period—the so-called
“Nolan” amphora (Fig. 29).[540] These have been largely, but not
exclusively, found at Nola, whither they seem to have been imported in
large numbers from Greece. The whole vase is covered with black, and
the decoration confined to one or two figures each side, while the
elegant and beautiful outline, the lustre of the varnish, and the
restraint of the designs combine to render these perhaps the most
beautiful products of Athenian ceramic art. The handles are sometimes
four-sided, more often ribbed, and sometimes formed of two twisted
strands, produced by rolling up the soft paste; the general outline is
that of the last class, but the proportions are far more slender and
graceful.
[Illustration: FIG. 29. “NOLAN” AMPHORA.]
(8) The Apulian amphora (Fig. 30) illustrates the form which, though
generally adopted in Apulia, may have had its origin at Athens, as it
is adopted for the fourth-century Panathenaic amphorae.[541] It is
distinguished by its great size and egg-shaped body; the mouth is thick
and high, spreading out like an inverted cone, and the neck is not
cylindrical, but merges into the shoulder. A variety of the Apulian
amphora, hardly common enough to form a separate class, was formerly
known as the “candelabrum-amphora,” from its resemblance to an
incense-burner (an object wrongly interpreted formerly as a
_candelabrum_, or lamp-stand). Its peculiarities are the cylindrical
body, tall neck, and elaborate handles in the form of double
scrolls.[542]
[Illustration: FIG. 30. APULIAN AMPHORA.]
(9) The Campanian amphora is derived directly from the “Nolan,” and is
in fact a local adaptation, but it was chiefly manufactured at
Cumae.[543] It generally has twisted handles, and is painted in
polychrome; the proportions are somewhat more elongated than those of
the “Nolan” class.
(10) A rare variety of the amphora is sometimes found in the red-figure
period, with large spheroidal body and pointed base, intended to be
placed in a separate stand. The conventional name of _diota_ is
sometimes given to this form, from its imitation of the pointed base of
the wine-amphora.[544]
(11) The last variety of the amphora which calls for consideration is
the wide-bellied type, usually called (on very slight authority) a
_pelike_, πελίkη (Fig. 31).[545] The name was invented by Gerhard, and
has been generally adopted since, but is only to be regarded as a
conventional term. This form, which swells out towards the base, and
has no stem or neck, is very rarely found before the fifth
century,[546] but is common in the R.F. period, and in the Apulian
style, in which its proportions are usually more slender.
[Illustration: FIG. 31. SO-CALLED “PELIKE.”]
The amphora when complete usually had a cover of clay, either coated
with a plain black varnish or decorated with bands and patterns; it was
lifted by means of a central knob. An amphora in the Berlin Museum
(_Cat._ 1860) has a double cover, the inner one being of alabaster.
Of the other names which seem to denote vases adapted for containing
and storing wine or other commodities, the most important is the
=Stamnos= (στάμνος), used for holding wine and oil. It is mentioned by
Pollux[547] in his list of wine-jars, and he quotes a line from
Aristophanes about “a stamnos of Chian wine arriving.” The diminutives
σταμνίον and σταμνάριον are also found, and Aristophanes speaks of a
“small Thasian stamnos of wine.”[548] The amphora is defined in the
_Etymologicum Magnum_ as “a two-eared σταμνίον.” It has been generally
identified with a form well known in the R.F. period, but only found in
that style: a spherical jar with short thick neck and small
side-handles, of which some very beautiful specimens exist (Fig. 32).
The word is still in use in modern Greek.
[Illustration: FIG. 32. STAMNOS.]
The βῖκος is described by Hesychios as a στάμνος with ears, and by
Eustathius as a vessel holding wine[549]; it was also used for figs and
salted food.[550] It is probably only another name for the
στάμνοςστάμνος, but it seems to be inaccurately described by
Athenaeus[551] as “a saucer-shaped drinking-cup” (φιαλῶδες ποτήριον).
It was apparently identical with the ὕρχη,[552] a word used by
Aristophanes,[553] but more commonly by Roman writers in its Latin form
_orca_.
[Illustration: FIG. 33. SO-CALLED “LEKANE.”]
The names of Apulian stamnos or λεκάνη have at different times been
given to a late form of painted vase found in Southern Italy, with high
or low stem, upright handles, and cover, which latter often takes an
elaborate form, being surmounted by one or more small vases, also with
handles (Fig. 33.). The word λεκάνη,[554] however, seems to indicate a
large bowl rather than a covered jar, and no satisfactory name has as
yet been found. A similar but flatter form of vase, like a covered bowl
or dish, has been named λεκάνη, λεπαστή, or covered pyxis, but no name
is satisfactory.
The λαγυνος or λαγυνίς seems to have been a narrow-necked jar of
considerable size. Athenaeus[555] says the word represented a Greek
measure, equivalent to twelve Attic κοτύλαι, or six pints, and that it
was in use at Patrae. The word is used by Plutarch for the jar in which
the stork offered entertainment to the fox[556]; it frequently appears
in the Latin form _lagena_ (see Chapter XXI.). A wicker-covered λαγυνος
was known as a πυτίνη.[557]
Another form of the same class is the κάδοs, with its diminutive
καδίσκος, which is represented by the Latin _situla_, or bucket, the
latter word being the one usually employed by archaeologists. It is a
form easily to be recognised in Greek art, but is more usually found in
metal-work, _e.g._ in Etruscan and Italian bronzes, than in
pottery.[558] The painted situlae, of which a few late examples from
Italian tombs exist, are obviously direct imitations of the metal
buckets, and in some cases actually have movable bronze handles
attached. The situla appears to have been used not only for keeping
wine in the cellar, but for serving it up at banquets[559]; the word is
also used by Aristophanes for a voting-urn and a well-bucket.[560] In
Latin the uses were probably distinguished, _cadus_ denoting a
wine-jar, _situla_ a water-bucket. Athenaeus obviously goes astray in
regarding it as a drinking-cup.
A vase which was used almost exclusively for carrying water was the
=Hydria=, as is implied by its name (ὑδρία, from ὕδωρ). Its most
essential characteristic is the possession of three handles, a large
one at the back for carrying when empty, and two small horizontal
handles at the sides for carrying when full. The shape of the body
varies at different periods; in the B.F. period the shoulder is flat
and marked off by a sharp angle from the body (Fig. 34); but about the
beginning of the fifth century this is replaced by a form with more
rounded outline and smaller handle at the back, generally known for the
sake of distinction as a _kalpis_ (Fig. 35). In the earlier variety (of
which some R.F. examples are known) there are always two subjects, one
forming a frieze on the shoulder, the other treated more in the manner
of a metope on the body; they are invariably enclosed in frames or
panels, as on the “black-bodied” amphorae. Sometimes a third subject in
the form of a frieze of animals is added below. In the earlier stages
of the B.F. period this form is seldom found, except in a class known
as the “Caeretan hydriae,” distinguished (as far as concerns their
shape) by their round, plump body, as also by the florid character of
their ornament and curious treatment of subjects (p. 353). These vases
were closely copied by the Etruscans. The _kalpis_ form sometimes
occurs with black figures, but only in small late specimens, chiefly
found in Rhodes. In the vases of Southern Italy the _kalpis_ is fairly
popular, but the body is more cylindrical and the foot higher.
[Illustration: FIG. 34. HYDRIA.]
Any doubt that might have existed as to the identification of the ὑδρία
is solved by the appearance of the word inscribed over the pitcher
which Polyxena dropped in her flight from Achilles, on the François
vase. In a scene very common on B.F. hydriae, which represents women
drawing water at a fountain, this form of vase is invariably depicted.
The word seldom occurs in Greek literature, but Kallimachos speaks of
καλπίδες placed on the roof of the Parthenon (?) at Athens, not, he
says, by way of ornament, but as prizes of wrestlers.[561] Hence the
idea was conceived by Panofka that Panathenaic prize-vases were of this
form.
[Illustration: FIG. 35. KALPIS.]
Pollux (x. 74) thinks that the hydria was also a wine-vase, and
suggests its identity with the πλημοχόη, a vase with broad base used in
the Mysteries; but Athenaeus[562] implies that this was used for
pouring, and it must therefore have been some kind of jug. The κάλπις
is actually identified with the ὑδρία by Aristophanes, as may be seen
by a comparison of two lines in the _Lysistrata_.[563] From a passage
in Isocrates[564] it would appear that the hydria was used as a
voting-urn or ballot-box, but the κάδος was more generally used for
this purpose. That the amphora was also so used we know from Athenian
coins.
The next class to be considered is that of vases employed for mixing
wine and water for drinking, for which the generic name is that of
κρατήρ (from κεράννυμι, “I mix”). Before discussing this form, however,
allusion must be made to a vessel which is variously described as a
_hydria_ or a _krater_, and is therefore a link between the two
varieties; it was at any rate pre-eminently a water-jar, and was known
as a κρωσσός (connected with Fr. _cruche_ = Eng. “crock”). We have no
indications of its form except that it had two handles[565]; Pollux
(viii. 66) ranks it with the ὑδρία and κάλπις as a water-vessel.[566]
It was also used for holding ashes,[567] and Plutarch enumerates it
among the vessels in the bath of Darius.[568] Of the same character was
perhaps the ἀρδάνιον or ἀρδάλιον, described as a water-pot.[569]
Athenaeus also mentions a πρόαρον, or wooden vessel of the krater type,
as used in Attica.[570]
The =Krater= is distinguished from the amphora by its larger body,
wider mouth, and smaller handles. It was often placed on a stand,
called ὑποκρατήριον, or ὑποκρατηρίδιον,[571] which was either of
pottery or metal such as bronze. This either took the form of a hollow
cylindrical base, painted with subjects, or of an elaborately moulded
stem with egg-and-tongue and other patterns.[572] It is constantly
mentioned in Homer, but the kraters standing in the halls of the great
palaces, as in that of Odysseus, were made of gold or silver. It is on
the average the largest of all Greek vases (except the pithos), some of
the later Apulian specimens (of which F 278 in the B.M. is one)
reaching a height of about four feet; the ordinary examples have a
capacity of three or four gallons. The names Argolic, Lesbian,
Laconian, Corinthian, and Thericleian are applied to it by various
ancient authors.[573]
In the different fabrics of Greek pottery it takes several distinct
forms, to which convenient descriptive names have been given by Italian
dealers, and some attempt has been made to identify names given by
classical authors as forms of the krater, but without any success. The
Italian names, however, which will be mentioned in due course, are
somewhat cumbersome for English use.
Among Mycenaean vases there is a variety almost confined to Cyprus, to
which the name of krater may fairly be given.[574] Its chief
characteristics are a wide spheroidal body, hardly contracted at the
neck (which in some varieties is non-existent), flat vertical
side-handles, and a high stem. We hardly meet with this form again
until the end of the Corinthian style, when it suddenly leaps into
popularity.[575] The form in which it appears recalls, though it can
hardly be imitated from, the Mycenaean krater, but the stem disappears,
and the body is in section about two-thirds of a circle.[576] It is
clearly a local invention, and on the evidence of finds at Syracuse,
its first appearance may be traced to the first half of the seventh
century. Its distinguishing feature, however, is in the handles, each
of which is composed of two short vertical bars, sometimes meeting in
an arch, supporting a flat square piece formed by a projection from the
flat broad rim, which is generally decorated. From the columnar
appearance of these handles, the type has received the name of _vaso a
colonnette_, which at all events is a more accurate description than
the name κελέβη which, first proposed by Gerhard, has been generally
employed by archaeologists, on what grounds it is not clear. This word,
as described by Athenaeus, is clearly intended to imply a
_drinking-cup_ of some kind[577]; he quotes from Anakreon (_frag._ 63,
Bergk), who speaks of drinking its contents at one draught (ἄμυστιν).
On the other hand he quotes the authority of Pamphilos for identifying
it with the θερμοπότις, or “water-heater,” a kind of kettle. The
probability is that it was a general and loosely-employed word.
[Illustration: FIG. 36. KRATER WITH COLUMN-HANDLES.]
The column-handled krater is also found in the Naukratis wares of the
sixth century, as well as in the imitations of Corinthian fabrics in
which the Campana collection of the Louvre is so rich; the clay, style,
and inscriptions of the latter clearly show their Corinthian origin,
apart from the form. This krater is often decorated with friezes of
figures (as in the famous Amphiaraos krater, p. 319). In the few
existing Attic examples with black figures the subjects are in framed
panels. This form, after dying out before the end of the sixth century,
is revived towards the middle of the fifth in the later R.F. fabrics,
but in a much altered form, which gives greater prominence to the
columnar character of the handles. The neck is higher and narrower, and
the handles consequently lengthened, the square tops being much
diminished, and the body also takes a narrower and straighter form. In
the fabrics of Southern Italy this development is even more strongly
marked, and the elongated neck is adorned with an ivy-wreath in a
panel; this type enjoyed some popularity both in Apulia and Lucania.
The system of panel-decoration is employed throughout in all these
cases.
[Illustration: FIG. 37. VOLUTE-HANDLED KRATER.]
The only other form of krater found in the B.F. period—and that but
rarely—is that known as _volute-handled_ (_a rotelle_), from the large
handles reaching above the lip and curved round in a scroll (Fig. 37).
It has an egg-shaped body and large neck. The best and earliest example
is the François vase (p. 370), from which it may be clearly seen that
the form is derived from the columnar-handled krater. The British
Museum also possesses a fine example signed by Nikosthenes, with a
design in a frieze on the neck (B 364). The same shape and method of
decoration appear in some fine examples of the severe R.F. style (cf.
B.M. E 468, 469). During the R.F. period, two entirely new forms of
krater suddenly appear, known respectively as the _vaso a calice_ and
the _vaso a campana_, or “calyx-krater” and “bell-krater”; the former
is first used by Euphronios.[578] These names give a very accurate
description of the forms, the one being like the opening calyx of a
flower, the other like an inverted bell (Figs. 38, 39). In each the lip
projects above the body, the neck having entirely disappeared, while
the handles of the calyx-krater drop to the lower part of the vase, and
those of the bell-krater are attached horizontally to the sides. Both
types of handle are evidently adapted to carrying full vessels, like
the side-handles of the hydria. The name of ὀξύβαφον was given by
Gerhard[579] to the bell-krater, again without any real authority, and
probably owing to an error, from finding the name scratched underneath
one example. Comparison, however, with similar inscriptions (see
Chapter XVII.) shows clearly that the ὀξύβαφον was a small measure,
less even than a κύαθος, or ladleful. Athenaeus (xi. 494 B) is very
explicit on this point. He derives the name from ὀξός, vinegar, which
liquid the vessel was used to contain, and describes it as εἴδος
κύλικος μικρᾶς. It was therefore a small cup of some kind (see p. 194).
[Illustration] [Illustration]
FIG. 38. CALYX-KRATER FIG. 39. BELL-KRATER
In Southern Italy the krater holds the same position as the amphora of
the B.F. period.[580] The calyx- and bell-kraters are the two forms
chiefly affected in the transition period when Athenian artists were
working in Italy, or Italian artists directly under the influence of
Athenian (see p. 465), but they are also found among the purely local
fabrics, especially those of Cumae and Paestum (_ibid._). The
calyx-krater seems to have been reserved for the better and more
carefully-executed specimens,[581] and the Italian bell-kraters often
have a top-heavy effect from the greater height of their stems.
In Apulia (and occasionally also in Lucania—the Campanian potters did
not affect large vases) the volute-handled krater once more appears, in
great magnificence. Not only is the total size and bulk increased, but
the neck is lengthened and the handles are often treated with great
elaboration of detail, ending below in swans’ necks spreading over the
vase. In Apulia the volutes are generally replaced by medallions
(whence the Italian name _vaso con maniche a mascheroni_) decorated
with Gorgons’ heads or figures, in relief, painted white, yellow, and
red. These vases are sometimes, but incorrectly, called amphorae; they
range from two to three or four feet in height. They are generally
painted from head to foot with subjects, often of a sepulchral nature,
and were no doubt largely made for use at funeral ceremonies. They are
more fully described in Chapter XI.
[Illustration: FIG. 40. LUCANIAN KRATER.]
The last variety of krater (Fig. 40) is formed by a peculiar type of
vase, apparently devised by the Iapygian aborigines of Southern
Italy,[582] which has a wide mouth and sloping shoulder, and sometimes
a high neck. Its peculiarity is that it has four handles, two upright
and two horizontal, to the sides of which large discs are attached,
whence its Italian name is _vaso con maniche a rotelle_, from the wheel
or rosette patterns painted on the discs. This feature caused Panofka
to give it the name of νεστορίς, with reference to the famous
four-handled cup of Nestor (_Il._ xi. 632). It need hardly be pointed
out that there can be little in common between this form and the
drinking-cup used by the Homeric hero, in spite of the fact that the
latter was too heavy for an ordinary man to lift. We need not suppose
that Nestor’s cup (concerning which see below, p. 181) was larger than
an ordinary “loving-cup,” and the poet was probably guilty of a
pardonable exaggeration. As a painted vase, this four-handled krater is
peculiar to Lucania, and it is interesting to note that it sometimes
appears depicted on Lucanian vases as used in daily life.[583]
[Illustration: FIG. 41. PSYKTER.]
Closely related to the krater is the ψυκτήρ or ψυγεύς, a wine-cooler
(from ψύχω, “cool”), which was used for cooling wine by means of snow
or cold water.[584] The extant specimens are but few in number and vary
in form. The British Museum possesses a very remarkable specimen in the
form of a B.F. panel amphora (B 148),[585] with double walls and
bottom, and a large spout on one side, through which the snow or cold
water was introduced into the outer space; it was afterwards withdrawn
through an aperture in the bottom.[586] Similar vases in the
“Chalcidian” style are also known. After the beginning of the R.F.
period a new type was introduced in the shape of a vessel with a short
neck, the body of which bulges out towards its base, and is supported
on a high stem; it generally has two small eared handles (Fig. 41).
Several R.F. examples are known, of which two are in the British
Museum,[587] and three or four in the Louvre; the British Museum also
possesses a late B.F. specimen (B 299). The designs are painted in a
frieze round the vase.
The ἀκρατοφόρος, or vessel for holding unmixed wine, seems to have been
another name for the ψυκτήρ; Pollux (vi. 90) says the difference was
that it was supported on small knobs (_lit._ small knucklebones)
instead of a stem.
[Illustration: FIG. 42. DEINOS OR LEBES.]
Another name identified in antiquity with the ψυκτήρ is that of the
δῖνος (sometimes spelled δεῖνος); but the identity was more probably
one of usage than of form.[588] As to the latter, there is considerable
discrepancy in the accounts of the grammarians[589]; one calls it a
deep cup tapering down to a point; another, probably more correctly,
since it was certainly not a drinking-vessel, a clay vessel for wine
without a base, but rounded underneath. In virtue of this description
the name has usually been applied to a class of vase, commoner in the
earlier periods than the later, and more often found on Greek sites
than on Italian, which has a rounded base without foot, and no handles
(Fig. 42). These vases are found as early as the seventh century in
Greece, and were very common at Naukratis, appearing also in most of
the B.F. fabrics. That they were used to contain the ashes of the dead
is shown by the B.M. example already referred to (p. 146), which
belongs to the end of the R.F. period.[590] In Southern Italy this form
of vase is generally placed on a separate high moulded stem, and has a
cover with an ornamental knob. A variety with hemispherical cover
nearly equal in size to the vase itself has been identified with the
ἡμίτομος (“cut in half”), a form mentioned by Athenaeus.[591]
This type of vase has more usually been described by the name of λέβης,
denoting a kettle or caldron; but though the form of the λέβης was
practically the same (as we may gather from the fact of its always
being placed on a tripod), the purpose for which it was used (_i.e._
for boiling water) and the fact that it was always of metal, suggest
that it is not such an appropriate name as δῖνος for this form of
painted vase. The λέβης is constantly mentioned in Homer, both as a
cooking-vessel and as a washing-basin.[592] Herodotos[593] says that
the Scythians used a λέβης for cooking flesh, which resembled the
Lesbian krater, but was much larger. It was also the vessel in which
the ram, and subsequently Pelias, were boiled by Medeia; and may be
seen depicted in several B.F. representations of that story.[594] A
golden lebes was placed at each angle of the temple of Zeus at
Olympia.[595] It is also the name of the vessel used by the Boeotians
in their ingenious contrivance at the siege of Delion.[596] To its use
as a cinerary urn in the tragic poets we have already alluded.
The ordinary name for a cooking-vessel of earthenware in Greece was
χύτρα, answering to our “pot”: it was used both for water and for
solids, as well as for other domestic purposes. Children were exposed
in χύτραι[597]; and a boy’s game called χυτρίνδα is described by
Pollux[598]; it was apparently played in two ways, either by a boy
representing a χύτρα, who was pulled about by the other players until
he caught one, or by a boy carrying a pot, with some obscure reference
to the story of Midas. There were several proverbial expressions
connected with the χύτρα, such as ποικίλλειν χύτρας, “to paint pots,”
expressive of useless labour, owing to the roughness of the ware; and
together with the χοῦς, a vessel only known as a measure (12 kotylae or
5¾ pints), it played a part in the festival of the Anthesteria, one day
of which was known as Χύτραι καὶ Χόες, or “Pot-and-Pan Day.”[599] The
word χυτρόπους, used by Hesiod[600] and Aristophanes,[601] seems merely
to denote a cooking-pot with feet. The πύραυνοι or κλίβανοι large clay
vessels used either as brasiers or for baking purposes, have been
already described in Chapter III.
A few other general words for cooking-vessels and domestic utensils may
also be mentioned here. The θερμαντήρ mentioned by Pollux[602] is
presumably identical with the θερμοπότις and ἀναφαία of Athenaeus (475
D, 783 F), the former, as its name implies, being a vessel in which hot
drinks were prepared. It seems to have been exclusively made of metal,
and may, indeed, only be another name for the λέβης. It has, as we have
seen, been identified with the κελέβη. Pollux gives a list of vessels
used for warming water.[603]
The ἡθμός, or strainer,[604] answers to the modern colander, and is
represented by a flat round vessel with long handle, of which some late
fictile examples exist.[605] It is mentioned among the vessels in the
Sigeian inscription,[606] but is there spelled ἡθμός. Most of the
existing specimens are of bronze. The ὁλκεῖον mentioned by
Athenaeus[607] appears to have been a bowl used for washing cups. The
σκάφη (“boat”) is a general term used in the classics for vessels of
varied import: basins, troughs, washing-tubs, bowls, etc.[608] It is
the name used in inscriptions relating to the Panathenaic festival to
describe the flat dishes or trays borne by the maidens who were called
Skaphephori in the procession, as represented on the Parthenon
frieze.[609] The diminutive form σκάφιον or σκαφεῖον also occurs, and
is identified with καλπίον. The ὅλμος, generally used to denote a
mortar,[610] also signified a bowl,[611] and had the special
signification of the hollow bowl in which the priestess of Apollo sat
when delivering oracles from the Delphic tripod. It may here be noted
that the word τρίπους appears to be used in ancient writers[612] not
only for the stand which supported the λέβης and other vessels, but for
a vessel itself when thus supported on three feet. Most of the existing
tripods are made of bronze,[613] but one or two fictile examples are
known, including a very remarkable one in Berlin,[614] found at
Tanagra, and covered with archaic paintings in the B.F. method.
On bathing and washing vessels our best authority is Pollux (x. 63); it
is not, however, likely that they were often of earthenware. The
ποδανιπτήρ at all events was of metal; it is often seen on R.F. vases
with the subject of Theseus killing Procrustes.[615] Large vessels,
resembling modern baths, were known by the names of πύελος: and
ἀσαμινθος[616]; the λουτήριον, or laver, on a high stem, is frequently
represented on South Italian vases,[617] but is a purely decorative
adjunct. It is there painted white to indicate marble.
The λεκάνη[618] should also perhaps be included here, as according to
the literary accounts it was a basin used for washing feet or clothes,
or for vomiting. It also served the purpose of a mortar, and was used
in the game of kottabos. A method of divination sometimes practised was
known as λεκανομαντεία and consisted in placing waxen images in a
lekane full of water, which became as it were animated and sank, thus
signifying the destruction of an enemy. In Pseudo-Callisthenes we read
how Nectanebos, the supposed father of Alexander, made use of this
procedure.[619]
[Illustration: FIG. 43. OINOCHOË (7TH CENTURY).]
The next series with which we have to deal is that of vases used for
pouring out wine and serving it at the table. They fall into two
classes: the wine-jug for pouring, and the ladle for filling it out of
the mixing-bowl. We begin with the series of wine-jugs, as being the
more important.
[Illustration: FIG. 44. OINOCHOË (5TH CENTURY).]
Of these the most conspicuous is the =Oinochoë= (οἰνοχόη, from οἴνος,
“wine,” and χέω, “pour”), one of the most beautiful shapes among Greek
vases. It appears in several forms, but the name is generally
restricted to one, which corresponds most closely to the modern
beer-jug. It is found at all periods, and the form never varies to any
marked extent, except that the later examples are rather more graceful
than the earlier, and some of the fine R.F. specimens reach the
perfection of elegance in form and decoration (Fig. 44). Its chief
characteristic is the trefoil-shaped mouth, but this is not invariable,
many specimens having a plain circular lip. It is very commonly found
in the Rhodian wares of the seventh century, with designs in a
continuous frieze (Fig. 43); and a peculiar form appears in an Ionic
fabric (see page 359), with egg-shaped body and coarse designs. In the
B.F. period the subjects are nearly always in framed panels. Among the
R.F. vases of the fine style, many diminutive oinochoae occur, nearly
all of which were found at Athens, the subjects being those of children
playing with go-carts and other toys, and sometimes with jugs of the
same shape. As these appear to have been found in children’s tombs, it
is evident that these painted specimens were actually used as
playthings.[620]
The oinochoë is frequently represented in vase-paintings, chiefly in
scenes of libation, in which ceremony it was invariably used for
pouring wine into the phiale or _patera_, from which the libation was
made. It occurs on the Parthenon frieze. In conjunction with the
krater, or mixing-bowl, it is seen on a “Cyrenaic” kylix in the B.M. (B
3), in a scene representing a sacrifice. In reference to this may be
quoted a curious injunction given by Hesiod (_Op. et Di._ 744),
μηδέ ποτ’ οἰνοχόην τιθέμεν κρητῆρος ὔπερθεν πινόντων,
which seems to imply that it was considered an unlucky thing to put the
jug back in its place on the edge of the krater during a banquet.[621]
Thucydides[622] speaks of silver oinochoae in the temple at Eryx, in
conjunction with libation-bowls and incense-burners, and Athenaeus[623]
mentions similar offerings at Metapontum.
[Illustration: FIG. 45. PROCHOÖS.]
A variety of the oinochoë, which is not found before the middle of the
R.F. period, but becomes very popular in Apulia, has a very high curved
handle and tall stem, the body tapering straighter downwards (Fig. 45).
This is usually known as the πρόχοος, and corresponds in form to our
claret-decanter. The πρόχοος served the same purpose as the οἰνοχόη,
and is frequently mentioned in Homer. It was used not only for pouring
wine, but for water to wash the hands of guests.[624]
[Illustration: FIG. 46. OLPE.]
A third form, usually known as the ὄλπη (Fig. 46), is almost
cylindrical in shape, with plain or trefoil lip and no marked neck; it
is more usually found in the B.F. period. In early B.F. wares the
subjects on the olpae are usually painted on the _side_, adjoining the
handle on the right[625]; they are always in panels. The word is
mentioned by Sappho and Ion of Chios.[626]
[Illustration: FIG. 47. EPICHYSIS.]
Lastly, we have a curious form, only found in Apulia, and belonging to
the extreme decadence of vase-painting (Fig. 47), which has a flat
cylindrical body like a round toilet-box (see Pyxis, p. 198) with
moulded edges. This is surmounted by a long narrow neck and beak-like
semi-cylindrical mouth[627]; and the whole effect is awkward and
inartistic. The name ἐπίχυσις, derived from the list given by
Pollux,[628] is generally given to this form.
For the ladle used for drawing wine out of the krater to fill the
oinochoë the ordinary name was κύαθος (Lat. _simpulum_). This word also
commonly denoted a measure of about one gill. Among the painted vases
it is represented by a rare but particularly graceful shape, the body
fashioned like a straight-sided bowl, with a high looped handle (Fig.
48). In the early B.F. examples a high stem is added. This shape is not
found in the later R.F. period or in Southern Italy. The long handle is
obviously for convenience in dipping.
[Illustration: FIG. 48. KYATHOS.]
A series of names, all of which are derivatives from the word ἀρύω,
“draw” (used only of drawing water), appear to represent ladles of
various forms and uses. Herodotos[629] mentions the word ἀρυστήρ, and
the forms ἀρυστεῖς, ἀρυτήρ, ἀρυσάνη, ἀρυστρίς, are also found.[630] The
ἀρύταινα appears to have been a bronze ladle, used in the baths for
collecting oil, and for filling lamps.[631] The ἀρύςτιχος, on the other
hand, was a wine-ladle, also known as an ἔφηβος; it appears to have
been used in voting in the law-courts.[632] Another word used by
Aristophanes is οἰνήρυσις[633]; two parallels to which are the
ἐτνήρυσις and ζωμήρυσις of the same author[634] and other comic
writers, both words meaning “soup-ladle.” It is doubtful if any of
these words were in use for fictile utensils.
* * * * *
The next branch of the subject is concerned with the various forms of
=Drinking-cups= in use among the Greeks. In these the potters may
perhaps be said to have attained their highest excellence, not only in
regard to beauty and grace of form, but also, so far as concerns one
variety at any rate—the R.F. Athenian kylix—in regard to the
decoration. The _locus classicus_ on the subject is the eleventh book
of Athenaeus, to which frequent reference has already been made[635];
but there are of course frequent references to these cups in Homer and
other poets. Athenaeus devotes a discourse by one of his “Doctors at
Dinner” entirely to this subject, the different names being discussed
in alphabetical order. Many of them are, as will be seen, only
alternatives names or nicknames for well-known shapes, while others
included in his description are certainly not drinking-cups at all. It
must also be borne in mind that many of the names are purely generic,
like the Latin _poculum_, and are not intended to connote any special
form; this is particularly the case in the descriptions of Homer,
where, indeed, we should not look for scientific accuracy.
The ordinary word for a drinking-cup was ποτήριον or ἔκπωμα, but
neither is known to Homer[636]; the terms he uses are δέπας, ἄλεισον,
and κύπελλον, the first being further defined as ἀαμφικύπελλον. The
word κισσύβιον[637] may be once for all briefly dismissed; it was so
called from κισσός (ivy), probably as being ornamented with ivy-foliage
in relief, and was made of wood. It is seldom that Homer’s descriptions
give any details as to form, and where they do they are difficult to
interpret aright. Athenaeus devotes a lengthy section of his discourse
to the explanation of the famous cup (δέπας) of Nestor,[638] which he
names νεστορίς (cf. p. 172), but arrives at no definite conclusion. It
has already been pointed out that a hint at its form seems to be given
by the gold and silver cups found in Mycenaean tombs, at Mycenae, and
Enkomi in Cyprus, although it need not be assumed that these are the
products of the civilisation which Homer describes; he may, however, be
speaking of traditional forms. Another instance of the δέπας in legend,
is in the story of Herakles crossing the ocean in the golden δέπας of
the Sun.[639]
Among the names of drinking-cups given by Athenaeus, the following may
be taken as used in a purely general sense, without any idea of a
particular form.
Ἄμυστις.—A cup from which it is possible to drink at one draught (cf.
κελέβη, p. 169).
Αμφωτις.—A two-handled cup (see under Skyphos, p. 186).
Ἀντύγονις.—A cup named after King Antigonos.
Ἀργυρίς.—A cup of metal (not necessarily silver). Pollux also gives the
word χρυσίς.
Ἄωτον.—A Cypriote name for a cup (“without handles,” from α and οὔς).
Βαυκαλίς.—An Alexandrine variety, of glass or clay.
Βῆσσα.—Also an Alexandrine form, widening out below.
Γυάλας.—A Megarian name (the form of the word is Doric).
Δεπαστρόν.—An uncertain form, variously explained.
Δεπαστρόν.—A bye-form of δέπας, in use at Kleitor in Arcadia.
Ἐνιαυτός.—Also known as Ἀμαλθείας κέρας. See under Rhyton (p. 193).
Ἔφηβος or ἐμβασικοίτας.—The significance of these names is not obvious,
but see p. 179 for the former.
Ἡδυποτίς.—A Rhodian name (cf. Pollux, vi. 96). Said to have been made
by the Rhodians in competition with the Athenian Θηρίκλειοι (see below,
p. 189). They were of light make, and not, like the Thericleian cups,
for the exclusive use of the rich.
Ἠθάνιον.—Apparently an Egyptian name.
Ἡμίτομος.—An Athenian cup, probably hemispherical (but see above, p.
174).
Ἴσθμιον.—A Cypriote term.
Κελέβη.—See under Krater (p. 169).
Κόνδυ.—An Asiatic name. Menander describes it as holding ten kotylae,
or about five pints.
Κρατάνιον or κρανίον.—Polemon mentions silver specimens in the temple
of Hera and treasury of the Byzantines at Olympia.
Κρουνεῖον.—It is doubtful if this word denotes a cup, as it is
catalogued with the κρατήρ, κάδος, and ὁλκεῖον.
Λαβρωνία.—A Persian cup, named from “greedy” drinking (λαβρότης ἐν τῷ
πίνειν).
Λάκαινα.—A cup made of Laconian clay.
Λέσβιον.
Μάνης.—A cup or bowl placed on the top of the kottabos-stand, and used
in the game of kottabos to receive the drops of wine thrown from the
kylix (_q.v._)
Μέλη.
Ὄινιστηρία.—A name given to the wine-cup dedicated to Herakles by the
ephebi at the time of entry into that rank.
Ὄλλιξ.—A wooden cup.
Παναθηναικόν.—Probably a variety of the Skyphos (_q.v._).
Πελίκη.—See under Amphora (p. 163). A generally disputed form.
Πέταχνον.—A wide flat cup (from πετάννυμι, “spread”).
Πρίστις.
Προυσίας.—Named from the king of Bithynia.
Προχύτης.—Called a cup by Athenaeus, but more probably to be identified
with the πρόχοος (p. 178).
Ῥέον or Ῥέοντα.—Probably a variant of ῥυτόν. It is described as taking
the form of a Gryphon or Pegasos, both of which occur in rhyta (p. 193).
Σαννακία.—A Persian cup.
Σελευκίς.—A cup named after King Seleukos.
Ταβαίτας.—A wooden cup.
Τραγέλαφος.—Probably a kind of rhyton (p. 193).
Τριύρης.—See p. 186, under κύμβιον.
Ὑστιακόν.
Χαλκιδικόν.—Probably named from the Thracian Chalkidike.
Χόννος.—A bronze cup (perhaps a kind of kylix).
ᾨδός.—A cup associated with the singing of σκόλια.
ᾨόν.—An egg-shaped cup.
ᾨοσκύφιον.—A double cup, apparently like an egg standing in an egg-cup.
Pollux also mentions the names Βησιακόν and Καππαδοκικόν; and Athenaeus
describes a γραμματικὸν ἔκπωμα, or cup ornamented with letters (in
relief), probably a late Hellenistic type.
We now come to the names which can be identified with existing vases,
or are described with some indication of their form.
A name which constantly occurs in two forms is the κοτύλη or κότυλος.
The distinction appears to be that the former had no handles, but the
latter one,[640] but otherwise the form was probably much the same,
being that of a deep cup; it is also probable that it was sometimes
used like the κύαθος, as a ladle for drawing out wine, as well as for
drinking. The word κοτύλη is found as early as Homer,[641] used
metaphorically for the hollow where the thigh-bone joins the hip; in
its proper meaning as a cup, it occurs in the familiar proverb[642]
which has been adopted into our language:
πολλὰ μεταξὺ πέλει κοτύλης καὶ χείλεος ἀκροῦ
“There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.”
As a measure it was equivalent to six kyathi, or roughly half a pint,
as already shown (p. 135). The ἡμικοτύλιον there discussed is, however,
a one-handled cup, and therefore to be called a κότυλος rather than a
κοτύλη. The latter is a word constantly found in Greek literature from
Homer downwards, as in the passage where Andromache describes the
impending fate of her orphan child, to whom a pitying patron will hold
out a cup, merely to taste, not to drain.[643]
From Athenaeus we learn that the κότυλος was like a deep
washing-basin (λουτήριον), and that it was associated with Dionysos.
Eratosthenes[644] calls it the most beautiful and the best for
drinking of all cups. The diminutive form κοτύλισκος occurs in
connection with the κέρνος], discussed below (p. 195), which had many
of these little cups attached to it. It has been customary to apply
the name κοτύλη to a class of vase found at all periods, with flat
base, slightly curved sides, and two flat handles level with the rim
(Fig. 49); it sometimes attains a considerable size for a
drinking-cup, and is usually decorated with one or two figures each
side. A notable exception is the beautiful vase in the British Museum
(Plate LI.), signed by Hieron, with its frieze of figures all round.
This identification is of course at variance with Athenaeus'
statement that the kotyle has no handle; but no other satisfactory
name has been found for the form.
[Illustration: FIG. 49. KOTYLE.]
Closely connected, it would seem, with the κοτύλη is the cup known as
the σκύφος or σκύπφος, to which there are frequent references in the
poets and elsewhere but not in Aristophanes. Homer[645] describes it as
a rustic sort of bowl, which held milk; Simonides applies to it the
epithet οὐατόεντα, or “handled.” Athenaeus connects the word with
σκαφίς, a round wooden vessel which held milk or whey, and this seems
to accord with the mention of it in Homer. It was always specially
associated with Herakles,[646] who was said to have used it on his
expeditions; hence certain varieties were known as σκύφοι Ἡρακλεωτικοί,
but it is more probable that this word refers to Heraklea Trachinia in
Northern Greece. Besides the Herakleotic, Athenaeus mentions specially
Boeotian, Rhodian, and Syracusan skyphi. The ordinary shape of the vase
may be inferred from the form of that which Herakles is often depicted
holding on the monuments[647]; it is of the same type as the κοτύλη,
but the body tapers below and has a higher foot, while the handles are
placed lower down and bent upwards. Among the late black-glazed wares
with opaque paintings (p. 488) some examples occur of cups with handles
twisted in a kind of knot, and it has been suggested that these
represent the “Heraklean knot” described by Athenaeus[648] as to be
seen on the handles of these: σκύφοι Ἡρακλεωτικοί.
The word is also frequently used by Roman authors, and there is a
particularly interesting passage in Suetonius (cf. p. 134) alluding to
the _Homerici scyphi_ adorned with chased designs from the Homeric
poems[649] which Nero possessed; these were, of course, metal bowls
with reliefs,[650] but they have their fictile counterparts in the
so-called Megarian bowls (p. 499).
Athenaeus[651] quotes from the philosopher Poseidonios a passage
referring to drinking-cups called Παναθηναικά, which may be supposed to
have some connection with the Panathenaic festival, and attempts have
been made to identify them with a class of skyphi or kotylae of the
R.F. period, the invariable subject on which is an owl between two
olive-branches (p. 410).[652] There is no doubt some reference to the
Athenian goddess, but it is more likely that they represent some kind
of official measure (see above, p. 135).
It will be noted that the σκύφος appears to have been originally a
wooden vessel used as a milking-pail, and it is further identified in
Theocritus with the wooden κισσύβιον, to which we have already alluded.
Two other words are given by Athenaeus to denote large wooden bowls of
the type of the σκύφος, namely the ἄμφωτις and the πέλλα[653] both used
as milking-pails. They were not strictly speaking drinking-cups. Among
existing Greek vases this form, viz. a deep straight-sided bowl, such
as a carved wooden vessel would naturally take, seems to be best
represented by the examples discovered on the site of the Cabeiric
temple at Thebes, which are of this shape and of considerable size (see
Fig. 98, p. 392).[654]
The βρομίας is described by Athenaeus[655] as a cup resembling the
taller skyphi, and the κιβώριον[656] (whence the ecclesiastical Latin
_ciborium_[657]) was also a kind of skyphos. The name μαστός should
also be included here, from the likeness of the cup to the skyphos. Its
characteristic is that it has no foot but only a small knob, and
therefore exactly resembles a woman’s breast with the nipple, whence
its name. In Greek pottery the only known painted examples are of the
B.F. period,[658] and these are usually modelled and painted with great
care and delicacy. The so-called Megarian bowls (see p. 499) should
also be included under this heading, in reference to which it has been
pointed out that μαστοί of metal were dedicated in temples at Oropos in
Boeotia and at Paphos.[659]
Another form of cup, of which Athenaeus has much to say, is the
κύμβιον[660] (other forms being κύμβη and κύββα), which was supposed to
represent the κύπελλον of Homer. He describes it as small and deep,
without foot or handles. On the other hand, the word also means “a
boat,” and we further find the words ἄκατος and τριήρης cited by
Athenaeus[661] as names of cups, the former being expressly called “a
boat-shaped cup.” This has the support of the author Didymos (quoted by
Athenaeus, 481 F) who says the κύμβιον was a long narrow cup like a
ship.[662] A possible instance of it is a long askos-shaped vessel in
the British Museum,[663] on which is incised [ΠΡΟΠΙΝΕ ΜΗ ΚΑΤΘΗΣ],
“Drink, do not lay me down”; but it is not of a form adapted for
drinking. The question must therefore remain undecided. Ussing thinks
that κύμβιον was originally a cup-name, and that the other meaning is
derived from it; but, on the other hand, ἄκατος and τριήρης are merely
nicknames as applied to cups.
The κώθων is a cup which cannot now be identified, but is often
referred to by ancient authors.[664] It seems to have been a Spartan
name for a soldier’s cup, used for drinking-water, and was adapted by
its recurved mouth for straining off mud.[665] It has been conjectured
to have been the name for the shape we have above described as a
κοτύλη, but on no good grounds; Pollux (vii. 162) wrongly classifies it
with the πίθος and amphora, but it was undoubtedly a cup, as indeed he
implies elsewhere (vi. 97). Usually of clay, it is sometimes described
as of bronze,[666] and Aristophanes applies to it the epithet
φαεινός,[667] which suggests a bright metallic surface. Hesychius and
Suidas describe it as having one handle. From the κώθων was derived the
word κωθωνίζεσθαι, “to drink hard.”[668]
The κάνθαρος was a cup so called because of a fancied resemblance to an
inverted beetle.[669] It was specially associated with Dionysos,[670]
and from this fact its form has been identified with certainty from the
two-handled drinking-cup which he is so often depicted holding,
especially on B.F. vases. It is a very beautiful though for some reason
never a very popular shape in pottery, and is found at all
periods.[671] In form it may be described as a deep straight-sided cup
on a high stem, with loop-shaped handles starting from the rim each
side and coming down to the lower edge of the body (Fig. 50). Probably
it was considered a difficult shape to produce in pottery, and was
commoner in metal examples.
At all events the καρχήσιον, a similar kind of cup, seems to have been
consistently made of metal. Athenaeus[672] describes it with more than
usual detail as tall, moderately contracted in the middle, with handles
reaching to the bottom (_i.e._ of the bowl). The form is to be
recognised on the monuments (if not in actual examples[673]) as a
variation of the κάνθαρος in which the body has a sort of “waist,”
bulging out again below. Virgil mentions _carchesia_,[674] and silver
specimens were among the dedications in the Parthenon at Athens.[675]
[Illustration: FIG. 50. KANTHAROS.]
Of all the ancient forms of drinking-cup, the most celebrated and in
some respects also the most beautiful, was the =Kylix= κύλιξ, Lat.
_calix_),[676] a two-handled cup of varying size, with large bowl on a
high stem. The shape of this vase shows a continuous development, as
does also its decorative treatment, from the most primitive times down
to the end of Greek vase-painting. It was moreover the form which the
great artists of the early part of the fifth century selected as the
medium of their finest efforts. The kylix played an important part at
the banquet, being not only one of the commonest forms of drinking-cup
in use, but as being also used in the game of kottabos (see Chapter
XV.). In the banqueting-scenes which are so popular a subject on the
R.F. kylikes of the best period, the guests are often represented
twirling vases of this shape on one finger crooked through the handle;
this being the manner in which they discharged the drops of wine at the
mark. Hence the kylix was also known as ἀγκύλη or κοτταβίς. When not in
use the kylix was hung on a peg on the wall, as it is sometimes
depicted on R.F. vases.[677]
Athenaeus[678] cites the Athenian and Argive kylikes as being of
special repute; the latter are described by Simonides as φοξίχειλος, a
word of doubtful meaning.[679] In the former’s own city of Naukratis a
special kind of kylix[680] was made by hand (not on the wheel), with
four handles and a very flat base, and this was dipped in a solution of
silver to give it a metallic appearance.[681] Lacedaemonian, Chian, and
Teian kylikes are also mentioned (the last-named by Alcaeus: see p.
64). But the most famous variety was the Thericleian, so named from
Therikles, a Corinthian potter contemporary with Aristophanes. These
cups were chiefly made at Athens; they are frequently mentioned by
Middle and New Comedy writers, and are described by Athenaeus[682] as
depressed round the sides, deep, with short handles. They were imitated
in wood or glass, and gilded, and Athenaeus mentions that the Rhodians
made ἡδυποτίδες (see above) in emulation of them.[683]
Besides the various diminutive forms of κύλιξ, such as κυλίχνη (see
above, p. 133), κυλίσκη, etc.,[684] there is a long list of synonyms
for this form, about most of which, however, there is nothing to say
except that they are probably mere nicknames. Athenaeus gives the
following: Κονώνιος, Λάκαινα, λοιβάσιον, πεντάπλοον, σκάλλιον,
χαλκόστομος, χόννος, and μαθαλίς; also μετάνιπτρον, from its use after
the washing of the hands, _i.e._ at the end of the meal; Προυσίας,
named from a king of Bithynia; and φιλοτησία, corresponding to our
“loving-cup.”[685]
In the history of Greek vase-painting the kylix is a shape known and
popular at all periods, from the Mycenaean Age down to the end of the
fifth century; in the fabrics of Southern Italy it but seldom occurs.
The Mycenaean form is peculiarly graceful, with its tall stem and
swelling bowl; it is generally decorated with a cuttle-fish, a motive
well suited to its outlines (see Plate XV.).
During the archaic period of Greek vases a steady development can be
traced, both in form and methods of decoration, until the outburst of
the R.F. style. The early Corinthian specimens (cf. p. 313) are
somewhat cumbrous, with very low stem, shallow bowl with heavy
overhanging lip and small handles; in strong contrast thereto are the
Cyrenaic cups (p. 341 ff.), which are in execution quite in advance of
their time (first half of sixth century); their graceful, delicate
forms are evidently imitated from metal. These early cups are as a rule
covered with a cream-coloured or buff slip and decorated all over, and
the interior designs, which cover the whole or almost the whole of the
inside, are a marked feature of these types.
[Illustration: FIG. 51. KYLIX (EARLIER FORM).]
Turning to the Attic fabrics we find that in the beginning of the sixth
century the prevalent form (evolved from the Corinthian type) has a
high stem and deep bowl with off-set lip, the decoration being confined
to the upper band of the exterior, in the form of a frieze (Fig. 51).
This type is also illustrated by a small Rhodian group in the British
Museum,[686] which, however, has elaborate interior designs. In the
next stage, represented by the Minor Artists (see p. 379 ff.), the form
remains the same, but the manner of decoration is different, interior
designs again appearing; often the design is confined to a narrow band,
the rest of the exterior being coloured black. Lastly, towards the end
of the fifth century, an entirely new form is introduced, in which the
break in the outline disappears and the bowl becomes flatter, with a
gracefully-curved convex outline, while the stem is shortened (Fig.
52). This form is the one adopted throughout the R.F. period, with few
exceptions, and it is possible that it was actually invented by the
earliest R.F. artists, such as Nikosthenes and Pamphaios, though it is
also employed by Exekias.[687] The methods of decoration cannot however
be treated of here.
[Illustration: FIG. 52. KYLIX (LATER FORM).]
An extremely delicate form of kylix is used by the potter Sotades
(Chapter X.), with handles in imitation of a bird’s merrythought.
Towards the end of the fifth century the shape changes somewhat, the
stem disappearing and the bowl becoming deeper. In Southern Italy the
kylix-form is only represented by gigantic shallow bowls, with small
stout handles attached to the rim, probably intended for hanging
against the wall. The Naucratite kylikes mentioned above seem to have
been made somewhat after this pattern; it was at any rate typical of
Hellenistic taste.
[Illustration: FIG. 53. PHIALE.]
The word φιάλη[688] (Lat. _patera_) bore in Greek a very different
meaning from that suggested by the modern word _phial_. It was in fact
a shallow bowl shaped like a saucer, and had no handle, but in place of
one a boss (ὄμφαλος) in the centre, which was hollowed out underneath
in order to admit of the insertion of a thumb or finger (Fig. 53).
Hence it was generally styled μεσόμφαλος or ὀμφαλωτός.[689] As a
vase-form it is not of frequent occurrence, and was probably more
frequently made in metal, especially in the Hellenistic period. Those
depicted on painted vases are usually indicated as having ribbed or
fluted exteriors, which can only denote metal (cf. Vol. II. Fig. 132).
About the third or second century B.C. imitations of metal phialae in
terracotta, with moulded interior designs, are of common occurrence.
Being signed by potters residing at Cales, they are usually known as
“Calene phialae.” There are two in the British Museum,[690] which are
an exact reproduction of silver specimens in the same collection.
Homer uses the word in two senses: (1) as equivalent to a λέβης, as if
used for boiling water[691]; (2) as a cinerary urn.[692] Obviously in
both these cases the significance of this particular word must not be
pressed. Later, however, we find very frequent mention of the phiale in
classical authors, such as Herodotos, Pindar, and Plato, in all cases
with the same restricted significance, that of a vessel used in making
libations. On the R.F. vases it appears in countless examples, used in
this manner, especially by Nike. Aristotle, by way of illustrating the
inversion of a simile, says “You may call the shield the phiale of
Ares, or the phiale the shield of Dionysos,” no doubt with reference to
its buckler-like shape.[693] Athenaeus (xi. 462 D) quotes a passage
from Xenophanes which implies its use for holding perfumes at banquets.
Many words occur as synonyms of φιάλη, such as the αιακις, ἄροτρον,
λυκιουργεῖς, ῥυσίς, φθοίς, βάτιακιον, and λεπάστη.[694] The last-named
word has been suggested above (p. 165) for a kind of large covered dish
or bowl, but we can only ascertain that it was a drinking-vessel of
some kind, resembling a large kylix.[695]
[Illustration: FIG. 54. Rhyton.]
The ῥυτόν, or drinking-horn (from ῥέω, “flow”), is a familiar shape in
the R.F. and later styles, but as a vase-form does not occur before the
middle of the fifth century.[696] Its peculiarities were: firstly, that
it could not be set down without drinking the contents; secondly, that
the narrow end was almost always modelled in the form of the head of
some animal, or of a woman or Satyr. Some examples are known in the
form of two heads back to back, usually a Satyr and a Maenad, but these
having a flat circular base are an exception to the first rule noted
above, and partake more of the nature of a cup than of a drinking-horn.
Although no archaic examples have been preserved, the rhyton, or
κέρας,[697] as it is also called, frequently appears on B.F. vases,
being generally held by Satyrs or revellers, or by Dionysos.[698]
Athenaeus says it was a form reserved for the use of heroes, and that
κέρας was the older name for it.[699] Among the South Italian vases, it
is found almost exclusively in Apulia, and these belong to the
decadence of the Apulian style, the paintings being limited to a figure
of Eros, or a woman, and little more. These rhyta have one handle, and
the cup-part is generally cylindrical in form, tapering slightly
towards the lower part, where the head is attached (Fig. 54.). In some
instances the form is narrower and more elongated, with fluted body.
The animals’ heads are usually left unvarnished, and coloured in detail
like the terracotta figures; the mouth often forms a spout from which
the liquid could be allowed to run out.[700] The heads, which occur in
great variety, include the panther, fox, wolf, horse, goat, mule, deer,
and dog[701]; also Gryphons and Pegasi (see below). Athenaeus mentions
a vase called the τραγέλαφος,[702] which was doubtless a rhyton ending
in two heads, a goat and a deer conjoined, like some known specimens;
he also quotes a description of another called ελέφας, explained as a
rhyton with two spouts (δίκρουνος).[703] Further, under the heading
ῥέοντα, which is doubtless a synonym for ῥυτόν, he mentions one in the
form of a Gryphon, another in the form of a Pegasos.[704] The name is
mentioned by Demosthenes, together with κύμβια and φιάλαι.[705] It is
worthy of mention that among the Mycenaean objects discovered at Enkomi
in Cyprus, in 1896, and now in the British Museum, there are two or
three rhyta in porcelain, corresponding in form to those of the R.F.
period, and of very advanced style[706]; they are in fact quite unique.
A few comparatively unimportant names of vessels for holding food and
liquids at the table may next be discussed.
[Illustration: FIG. 55. PINAX.]
The names given for dishes are δισκός, παροψίς, and τρύβλιον, the
latter of which frequently occurs in Aristophanes, but παροψίς seems to
be of late introduction, and more used by the Romans (see Chapter
XXI.).[707] For a plate the usual name was πίναξ (also πινακίον,
πινακίσκος), a form which is interesting as often occurring among
painted vases (Fig. 55). It is found at all periods, from the fabrics
of Rhodes and Naukratis down to the Apulian and Campanian
“fish-plates,” which have a sinking in the centre, and are painted with
fish, shell-fish, etc. They were no doubt used for eating fish, the
sinking being for the sauce.[708] A famous early instance of the pinax
is the “Euphorbos-plate” in the British Museum (see p. 335). The name
is also given to the square plaques or tablets, such as those found at
Corinth, on the Athenian Acropolis, and elsewhere, which were generally
of a votive character. They are often depicted on the vases themselves,
indicating the locality of a shrine.[709]
Vessels for holding vinegar or sauces were known by the names of
ὀξύβαφον, ὀξίς, or ἐμβάφιον.[710] The shapes are not exactly known, but
they were apparently small cups or dishes; the incorrect identification
of the first-named with the κρατήρ we have already discussed (p. 171).
The words ἐρεύς and κυψελίς are given by Pollux[711] as vases for
holding sweets, and the κυμινοδόκον or κυμινοθήκη was, as the name
implies, a box or receptacle for spices.[712] The last-named has been
identified with the κέρνος, described by Athenaeus as “a round vessel,
having attached several little kotylae (κοτυλίσκους).”[713] Two
existing forms correspond in some degree to this description: one found
in Cyprus and at Corinth, and consisting of a hollow ring, to which
small cups or jars are attached at intervals; the other found chiefly
in Melos, and consisting of a central stand, round which are grouped a
varying number of alabastron-like vases, evidently designed for holding
small quantities of unguents or perfumes, or perhaps flowers, eggs, or
other objects. They are all of very early date, and decorated in
primitive fashion.[714] A better form of the word seems to be κέρχνος.
Many have been found at Eleusis,[715] and it is supposed that they were
used in the Mysteries for carrying the first-fruits.[716]
[Illustration: FIG. 56. LEKYTHOS.]
Several kinds of vases were used for holding oil, the characteristic of
all these shapes being the narrow neck and small mouth, which were
better adapted for pouring the liquid drop by drop. The ordinary Greek
word for an oil-flask is λύκυθος, frequently found in Aristophanes and
elsewhere. We have already referred (pp. 132, 143) to the passages in
the _Ecclesiazusae_ where the practice of placing lekythi on tombs, and
generally of using them for funeral purposes, finds allusion. From
these passages it has been possible to identify the class of
white-ground Athenian vases on which funeral subjects are painted, with
absolute certainty as =Lekythi=. But the shape is not confined to this
one class. In the early B.F. period (especially in Corinthian wares) it
assumes a less elegant form, with cup-shaped mouth, short thick neck,
and quasi-cylindrical body tapering slightly upwards (cf. the
alabastron below). The later form, which prevails from the middle of
the B.F. period down to the end of the fourth century at Athens, with
very little variation of form, is one of the most beautiful types of
Greek vases (Fig. 56). It has a long neck, to which the handle is
attached, flat or almost concave shoulder, and cylindrical body,
semi-oval at the base. The B.F. examples are seldom found in Italy, and
almost all come from Athens and other Hellenic sites, or from Sicily, a
country in which the form seems to have been exceptionally popular. The
same may be said of the ordinary R.F. examples, which have no
sepulchral reference, and are found in large numbers at Gela
(Terranuova) in Sicily, but seldom elsewhere. The white lekythi have
been found in Eretria, and at Gela, and Locri in Southern Italy,
besides Athens. The lekythos seldom attains to any great size, except
in the marble examples used as tombstones. They were probably used at
the bath and in the gymnasium, and may also have served other purposes,
_e.g._ for pigments. In illustration of this reference may be made to
the well-known passage in Aristophanes’ _Frogs_ (1200 ff.), where the
jeer of Aeschylos at Euripides’ stereotyped beginnings of his plays,
ληκύθιον ἀπώλεσεν, seems to imply “he is hard up for something new to
say,” _i.e._ “he has lost his paint-pot; his lines need embellishment.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 57. LEKYTHOS (LATER FORM).
]
Towards the end of the fifth century the lekythos takes a new departure
(Fig. 57), and appears with a squat, almost spherical body, without
foot (except for the base-ring). This form is sometimes known as
_aryballos_ (see below), but is perhaps more accurately described as a
“wide-bodied” (Germ. _bauchige_) lekythos. It is very popular at Athens
in the late fine or polychrome vases,[717] and was adopted exclusively
in Southern Italy, where it is the only form of lekythos found. This
type of vase is often found in the period of the Decadence with a
subject moulded in relief attached to the front, sometimes of a comic
nature.
[Illustration: FIG. 58. ALABASTRON.]
The _alabastron_ (ἀλάβαστρον or ἀλάβαστος, both forms being found in
Classical Greek) is a shape closely allied to the lekythos. It
preserves the same form throughout the period of Greek vase-painting
(Fig. 58.), but is not often found after the middle of the sixth
century. In the early Corinthian wares it is very common. The name is
derived from the material of which it was originally made, and many
examples of alabaster vases of this shape have been found in
excavations. It was chiefly used for holding oil, unguents, and
cosmetics, and is often represented in scenes of ladies’ toilet as in
use for these purposes. Its characteristics are a flat round top with
small orifice, short neck, and more or less cylindrical body with
rounded-off base, intended for placing in a stand (ἀλαβαστοθήκη).[718]
It is generally without handles, but when they occur they are in the
form of two small ears, through which a cord was passed for carrying or
suspending it. The “alabaster box” of the Gospels was a vessel of this
form (cf. the original Greek), and it was broken by knocking off the
top, in order that the contents might flow out quickly. The name βῆσσα
is also given as a synonym of the ἀλάβαστρον.[719]
[Illustration: FIG. 59. ARYBALLOS.]
Another vase of the same type is that known as the ἀρύβαλλος. The
derivation of the word is unknown, but the first half connects it with
the “ladle” class of vases (ἀρυτήρ, etc.), of which we have already
spoken. It can, however, hardly be a vase of that type, and the
connection seems to be its use in the bath,[720] _i.e._ as an
oil-flask. It is generally described as resembling a purse;
Athenaeus[721] says it is broader below than above, like a purse tied
at the neck with a string. The name, however, is usually applied to a
form of vase akin to the alabastron, but with small globular body,
handle, and very short neck (Fig. 59.). This type is almost confined to
the Corinthian and other early fabrics, and frequently occurs in glazed
or enamelled ware (see p. 127). Its connection with the bath is
undoubted, and it was generally carried on a string, together with a
strigil or flesh-scraper. As this form died out in the sixth century,
the name has been used, as noted above, for a later variety of the
lekythos, in which the body approaches a globular form.
Transitional between the alabastron and the aryballos is a type of
which some examples occur among early Corinthian wares, with egg-shaped
body, flat round top, and small ear-like handle, the base being rounded
off. To this the name βομβύλιος has been tentatively given, on the
authority of Antisthenes, who defines the word as meaning a kind of
lekythos with narrow neck.[722] In the same passage of Athenaeus[723]
it is contrasted with the quickly-emptied φιάλη or bowl; those who
drink from it must do so drop by drop (κατὰ μικρὸν στάζοντες). The name
may denote a cocoon, the shape of which this vase resembles, or may be
imitative, from the gurgling sound made by a liquid poured therefrom.
The ἐξάλειπτρον was also probably a kind of oil-flask.[724]
[Illustration: FIG. 60. PYXIS.]
A few forms of vases were exclusively devoted to feminine use. These
include the πυξίς, a cylindrical box with cover, in which jewellery or
other objects such as hair-pins, cosmetics, etc., might be kept for use
in the toilet (Fig. 60.). The painted examples of this form, which
nearly all belong to the later R.F. period, are usually decorated with
appropriate subjects, women at their toilet, preparations for weddings,
etc. The σμηματοθήκη, or soap-box, served similar purposes.[725] It
seems to be represented by a form of vase of which the British Museum
possesses a specimen (without figure decoration), with cover and high
stem, but no handle except the knob on the cover. It is intermediate in
form between the pyxis and the so-called λεπαστή (p. 165), and
sometimes appears in toilet and other scenes.[726] A rare form, found
almost exclusively in the R.F. period,[727] consisting of a globular
vase with vertical looped handles on a high stem, has been variously
named, but the latest theory is that it represents a λέβης
γαμικός.[728] It contained lustral water, and is usually decorated with
bridal scenes. One is depicted in a toilet scene on a pyxis in the
British Museum.[729]
[Illustration: FIG. 61. EPINETRON OR ONOS.]
Lastly, a peculiar semi-cylindrical vessel, closed at one end and open
down the side (Fig. 61.), was for a long time a puzzle to
archaeologists, but its use was finally determined by its appearance in
a vase-painting.[730] It is there held by a seated woman, fitted over
her knee and thigh, and was used while spinning to pass the thread
over. The name of these objects is given by Pollux (vii. 32) as
ἐπίνητρον or ὄνος (“the donkey”). Several of them are painted with
spinning scenes, and the vase-painting alluded to above is curiously
enough on a vase of this form.
There is a type of vase, of which two or three varieties occur, which,
from its general likeness to a wine-skin, is usually styled =Askos=. It
does not, however, appear that there is any direct authority for this,
at least in literary records; where the word does occur, it always
denotes a leather skin, such as is sometimes depicted on the vases,
carried by a Seilenos or Satyr. It is, however, a convenient
expression, and there is no other recorded term which can on any
grounds be associated with this type.
[Illustration: FIG. 62. ASKOS.]
The earliest examples, which date from the middle of the R.F. period,
have a flat round body with convex top, and a projecting spout (Fig.
62); the handle is sometimes arched over the back to meet the spout, or
else takes a separate ring-like form.[731] They are usually decorated
with two small figures, one on each side. In the vases of Southern
Italy a new form appears (Fig. 63), chiefly found in Apulia, in which
the resemblance to a wine-skin is much more apparent, the tied-up pairs
of legs being represented by the spout or a projection. The handle is
usually arched over the back, and the pouch-shaped body sometimes
assumes an almost birdlike form.
[Illustration: FIG. 63. APULIAN ASKOS.]
A variety which is also common in Southern Italy is made of plain black
ware, and is not painted but has a subject in relief in a medallion on
the top[732]; the handle is ring-shaped[733] and the form generally
resembles the variety first described, except that the body is flat on
the top, and convex below, with a base-ring (Fig. 64). It seems
probable that these vases were used for holding oil for feeding lamps,
and consequently they are generally known by the Latin name of
_guttus_, or “lamp-feeder” (see pp. 211, 503). Whether the painted aski
were used for the same purpose is doubtful; those, however, with the
large body seem to have been intended for other purposes, especially as
they often have a strainer inserted in them. Some indeed appear to have
been used as rattles, and still contain small balls or pebbles, placed
within them for that purpose. On the whole, however, it seems more
convenient to reckon the ἀσκοί with the oil-vases.[734]
[Illustration: FIG. 64. SO-CALLED “GUTTUS.”]
Among vases which do not exactly fall under the heading of any
particular shape may be noted certain types of moulded vases, and those
with reliefs modelled on them or attached. Many of these almost fall
under the category of terracotta figures, but still must be reckoned as
vases, even when painted in the methods of terracottas rather than
pottery. Such are the large aski described on page 119, and the
contemporary ornamental vases modelled in the form of female heads, of
Maenads, or of Athena (as B.M. G 1). Other types we have described
elsewhere,[735] such as the rhyta ending in animals’ heads, the
kanthari and rhyta of the R.F. period in the form of human or Dionysiac
heads, and the analogous vases of the archaic period. Again, there are
such forms as the flasks with flat circular bodies, and the large
pyxides which are often found in Southern Italy.[736] They usually bear
a subject in relief, covered with a white slip and painted in pink and
blue, like the Canosa vases; a specimen from Pompeii, with rich remains
of colouring, has lately been acquired by the British Museum. The
curious type of vase sometimes found in Sicily, with a tall conical
cover, the ornamentation being partly in encaustic, partly in gilded
relief, has been already mentioned.[737] There is also a late variety
of the so-called kernos (p. 195), consisting of four cups united on an
elaborate fluted stand, of which the British Museum possesses two good
examples.[738]
It should be borne in mind that all these exceptional shapes are
probably imitations of metal-work, perhaps made for the benefit of
those who could not afford the more expensive material, just as
imitation jewellery was sometimes made in gilt terracotta. Throughout
the Hellenistic period (to which the classes we are discussing chiefly
belong), the universal tendency is to substitute metal vases for
pottery, and moulded or relief-wares for painted decoration, and the
potter, finding the painted vases were no longer appreciated, was
forced to confine himself to imitating metal, and thus keep abreast
with the new fashion. The whole subject of the plastic decoration of
vases has been more fully dealt with elsewhere (Chapter XI.).
-----
Footnote 447:
L. 64.
Footnote 448:
“And in earthenware baked in the fire, within the closure of figured
urns, there came among the goodly folk of Hera the prize of the
olive-fruit” (Myers).
Footnote 449:
“And he won five garlands in succession at the Panathenaic games,
amphorae full of oil” (Frag. 155, _ed._ Bergk = _Anth. P._ xiii. 19).
See also Schol. _in_ Ar. _Nub._ 1005, and _Inscr. Gr._ (_Atticae_),
ii. 965_b_.
Footnote 450:
Cf. Schol. _in_ Plat. _Hipp. Min._ 368 C: Λήκυθον δὲ ἀγγεῖόν τι φασίν
οἱ Ἀττικοὶ ἐων ᾡ τοῖς νεκροῖς ἕφερον τὸ μύρον.
Footnote 451:
“And raise the great goblets, or if, Oikis, thou desirest aught else
... pour in and mix one and two full up to the brim, and let the one
goblet oust the other.”
Footnote 452:
_Graec. Ling. Dialect_, i. p. 247.
Footnote 453:
viii. 381: see also p. 50.
Footnote 454:
See p. 499.
Footnote 455:
Suet. _Ner._ 47: see Robert, _Homer. Becher_, and _Class. Review_,
1894, p. 325. The British Museum possesses a silver phiale, with
terracotta replicas (G 117, 118), one of which is shown on Plate
XLVIII. See also p. 500.
Footnote 456:
Cf. the use of the word δημόσιον on bronze and lead weights.
Footnote 457:
Egger in _Revue Archéol._ xvi. (1867), p. 292.
Footnote 458:
See Hultsch, _Metrologie_, p. 99 ff.
Footnote 459:
Arist. _Categ._ 12; also Polybius, iv. 56, ἡτοίμασαν οίνου κεράμια
μύρια.
Footnote 460:
B.M. F 175.
Footnote 461:
Other instances are: Millingen-Reinach, 2; Munich 423; Reinach, i.
291–92.
Footnote 462:
Cf. B.M. E 534–37, 548–53; also Stackelberg, _Gräber der Hellenen_,
pl. 17. Fig. 15 is from the vase F 101 in the British Museum.
Footnote 463:
Cf. B.M. F 457–66.