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[German version] (ὁ/τὸ σκύφος; h o/tò skýphos). Tall but stable drinking cup with two handles usually attached horizontally, originally a rustic wooden beaker (Ath. 11,498-500). The synonym κοτύλη/ kotýlē is generally used as a term for a cup of no fixed typology. The capacity of a skyphos was between a kotyle [2] and a chous [1]. As a wine vessel, it is attested more frequently for komasts than for symposiasts. Scheibler, Ingeborg (Krefeld) Bibliography F. Leonard, s. v. Kotyle (1), RE 11, 1542-1546  B. A. Sparkes, L. Talcott, Black and Plain Pottery (Agora 12), 1970, 81-87,…

(ὁ λέβης; ho lébēs). [German version] [1] Large cauldron Large cauldron, a bronze vessel used from the Mycenaean period to heat water and cook meals, in Homer aside from the phiale and trivet a popular prize ( Prizes (games)) (Hom. Il. 9,122; 23,267; 613; 762), also made of precious metal. The addition ápyros (ἄπυρος) describes either new lébētes or those used as kraters. Bronze kettles decorated with protomes from the 7th-6th cents. BC that can be removed from the stand go back to Oriental models (Griffin cauldron). Aside from these splendid cauldro…

[German version] (ἡ λήκυθος; hē lḗkythos). Greek generic term for ointment and oil vessels of various shapes and sizes with a narrow opening, also comprising the alabastron and aryballos ; based on schol. Pl. Hp. mi. 368C, today in particular a term for Attic funerary vessels from the 6th and 5th cents. BC that contained aromatic oil donations and were a popular gift for the dead ( Vessel, shapes and types of fig. E 3). As the white-ground lekythoi grew bigger, small insets for saving oil became common in the 5th cent. Around 400 BC, a group of Attic monumental clay lekythoi obviously formed th…

[German version] The collective term 'vases' for Greek painted pottery (II. A.) as a special sub-genre of ceramics characterized by its often rich decoration emerged in the 18th cent. when the first vasi antichi were discovered in Campania and Etruria. Since their decoration was the task of the potter, no ancient word exists for the profession of vase painters (VP), although they could mark their work with the signature ἔγραψεν/ égrapsen ('has painted'). The first signatures of VP appear on early archaic, Cycladic and Corinthian pottery. In Athens, the earliest example is Sophil…

(ἀσκός; askós). [German version] [1] Wineskin Leather wineskin. Scheibler, Ingeborg (Krefeld) [German version] [2] Vessel type Collective archaeological term for closed vessels with stirrup handle and spout ( Vessel forms). Larger ‘sack pots’ as early as the Bronze Age; askoi in the form of birds and ducks mainly in the 8th cent. BC, also present in Etruria. Loops handles suggest flasks, pictorial representations, drinking vessels. The small, black-varnished or red-figured askoi of the 5th-4th cents. BC in the form of skins, or lenticular or ring-shaped, probably…

[German version] Vases worked three-dimensionally using a combination of techniques; figurine vases made by coroplasts, often originating from the same moulds as the statuettes (terracottas). Precursors in Anatolia, Egypt and the Ancient Orient. Greek figurine vases of clay (birds, cattle, horses) in greater numbers from the 14th cent. BC. [1]. Vast production of ointment vessels with glazed clay painting in the 7th-6th cents. BC e.g. in Corinth [2], Rhodes [3] and Boeotia: complete figures, busts…

[German version] (ὁ κρατήρ/ ho kratḗr from κεράννυμι, keránnymi, ‘to mix’; Linear B: acc. ka-ra-te-ra). Wide-mouthed vessel for mixing water and wine, used at banquets (Hom. Od. 1,110), as well as in sacrificial rites (Hom. Il. 3,269) and religious festivals (Hdt. 1,51). Gyges, Alyattes and Croesus are supposed to have donated splendid large kraters of precious metal to Delphi. Their capacity was given in amphorae (Hdt. 1,51; 70; cf. Hom. Il. 23,741; Amphora [2]), their value measured according to weight (Hdt. 1,14; cf. Plin. HN 33,15). Supports for kraters ( hypokratērídia, hypóstata…

[German version] (ὁ ψυκτήρ; ho psyktḗr). Vessel made of clay or bronze for keeping wine cool. Occasionally double-walled craters and amphoras served this purpose in the 6th cent. BC. In about 530 BC a mushroom-shaped psykter was invented in Athens (Pottery, shapes and types of, ill. C 8) and was subsequently manufactured in numerous red-figure workshops (Oltus, Euphronius [2], Euthymides). Its earlier forms are considered to be black-figured jugs and amphoras with cylindrical hollow feet. The style continued until c. 470 BC (Pan painter). Pictorial representations most com…

[German version] (ἀλάβαστρον, ἀλάβαστος; alábastron, alábastos). Slender perfume bottle without a base whose contents were accessed with small sticks ( Pottery). Examples of clay, precious metal, glass and lead have been found. Egyptian precursors, made of alabaster, imported into Greece in early times. Greek clay alabastra already around 600 BC in east Ionia; deviating from that the proto-Corinthian pouch version. Rich production of painted clay alabastra in Attica around 550-450 BC. In late classical times, larger stone alabastra served as grave decoration. Scheibler, Inge…

[German version] (ἐπίνητρον; epínētron). A curved cover, wrongly referred to as ónos (ὄνος), for the protection of thighs and knees during the cleaning and combing of wool; according to Hesychius s.v., the epinetron was used to card the fibres, but more likely to prepare the rovings (see illustr.). Epinetra were generally made from clay or wood; some painted clay epinetra from the 5th cent. BC are extant.  Eretria Painter Scheibler, Ingeborg (Krefeld) Bibliography A. Lezzi-Hafter, Der Eretria-Maler, 1988, 253-262 A. Pekridou-Gorecki, Mode im antiken Griechenland, 1989, 16-20. Re…

[German version] (φιάλη; phiálē). In Homeric times, the term for a kettle (Lebes), basin, vessel in general. Later it was used only for a bowl without a foot and handle, which - in contrast to the Ancient Near Eastern model - was equipped with an omphalos, for better handling. An omphalos was a central concavity of the base into which a finger could be inserted from below. The use of the term phiale to indicate this shape is attested as early as the 7th cent. BC. According to literary and pictorial…

[German version] (ὁ/ἡ λάγυνος; ho/ hē lágynos). Wine bottle with handle, wide flat body, high narrow neck and sealable mouth (see Vessels, shapes and types of, fig. B 10). A Hellenistic type of vessel prevalent up to and into the Imperial period. Every participant in the lagynophória (λαγυνοφόρια), a Dionysiac street festival in Alexandria, brought along a lagynos for his share of wine (Ath. 7,276a-c). Scheibler, Ingeborg (Krefeld) Bibliography G. Leroux, L., 1913 F. v. Lorentz, s.v. L., RE Suppl. 6, 216f. R. Pierobon, L. Funzione e forma, in: Riv. Studi Liguri 45, 1979, 27-50 S. I. Rotro…

[German version] A. Forms, functions, names The variety of ancient pottery (ἀγγεῖον/ angeîon; vas) results primarily from the diversity of uses, such as transport, storage, scooping, pouring, mixing of solid or fluid contents (functional shapes) and secondarily from differences of form determined by period and region (types). The functional shape indicates only the basic functional structure, which is given its concrete expression only by a type. The fixed functional characteristics of an amphora (cf. fig. A…

[German version] (ἡ ὑδρία; hē hydría). Water jug with three handles and a narrow mouth, as it is described in the inscription of the Troilus scene on the Clitias Krater (Florence, MA). The form occurs already in Early Helladic ceramics and on Mycenaean clay tablets from  Pylos (called ka-ti). The older rounded form was replaced in the 6th cent. BC, now in bronze and silver as well, by the elongated shoulder hydria and a bit later by the kalpis with continuous profile ( Vessels fig. B 11-12). Very slender hydriae still existed in the 4th cent. BC and into the Hellenistic …

(ἀρύβαλλος; arýballos). [German version] [1] Leather bag Leather bag. Scheibler, Ingeborg (Krefeld) [German version] [2] Spherical container Technical term for spherical containers of ointment ( lekythos), worn on an athlete's wrist; they have survived in clay, faience, bronze and silver. Originating in Corinth, the form reached Sparta and Rhodes in the 6th cent. BC, and subsequently Attica. Scheibler, Ingeborg (Krefeld) Bibliography N. Kunisch, Eine neue Fikellura-Vase, in: AA 1972, 558-565 (typology) G. Schwarz, Addenda zu Beazleys ”Aryballoi“, in: JÖAI 54, 198…

[German version] Wrong term for a cauldron ( Pottery, shapes and types of;  Lebes). Scheibler, Ingeborg (Krefeld)

[German version] I. Introduction, origins, social position The potter (κεραμεύς/ kerameús, Lat. figulus) carried out his artistic work at the potter's wheel and in the creation of clay patrices (prototypes), models and sculptural ornamentation, though the profession included production processes such as mining and preparing the clay, painting, firing and selling the products. Despite at times enjoying good economic circumstances, the potter’s position in society remained modest; in Athens he was ranked amongst the thêtes , zeugîtai or metics ( métoikos …

[German version] In Antiquity, manufacturers of simple utilitarian pottery generally met only the local demand of their region, while finer, decorated ceramics were also intended for the transregional market. However, the latter could also stimulate the export of poorer goods. The distribution of pottery finds in many cases indicates corresponding trade links, but there are also other factors to consider: the extended find radius of Mycenaean pottery is more a reflection of the presence of Mycenae…

[German version] (ἡ πυξίς; hē pyxís). Box, round container with a lid; the Hellenistic name is derived from πύξος/ pýxos (‘box tree wood’), from which pyxides were often fashioned; the older Attic name is probably κυλιχνίς/ kylichnís. Pyxides are predominantly preserved as ceramics, more rarely made of wood, alabaster, metal or ivory. Among other things, pyxides were used for storing cosmetics and jewellery, so they were part of the life of women, the preferred motive in the red-figured style being portrayals of women's rooms; the…

[German version] (ἡ κύλιξ; hē kýlix). General ancient term for a wine goblet; mentioned in inscriptions are both goblets and skyphoi as well as flat drinking bowls. As a technical term, kylix is today only used for the latter. As a bowl, made of clay, with high foot and two horizontal handles, the kylix originated in the 6th cent. BC, probably derived from Laconian examples. It could be handled particularly well when lying down; it is no coincidence that it follows Oriental banquet customs. Early forms from the 8th and 7th cents., with a low foot,…