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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 (Kref…

(πίναξ/ pínax, 'board, painted or inscribed tablet'; extended meaning, 'inscription, register'). [German version] [1] (Greek 'notice-board') Notice-board, board for announcements of all kinds (Hdt. 5,49,1;…

(ὁ λέβης; ho lébēs…

[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 the preliminary phase of the solid marble lekythoi on tombs that were widespread in the 4th cent. Pictorial representations as well as owners' graffiti on smaller specimens attest to secular use of clay …

[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 Sophilus [1] around 580 BC with one ἐποίησεν/ epoíēsen- ('has made') and three égrapse signatures. In the black-figured style, many potters still painted their pottery themselves (Nearchus [1]; Amasis-painter, Execias), but after 530 BC. the increasing demand resulted in a growing number of VP (Epictetus [1], Oltus, Psiax, Phintias [2], Euphronius [2], Smicrus, Euthymides) and to a clear division of labour. The cup painter Oltus, for example, worked for six differe…

(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 held cooking oil. Southern Italian askoi of the 4th-3rd cents. BC bear relief decoration. Functionally comparable to the askos is the guttus, a drip-pourer with long spout and ring handle.  Vessel forms Scheibler, Ingeborg (Krefeld) Bibliography …

[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…

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[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…

[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.…

[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…

(τὸ ῥυτόν/ tò rhytón). [German version] I. Object Funnel-shaped vessel for dispensing and drinking, usually ending in the head, or protome, of an animal; the name is derived from ῥύσις/ rhýsis (‘stream’) because the liquid could run out through a small hole at the bottom as long as…

[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 …

[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 …

(ἀρύβαλλος; arýballos). [German version] [1] Leather bag Leather bag. Scheibler, Ingeborg (Krefeld) …

[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.…