History of Ancient Pottery 23

History of Ancient Pottery 23

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]