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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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]

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.”

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.

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]

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]

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]

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.

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.

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]

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.).