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.
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.
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.