FIG. 47. EPICHYSIS.
Lastly, we have a curious form, only found in Apulia, and belonging to the extreme decadence of vase-painting (Fig. [47]), which has a flat cylindrical body like a round toilet-box (see Pyxis, p. [198]) with moulded edges. This is surmounted by a long narrow neck and beak-like semi-cylindrical mouth[[627]]; and the whole effect is awkward and inartistic. The name ἐπίχυσις, derived from the list given by Pollux,[[628]] is generally given to this form.
For the ladle used for drawing wine out of the krater to fill the oinochoë the ordinary name was κύαθος (Lat. simpulum). This word also commonly denoted a measure of about one gill. Among the painted vases it is represented by a rare but particularly graceful shape, the body fashioned like a straight-sided bowl, with a high looped handle (Fig. [48]). In the early B.F. examples a high stem is added. This shape is not found in the later R.F. period or in Southern Italy. The long handle is obviously for convenience in dipping.
FIG. 48. KYATHOS.
A series of names, all of which are derivatives from the word ἀρύω, “draw” (used only of drawing water), appear to represent ladles of various forms and uses. Herodotos[[629]] mentions the word ἀρυστήρ, and the forms ἀρυστεῖς, ἀρυτήρ, ἀρυσάνη, ἀρυστρίς, are also found.[[630]] The ἀρύταινα appears to have been a bronze ladle, used in the baths for collecting oil, and for filling lamps.[[631]] The ἀρύςτιχος, on the other hand, was a wine-ladle, also known as an ἔφηβος; it appears to have been used in voting in the law-courts.[[632]] Another word used by Aristophanes is οἰνήρυσις[[633]]; two parallels to which are the ἐτνήρυσις and ζωμήρυσις of the same author[[634]] and other comic writers, both words meaning “soup-ladle.” It is doubtful if any of these words were in use for fictile utensils.
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]]