Another form of cup, of which Athenaeus has much to say, is the κύμβιον[[660]] (other forms being κύμβη and κύββα), which was supposed to represent the κύπελλον of Homer. He describes it as small and deep, without foot or handles. On the other hand, the word also means “a boat,” and we further find the words ἄκατος and τριήρης cited by Athenaeus[[661]] as names of cups, the former being expressly called “a boat-shaped cup.” This has the support of the author Didymos (quoted by Athenaeus, 481 F) who says the κύμβιον was a long narrow cup like a ship.[[662]] A possible instance of it is a long askos-shaped vessel in the British Museum,[[663]] on which is incised
, “Drink, do not lay me down”; but it is not of a form adapted for drinking. The question must therefore remain undecided. Ussing thinks that κύμβιον was originally a cup-name, and that the other meaning is derived from it; but, on the other hand, ἄκατος and τριήρης are merely nicknames as applied to cups.
The κώθων is a cup which cannot now be identified, but is often referred to by ancient authors.[[664]] It seems to have been a Spartan name for a soldier’s cup, used for drinking-water, and was adapted by its recurved mouth for straining off mud.[[665]] It has been conjectured to have been the name for the shape we have above described as a κοτύλη, but on no good grounds; Pollux (vii. 162) wrongly classifies it with the πίθος and amphora, but it was undoubtedly a cup, as indeed he implies elsewhere (vi. 97). Usually of clay, it is sometimes described as of bronze,[[666]] and Aristophanes applies to it the epithet φαεινός,[[667]] which suggests a bright metallic surface. Hesychius and Suidas describe it as having one handle. From the κώθων was derived the word κωθωνίζεσθαι, “to drink hard.”[[668]]
The κάνθαρος was a cup so called because of a fancied resemblance to an inverted beetle.[[669]] It was specially associated with Dionysos,[[670]] and from this fact its form has been identified with certainty from the two-handled drinking-cup which he is so often depicted holding, especially on B.F. vases. It is a very beautiful though for some reason never a very popular shape in pottery, and is found at all periods.[[671]] In form it may be described as a deep straight-sided cup on a high stem, with loop-shaped handles starting from the rim each side and coming down to the lower edge of the body (Fig. [50]). Probably it was considered a difficult shape to produce in pottery, and was commoner in metal examples.
At all events the καρχήσιον, a similar kind of cup, seems to have been consistently made of metal. Athenaeus[[672]] describes it with more than usual detail as tall, moderately contracted in the middle, with handles reaching to the bottom (i.e. of the bowl). The form is to be recognised on the monuments (if not in actual examples[[673]]) as a variation of the κάνθαρος in which the body has a sort of “waist,” bulging out again below. Virgil mentions carchesia,[[674]] and silver specimens were among the dedications in the Parthenon at Athens.[[675]]
FIG. 50. KANTHAROS.
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]]