Chapter XVII

.), where the words used seem to have no relation to the

vase itself. Thus in liquid measure the amphora (ἀμφορεύς) or κάδος, also known as μετρητής, was equivalent to about 7½ gallons, and was divided into 12 χόες, the χοῦς into 12 κοτύλαι, which, as we have seen, answer to our ½-pints. The ὀξύβαφο was one-fourth of a κοτύλη, the κύαθος one-sixth.[458] All these words were in common use to express various forms of vases, as will be seen later on. Further, the word κεράμιον, which, like the Latin _testa_, is used generally for pottery, has a more restricted sense of a cask or vessel used for transporting wine, and is even used as a term of measure, presumably equivalent to the amphora.[459]

Earthenware was also used generally for the purpose of storing liquids or various kinds of food, for the preparation of food and liquids, and for the uses of the table or toilet. The painted ware, however, was not employed for the commoner purposes, nor to contain large quantities of liquids, for which it would have been far too expensive. But we know that it was largely used at banquets and drinking-bouts, and on other occasions, from the evidence of the vases themselves. Thus, in the well-known vase with the Harpies robbing the blind Phineus of his food (p. 357), a kotyle painted with black figures is seen in the king’s hands; and in a scene representing the reception of Paris by Helen,[460] the former is offered wine drawn from a large four-handled vase on which figures are painted.[461] Vases with subjects represented on them are also seen placed on columns forming the background of scenes, as if forming part of the furniture of a hall or chamber. But as a general rule the vases represented in banquet scenes and elsewhere are left plain or only decorated with patterns.

To the use of vases in connection with athletic games we have already alluded in discussing Pindar’s mention of the Panathenaic amphorae; it is, of course, likely that other forms of vases were also given as prizes or presented to young men on special occasions, such as entering the ranks of the ἔφηβοι or being married, but we have no evidence of such customs.

[Illustration: FIG. 15. CHILD PLAYING WITH JUG (BRITISH MUSEUM).]

Vases were also used as toys, as is proved by the discovery of many little vases, chiefly jugs, in the tombs of children at Athens, on which are depicted children playing at various games.[462] They are too small to have served any other purpose, and as similarly shaped jugs appear among the toys used by the children in these scenes, it is reasonable to suppose that they were playthings. No doubt some of the more unusual shapes were made with the same end, such as vases in the shape of animals or fruit, or the aski (p. 200), which contained little balls and were used as rattles.

We have already hinted at the purely decorative use of vases as domestic ornaments, in which capacity they were often placed on columns; there is, however, no hint of this in ancient authors. But that it was customary in Greece and Italy, at all events in the later period (_i.e._ after the Persian Wars), seems to be indicated by the practice which obtains with the larger vases of executing only one side with care, while the other exhibits an unimportant and badly painted design (generally three boys or men wrapped in mantles). It is natural to suppose that the carelessly executed side was not supposed to be seen, owing to the fact that the vase was intended to be placed against a wall. Some of the large round dishes of Apulian fabric seem to have been intended for hanging up against a wall, on the same principle.[463]

The question which next arises is that of the extent to which vases were used for religious and votive purposes. Here, however, with one exception noted below, we derive little aid from a study of the painted vases themselves, in spite of the frequency of mythological subjects. But inasmuch as many instances are known of offerings of metal vases in the temples of the gods, it can hardly be doubted that painted vases served the same purpose for those who could only afford the humbler material. It was at one time supposed that the large vases painted for a front view only, of which we have just spoken, were destined for this purpose; but as they are mostly found in tombs, this can hardly be the case.

Of late years, however, much light has been thrown upon this question by means of scientific excavations. On many temple-sites which have been systematically explored, such as the Acropolis of Athens or Naukratis in the Egyptian Delta, enormous numbers of fragments of painted vases have been found which are clearly the remains of votive offerings. It was a well-known Greek custom to clear out the temples from time to time and form rubbish-heaps of the disused vases and statuettes, sometimes by digging pits for them; and thus these broken fragments, rejected from their apparent uselessness, have from these very circumstances been preserved to the present day to cast a flood of light on many points of archaeology. At Naukratis many of the fragments bear incised inscriptions in the form of dedications to Apollo (Fig. 16.) or Aphrodite, according to the site on which they were found. At Penteskouphia near Corinth a large series of early painted tablets, with representations of Poseidon and inscribed dedications, were found in 1879 (p. 316), and illustrate the practice of making offerings in this form, mentioned by Aeschylos.[464] Tablets painted with figures and hung on trees or walls are not infrequently depicted on red-figured vases, the subject generally implying their votive character.[465] Fig. 17. represents a youth carrying a tablet of this kind.

[Illustration: FIG. 16. RIM OF VASE FROM NAUKRATIS WITH DEDICATION TO APOLLO (BRIT. MUS.).]

[Illustration:

From Benndorf, _Gr. u. Sic. Vasenb._ FIG. 17. YOUTH WITH VOTIVE TABLET. ]

There is no doubt that vases (though not, perhaps, painted ones) must have played a considerable part in the religious ceremonies of the Greeks. In the Athenian festival of the Anthesteria, the second day was devoted to the holding of ἀγῶνες χύτρινοι, or “pot-contests,” vessels full of corn being dedicated to Hermes Chthonios.[466] At the festival of the Gardens of Adonis flower-pots of earthenware containing flowers were cast into the sea, as a type of the premature death of Adonis.[467] These flower-pots were also placed on the tops of houses, and in this same festival, which was chiefly celebrated by hetairae, little terracotta figures (κοράλλια) were introduced.[468] The use of flower-pots placed in windows to form artificial gardens is mentioned by Martial and Pliny[469]; and they were also employed to protect tender plants, as hinted by Theophrastos,[470] who speaks of the necessity of propagating southernwood by slips in pots.

It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to speak of the constant use of the jug and bowl (_phiale_) in sacrifices and libation scenes, as seen on innumerable vases of the R.F. and later periods (see pp. 178, 191). Fig. 18 shows the use of vases on the occasion of a sacrifice to Dionysos. There is also a type of vase which, according to a recent writer,[471] was used for burning incense. It is a form which hitherto had been conventionally named the κώθων, on account of its recurved lip (see below, p. 187); but it is pointed out that it had three feet (the form being clearly derived from the tripod), and therefore stood, and was not carried about; also that it varies much in size, and is found at an early date, and chiefly in women’s graves.[472] There is also evidence that it was meant to stand fire or hold coals. From these details the conclusion is deduced that it represents the earlier form of incense-burner (down to about 500 B.C.), those of later date being of a different form, as often seen on R.F. vases.[473]

[Illustration:

From _Furtwaengler and Reichhold_. FIG. 18. VASES USED IN SACRIFICE (FROM VASE AT NAPLES). ]

The most important use, however, for which vases were employed, and that to which their preservation is mainly due, was for purposes connected with funeral ceremonies. These were of a varied nature, including the use of vases at the burial, the placing of them on the tomb to hold offerings, and the depositing of them in the tomb, either to hold the ashes of the dead or as “tomb-furniture,” in accordance with the religious beliefs of the Greeks on the life after death. The principal methods in which they have been found deposited in the tombs have already been described in