Division of Classics Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures, & Cultures 1055 Patterson Office Tower  |  University of Kentucky  |  Lexington, KY 40506-0027 ph: 859 257 3761  |  fax: 859 257 3743  |  e-mail: classics-at-lsv.uky.edu

Shapes of Greek Vases (with links to the Perseus database)

Location -- http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/shapes.html

• alabastron, -a: a perfume container, with a flat lip, elongated body, and pointed or slightly rounded bottom; some have small lugs or handles for attaching a string.

• amphora, -ae: the name indicates a vessel "carried on both sides", that is, a two handled vessel. The basic distinction to make is between "neck amphorae"- when the neck meets the body at a clearly articulated joint--and "one piece amphorae" (also called "belly amphorae")--when neck joins body in a continuous curve.

  Some early amphorae (such as the one in which the ashes of the Areopagus Lady were placed) have horizontal handles on the belly but most amphorae of either basic type have vertical handles connected at the shoulders and the upper part of the neck.

  The Panathenaic Amphorae make up an important class of belly amphorae: large storage vessels specially made to contain the oil awarded as a prize to victors in the Panathenaic Games. The distinctive Panathenaic shape persists from c. 560 BCE into the 2nd c. BCE.

• aryballos, -oi: a small narrow-necked flask for scented oil or perfume, used especially by athletes during training. Most aryballoi are round, but some are elongated.

• dinos (also lebes, lebes gamikos): a deep bowl, usually rounded on the bottom and therefore needing a stand for support. Often without handles. Those which were given as prizes at competitions were made of metal, but many ceramic examples, which were painted, are known too. The metal dinoi may have been used in cooking and also for mixing wine; the ceramic dinoi were used for mixing purposes. The lebes gamikos had a ritual use during weddings.

• epinetron, -a: a decorated thigh-protector for use while carding wool. On this example in the National Museum in Athens (Inv. no. 1629), one sees the nymph Alkestis among her friends, Harmonia, Eros, Hebe and Aphrodite. Around the plastic protome at the edge, Peleus and Thetis are represented. It is the work of the Eretria painter, dated to ca. 425 B.C.

• hydria, -ai (also kalpis): a three-handled vessel with a flaring lip, for water. The two horizontal handles on the shoulder are for lifting and carrying; the one vertical handle is for pouring.

• kantharos, -oi: a deep cup with two vertical handles, which often extend high above the lip of the cup, resembling ears. Ancient authors regularly associate the kantharos with Dionysos and his various rituals.

• krater, krateres (also crater): a large bowl with a wide mouth, used for mixing wine and water. Greeks generally believed that drinking wine straight was uncivilized. Four important variants are
  • the bell krater, which looks like an upturned bell and has two high, small handles
  • the column krater, which has two straight vertical columns on both sides, connecting shoulder and jutting lip
  • the volute krater, like a column krater but with volutes (spirals) extending above the lip
  • the calyx krater, which has a straight or concave profile and low handles curving upwards

• kylix, -ikes: a cup with a wide, shallow body and two horizontal handles, the Attic wine drinking cup par excellence. Most decorated kylikes have a stem raising the cup's bowl up off the foot. Decoration may occur on the outside walls of the kylix as well as in a circular area inside, known as the tondo. (There are many variations on the kylix shape, such as the Siana Cup, the Lip Cup, the Little Master Cup, the Band Cup, the Eye Cup, Type A and Type B.) Here's a beautifully painted tondo.

• lekythos, -oi: a container for oil and perfume, with a single vertical handle. The lekythos commonly has an angular shoulder, a tall cylindrical body which rounds slightly at the bottom, and a foot. An important class of lekythoi consists of those with a white-ground decoration, used in funerary ritual. The white ground lekythoi often but not always have scenes of mourning. (Compare the alabastron, which has a less prominent handle and no foot.) Here's one by the Achilles Painter, now in Athens.

• loutrophoros, -oi: a very tall, thin neck amphora, used for the ritual washing that occurred during weddings and also funerals. The scenes painted on loutrophoroi often reflect their use: weddings, funerals, and battle scenes (appropriate for the rites honoring men killed at war).

• oinochoe, -oai (also olpe, -ai): a wine pitcher with a single vertical handle. As with amphorae, some oinochoai have a clear joint between neck and body, while others are one-piece, with a continuous curve. An oinochoe with two tucks pinched into the lip goes by the name of trefoil-lipped oinochoe. Here's an oinochoe with an erotic scene painted on it.

• pelike, -ai: a kind of amphora but with a sagging belly; the pelike is widest somewhere in its lower half, rather than in its upper half. Two vertical handles connecting upper neck to the "shoulder" area, which is not clearly articulated on pelikai.

• phiale, -ai: a saucer-like bowl used for pouring libations to the gods, especially during departure scenes. No foot or handle, but sometimes a raised knob (an omphalos or "belly button") in the center, into which the thumb fit from below.

• pyxis, pyxides: a small, box-like container with a lid, usually round, but with many different vertical profiles. Women used pyxides, which commonly bear illustrations of weddings or funerals, for keeping cosmetics, jewelry, and small items. These vessels were sometimes dedicated to Artemis, the goddess invoked during childbirth. Here's a Geometric horse-lidded pyxis.

• skyphos, -oi (kotyle): a deep, mug-like, stemless cup, with two small horizontal handles attached at the rim or slightly lower. Usually stands on a low foot. The skyphos was, in comparison with the kylix, the poor man's drinking cup; many are undecorated.

This page was last modified May 10, 2004

Site Design:
J. Francis and Ross Scaife