| Rhyton | |
|---|---|
%2c_Spain_-_48244034452.jpg) Goldenrhyton from Iran'sAchaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), excavated atEcbatana, kept at theNational Museum of Iran. | |
| Material | Ceramic, metal, horn, stone |
| Size | Cup-size for practical use, larger for ceremonial use, typically in a roughly conical shape caused by a spout or a pseudo-spout at the bottom. |
| Writing | May be inscribed and otherwise decorated |
| Created | Prehistoric times through the present |
Arhyton/ˈraɪˌtɒn,ˈraɪtən/ (pl.:rhytons or, following the Greek plural,rhyta) is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be drunk or to be poured in some ceremony such aslibation, or merely at table; in other words, acup. Arhyton is typically formed in the shape of either an animal's head or an animal horn; in the latter case it often terminates in the shape of an animal's body.Rhyta were produced over large areas of ancientEurasia during theBronze andIron Ages, especially fromPersia to theBalkans.
Many have an opening at the bottom through which the liquid fell; this could be either for pouringlibations, or as a way of drinking. Others did not, and were merely used as drinking cups, with the characteristic, shared by many early cup forms, that they were "unstable" and could not usually be set down on a surface without spilling their contents.
The English wordrhyton originates in the ancientGreek wordῥυτόν (rhy̆tónor rhŭtón). The conicalrhyton form has been known in the Aegean region since theBronze Age, or the 2nd millennium BC. However, it was by no means confined to that region. Similar in form to, and perhaps originating from, thedrinking horn, it has been widespread over Eurasia since prehistoric times.
Liddell and Scott[2] give a standard derivation from Greekrhein, "to flow", which, according toJulius Pokorny,[3] is fromIndo-European*sreu-, "flow". Asrhutos is "stream", the neuter,rhuton, would be some sort of object associated with pouring, which is equivalent to Englishpourer. Many vessels consideredrhytons featured a wide mouth at the top and a hole through a conical constriction at the bottom from which the fluid ran. The idea is that one scooped wine or water from a storage vessel or similar source, held it up, unstoppered the hole with one's thumb, and let the fluid run into the mouth (or onto the ground inlibation) in the same way that wine is drunk from awineskin today.
Smith points out[4] that this use is testified in classical paintings and acceptsAthenaeus's etymology that it was namedἀπὸ τῆς ῥύσεως, "from the flowing".[5] Smith also categorized the name as having been a recent form (in classical times) of a vessel formerly called thekeras, "horn", in the sense of a drinking horn.[6] The wordrhyton is not present in what is known aboutMycenaean Greek, the oldest form of Greek written inLinear B. However, the bull's headrhyton, of which many examples survive, is mentioned aske-ra-a on tabletKN K 872,[7] an inventory of vessels atKnossos; it is shown with the bullideogram (*227VAS; also known asrhyton).Ventris andChadwick restored the word as the adjective*kera(h)a, with a Mycenaean intervocalich.[8]
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Rhyta shaped after bulls are filled through the large opening and emptied through the secondary, smaller one. This means that two hands are required: one to close the secondary opening and one to fill therhyton. This has led some scholars to believe thatrhytons were typically filled with the help of two people or with the help of a chain or a rope that would be passed through a handle.Rhytons modeled after animals were designed to make it look like the animal was drinking when the vessel was being filled.[citation needed] A bullrhyton weighed about three kilograms when empty and up to six kilograms when full.
Otherrhytons with animal themes were modeled after boars, lions, and lionesses (such asLion head horn). Some shapes, such as lionessrhyta, could be filled through simple submersion, thanks to the vessel's shape and buoyancy. Horizontally designedrhyta, like those modeled after lionesses, could be filled by being lowered into a fluid and supported. Vertically designedrhyta, like those modeled after boars, required another hand to cover the primary opening and to prevent the liquid from spilling as the vessel was filled.
Rhyta were often used to strain liquids such as wine, beer, and oil. Somerhyta were used in blood rituals and animal sacrifice. In these cases, the blood may have been thinned with wine. Some vessels were modeled after the animal with which they were intended to be used during ritual, but this was not always the case.[9]
Not every drinking horn or libation vessel was pierced at the bottom. An aperture invites zoomorphic interpretation and plastic decoration in the forms of animal heads—bovids, equines, cervids, and even canines—with the fluid pouring from the animals' mouths.
Rhyta occur among the remains of civilizations speaking different languages and language groups in and around the Near and Middle East, such asPersia, from the second millennium BC. They are often shaped like animals' heads or horns and can be very ornate and compounded with precious metals and stones. InMinoan Crete, silver-and-gold bulls' heads with round openings for the wine (permitting wine to pour from the bulls' mouths) seemed particularly common, for several have been recovered from the great palaces (Heraklion Archaeological Museum).
One of the oldest examples of the concept of an animal figure holding a long flat ended conical shaped vessel in hands was known to be discovered from Susa, in Southwestern Iran, in Proto Elamite era about 3rd millennium BC, is a silver figurine of a cow with body of a sitting woman actually offering the vessel between both her bovine hoofs.
Rhytons were very common in ancient Persia, where they were calledtakuk (تکوک).After a Greek victory against Persia, much silver, gold, and other luxuries, including numerousrhytons, were brought to Athens. Persianrhytons were immediately imitated by Greek artists.[10]Not allrhyta were so valuable; many were simply decorated conical cups in ceramic.
Rhytons are represented in Chinese archaeology.[11]
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Classical Athenian pottery, such asred-figured vases, are typically painted with themes from mythology. One standard theme depicts satyrs, which symbolize ribaldry, withrhyta and wineskins. The horn-shapedrhyta are carefully woven in composition with the erect male organs of the satyrs, but this blatantly sexual and somewhat humorous theme appears to be a late development, consistent with Athenian humor, as is expressed in the plays ofAristophanes. The ornate and preciousrhyta of the great civilizations of earlier times are grandiose rather than ribald, which gives the democratic vase paintings an extra satirical dimension.
The connection of satyrs with wine andrhyta is made inNonnus's epicDionysiaca. He describes thesatyrs at the first trampling of the grapes during the invention of wine-making byDionysos:
Károly Kerényi, in quoting this passage,[13] remarks, "At the core of this richly elaborated myth, in which the poet even recalls therhyta, it is not easy to separate the Cretan elements from those originating inAsia Minor." The connection to which he refers is a pun not present in English translation: the wine is mixed (kerannymenos), which appears to contain the bull's horn (keras), the ancient Greek name of therhyton.
In the myth,ichor from Olympus falls among rocks. From it grow grapevines. One grows around a pine tree, where a serpent, winding up the tree, eats the grapes. Dionysus, seeing the snake, pursues it into a hole in the rocks. Following an oracle ofRhea, the Cretan mountain goddess, Dionysus hollows out the hole and tramples grapes in it, dancing and shouting. The goddess, the rocks, the snake, and the dancing are Cretan themes. The cult of Dionysus was Anatolian. At its most abstract, therhyton is the container of the substance of life, celebrated by the ritual dancing on the grapes.
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![Greek silver rhyton for the Thracian market, end 4th century[14]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRhyton_Greek_Thracian_silver%2c_end_of_4th_c_BC%2c_Prague_Kinsky%2c_NM-HM10_1407%2c_140856.jpg)
![The Stag's Head Rhyton dating to 400 BCE, the largest so far known of recent examples, recently surrendered and worth $3.5 million, originally rediscovered in the 20th century after rampant looting in Milas, Turkey[15][16][17]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aGreek_Gilt-silver_Rhyton_(Libation_Vessel)_In_the_Form_of_a_Stag%2527s_Head.jpg)
More pictures of rhyta:
