Kantharos

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For the genus of snails, see cantharus.

Red-figure Apulian kantharos with a female head, 320–310 BC (Walters Art Museum)

A kantharos (Ancient Greek: κάνθαρος) or cantharus is a type of Greek pottery used for drinking. In its iconic "Type A" form, it is characterized by its deep bowl, tall pedestal foot, and pair of high-swung handles which extend above the lip of the pot. The Greek words kotylos (κότῦλος, masculine) and kotyle (κοτύλη, feminine) are other ancient names for this same shape.^[1]

The kantharos is a cup used to hold wine, possibly for drinking or for ritual use or offerings. The kantharos seems to be an attribute of Dionysos, the god of wine, who was associated with vegetation and fertility.^[2]

It may not be a banquet-cup, but rather a vessel used in pagan cult as a symbol of rebirth or resurrection, the immortality offered by wine, "removing in moments of ecstasy the burden of self-consciousness and elevating man to the rank of deity."^[3]

Bucchero kantharos (Latial culture, 830–730 BC)
Geometric funerary kantharos (Attica, ca. 780 BC)
Black-figure kantharos with sphinxes (Boeotia, ca. 550 BC)
Black-glaze kantharos with Boeotian inscription (Thespiae, 450–425 BC)
Side view of janiform kantharos with Herakles and woman (480–460 BC)
Satyr side of a janiform kantharos by Aison (420 BC)
Silver cantharus (Gaul, present-day Alise-Sainte-Reine, latter 1st century BC)

Notes

↑ Andrew J. Clark; Maya Elston; Mary Louise Hart (2002), Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques, Getty, p. 101, ISBN 978-0-89236-599-9
↑ George W. Elderkin, Kantharos: Studies in Dionysiac and Kindred Cult (Princeton: Princeton University Press 1924):4
↑ Elderkin, Kantharos: Studies in Dionysiac and Kindred Cult, 2-6

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kantharoi.

Gina Hander. "CU Classics: Greek Vase Exhibit: Kantharos". Colorado University.
E. Mulder. "Boeotia, Land of the Kantharos". University of Leiden.

v t e Pottery of ancient Greece

Wine vessel shapes	Dinos Kotyle Krater Kyathos Psykter Rhyton Skyphos

Tableware	Eye-cup Kantharos Kylix Oenochoe Olpe Patera Pinakion

Perfume, oil, and wedding shapes	Alabastron Aryballos Askos Lebes Gamikos Lekythos Loutrophoros Lydion Pyxis Stirrup jar

Funerary shapes and cultic shapes	Kernos Lekythos Loutrophoros Phiale

Storage shapes	Amphora Hydria Kalathos Kalpis Lebes Pelike Pithos Stamnos

Utilitarian ceramics	Chuta Epinetron Luchnos Situla

Techniques	Bilingual pottery Black-figure Bucchero Red-figure Six's technique Three-phase firing White-ground

Styles	Ancient Greek vase-painting styles

Potters and Painters	List of Greek potters List of Greek vase painters List of Little Masters Name vase

Museums noted for pottery	Athens Basel und Ludwig Berlin Bodrum British Edinburgh Getty Heraklion Louvre Thera Ure Vatican Walters

Writers and books	Adolf Furtwängler Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Dietrich von Bothmer Edmond Pottier John Beazley John Boardman Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae

Special topics in Greek pottery	Frying pans Kalos inscription Nikosthenic amphora Panathenaic amphora Symposium Typology

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Kantharos

See also

Notes

References