Rhyton

Common card · No. 368039

A rhyton (pl.: rhyta or rhytons) (Ancient Greek: ῥυτόν rhŭtón) is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be drunk or to be poured in some ceremony such as libation, or merely at table; in other words, a cup. A rhyton 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 ancient Eurasia during the Bronze and Iron Ages, especially from Persia to the Balkans. Many have an opening at the bottom through which the liquid fell; this could be either for pouring libations, 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 conical rhyton form has been known in the Aegean region since the Bronze Age, or the 2nd millennium BC. However, it was...

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