The plate is not a common shape in clay since it was more likely to have been made of wood. Figured plates (more commonly
black-figure) seem to have been made for religious dedications.
From the Greek word for 'beetle,' the term kantharos is now used conventionally for a drinking cup with two vertical, usually
high-swung, handles. The shape, most likley derived from metal vessels, is often shown in the hands of Dionysos, the god of
wine. The kantharos has various different forms.
Taking its name from the Greek 'hydor,' meaning 'water,' the hydria is a water-pot for the fountain. It has a capacious oval
body, two horizontal handles, and one vertical handle. This type of vase was manufactured in bronze, in coarseware, and in
fineware. See also kalpis.
An uncommon form of the kantharos. The elements of foot, lower and upper walls and rim are the same as for the moulded-rim
kantharos, but the single handle spans from the upper part of the lower wall to the bottom edge of the moulding. Lacking a
spur, the cup is narrower than typical kantharoi, and while it is sometimes ribbed it is never found with stamping.
A plate with a low foot, an overhanging rim, and a small depression in the centre of its floor for sauce. When figural, it
is usually decorated with fish.
A small, footed container with a flat top and a spout at its side, the feeder was used for providing drinks to small children
or invailds. It is also known as a bombylios.
The klepsydra, or water clock, was used to enforce time limits on speeches in Athenian law courts. The pots were filled to
a specific level, and as the water drained from a hole near the bottom, marked off the time limit. Approaching the end of
the limit, the stream would have diminished perceptibly as the pressure lessened and would have been apparent not only to
the orator but to its listeners.
The term kothon is used for a variety of different shapes. Some equate it (wrongly) with the exaleiptron, while others use
the word to refer to a deep one-handled drinking cup. The vessel is sometimes ribbed and was carried by soldiers and travellers.
The word kothon can also refer to the pilgrim flask shape.
Lekythos' is a general word used to denote an oil bottle. The term is now conventionally used for tall and squat shapes with
a foot, a single vertical handle, a narrow neck and a small mouth. Sometimes the basic form is fashioned into fancy shapes
such as an acorn or an almond, or into a human figure. Some carry appliqué designs.
The loutrophoros, meaning ‘carrying to the bath,’ was a vessel used for ritual cleaning. It is a tall version of the neck-amphora
with two very long vertical handles. A slightly different version imitates the hydria with two horizontal and one vertical
handle (‘loutrophoros-hydria’).
The name of this vessel comes from the word 'mastos' meaning 'breast,' since the shape of the cup resembles a woman's breast.
It is usually furnished with one vertical and one horizontal handle and is sometimes provided with a foot instead of a nipple.
Lekanis lids from the 6th through early 5th c. were convex and created an almost circular appearance with the lekanis itself.
For the rest of the 5th and into the 4th c., the lid became flatter, answering the parallel development of the bowl. The lid
generally has a central stem or knob for a handle.
Lids were associated with a variety of vase shapes. Vessels that generally had lids were the pyxis, lekanis, lebes gamikos,
and sometimes the amphora and oinochoe.
The lydion derives its name from the area of Lydia in Asia Minor. It is a fat, handleless perfume pot with an outturned flat
lip used for the Lydian bakkaris perfume.
The term 'oinochoe' means 'wine-pourer.' The wine jug is fashioned in many varieties (conical, concave, convex) but is usually
furnished with a single vertical handle. The mouth can be round, trefoil, or beak-shaped.
The beaked oinochoe is an oinochoe with a trefoil mouth, narrow neck and a body that consists of a little more than a broad
shoulder. In Early Protocorinthian, the neck becomes taller and the contour of the body is straightened until it approaches
a more or less shallow cone; this shape remains popular in Corinthian pottery until the early 6th c. BCE.
A minor Geometric shape, the conical oinochoe is small with a trefoil mouth, a narrow neck, and a body that consists of little
more than a broad shoulder. In Early Protocorinthian the body is straightened until it approaches a more or less shallow cone,
and the neck becomes taller; this conical oinochoe shape remains popular in Corinthian pottery until the early 6th c. BCE.
Miniature Panathenaic amphorae are ointment vessels with a similar shape to the regular-sized Panathenaic amphorae with small
handles and a narrow foot. They are usually decorated in black-figure and measure about 8 - 19 cm (about 3.1 - 7.5 in) high.
The nestoris is a wide-mouthed jar with two horizontal high-swung handles from shoulder to lip. It is South Italian and derived
from a native, non-Greek shape.
The mastoid cup is a footless, flat-bottomed version of the mastos with an outturned lip. The cup is either handleless or
has horizontal handles attached a little below the rim.
Panathenaic amphorae are big, ovoid, lidded vases that were presented as prizes to winners of the Panathenaic Games, which
were held once every four years in Athens in honor of Athena, patroness of the city. They were filled with olive oil from
Athena's sacred trees. The series, presumed to date to the reorganization of the games about 560 BCE, was produced through
the Hellenistic period and beyond. The Panathenaic amphorae of the Classical period are of the finest quality construction.
Panathenaic amphorae were only decorated in the black-figure technique.
Pelike' is a conventional name for a type of amphora that has a wide mouth and the maximum width low down on the body, producing
a pear-shaped outline.
The shape, derived from eastern prototypes, is often found in metal. It is a flat, handleless libation bowl, sometimes with
an offset rim. In the centre of the floor is a raised navel (omphalos) which enables the finger to be inserted beneath when
tipping the bowl.
The term phormiskos in ancient literary sources applies to all manner of woven bags, sacks, or baskets made from materials
including cloth, leather, or rushes. The ceramic Athenian phormiskos is a rare type of gourd-shaped vase that was produced
from the 6th c. BCE until around 480 BCE. The shape ranges from spherical, to pear-shaped, to ovoid, to elongated ovoid; all
have a slender neck that forms a single contour from lip to a rounded bottom. They are false vases, since the hollow interior
of the body connects to a solid neck. Because of this, along with their name, and their largely funerary iconography, they
were likely made specifically as a type of grave good that mimicked astragal (knucklebone) sacks made of perishable materials.
