The pyxis lid varies widely depending on the shape of the pyxis itself. Lids can be flat, concave, domed, or conical and rest
on top of the pyxis or can be deep-sided and slip over the sides of the box. The handles are often knobs or metal rings.
The canonical Type A pyxis has concave sides, a flat floor, and a flanged rim. Some have a low tripartite, quadripartite,
or continuous foot, while others have no foot. The lid is thrown separately and is flat on top with a concave outer edge that
continues and completes the curving concave wall of the pyxis body. It was created from the 6th c. into the first half of
the 4th c. BCE.
The Type C pyxis is a broad, squat version of the Type A and has deeply concave sides resting on a low ring foot. The flanged
lid is convex, often with a metal ring handle. The container is usually twice as wide as it is high. It was made as early
as the mid 5th c. and was popular from the last quarter of the 5th through the first half of the 4th c. BCE.
In size, the Type D pyxis (or box-pyxis) is close to the powder pyxis, but it is more substantially made and was popular during
the late 5th and 4th centuries. It consists of a small cylinder with a flat cover and can be divided into two classes according
to the differing shapes of the lid. The lid consists of a slim flat disc with thickened rim, not unlike the discs and stands,
but provided with a flat area beneath, made to fit the inside of the mouth of the bowl.
‘Rhyton’ comes from a word for 'flow.' The term is used to denote a one-handled drinking cup whose bowl is fashioned into
the shape of an animal’s head (sheep, donkey, etc.) or occasionally a more complex creation (pygmy and crane, African child
and crocodile, mounted Amazon, camel and driver). It was originally made from horn, hence its shape. The idea was borrowed
from Persia.
The ring askos is a circular shape with a central cylindrical hole and a high belly with a marked shoulder. Most examples
of the ring askos have been identified as Corinthian or Boeotian and it is thought to be the inspiration for the Attic askos,
which will have a ring foot and a stouter body.
Originiating in the Protogeometric period, the shape is one of the four types in use at the time. The name is derived from
the location of its handles, which are placed on the shoulder of the vessel. The shoulder-handled amphora seems to have been
developed in Athens at the beginning of the Protogeometric period but only became popular at the end, when it sometimes replaced
the belly-handled amphora in female burials.
Named after a site on Rhodes where examples were found, Siana cups can be distinguished from Komast cups by their taller feet
and lips. They are decorated on the tondo (another difference from Komast cups) and there are two schemes for decorating the
exterior. The 'double-decker' type involves two friezes on each side, one on the lip (usually floral), and a figured scene
on the body. The 'overlap' type uses a single frieze on each side to cover the total height of the body and lip. Aspects of
the form and decoration of Siana cups appear to be indebted to East Greek models.
‘Situla’ comes from the Latin word meaning 'bucket.' It is a deep bowl for wine and was mainly made in South Italy. The swung
handles suggest a derivation from metal.
The skyphos-krater is a very large, deep bowl with two horizontal strap handles with returns, and its rim is flanged or incurving
to receive a domed lid. The bowl may be supported by an echinus foot, or joined to a conical stand. The skyphos-krater is
an uncommon shape with a long history, being made from the Late Geometric period to the first quarter of the 6th c. BCE.
The sprinkler varies in size and shape but is generally a round vessel with one or two handles and a flat, perforated bottom.
A small hole at the top was used to fill it with liquid, and when the vessel was shaken the liquid would sprinkle from the
holes in the base. The context in which the sprinkler would have been used is not entirely clear; at least one was found in
the Kerameikos. It may have been used for ritual purification, for lifting and straining wine from a larger vessel, or for
aerating wine as it was sprinkled into a drinking cup. Its shape has been likened to both the mastos and rhyton and is sometimes
(incorrectly) called “klepsydra.”
The term ‘stamnos’ is conventionally (and wrongly) used to designate a storing and mixing bowl with two small horizontal handles
attached to a compact, bulbous body, a short neck and a lid.
The stand is much smaller in size than other supports intended to serve as bases for vases. The stand has a wide, flat surface
on top that is often decorated with black- or red-figure. The wide top rests on a stemmed foot, usually with a fillet on the
stem.
The stemmed plate is a plate or shallow dish attached to a stem. The stem can be low or high and spreads to the foot; the
floor slopes to the center where there is sometimes a small depression. The shape of the foot and the similar decorations
suggest that many of the stemmed plates came from one shop over a short period of time between the late 6th c. to early 5th
c. BCE.
The tankard developed from the mug late in the Middle Geometric period. It has a single handle that often rises above the
mouth. In the Late Geometric period, the rim begins to overhand the largest diameter.
The Attic version was made to be filled with imported perfume, the foreign shape providing a recognizable identification of
the contents. From the early Hellenistic period onwards, when the developed fusiform unguentarium had become the usual export
container for perfume, the small Attic black equivalent would have been superfluous.
