Greek vases: names, shapes and functions
The system of names used today for Greek vases has quite
rightly been described by one leading scholar as 'chaotic'. Many of
the names were first applied in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries by scholars who tried to fit the names of pots that they
knew from Greek and Latin literature or inscriptions to the pieces
then surfacing from excavations. More recent studies of
inscriptions on the actual pots have brought some of the correct
names to light, and it is becoming increasingly clear that very few
of the names used today were used in antiquity. However, the
present system is so widespread that it would be very difficult to
sweep it away and replace it with something more logical.
Many pots fulfilled a range of functions, being used in both
domestic and ceremonial or religious contexts. Clay, cheap and
plentiful in many parts of ancient Greece, was the basic raw
material for most containers. At most times the wealthy would have
drunk from gold and silver cups, but practically all households
would have been well supplied with a range of clay vessels, both
coarse and fine. These would have been used for storage, cooking
and for the table.
The basic shape of a vase can often provide clues to its
function. The open form of broad, shallow cups or large wine bowls
(kraters), suggests easy access for hands or implements,
for drinking, dipping or mixing. Small closed shapes with narrow
mouths, such as lekythoi, are more likely to have
contained something that was sealed up with wax or a stopper, and
they might have been used for storage. The two horizontal handles
of the water-jar (hydria) must have been essential for
lifting the vessel when it was full and needed to be transported on
someone's head, while the single vertical handle would have been
used for pouring or for carrying the pot when empty.
Scenes on pottery may also illustrate the way the vases were
used. Cups, bowls, jugs and wine coolers are shown in use at
drinking parties, hydriai in fountain house scenes; small
aryballoi, holding the perfumed oil that athletes rubbed
on themselves after exercise, appear in scenes of the gymnasium.
Very often the same vases that were used in these domestic contexts
could also be dedicated in sanctuaries or laid in the tomb; but
there were also individual shapes, such as the lekythos,
that were particularly favoured for special purposes, in this case
as funeral offerings.