The Teachers-' Notes to Reading Greek 2Ed Notes on shapes of Attic vases

The following list gives some basic information about shapes mentioned in the notes. The ancient names which are used by convention do not always fit the ancient usage. The drawings below are all of Attic shapes. The order of the list follows that to be found in J. Beazley, Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford University Press, 1956), pp xi-xii and Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters, 2nd edn (Oxford University Press, 1963), pp. xlix-li. 
Mainly used as a wine decanter. A complete shape is shown on Text p. 224. There are also other varieties of shape to which modern terminology has given distinctive names, such as the Panathenaic shape from its similarity to those vases given as prizes in the Panathenaic Games, the neck-amphora with an angle of junction of neck and body, and the small Nolan amphora that takes its defining adjective from the fact that many were found at the site of Nola in South Italy.


An elongated amphora shape used at weddings and at the funerals of girls who died unmarried. The Apulian shape (Text p. 187) is even more elaborate than the Attic.


Mainly a container for oil, with sagging pear-shaped body.
Used as a mixing bowl for wine. A complete shape, apart from the missing lid, is shown on Text p. 244.



Used as a mixing bowl for wine and usually provided with a stand. A complete shape is shown on Text p. 238. It was also used as an ash urn for the dead. Its more likely name in ancient Greek was lebes.
One of the large mixing bowls with wide mouth used for mixing wine. It is named from the two rolled handles that curve above the rim. 








Another shape of mixing bowl, named from the resemblance of its body to the calyx of a flower.
A water jar with two side-handles for lifting and a vertical handle at the back for dipping and carrying when empty. A complete shape in bronze is shown on Text p. 205.

oinokhoe

There are a great many shapes of ‘wine jug’ under this general heading. One distinctive name, khous, is attached to a jug with squat body and trefoil mouth because of its connection with festivities at the Anthesteria. 
An oil and perfume flask produced in a variety of shapes. Two examples of a complete shape are shown on Text p. 257 right.
A thigh-cover used during the preparation of wool. A more likely name in ancient Greek is epinetron. It was often given as a wedding present.
A round, lidded trinket- or powder-box. The illustration on Text p. 255 shows a view down on the top of the lid.
A deep-bodied cup with two high vertical handles, often put in the hands of Dionysos. Occasionally a one-handled ver¬sion was produced (the picture on Text p. 42 is taken from one). 



skyphos A deep cup with two horizontal handles near the rim. It was
one of the commonest shapes of drinking cup. A complete shape is shown on Text p. 209.
cup The stemmed cup, often given the name of kylix, was one of
the most elegant shapes of drinking cup, with narrow stem, broad, shallow bowl and two horizontal handles. A complete shape, tilted on its side, is shown on Text p. 7.
plate Not a common shape with black- or red-figure decoration, as
it was usual to produce plates in wood.
A flat, square or rectangular shape, sometimes with moulded edges and pedimental top. Some were dedicated in sanctua¬ries (see Text p. 152). 
As with painters, so with potters it is possible to attribute work to one hand or another; modern terminology makes a distinction between words used for painters and those used for potters: ‘class’ is used when close similarities can be discerned in a number of examples of a shape and corresponds to ‘group’ used in painting - compare, for instance, ‘the Keyside Class’ (Text p. 11 right) and ‘the Burgon Group’ (Text p. 247).