classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

, an or (, ; from + , "self-boiling", "self-cooking") was a vessel used for

water heating Water heating is a heat transfer process that uses an energy source to heat water above its initial temperature. Typical domestic uses of hot water include cooking, cleaning, bathing, and space heating. In industry, hot water and water heated t ...

. Basically, it was a vase with a central tube used to keep coals. ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' is an English language encyclopedia first published in 1842. The second, improved and enlarged, edition appeared in 1848, and there were many revised editions up to 1890. The encyclopedia covered law ...

'' describes it as follows:''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', 1890 edition
at

Perseus Project The Perseus Digital Library, formerly known as the Perseus Project, is a free-access digital library founded by Gregory Crane in 1987 and hosted by the Department of Classical Studies of Tufts University. One of the pioneers of digital libraries, ...

(the book is in public domain).

AUTHEPSA (), or “self-boiler”, was a vessel used for heating water or keeping it hot. As is well known, both hot and cold water were served by the attendants at well-appointed Roman tables (, Juv. 5.63, with Mayor's note). For this purpose vessels were used which cannot have differed much in construction from our modern tea-urns (Böttiger, Sabina, 2.30), and like them might be made of costly materials and in artistic designs (, Cic. pro Rose. Amer. 46.133; , Lamprid. Heliog. 19). Many ingenious contrivances for economical and portable cooking have been found at
Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...
and
Herculaneum Herculaneum is an ancient Rome, ancient Roman town located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under a massive pyroclastic flow in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like the nearby city of ...
, and are now in the Museo Nazionale (formerly Borbonico) at Naples. It is probable, however, that the , unlike the and , was not used for cooking; and it is rather to be identified with a utensil from the same collection (Mus. Borbon. vol. iii. pl. 63) in the first cut above. This vessel is in bronze, and of very tasteful workmanship: the cylinder in the centre was filled with charcoal, and has a grating which allowed the air to enter and the ashes to escape. The second cut, from Mus. Borbon. vol. v. pl. 44, shows another of more elaborate construction. The Russian
samovar A samovar (, , ) is a metal container traditionally used to heat and boil water. Although originating in Russia, the samovar is well known outside of Russia and has spread through Russian culture to other parts of Eastern Europe, as well as We ...
is likewise explained to mean “self-boiler”, and appears to be little different from the .

References

{{reflist Heaters Boilers Classical antiquity