An aryballos (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: ἀρύβαλλος; plural aryballoi) was a small spherical or globular flask with a narrow neck used in

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

."aryballos" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 611. It was used to contain

perfume Perfume (, ) is a mixture of fragrance, fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), Fixative (perfumery), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agre ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

, and is often depicted in vase paintings being used by

athletes An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including trac ...

during bathing. In these depictions, the vessel is at times attached by a strap to the athlete's wrist or hung by a strap from a peg on the wall. Versions of the aryballos have been found throughout

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

but some of the more preserved versions have been found within the city of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. There are two different versions of aryballoi, the Corinthian version and a version created by Attic potters. The Corinthian version of the aryballos has a rounded base and has one handle which reaches from the shoulder of the base to the lip. The version that was made by Attic potters usually is suited with two handles and has a "bell-shaped mouth". The Attic potter's aryballoi were produced sometime around the end of the

6th century The 6th century is the period from 501 through 600 in line with the Julian calendar. In the West, the century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire late in the prev ...

while the Corinthian version of the aryballoi was produced up until the

5th century BC The 5th century BC started the first day of 500 BC and ended the last day of 401 BC. This century saw the establishment of Pataliputra as a capital of the Magadha (Mahajanapada), Magadha Empire. This city would later become the ruling capital o ...

. Corinthian aryballos were often painted with a large array of vibrant colors including reds, purples, and greens. The aryballos were often decorated with ornaments such as rosettes which gave them such a unique design. Animals ranging from octopi to large birds can be seen painted on the sides of aryballos. Other aryballoi were shaped into the form of animals (such as

owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vis ...

hedgehogs A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. There ...

) or other symbolic items such as a

foot The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up o ...

or a hand. The owl-shaped aryballos may have been in relation to the goddess Athena who's main animal symbol was an

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

. While most preserved aryballoi are made of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

, it is hypothesized that some aryballoi were made of leather. Over the thousands of years since they were made, these aryballoi would have decayed away, yet in some versions of art, these vessels are represented as made from

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

. This is credited to an image that can be found at the bottom ( tondo) of a cup that depicts two adult males and a younger male which the two adults are watching. In the background of this artwork is an aryballos that is hanging which appears to be made of leather. While this is the only depiction of an aryballoi being made of leather, it does give an explanation to why so few have been discovered. This image dates back to c.

500 BC __NOTOC__ The year 500 BC was a year of the Roman calendar, pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Republic it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Camerinus and Longus (or, less frequently, year 254 '' Ab urbe condita''). when the Anno ...

. Some scholars believe that aryballoi were only used by males, however, there is evidence that aryballoi were used by women as well. Of the 14 pieces of art that depict the use of aryballoi, only one contains a women using the aryballos. This is on an

amphora An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

and was painted by an

Andokides painter Andokides was an ancient Athenian vase painter, active from approximately 530 to 515 BC. His work is unsigned and his true name unknown. He was identified as a unique artistic personality through stylistic traits found in common among several pain ...

that dates back to 520 BC. This image depicts a group of women swimming while one uses an aryballos to pour

into the

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

of her hand. Some scholars believe that these women are

Amazons The Amazons (Ancient Greek: ', singular '; in Latin ', ') were a people in Greek mythology, portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, Labours of Heracles, the ''Argonautica'' and the ''Iliad''. ...

who are doing, what would be at the time, a more masculine activity but the use of aryballoi in gender roles is still up for debate. The shape of the aryballos originally came from the

oinochoe An oenochoe, also spelled ''oinochoe'' (; from , ''oînos'', "wine", and , ''khéō'', , sense "wine pourer"; : ''oinochoai''; Neo-Latin: ''oenochoë'', : ''oenochoae''; English : oenochoes or oinochoes), is a wine jug and a key form of ancient G ...

of the

Geometric period Geometric art is a phase of Greek art, characterized largely by geometric motifs in vase painting, that flourished towards the end of the Greek Dark Ages and a little later, . Its center was in Athens, and from there the style spread among the t ...

of the

9th century BC The 9th century BC started the first day of 900 BC and ended the last day of 801 BC. It was a period of great change for several civilizations. In Africa, Carthage is founded by the Phoenicians. In Egypt, a severe flood covers the floor of Luxor ...

, a globe-shaped wine jar. By the

Proto-Corinthian Pottery, due to its relative durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece, and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum), it has exerted a dispr ...

period of the following century, it had attained its definitive shape, going from spherical to ovoid to conical, and finally back to spherical. This definitive form has a wide, flat mouth, and a single small handle. Some later variations have bell-shaped mouths, a second handle, and/or a flat base. Potters also created inventive shapes for aryballoi. The

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n commission of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum is investigating the material properties of these vessels using

computed tomography A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...

and optical 3D acquisition techniques. Currently, many aryballos are housed within the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

and within the

Acropolis Museum The Acropolis Museum (, ''Mouseio Akropolis'') is an archaeological museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on the surrounding slope ...

. Within these museums, many aryballoi are put on display for the public to see. The examples of aryballoi in these museums are aged somewhere between 500-600 BC.

Gallery

File:Cypriotic White Painted Ware in Vienna 14.JPG, Cypriotic

geometric Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

white painted ware, 850–750 BC File:Aryballos owl 630 BC Staatliche Antikensammlungen.jpg, Owl-shaped,

, 630 BC Image:Aryballos Kameiros Louvre A486.jpg, 575–550 BC (

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

) File:Greco-Egyptian - Aryballos - Walters 482863 - Three Quarter.jpg, Greco-Egyptian

faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white Ceramic glaze, pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an stannous oxide, oxide of tin to the Slip (c ...

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. The ...

, 6th century BC File:Janiform aryballos Louvre CA987.jpg, Janiform with ''kalos'' inscription, 520 BC File:1138 - Keramikos Museum, Athens - Plastic vase - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 12 2009.jpg, Foot-shaped, c. 500 BC File:Plastic Vessel in the form of a hand.jpg, Hand-shaped,

Hunt Museum The Hunt Museum () is a museum located in The Custom House, Limerick, the Custom House in the city of Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It holds a personal collection donated by the John Hunt (antiquarian), Hunt family, it was originall ...

File:1120 - Keramikos Museum, Athens - Douris, Aryballos - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 12 2009.jpg, Two

ephebes ''Ephebos'' (; pl. ''epheboi'', ), latinized as ephebus (pl. ephebi) and anglicised as ephebe (pl. ephebes), is a term for a male adolescent in Ancient Greece. The term was particularly used to denote one who was doing military training and pr ...

wrestling, 490–480 BCFrom the workshop of the

Douris Painter Douris or Duris (, ''Douris'') was an ancient Athenian red-figure vase-painter and potter active to 460 BCE. Work He began his career painting for the potters Kleophrades and Euphronios, before beginning a long collaboration with the potter P ...

. On the back two ''kalós'' love-inscriptions declare that Thodis and Chairippos are handsome. Exhibited in Room 8 of the Kerameikos Archaeological Museum (Athens). File:Attic red-figure Pottery in the Eremitage Sankt Petersburg.jpg, Ancient Etruscan " aryballoi" terracotta vessels unearthed in the 1860s at Bolzhaya Bliznitsa tumulus near

Phanagoria Phanagoria (; ) was the largest ancient Greek city on the Taman peninsula, spread over two plateaus along the eastern shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus. The city was a large emporium for all the traffic between the coast of the Maeotian marshe ...

South Russia South Russia may refer to: * Southern Russia * South Russia (1919–1920), a territory that existed during the Russian Civil War in Ukraine and the north Caucasus See also * South Russian Ovcharka, a breed of sheepdog * Southern Russian dialects ...

(then part of the

Bosporan Kingdom The Bosporan Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus (; ), was an ancient Greco-Scythians, Scythian state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus, centered in the present-day ...

Cimmerian Bosporus The Kerch Strait is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai in the east. The strait is to wide and u ...

); on exhibit at the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

References

External links

* showing a

Computed Tomography A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...

scan and rollout of the aryballos No. G26, archaeological collection,

Graz University The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

. The video was rendered using the

GigaMesh Software Framework The GigaMesh Software Framework is a free and open-source software for display, editing and visualization of 3D-data typically acquired with structured light or structure from motion. It provides numerous functions for analysis of archaeologic ...

, cf. doi:10.11588/heidok.00025189. {{Authority control Ancient Greek pot shapes