Aryballos
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An aryballos ( Greek: 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 or oil, and is often depicted in vase paintings being used by athletes 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 while the Corinthian version of the aryballoi was produced up until the 5th century BC. 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 or hedgehogs) 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. 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. 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 that dates back to 520 BC. This image depicts a group of women swimming while one uses an aryballos to pour oil into the palm 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 of the Geometric period of the 9th century BC, a globe-shaped wine jar. By the Proto-Corinthian 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 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. 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 white painted ware, 850–750 BC File:Aryballos owl 630 BC Staatliche Antikensammlungen.jpg, Owl-shaped, Proto-Corinthian, 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, 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 File:1120 - Keramikos Museum, Athens - Douris, Aryballos - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 12 2009.jpg, Two ephebes wrestling, 490–480 BCFrom the workshop of the Douris Painter. 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, South Russia (then part of the Bosporan Kingdom of Cimmerian Bosporus); 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 ...
in
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 ...
.


See also

* Ancient Greek vase painting *
Pottery of ancient Greece 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 dispro ...
* Unguentarium


References


External links

* showing a Computed Tomography 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, cf. doi:10.11588/heidok.00025189. {{Authority control Ancient Greek pot shapes