A ''skyphos'' ( grc, σκύφος; plural ''skyphoi'') is a two-handled deep wine-cup on a low flanged base or none. The handles may be horizontal ear-shaped thumbholds that project from the rim (in both
Corinthian and
Athenian shapes), or they may be loop handles at the rim or that stand away from the lower part of the body. ''Skyphoi'' of the type called '' glaux'' (owl) have one horizontal and one vertical thumbhold handle.
Examples
Early ''skyphoi'' were made during 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, . Its center was in Athens, and from there the style spread among the trading cities of th ...
. Corinth set the conventions that Athens followed. Over a long period the shape remained the same while the style of decoration changed.
''Skyphoi'' were also made of precious metals, generally silver and gold leaf, many examples exist. One possible, well-preserved example is the
Warren cup,
[In his notes, John Pollini states that uncertainty about the correct name of many ancient drinking vessels exists, however he refers to the object with the "established classificatory term scyphus", Specifically "half-oval variety of scyphus of the calix type". He cites as the "principal work" for such classifacation as: Werner Hilgers, Lateinische Gefassnamen: Bezeichnungen, Funktion und Form romischer Gefasse nach den antiken Schriftquellen, Beiheft der Bonner Jahrbucher, vol. 31 (Dusseldorf: Rheinland-Verlag, 1969)." More recently: "Stefanelli, 119-24, figs. 84-86.] an ovoid ''scyphus'' made of silver, as described by
John Pollini.
A
Roman ''skyphos'' of
cameo glass
Cameo glass is a luxury form of glass art produced by cameo glass engraving or etching and carving through fused layers of differently colored glass to produce designs, usually with white opaque glass figures and motifs on a dark-colored backgroun ...
can be seen at the
Getty Museum.
Comparable forms of a handled drinking cup on a base included:
*
Cotyla :''The cotylae are also features on the proximal end of the radius and of the ulna in birds.''
In classical antiquity, the cotyla or cotyle () was a measure of capacity among the Greeks and Romans: by the former it was also called ; by the latte ...
, a more generic term for any cup.
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Kantharos
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Komast cup
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Kylix
In the pottery of ancient Greece, a kylix ( , ; grc, κύλιξ, pl. κύλικες; also spelled cylix; pl.: kylikes , ) is the most common type of wine-drinking cup. It has a broad, relatively shallow, body raised on a stem from a foot ...
Modern uses
The word ''skyphos'' has been adopted for the purposes of
biological classification with regard to
jellyfish, which are included in the class
Scyphozoa
The Scyphozoa are an exclusively marine class of the phylum Cnidaria, referred to as the true jellyfish (or "true jellies").
The class name Scyphozoa comes from the Greek word ''skyphos'' (), denoting a kind of drinking cup and alluding to the ...
(literally ''cup-shaped animal''), and ''
Sarcoscypha
''Sarcoscypha'' is a genus of ascomycete fungus and type genus of the family Sarcoscyphaceae. Species of ''Sarcoscypha'' are present in Europe, North America and tropical Asia. They are characterised by a cup-shaped apothecium which is often bri ...
'', the scarlet cup fungus.
See also
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Black-figure pottery
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Red-figure pottery
Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting.
It developed in Athens around 520 BCE and remained in use until the late 3rd century BCE. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure vas ...
*
Boscoreale Treasure
The Boscoreale Treasure is the name for a large collection of exquisite silver and gold Roman objects discovered in the ruins of the ancient Villa della Pisanella at Boscoreale, near Pompeii, southern Italy. Consisting of over a hundred pieces of ...
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Geometric art
Notes
References
External links
SkyphoiPerseus ''Encyclopedia'':
skyphos
{{Authority control
Ancient Greek pot shapes
Wine accessories