Gold from the clay pit

Look closely at the ram head. A neck covered in relief figures rises above it, and the handle ends in a lion. This is a rhyton: liquid flows through a small hole or spout. Its shape also determines how it is used for drinking.

The set includes four rhyta with animal heads or foreparts: two deer, a ram and a goat. Three other vessels take the shape of female heads. The ram rhyton shown here depicts Dionysos, Eriope and two maenads. A different vessel, one of the deer rhyta, shows Paris, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. The Greek inscriptions name the goddesses and Alexandros, the other name of Paris in the myth. The deer rhyton tells the myth of Paris choosing between the goddesses. The image is real, but the contest belongs to myth.

The largest and heaviest vessel resembles an amphora. Its two handles are centaurs, creatures with human upper bodies and horse bodies. Yet it is also a rhyton: there are two outlets in its base. They are hidden from this angle.

On the other side of the vessel are figures beside a double-leaf gate. What story are they acting out? Kontoleon reads it as Seven against Thebes. Ovadiah proposes something else: an expedition to rescue Helen. These are competing scholarly interpretations of mythical narratives. Neither title is incised beside the gate. The vessel’s form is visible; the meaning of its scene remains under discussion.

Among the tall vessels is a shallow bowl: the phiale. In the display it stands upright so its decoration can be seen. Do not mistake the museum support for the way it was used in antiquity.

Acorns surround the centre. Beyond them are rows of relief heads of African men, increasing in size towards the rim. There are incised weight marks too. These are evidence of measurement, not the signature of a securely named owner. The phiale differs from the other eight vessels, which function as rhyta. The nine objects form a set, but they are not nine identical cups. Look again at their outlines.