EPI´CHYSIS
EPI´CHYSIS (
ἐπίχυσις）
a wine-jug with a narrow neck and small lip and with a handle (Menand.
fr. 490 M.); usually of metal, i. e. silver among
the luxurious, bronze where simplicity was studied (cf. Aristoph.
fr. 12; Phylarch. ap.
Ath.
4.142 d, of Cleomenes king of Sparta). Among the Romans it took
the place of the earlier
guttus, a
narrow-necked cruet without a handle (Varr.
L. L. 5.124;
Plaut.
Rud. 5.2, 32); and glass became the favourite
material. It was not unlike a modern claret-jug: the illustration to
COTYLA the figure of the Nereid
under
PERISCELIS and the
coin under
URCEUS will give a
sufficient idea of its shape, which moreover could be considerably varied.
See also Guhl and Koner, p. 190, fig. 200, Nos. 26-31. (Rich, s.v. Guhl and
Koner5, p. 193 f.)
[
W.W]
