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Kylix

A two-handled drinking cup with a stemmed foot.

History: The kylix was especially popular from the end of the sixth century down to the fourth century B.C., when the kantharos overtakes it as the favoured vessel. Perhaps the type was derived from a rather heavier Protogeometric shape, with a deeper bowl and a high conical foot. The shape persists through the seventh century B.C. One of the innovations during the late Proto Attic is a slightly taller stem. The kylix takes its standard shape during the second quarter of the sixth century B.C. There are several types of Kylix: 1) lip and foot set off from the bowl, 2) lip forms a continuous curve with the bowl and the foot offset, 3) lip, bowl, and stem form a continuous curve. (Type B illustrated.)

Term: Of the many Greek words for cups, four are now most commonly used: skyphos, kotyle, kylix, and kantharos. There is no ancient authority for limiting these names to a particular shape of cup, but the word "kylix" appears as an inscription on a vessel of a particular shape, and literary evidence mentions the kylix as a drinking cup; on this basis, the name kylix has been applied to the shape.

    Aristoph. Pl. 1132: "a kylix of wine mixed half and half with water."
  • Pindar, quoted in Athenaios 11.480c mentions Athenian kylikes
  • Athenaios 1.470e
  • Athenaios 1.478e refers to kylikes as having two handles.
  • Attic black-glaze kylix in Odessa inscribed: "I am a kylix with a pleasant drink dear to him who drinks the wine." Von Stern, Philologus 72 (1913) 547.
  • Late black-figure kylix in the British Museum (British Museum B450) incised: "I am the decorated kylix of lovely Philto." JHS 7 (1885) 373.
  • Pherekrates 108.30: "They were drawing full kylikes of wine."



Created in electronic form.

The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

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