CHYTRA
CHYTRA (
χύτρα,
χύτρος), a pot, generally of earthenware, for
cooking. The
chytra was an indispensable utensil,
even in the poorest houses, and allusions to it are innumerable in
Aristophanes (
Aristoph. Ach. 1175;
Equit. 745, 1173;
Eccl. 845,
1092;
Ran. 505 ;
Vesp. 828, 938;
Pac. 802). Besides being placed upon the fire, in order to
boil water or cook victuals, the
chytra was used
sometimes to carry fire, just as is now done by the modern inhabitants of
Greece, Italy, and Sicily (
Xen. Hell.
4.5.4;
Aristoph. Lys. 297); and
another very
|
Chytra resting on a Chytropus. (Vase in the British
Museum.)
|
remarkable use of these vessels of earthenware among the Greeks
was to put infants into them to be exposed (
Aristoph. Frogs 1188). Hence the exposure of children was called
ἐγχυτρίζειν (Hesych.
s.
v.), and the miserable women who
[p. 1.427]practised it
ἐγχυτριστρίαι
(Suidas, s. v.). The
chytropus (χυτρόπους) was the stand on which the chytra was often placed to be heated (Hes. Op.
et D., 748), as seen in the painting on a vase in the
British Museum (see woodcut) representing Medea boiling an old ram, with a
view to persuade the daughters of Pelias to put him to death (Ovid,
Ov. Met. 7.318-
321;
Hyg. Fab. 24). The pot has a
round bottom, and is supported by a tripod, under which is a fire. The ram,
restored to youth, is in the act of leaping out of the pot. It was sometimes
called
λάσανον (Poll. 10.24, 99).
[
W.M.L]