The crater had various forms, some of them local (thus Her. 4.61 speaks of a “Λέσβιος κρητήρ”, and 4. 152 of an “Ἀργολικός”): but the general type was that of a large bowl, supported by a foot with a broad base, and having a handle at each side (cp. Guhl and Koner, p. 150). κρᾶτ̓, acc. sing., the “"top,"” i.e. rim, of each “κρατήρ”. In Il. 19.93 “κράατα” is acc. plur., and Pindar is quoted by Eustath. (Od. 12.1715. 63) as having said “τρία κρᾶτα” (for “κράατα”). But in Od. 8.92 “κρᾶτα” is sing., and so always in Attic: Soph. has (“τὸ”) “κρᾶτα” several times as acc., and once as nom. An acc. plur. masc. “κρᾶτας” occurs twice in Eur. (Ph. 1149, H. F. 526). λαβὰς ἀμφιστόμους, handles on each side of the “στόμα”, or mouth. The festoon of wool, which was to be wreathed round the rim of the bowl, could be secured to these. Wecklein understands handles which also served as spouts.
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.