Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists
C. D. Yonge, B.A., Ed.

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The cup called ἄλεισον, is the same as that called δέπας. Homer, in his Odyssey, speaking of Pisistratus, says—

In a rich golden cup he pour'd the wine;¹

and proceeding, he says, in the same manner—

To each a portion of the feast he bore,
And held the golden goblet (ἄλεισον) foaming o'er;

and presently afterwards he says—

And gave the goblet (δέπας) to Ulysses' son.

And, accordingly, Asclepiades the Myrlean says—“The δέπας appears to me to have been much of the same shape as the φιάλη. For men make libations with it. Accordingly, Homer says,—

The cup which Peleus' son
Had raised in offerings to Jove alone.

And it is called δέπας, either because it is given to all (δίδοται πᾶσι) who wish to make libations, or who wish to drink; or because it has two ears (δύο ὦπας), for ὦπες must be the same as ὦτα. And it has the name of ἄλεισον, either from being very smooth (ἄγαν λεῖον), or because the liquor is collected (ἁλίζεται） in it. And that it had two ears is plain—

High in his hands he rear'd the golden bowl
By both its ears.

But when he applies the word ἀμφικύπελλον to it, he means nothing more than ἀμφίκυρτον curved on both sides.” But Silenus interprets the word ἀμφικύπελλον to mean devoid of ears, while others say that ἀμφὶ here is equivalent to περὶ, and that it means a cup which you may put to your mouth all round, at any part of it. But Parthenius says that it [p. 741] means that the ears are curved (περικεκυρτῶσθαι), for that is synonymous with κυρτός. But Anicetus says that the κύπελλον is a kind of cup (φίαλη), and that the word ἀμφικύπελλον is equivalent to ὑπερφίαλον, that is to say, superb and magnificent; unless, indeed, any one chooses to interpret the word ἄλεισον as something very highly ornamented, and therefore not at all smooth (α,λεῖον). And Pisander says, Hercules gave Telamon a cup (ἄλεισον) as the prize of his preeminent valour in the expedition against Troy.