Golden rhyton from Iran's Achaemenid period, excavated at Ecbatana. At the National Museum of Iran.
Material
Ceramic, metal, horn, stone
Size
Cup-size for practical use, larger for ceremonial use, typically in a roughly conical shape caused by a spout or a pseudo-spout at the bottom.
Writing
May be inscribed and otherwise decorated
Created
Prehistoric times through the present
Silver rhyton with goat protome and death of Orpheus, c. 420–410 BC, housed in the Vassil Bojkov Collection, Sofia, Bulgaria. The horn in a continuous and graceful curve makes a right-angled bend. Its lower two thirds are covered by flutes with arc-shaped upper tips. A figural scene below the flaring rim represents the murder of Orpheus. The musician is the central figure, fallen to his right knee, flanked by three attacking Thracian women. He holds a six-string lyre on his right hand and with his left one, wrapped in his mantle, a knobbed wooden stick, with which he tries vainly to protect himself.[1]
A rhyton/ˈraɪˌtɒn,ˈraɪtən/ (pl.: rhytons or, following the Greek plural, rhyta) is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be drunk or to be poured in some ceremony such as libation, or merely at table. A rhyton is typically formed in the shape of an animal's head. Items were produced over large areas of ancient Eurasia, especially from Persia to the Balkans. Many have an opening at the bottom through which the liquid fell; others did not, and were merely used as drinking cups, with the characteristic that they could not usually be set down on a surface without spilling their contents.
The English word rhyton originates in the ancient Greek word ῥυτόν (rhy̆tón or rhŭtón). The conical rhyton form has been known in the Aegean region since the Bronze Age, or the 2nd millennium BC. However, it was by no means confined to that region. Similar in form to, and perhaps originating from, the drinking horn, it has been widespread over Eurasia since prehistoric times.
^The horn in a continuous and graceful curve makes a right-angled bend. Its lower two thirds are covered by flutes with arc-shaped upper tips. A figural scene below the flaring rim represents the murder of Orpheus. The musician is the central figure, fallen to his right knee, flanked by three attacking Thracian women. He holds a six-string lyre on his right hand and with his left one, wrapped in his mantle, a knobbed wooden stick, with which he tries vainly to protect himself.
A rhyton /ˈraɪˌtɒn, ˈraɪtən/ (pl.: rhytons or, following the Greek plural, rhyta) is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be...
The Achaemenid Persian Lion Rhyton (Persian: تکوک شیر غران) is an ancient artifact related to Achaemenians. A rhyton is a kind of vessel which normally...
The Silver Siege Rhyton is a silver vessel discovered in Shaft Grave IV of Grave Circle A at Mycenae and is dated to c. 1600–1500 BCE, or during the Late...
tanged point stone industry closely related to fishing. Ceramic rhyton Ceramic rhytonRhyton Ceramic dish Impressed Ware Kakanj culture "Danilska kultura"...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has in its collection a 1st-century rhyton terminating in the forepart of a wild cat. The silver drinking vessel, which...
tiptoed or lightly balanced on one leg. One arm raises a drinking horn (rhyton) aloft as if to offer a toast or libation; the other bears a shallow libation...
to 1450 BCE from the palace of Zakros, including: Rock crystal rhyton Bull's head rhyton Pottery with floral and marine motifs Covers findings from 1700...
the attacks has been repaired. The cafe uses an Achaemenid Persian Lion Rhyton as a part of its logo to indicate its Zoroastrian affiliation. The cafe...
kerata, "horn"). To be distinguished from the drinking-horn proper is the rhyton (plural rhyta), a drinking-vessel made in the shape of a horn with an outlet...
Dynasty 18. Steatite. Cleveland Museum of Art. 1391 BCE to 1353 BCE Ceramic rhyton in the form of a hedgehog. Mycenaean. 14th to 13th century BCE Hedgehog...
the beard are nearly the same as the mane and locks of the gold lion-head rhyton from Shaft Grave IV. Schliemann's duplicity, they claim, has been greatly...
of buildings and some other types. Some pieces, especially the cups of rhyton shape, overlap the two categories, being both vessels for liquids but essentially...
c. 2500–2400 BCE, 41.5 cm (16.3 in) high Mycenae, 1600−1500 BCE. Silver rhyton with gold horns and rosette on the forehead Lifesize New York Kouros, c...
undertaking. Today, ostrich eggs are a special luxury food. Mycenaean ostrich egg rhyton Decorated Punic egg Ostrich sitting on eggs, from the Book of Animals of...
A Stag's Head Rhyton, dating to 400 B.C.E., first appeared without provenance on the international art market after looting in Milas, Turkey. In March...
this purpose. Ancient Greek religious practices included libations. The rhyton was one cup used for libations. The measuring cup, an adaptation of a simple...
Greek frescoes. Another object found in shaft grave IV is a bull's head rhyton with gold horns and embellishments. Worshipping a bull was more of a Cretan...
different regions. Kantharos, drinking cup with large handles, originally the rhyton (drinking horn from a bull), later a kylix, or wine goblet Thyrsus, long...
and B at Mycenae, including the Mask of Agamemnon, Silver Siege Rhyton, Bulls-head rhyton, and gold Nestor's Cup. The chemical compositions of the silver...
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