All Topics  
Kylix (drinking cup)

 
Kylix (drinking Cup)

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Kylix (drinking cup)
 
 
  Topics Kylix (drinking cup) Topic Home

A kylix (or cylix, plural kylixes or kylikes) is a type of wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
-drinking cup
Drinkware

Drinkware, or beverageware, is a general term for Vessel....
 with a broad relatively shallow body raised on a stem from a foot and usually with two horizontal handles disposed symmetrically. The almost flat interior circle on the interior base of the cup, called the tondo
Tondo (art)

A tondo is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art, either a painting or a sculpture. The word derives from the Italian language rotondo, "round." The term is usually not used in English for small round paintings, but only those over about two foot in diameter, thus excluding many round portrait miniatures....
, was the primary surface for painted decoration in the Black-figure
Black-figure pottery

The black-figure pottery technique is a style of ancient Pottery of Ancient Greece painting in which the decoration appears as black silhouettes on a red background....
 or Red-figure
Red-figure pottery

Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Pottery of ancient Greece. It developed in Athens around 530 BC and remained in use until the late 3rd century BC....
 styles of the 6th and 5th century BC.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Kylix (drinking cup)'
Start a new discussion about 'Kylix (drinking cup)'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Kylix Euerdiges
A kylix (or cylix, plural kylixes or kylikes) is a type of wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
-drinking cup
Drinkware

Drinkware, or beverageware, is a general term for Vessel....
 with a broad relatively shallow body raised on a stem from a foot and usually with two horizontal handles disposed symmetrically. The almost flat interior circle on the interior base of the cup, called the tondo
Tondo (art)

A tondo is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art, either a painting or a sculpture. The word derives from the Italian language rotondo, "round." The term is usually not used in English for small round paintings, but only those over about two foot in diameter, thus excluding many round portrait miniatures....
, was the primary surface for painted decoration in the Black-figure
Black-figure pottery

The black-figure pottery technique is a style of ancient Pottery of Ancient Greece painting in which the decoration appears as black silhouettes on a red background....
 or Red-figure
Red-figure pottery

Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Pottery of ancient Greece. It developed in Athens around 530 BC and remained in use until the late 3rd century BC....
 styles of the 6th and 5th century BC. As the representations would be covered with wine, the scenes would only be revealed in stages as the wine was drained. They were often designed with this in mind, with scenes created so that they would surprise or titillate the drinker as they were revealed. The word comes from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 kylix, "cup," which is cognate with Latin calix, the source of the English word "chalice
Chalice

A chalice can refer to;*A Chalice , or specifically the Holy Chalice*The symbol of the Unitarian Universalist religion.*A Chalice *Chalice Serrano ...
."

Formation

Kylixes were most popular during the Mycenaean
Mycenaean

Mycenaean may refer to:* Mycenae, coming from or belonging to this ancient town in Peloponnese in Greece* Mycenaean Greece, the Greek-speaking regions of the Aegean Sea as of the Late Bronze Age, named after the Mycenae of the Trojan War epics...
 times of the classic Athenian period of Ancient Greece. They were created from the collection of earthen ware, which ultimately aided in the production of the ceramic glass
Glass

Glass generally refers to a Hardness, brittle, transparency amorphous solid, such as that used for windows, many Glass Bottles, or eyewear, including, but not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovite , or aluminium oxynitride....
 of the kylix. Terracotta proved a popular substance in the production. A type of terracotta called "redware" was especially prized by the Greeks and Etruscans for its concentration of ferrous oxide giving it a red color. After the kylixes were formed, an artisan drew a depiction of an event from greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 or everyday life with a diluted glaze
Glaze

Glaze or glazing is a thin shiny coating, or the act of applying the coating; it may refer to:In materials or engineering:* Architectural glass, a building material typically used as transparent glazing material in the building envelope...
 on the outer surface of the formation. Inside the drinking bowl was often a portrait of dancing and/or festive drinking. Unique compositional skills were necessary for the artisans to attain due to the lack of verticals and horizontals on the surface. Onesimos, Makron
Makron

The Makron is the final boss of the first-person shooter computer games Quake II and Quake 4. It should be noted, however, that the two Makrons are different entities, as the title reflects a position rather than a name....
, and Douris
Douris

Douris may refer to the following people:*Douris , an Ancient Greek vase painter .*Douris , an Ancient Greek philosopher, writer and tyrant of Samos ....
 were famous painters in this field, renowned for their works.

Purpose

Zeuscourtingganymede
Because the primary use for the kylix was at a symposium
Symposium

Symposium originally referred to a drinking party but has since come to refer to any academic conference, or a style of university class characterized by an openly discursive rather than lecture and question–answer format....
 - a "drinking party", or symposion
Symposium

Symposium originally referred to a drinking party but has since come to refer to any academic conference, or a style of university class characterized by an openly discursive rather than lecture and question–answer format....
 in Greek - in the ancient Greek world, they are often decorated with scenes of a humorous, light-hearted, or sexual nature that would only become visible when the cup was drained. Dionysos, the god of wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
, and his satyr
Satyr

In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus ? "satyresses" were a late invention of poets ? that roamed the woods and mountains....
s or related komastic
Komos

The Komos was a ritualistic drunken procession performed by revelers in ancient Greece, whose participants were known as komasts. Its precise nature has been difficult to reconstruct from the diverse literary sources and evidence derived from vase painting....
 scenes, are common subjects. Scenes of heterosexual or homosexual love, sex or orgies are also often depicted. The shape of the kylix enabled the drinker to drink whilst recumbent, as was the case in the symposia.

See also

  • Bridge spouted vessel
    Bridge spouted vessel

    A bridge spouted vessel is a particular design of pitcher originating in antiquity; there is typically a connecting element between the spout and filling aperture, and the spout is a completely independent aperture from the usually smaller central fill opening....
  • Pottery of Ancient Greece
    Pottery of Ancient Greece

    Thanks to its relative durability, pottery is a large part of the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because we have so much of it it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society....