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Information about Alabastron

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Greek glass alabastron of 1st/2nd century BC, probably made in Italy
An alabastron (plural: alabastra or alabastrons) is a type of pottery used in the ancient world for holding oil, especially perfume or massage oils. They originated around the 11th century BC in ancient Egypt as containers carved from alabaster – hence the name – but spread via ancient Greece to other parts of the classical world.

Most types of alabastron have a narrow body with a rounded end, a narrow neck and a broad, splayed mouth. They were often left without handles, but some types were equipped with ear-shaped projections or lugs into which holes were punched. Strings were then put through these holes for easy mobility.

The design of the first Egyptian alabastra was inspired by the palm tree, with a columnar shape, a palm capital and a stand. Later designs were made from glass decorated with various patterns, such as scallops, festoons or abstract patterns of rings or zigzags.

Around the 7th century BC, alabastra spread to Greece and became an important element of ancient Greek pottery. There were three distinct types of Greek alabastron:
  • A basic Corinthian bulbous shape standing about 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) tall; a popular design found throughout Greece.
  • A long and pointed version commonly seen in eastern Greek, Etruscan, and Italo-Corinthian pottery.
  • An Attic type about 4 to 8 inches long with a rounded base and lugs for carrying purposes.
Alabastra also appeared in many other places in the ancient world, notably Assyria, Syria and Palestine, all having presumably been inspired by or exported from Greece or Egypt.

Within a hundred years after arriving in the area, Greek artisans were producing elaborately decorated silver alabastra, long and narrow and twelve to sixteen centimeters in height. The decoration usually involved dividing the body of the vase into four horizontal zones by oramental bands around it.

References

  • "Alabastron." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006


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Pottery of ancient Greece
Wine ShapesKrater • Kylix • Oenochoe • Skyphos • Psykter • Kyathos • Rhyton • Kantharos • Askos • Kotyle
Perfume Shapes and Wedding ShapesLebes Gamikos • Loutrophoros • Epinetron • Alabastron • Aryballos • Lekythos
Funerary Shapes and Cultic ShapesLekythos • Loutrophoros • Phiale
Storage ShapesAmphora • Lebes • Pithos • Stamnos
TechniquesRed-figure • Black-figure • Bilingual pottery • Six's technique
PaintersList of Greek Vase Painters• Amasis Painter • Exekias • Pioneer Group • Douris • Meidias Painter
Special Topics in Greek PotteryTypology • Kalos inscription • Symposium • Corpus vasorum antiquorum • John Beazley •
Panathenaic Amphorae • South Italian
Pottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. In everyday usage the term is taken to encompass a wide range of ceramics, including earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. The places where such wares are made are called potteries.
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The eleventh century BC comprises all years from 1100 BC to 1001 BC .

Events

  • 1089 BC — Melanthus, legendary King of Athens, dies after a reign of 37 years and is succeeded by his son Codrus.

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Alabaster (sometimes called satin spar) is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals: gypsum (a hydrous sulfate of calcium) and calcite (a carbonate of calcium). The former is the alabaster of the present day; the latter is generally the alabaster of the ancients.
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The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. 750 BC[1] (the archaic period) to 146 BC (the Roman conquest). It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western Civilization.
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A Lug (knob) is a typically flattened protuberance, a knob, or extrusion on the side of a vessel: pottery, jug, glass, vase, etc. They are sometimes found on prehistoric ceramics/stone-vessels such as pots from Ancient Egypt, Hembury ware, claw beakers, and boar spears.
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Arecaceae
Schultz-Schultzenstein

Genera

Many; see list of Arecaceae genera

Arecaceae or Palmae (also known by the name Palmaceae, which is taxonomically invalid[1]
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Glass is a noncrystalline material that can maintain indefinitely, if left undisturbed, its overall form and amorphous microstructure at a temperature below its glass transition temperature.
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Pectinidae

Genera

See text.
Scallops are marine bivalve molluscs in the family Pectinidae. They are a family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source.
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The 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC.

Events



  • 700 BC to 600 BC — Baudhayana Sulbasutra, an orally transmitted Vedic Sanskrit text on altar construction, contains the earliest extant verbal statement of the

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Thanks to its hardy nature, pottery bulks large in the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because we have so much of it (some 100,000 vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum) it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek
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Time zone: EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (min-max): 0 - 10 m (0 - 0 ft)
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Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy and Corsica whom the ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci.
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Location

Coordinates Coordinates:
Time zone: EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (min-max): 0 - 10 m (0 - 0 ft)
Government
Country:
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Attica (Greek: Αττική, Attiki) is a periphery (subdivision) in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Athens, Piraeus, East Attica and West Attica.
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Ancient Mesopotamia

Euphrates Tigris
Cities / Empires
Sumer: Uruk ' Ur ' Eridu
Kish ' Lagash ' Nippur
Akkadian Empire: Akkad
Babylon ' Isin ' Susa
Assyria: Assur Nineveh
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Anthem
Homat el Diyar
Guardians of the Land


Capital
(and largest city) Damascus

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Palestine (from Παλαιστινη; Palaestina; formerly also פלשתינה Palestina
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Thanks to its hardy nature, pottery bulks large in the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because we have so much of it (some 100,000 vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum) it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek
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For the landform crater, see Crater.


A krater (from the Greek verb κεράννυμι, meaning "I mix") was a vase used to mix wine and water.
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kylix (or cylix, plural kylixes or kylikes) is a type of wine-drinking cup with a broad relatively shallow body raised on a stem from a foot and usually with two horizontal handles disposed symmetrically.
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oenochoe, also spelled oinochoe, (Gr. Οινοχόη) is a wine jug and a key form of Greek pottery. There are many different forms of Oenochoe. The earliest is the 'olpe' and has an S-shaped profile from head to foot.
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In classifying the pottery of Ancient Greece, a skyphos (Greek: σκύφος; plural skyphoi) is a two-handled deep wine-cup on a low flanged base or none.
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A psykter is a type of Greek pot that is characterized by a bulbous body set on a high, narrow foot. It was used as a wine cooler. The psykter would be filled with wine, and then be placed in a krater full of cold water or ice.
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Kyathos (Ancient Greek - dipper) is the name given in modern terminology to a type of painted ancient Greek vase with a tall, round, slightly tapering bowl and a single, flat, long, looping handle. Its closest modern parallel would be a ladle.
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Rhyton (plural rhyta) is the ancient Greek word (ῥυτόν rutón) for a container from which fluids were intended to be drunk, or else poured in some ceremony such as libation.
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kantharos (Greek κάνθαρος) is a type of Greek pottery used for drinking. It is characterized by its high swung handles which extend above the lip of the pot.

The god Dionysus had such a cup, that was never empty.
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Askos (Ancient Greek - tube; plural - askoi) is the name given in modern terminology to a type of ancient Greek pottery vessel used to pour small quantities of liquids such as oil.
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cotyla or cotyle (Gr κοτύλη) was a measure of capacity among the Romans and Greeks: by the former it was also called hemina; by the latter,
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The lebes gamikos, or "nuptial lebes," (plural - lebetes gamikoi) is a form of ancient Greek Pottery used in marriage ceremonies. It was probably used in the ritual sprinkling of the bride with water before the wedding.
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