Τις εστιν; Ούχι κλεψύδρα; (Αριστοφάνης, Σφήκες, 858) : μια ομάδα ιδιόμορφων αγγείων της αρχαϊκής εποχή
Part of : Εγνατία ; No.7, 2003, pages 61-107
Issue:
Pages:
61-107
Parallel Title:
"What is this then? Not a clepsydra?" (Aristophanes, Vespai, 858) : a group of peculiar archaic vases
Section Title:
Αρχαιολογία
Author:
Abstract:
The vases commonly known as «clepsydras» or, rarely, as «globular siphons»constitute a small group of eighteen examples known until today (seethe Catalogue at the end of this study). The body of the vases is spherical andtheir base is pierced with several small holes (the number ranges from 15 to171). They have an arched hollow handle that opens at each end into thebody. On the top of the handle there is a single hole. When the vase has beenfilled via the holes in the base by plunging it into a liquid, the user’s thumbover the hole creates suction thus preventing the liquid from running out untilthe vase is placed directly over the desired place or receptacle. It is thenpossible, by opening or closing the hole, to control the amount of liquidreleased. Other vases operating in the same principle (usually oinochoai andaryballoid) were manufactured all over the Eastern Mediterranean from theBronze Age until at least the 6th c. AD. They are usually made of clay, butthere are also some bronze examples that resemble ladles. Our «clepsydras»however form a distinctive group because they show considerable uniformityand share a number of common features, apart from their shape. All of themare medium-size vases; their body height ranges from 8 to 13 cm, with theirhandle 3-5 cm higher, and their capacity varies from 250 to 650 cm3. Thegreat majority date in the late archaic period and were manufactured in Atticand Boiotian workshops. Ten out of the eleven Attic examples have blackfigureddecoration showing common scenes of that period and only one (thelatest in the series) is black-glazed. The Boiotian group is smaller and includesone example with black-figured floral decoration and at least two blackglazedones. Finally, the group includes four more vases which are difficult todate and attribute to a specific workshop.The shape of our vases is rather unusual and has raised many questionsabout its ancient name and use. These two issues are my main concern in thepresent paper, while other topics (such as their distribution, decoration,affinities with similar vases etc.) are also discussed. The name «siphon»should not be associated with our vases, since the ancient siphons were longtubes without a strainer. The more common name «clepsydra» was given toour vases because their shape and function reminded earlier scholars ofEmpedocles’ Fragment B 100, where he describes a girl playing with a bronzevase. The traditional interpretation is that the girl is playing with a clepsydra. I argue, however, that it may well be that the girl is playing a game called ‘clepsydra’ using a bronze strainer vase. This suggestion is corroborated bythe reading of almost all manuscripts (κλεψύδρψ παίζουσα) which I acceptagainst Diels’ emendation to χλεψόδρχι παίζουσα (dative).It is possible then that the word «clepsydra» was initially used as a genericterm to describe the technique of causing suction by using water and airpressure to create partial vacuum. Several different vessels could operate onthis principle, provided that they had a pierced or strainer-bottom, a narrowmouth or opening and a hole to control the flow. Aristophanes was the firstto mention the «clepsydra» as a name of a specific object, namely the waterclockwhich had no strainer (Acharniens 693, 425/4 BC). From this time on,the word «clepsydra» was applied both to water-clocks and strainer-vases,until at least the 6th century AD when Simplicius writes that «the clepsydrais nowadays called hydrarpax».The use of the «clepsydras» is a puzzling issue. They were certainly not«trick-vases» since they have no «secrets». On the contrary the hole thatcontrols the flow is rather obvious at the top of the handle. Two maininterpretations have been suggested:The first is that the «clepsydras» were used for lifting wine out of astorage jar or crater and serve it in a cup. The sieve kept the wine clean fromthe lees and aerated it at the same time, like some animal-head rhyta whichmay have a small hole in the bottom. Although we cannot reject thisinterpretation, we must admit that it does not seem plausible, mainly forpractical reasons. This serving method is messy, the wall of the vase drips,there is a constant danger of spilling wine on someone if the thumb isaccidentally moved even slightly, and it is difficult to direct the flow in a cupwithout wetting the drinker. The rhyta which are used for comparison werenot filled through their bottom-hole and they released the wine in a thinstream, not in a shower like our vases. Also, as an argumentum ex silentio,among the hundreds of symposium scenes in vase painting there is nodepiction of such a serving method. Moreover, it is well known that theancient Greeks used metal strainers with very tiny holes to keep their wineclean, while the holes of our «clepsydras» are quite large, thus inefficient forcleaning purposes.The second interpretation is that the «clepsydras» were sprinklers usedeither for some purely practical need such as washing or watering (howeverthis is hard to accept given their small capacity) or for some kind of liquidlibations (water, wine, milk, perfume etc.). The last seems more plausible,especially if we keep in mind that most of our «clepsydras» survive complete,and thus may have come from graves, while two come from sanctuaries of chthonic deities, in fact one of them was found in the remains of a libation pyre in the Telesterion of Eleusis. Our vases can only sprinkle downwardsand their flow resembles a shower or rain. It is possible therefore that theywere used for some kind of funerary ceremony, i.e. for libations on the ashesor for rituals that imitate rain, like in the ritual sowing of seeds near the grave(described by Cicero, De legibus, 2, 63), which have many similarities withthe rites performed to honor underworld deities. Finally, I suggest that theshape of the «clepsydras» may have derived from either the mastos-cup orthe female breast because all «clepsydras», with only one exception, have aplastic knot or «nipple» on the top of their body. The breast has connotationsof fertility, therefore it conforms with the explanation that the «clepsydras» were used in funerary and chthonic libations in order to imitate rain which purifies and fertilizes the earth.
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Subject (LC):
Keywords:
κεραμική
Notes:
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