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Name : Apulian Canis familiaris heading rhyton
What it is : Aterracotta cup in the shape of a dog ’s read/write head
A decorated drinking cup in the shape of a dog’s head.
Where it is from : Puglia , Italy
When it was made:340 to 330 B.C.
This terracotta cup was made to resemble the read/write head of a Laconian bounder , an extinct Grecian hunt breed also jazz as a austere blackguard . Discovered in the " bounder " of Italy ’s " the boot , " the rhyton — a kind of drinking vessel — shows the influence of Greece on southern Italy 2,300 year ago .
This rhyton , domiciliate at theGettyin Los Angeles , was probably made in the shop of the Darius Painter , a innovative name for the artisan whose vase - house painting trend was well known throughout Puglia and who was specially fecund between 340 and 320 B.C.
Measuring approximately 8 by 4 inches ( 20 by 10 centimetre ) , the rhyton is cover in a black glaze , preserve for the dog ’s ears and nostrils , and its eyes are coated in a diluted glaze . On the bowl of the cupful , asatyr — a half - man , half - laughingstock woodland mythic creature — holds a plate and a staff , circumvent by leaf- and testicle - shaped patterns .
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The dog , whose fount makes up the scurvy part of the rhyton , is a hound breed that originated in Laconia , a region of ancient Greece where Sparta was located . Because theLaconian houndwas well bonk for its hunting abilities , it was depict on numerous mosaics , tombstone and imbibing loving cup .
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Ancient Greeks used rhytons at drinking parties or in ceremonial occasion . It is far-famed that these vessels did not have flat bottoms , so they could not normally be set down on a mesa . Rhytons as a expressive style likely evolve fromearlier drinking hornscommon in Eurasia in the Bronze Age ( roughly the second millennium B.C. ) , but with a Greek eddy : Many rhytons depicted satyrs , which were symbols of debauchery and drunkenness . Dogs were not the only animal whose heads were made into cup ; knight , stags , African tea , Ram , boars , king of beasts and even mythical creatures , like griffins , adorn ancient rhytons .
In addition to being coolheaded cupful at boozy smash , rhytons may have been usedceremoniallyto pour offer of wine , oil or blood line , peculiarly during animal sacrifices .
This Laconian dog rhyton shows the unattackable influence of Greek culture on southeastern Italy , which was calledMagna Graecia(Greater Greece ) in the quaternary 100 B.C. This area was not annexed by theRomansuntil 205 B.C.
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