pithos
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Pithos (, , plural: '''''''' ) is the Greek name of a large storage container. The term in English is applied to such containers used among the civilizations that bordered the Mediterranean Sea in the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the succeeding Iron Age. Pithoi were used for bulk storage, primarily for fluids and grains; they were comparable to the drums, barrels and casks of recent times.The name was different in other languages; for instance, the Hittites used harsi-''.
Key facts
- Artifact.name
- Pithos
- Artifact.image
- 250px
- Artifact.image2
- 250px
- Artifact.image_caption
- Pithos from Iron-Age Crete. About 1.6 m tall, the full pithos would have weighed close to 2 tons.Below: Pithoi at Knossos. Placed out of the pits for viewing, the pithoi stood in the pits for access and stability.
- Artifact.material
- Ceramic
- Artifact.size
- Approximately the size of a human, some larger, some smaller.
- Artifact.writing
- Sometimes inscribed with an identifying mark.
- Artifact.created
- Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age
- Artifact.discovered
- Most frequently at large administrative centers
- Artifact.location
- Circum-Mediterranean
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Pithos, Late Cycladic I-II, Phylakopi III, AM Milos, B 153, 152411.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Pithoi
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~16 min read
Article
10 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Design
- Storage
- Shipping
- Weight and measures
- Decor
- See also
- Citations
- General and cited references
- External links
Pithos (, , plural: '''''''' ) is the Greek name of a large storage container. The term in English is applied to such containers used among the civilizations that bordered the Mediterranean Sea in the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the succeeding Iron Age. Pithoi were used for bulk storage, primarily for fluids and grains; they were comparable to the drums, barrels and casks of recent times.The name was different in other languages; for instance, the Hittites used harsi-.
Secondarily, discarded pithoi found other uses. Like the ceramic bathtubs of some periods, the size of a pithos made it a convenient coffin. In Middle Helladic burials in Mycenae and Crete, sometimes the bones of the interred were placed in pithoi. The ancient Iberian culture of El Argar used pithoi for coffins in its B phase (1500–1300 BC).