ARYBALLOS
ARYBALLOS (
ἀρύβαλλος), a vessel
somewhat resembling the
λήκυθος and
ampulla, and, like them, used for carrying oil to the bath or palaestra.
Pollux mentions it among the
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Aryballos. (British Museum. Terra-cotta from Camirus, in
Rhodes.)
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utensils of the bath (7.166; 10.63); but it is a mistake to
identify it with the
ύδρία or large jug
for pouring water over the bathers : it was, indeed, larger than the
ἀρύταινα (
Aristoph. Kn. 1091,
1094),
but the latter was a mere ladle, and the
ἀρύβαλλος itself of no great size. Athenaeus describes it as a
cup (
ποτήριον) shaped like a purse with
strings (
ὡς τὰ συσπαστὰ βαλάντια i. e.
with a globular body and a short and narrow neck; and adds that such purses
were sometimes called
ἀρύβαλλοι from this
resemblance (Ath. xi. p. 783 f, following p. 466). it had a small ring or
handle, just sufficient for a thong to carry it with, like the ink-bottles
(otherwise different in shape) figured under
ATRAMENTUM Hence the name is assigned, with great
probability, to the specimens of ancient pottery frequent in museums, called
by the Italians
vasi a palla, i.e. ball-shaped.
They are chiefly found among vases of the earliest style, and were carried
with the strigil to the bath. The earliest form is that in the cut No. 1,
but often without a base, as in cuts 2 and 3. No. 4 represents a later form.
These vessels are often richly painted with mythological subjects (Birch,
Anc. Pottery, ed. 1873, p. 374).
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Aryballoi. (Dennis, Etruria, i. p.
cxxiv.)
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Other derivatives from the same root ἀρύω,
ἀρύτω, to draw water, ἀρυστήρ,
ἀρύστιχος, ἀρύταινα, ἀρυτήρ, are sufficiently described
in the lexicons.
[W.W]
