pithos

pithos

English

A pithos, found in Thebes but from a Cycladic workshop, 625–600 BCE

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πίθος (píthos).

Noun

pithos (plural pithoi)

1. (historical) A large ceramic jar used by certain ancient civilizations that bordered the Mediterranean.
   • 1934, P. N. Ure, Reading University Studies: Aryballoi & Figurines from Rhitsona in Boeotia, Cambridge University Press, 2014 Paperback edition, page 10,

     Pithos grave. The body was laid out in three pithoi, the easternmost and smallest (diam. ·40 m.) containing the skull, the middle pithos (diam. ·50 m.) containing arm bones and ribs; and the westernmost and largest (diam. ·76 m., see pl. 1) the leg bones.

   • 2002, William F. Hansen, Ariadne's Thread, Cornell University Press, page 71,

     Xenophon, Plato's contemporary, remarks that he finds pitiable those persons who, according to tradition, pour water into a perforated pithos, since they labor in vain.

   • 2006, Susan I. Rotroff, The Athenian Agora, Volume XXXIII: Hellenistic Pottery: The Plain Wares, ASCSA, page 98,

     Only two Hellenistic pithoi in use in the Hellenistic period have been found intact and in situ at the Agora, as far as I am aware.

Anagrams

• Shipot, hi-tops, shipot