Glossary Pottery and vessels
Askos
Also called: askoi
A closed pouring vessel with an off-centre spout and a handle over the top, often shaped like an animal or bird.
The name is Greek for a wineskin, and many askoi keep the squat, bag-like body of one. Archaeologists apply it to any vessel with an asymmetrical body, a spout set to one side and a handle arching across the back.
In Cyprus the best-known askoi are animal-shaped. Early and Middle Bronze Age Red Polished zoomorphic vessels stand on four legs with a basket handle and a tubular spout, and Late Bronze Age Base Ring bull vessels pour through the animal's mouth. Some Proto-White Painted askoi have even been read as models of ships.
Related terms
- Tubular spout
A narrow tube of clay attached to the body or rim of a vessel for pouring, set apart from the vessel's main opening.
- Rhyton
A vessel with an opening at both ends, often in the form of an animal head or horn, thought to have been used for pouring liquid offerings.
- Relief decoration
Raised decoration on a pot, made by adding strips, pellets or modelled figures of clay to the surface or by pinching the wall outwards.
Where it appears
- Red Polished Zoomorphic Vessels and Animal Figurines
- Baskets and Basket-Handled Vessels
- Pottery Shapes
- Complex Vessels
- Birds in Ancient Cyprus
- How Cypriot Figurines Are Classified
- Proto-White Painted Ware
- From Bronze to Iron: Cypriot Pottery c. 1300–950 BCE
- Seafaring and Ships in Ancient Cyprus
- Base Ring Bull Vessels
- Bichrome Red Ware
- White Painted Ware