| Pithos | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Material | Ceramic |
| Size | Approximately the size of a human, some larger, some smaller. |
| Writing | Sometimes inscribed with an identifying mark. |
| Created | Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age |
| Discovered | Most frequently at large administrative centers |
| Present location | Circum-Mediterranean |
Pithos (/ˈpɪθɒs/,[1] Greek: πίθος, plural: pithoi πίθοι) is the Greek name[2][3] 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-.[4]
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).
The external shape and materials were approximately the same: a ceramic jar about as high as a man, a base for standing, sides nearly straight or generously curved, and a large mouth with a lid, sealed for shipping.
Jars of this size could not be handled by individuals, especially when full. Various numbers of handles, lugs, or some combination thereof, gave a purchase for some sort of harness used in lifting the jar with a crane.
Pithoi were manufactured and exported or imported over the entire Mediterranean. They were used most heavily in the Bronze Age palace economy for storing or shipping wine, olive oil, or various types of vegetable products for distribution to the populace served by the palace administration. Consequently, they became known to the modern public as pithoi when western classical archaeologists adopted the term to mean the jars uncovered by excavation of Minoan palaces on Crete and Mycenaean ones on mainland Greece.
The term has now been adopted into the English language as a general word for a storage jar from any culture.[5] Along with this universality has come a problem of distinguishing the smaller pithoi from other types of pottery. Many ceramics are not any easily classifiable shape. If they were used for transportation or storage, they are likely to be called pithoi, even though they are not the size of the palace pithoi, and even though the forms might well have fit other types. Reconciliation of pre-classical pottery types with classical types has long been a problem of classical archaeology.
- ^ "pithos". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ πίθος. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
- ^ "πίθος". Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek (in Greek). Center for the Greek Language.
- ^ Puhvel, Jaan (1991). "harsi-". Hittite Etymological Dictionary. Trends in Linguistics Documentation 5. Vol. 3 Words beginning with H. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter.
- ^ "pithos". Webster's Third International Dictionary.