Pithos

Pithoi at Knossos.

Greek pithos from Crete.

Pithos (plural pithoi) originally referred in ancient Greek (πίθος, πίθοι) to a large storage jar of a characteristic shape. The word was at one point used by western classical archaeologists to mean the jars uncovered by excavation in Crete and Greece, it has now been taken into the American English language as a general word for a storage jar from any culture.

Etymology

Although the word is Greek, many of the pithoi of the ancient Mediterranean were not produced on the Greek mainland; for example, they are known from Crete and the Levant in non-Hellenic contexts. Many pithoi were excavated in the Palace of Knossos and the ancient shipwreck of Uluburun. The Ancient Iberian culture of El Argar also used pithoi for burials in its B phase (1500-1300 BC).

The pithos is better known in its Latin form as the fiscus, sometimes taken as meaning a place where funds were stored. Anything could be placed in a pithos; however, they were used primarily for grains, seeds, wine and oil. They were commonly associated with administrative and trade centers, which shipped, kept or received large quantities.

Composition and design

Pithoi were almost universally of ceramic, which kept out water, dirt, insects and rodents. Most were as tall or taller than a human. The base was flat so that they could be placed in rows in a storage magazine or lined up along a hallway, walkway or staircase. Lugs or more rarely the more breakable handles were located on the upper sides for ease in handling. Some pithoi were set into holes in the floor.

Pithoi were often handled with ropes. Some vases display raised decorative ropes. Those with pointed rather than flat bases and narrow, sealable mouths were made specifically for shipping: a pithos, however broad-based, had no chance of remaining upright in an ancient ship; therefore pithoi with pointed ends were packed together as tightly as possible, and secured with ropes around their necks for the duration of the sea voyage.^{[citation needed]}

Uses

A pithos for storage could be turned to the advantage of an enemy, who had only to knock over a pithos full of oil and touch a torch to it to produce a major conflagration. Most of the palaces of the Bronze Age Aegean were burned at one time or another in this way.

The extensive surface area of a pithos was a common field for decoration. For example, pithoi recovered at Knossos exhibit simulated rope designs. The best decor was reserved for table and service ware, but most pithoi have some kind of pattern or scene, most often raised and arrayed in bands around the jar.

Like the ceramic bathtubs of some periods, the size of a pithos made it a convenient coffin, especially where wood was in short supply. There is evidence of Middle Helladic burials in Mycenae and Crete where the bones of the interred have been placed in pithoi.

In ancient Greek Mythology the fabled 'Pandora's Box' was in fact a Pithos, but was mistakenly translated to the form we are familiar with today.

In popular culture

Pithos is the name of a Linux desktop client for the Pandora radio service. Its name is derived from the fact that the fabled 'Pandora's box' was not a box at all, but a clay pithos.

See also

• Bridge spouted vessel
• Phaistos
• Pandora

References

Pandora's Pithos